Cost of Gear

Isleoman

Isleoman

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Maybe title should have been "Cost of a Get Off"

Been looking for some replacement mesh riding pants. Had some Klim Induction SE mesh pants from Motorcycle Gear.com that fit well and worked well in a get off, but now they need replacing.

The latest Klim Induction pants (little nicer styling) are $400 vs $150 for the older SE leftovers. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since inflation is running less than 3%.

May have to go back to the Tour Master's for $190. I have some old Tour Master mesh with same design ($99) but they've seen a lot of use and the new ones now come with Level 2 armor.

Most stuff I buy from Rev It doesn't fit me as well. Seems designed for tall thin folk. I know there are a lot more "Jeans" designs now that look safe but I doubt they are as cool.

I suppose I should be more like my wife about prices and just say "It is what it is"

Have you bought anything recently that's reasonably priced (sub $225) that you like?
 
Do mesh pants hold up as well as quality denim or leather? I have dainese denim pants, and dont ride hard enough to wreck anymore. I dont think my body could take it.
 
My main concern is the first impact which comes down to the D30 armor. The Klim Induction pants and Klim mesh jacket did fine for that............ after that the knee armor slid up and knee abrasions did incur. I ended up sliding down a hill feet first still holding on to the bars after a low side. At least I think it was a lowside, could have been high side.. Went down on a tar strewn road repair on a down hill corner. No signs, no warning.

I sat there dazed for a bit thinking about whether to report the accident to police and sue the rural town or State. It was a State road crew that had done the "repair".

After a little while, I decided it wasn't worth it. I was in Bumfork,Ma. I would have had to take an ambulance ride 30 miles in the wrong direction to a hospital and the bike would have been towed 15 miles in the other direction. All of this was 75 miles from home. Meaning call the wife and have her drive out distraught to get me. Then take the truck next day to collect the bike. I rode it home. It was a struggle but in hind site it was the right decision.

Mass is a no fault insurance state which means when you get to the hospital the first, second, third and fourth question is "Was this a MV accident". It also means they chase your MV insurance for all the medical cost even if you have very expensive top notch health insurance, which I do. Went to the local hospital the next day and nothing was broken, right hand was swollen about 1.5 times over normal. Told them I fell off my peddle bike in a State park. I was going to say I fell off a Turnip Truck............ but then I'd be back to the MV insurance issues. All told about $1000 damage to gear and bike with the majority being gear. I don't carry property damage on a bike worth less than $2500 so unless I won a law suit against the State for more than actual damages, it just wasn't worth it.

Bike came to rest where truck on right is parked, stopped just shy of the guard rail. Some nice folks that stopped to help. Probably tapped rear brake once on the marbles. and that's all it took. On a positive note my phone/camera survived untouched.

https://imgur.com/J9yIVMs

https://imgur.com/D64vgRg

https://imgur.com/nVxwQbm

I have a full Vanson one piece race suit but there is no way I can tolerate it in temps over 75. Fine for a track day but you look like ricky racer to the cops.

How do the Dainese denim do in the heat? I'm pretty sure tighter denim would do a better job of keeping pads in place.
 
They have extra layers on the knees hips and butt. I had no issues with them last summer when my dash said it was 116.
 
Bunk/Doc, Thanks for feedback on what's working for you. I need to take a closer look at the denim / aramid designs.

In my working life I witnessed 100s of physical property tests on various leather, cotton, kevlar, ballistic nylon, polyester and Spectra ballistic materials.

From my experience a cotton wrapped / kevlar or Spectra core yarn, woven into a denim looking material (sometimes called Dyneema) performed the best from an abrasion stand point (using the Mil Spec TABER Test). There are some moto mfrs using Dyneema.......... but three times the cost of gear using kevlar liners. That's where you need to make a decision on risk vs cost vs comfort.

Ballistic nylon that makes up the chassis of mesh style pants has excellent abrasion resistance, but it degrades in strong sunlight. I'd like to see moto pant mfrs give customers the option to skip the rain/thermal liners on pants and jackets for a lower cost, I never use them and must have four or five pair of new liners laying around.

Textile Mfrs are a $lippery group and really the only thing keeping them slightly honest is independent testing, and even that is a useless metric if end items lots aren't tracked against the test results.
 
fwiw my dainese pants were somewhere in the 200 buck range. Dont know what they cost now a days but i need to find out. Loosing weight has a few negatives.
 
Sorry about the get off.
I have an Aerostich Roadcrafter that I purchased second hand I wear in the winter. To hot for me in the warmer months.
In the warmer weather I wear a pair of BMW motard pants also second hand,with my Vanson mesh jacket. The pants have large vents that do a really good job of keeping you cool.
If you look on Facebook marketplace you can find some really good deals on second hand gear if you don't want to spend an arm and a leg. With riding gear I find you get what you pay for in most instances. Between the Roadcrafter and the Motard pants I paid $650 for both and they were like brand new when I bought them.Seems like alot ,but price them out new and you'll see. Been wearing them for 5years and they still look great.
I have plenty of new gear too dirtbike and streetbike don't get me wrong. I love buying riding apparel,ask my wife.lol But sometimes it pays to look around for used high end gear instead of buying lower end new gear with less protection .
 
Thanks, I'm certainly not against picking up quality used gear. Need to redouble my efforts. One thing I've been liking about the nylon mesh pants is many of them have the side/front cargo pockets.
 
moosecapades said:
Not much anymore. Stage 4 lung adenocarcinoma usually need o2. Still try to get out a little.
Click to expand...

So impressive. I always worry about what I will do when health becomes an issue. Been through soooooo much lately with family members that health is always in the back of my mind.
 
One can find good used gear via FB marketