Is motorcycling gear up to standard?
 

Ok folks im interested to hear your thoughts on this one. Not sure why, maybe its just the way i look after stuff or the kit im buying but i always thought that motorcycle gear would be the best made stuff you could buy. Thinking that if you have an off then you would want something that would hold up. How looking at people who have old kit it all seems to be well made, has stud the test of time and generally looks like it would hold up in an off. However the stuff I’ve seen (and bought) seems to be below par for what i would expect to call motorcycling gear.

Ok lets take a look at the examples. A friend has a lewis leather jacket. In a recent off (10mph and dropped it on a corner) he landed belly down. Result a hole through the leather! Now i would have thought that something like that shouldn’t have caused too much of a problem for a leather jacket? I mean if its got a hole at 10mph whats going to happen at 60+

Ive had 3 pairs of frank Thomas gloves (cost 49.99) 2 of them were a lightweight glove and one an old pair of winter ones. Now the winter ones (an old pair off ebay) are superb. Really thick leather and have lasted well. The other 2 fell apart within 4 months. I replaced these with alpinestars vega drystar gloves and these are holding up better but 6 months on they have lots of loose threads. I would have thought that some gloves costing 70 quid would last a lifetime? Am i just expecting too much? Ive been back to my local dealer with gloves so many times now its embarrassing to even go back in the shop!

Recently my FT leather trousers have gone at the seams. Its only small but i noticed that the stitching is not double stitching although it has been made to appear although it is!!! I took a look at other jeans in earnshawes the other day and there just the same!! Even some at twice the price.

So what im saying is am i expecting too much from my kit? should i expect it to last 5 years? Or should i be happy if it lasts 1? The quality of stuff these days seems to be poor made in china stuff. So is it worth buying anything over here if its going to fall apart anyway? Why spend 70 quid on a pair of gloves if you can get the same off ebay for 20?



Discuss.

Re: Is motorcycling gear up to standard?
 

My budget Spada kit has mostly been good to me, spent £40 on gloves, £140 on jacket and £100 on trousers

I've had three offs in two years riding, minor thump and slide from ~20mph or so on the road, lowside coming out of a corner on the track and the big one in May where I took out the roadsign

Gloves are superb, bit dirty after the last off but all leather and seams look like new, will be using them again.

Jacket has some fairly heavy scuffs and superficial damage but leather and seams are all good to go. Not pretty but still functional

Trousers are a different story, they were a bit small and I had problems with the waist seam coming loose, during the last off the vented panel ripped leaving a nasty gash in my leg, but on the whole they survived

I don't think I did badly, I also don't think the £900RRP suit I recently had made to measure will offer significantly more protection than the "cheapy" kit I had before, I bought it because it's made to measure and it was at a good price...

Re: Is motorcycling gear up to standard?
 

Well I think you need to assess everything you buy very carefully. Reject anything that is not up to what you expect.

My HG Tribal leathers are well made, have done at least 35K miles over the last 5 years or so and survived a fairly big off. I only needed to replace the shoulder armour and back protector. For the money these are outstanding value. I'm looking at Arlen Ness leathers next because they seem well made and a step up from HG in quality - BUT my HG leathers are still good so cannot justify the expense.

Gloves are a different story because you 'use' them so much more, brakes, clutch, throttle turning bars will all wear your gloves. I do expect decent gloves to last a couple of years though. My current gloves are Arlen Ness and seem well made and reassuringly thick. My HG 'Bladder' (no ****!) summer waterproof gloves did loads of miles over two years and stood up to a 50mph off the my lad had the other day (he fine) but were junked then as the leather on the palm was eroded. I have never had rubbish gloves, but that is because I take gloves very seriously (you only have one pair of hands!) and will shop around for the best I can find.

Re: Is motorcycling gear up to standard?
 

The Frank Thomas stuff has a well deserved reputation for being completely rubbish.Not surprised you arent happy with it.

I think you get what you pay for and if you want things to last then you need to stop buying budget kit

IMHO.

I agree with Luckypants on the gloves thing, I wont and dont buy cheap ones. My Alpinestars GP Pro's are 3 years old and show hardly sign of wear on the palms etc and they've taken alot of abuse....

I think you really do get what you pay for with this stuff...

Re: Is motorcycling gear up to standard?
 

Surely tho 70 quid for a pair of gloves aint cheap? Especially as they are outlaster by an old pair of 25 quid ft ones!!!

Re: Is motorcycling gear up to standard?
 

Thus far I've a lewis dominator textile jacket (cheap) that's been crashed a few times 15-20mph off shredded the shoulder a bit but it's still reasonably waterproof, removable lining etc.
Got an RST leather jacket that I'm yet to crash test, but the build quality seems good.
And an alpine stars powerrangerness that took a 45mph 'rag doll' moment and have just got some slight discoulouration to the shoulder.

I have loads of pairs of gloves my everyday ones are some vega drystars that have done quite a lot of miles and don't really show it (retail about £70 I got em second hand for about £20) that keep my hands dry and warmish. but the stitching on the velcro fastner is coming out (quite a bit) and the textile between fingers bit has popped ( but they're a bit small) other than that I really rate em (although not crashed in em yet).
Other brands I've used include dannysport (why do these always seem to stink after a month or so?), lewis leather summer gloves; comfy but never crashed in them, hein gericke leather summer gloves: comfy,cool and pretty durable.

Boots are TCX goretex boots, warm, dry, soo comfy, crashed em and still using them. Only done about 5000 miles in them so no real review but they were very expensive (around £155).

My main problem is obtaining waterproof textile trousers. I had a pair of buffalo ones that held water worse than normal jeans (but admittedly held up pretty well in a tiny off).
I've also got some raven ones that retail around £60, very comfy and good pockets etc but the zips are poor and in heavy downfalls I gets a wet crotch.
I'm thinking I'm going to have to get some goretex lined trousers too but the cheapest I can get those for is about £85 second hand or £150 new and I can't justify that cost since having the privelidge of riding to work stripped from me.

It really does depend on what you're buying. If you can justify the cost and want kit that'll last look at what the pros that use it day in day out are wearing.
My instructor wore a goretex hein gericke jacket, goretex (i think) rukka trousers (these can be upto £600!), forcefield back protector and daytona boots. He said this is the most hard wearing efficient combination at the best value for that sort of performance.
Bike cops tend to go for rukka kit with either daytona or tcx boots from what I've seen.

Re: Is motorcycling gear up to standard?
 

Same gloves as me then dave.

Maybe its just that my standards are more expecting than others i dont know. but overall im disapointed. Even looking at a daineese (sp) trousers at 200 quid and im looking at loose threads in the shop! doesnt seem right. Although i guess they are mass produced!

Its fine getting a pair of 200 quid gloves and i agree that you get what you pay for but surely you should expect some kind of standard for 70 quid?

Re: Is motorcycling gear up to standard?
 

I wouldn't have paid £70 for them, no. But for what I paid for them I'm really happy. I think you're right to be a bit ****ed off but it depends where the loose threads are. You could always try and get them done under warranty. You'd be amazed how far a call/email can get you.
dainese are supposed to be a bit shoddy anyway if you're going for trousers I'm eyeing up HG goretex journeys (i think that's the model) at the moment. They look well made and goretex is a waterproof guarantee. infact they're guaranteed to be waterproof for 7 years, and hein gericke's product guarantee covers them for 5. £190 though...
or they have a spend £250 get £60 cash back deal on at the moment so I'm tempted to get them and a back protector or soemthing then flog the other item on ebay and get the trousers for about £140. Apart from that it's second hand off ebay for about £50 less...

Re: Is motorcycling gear up to standard?
 

Infact that reminds me I bought some klan heated inner gloves for about £80 (!) and they're ****e. They don't appear to be anywarmer when plugged in or not, and the stirchings already coming apart (after about 10 wears) and the material started to bobble after the first wear. Going to get them repalced under warranty soon.

Re: Is motorcycling gear up to standard?
 

thats my point. We seem to be getting sub standard gear for a lot of cash!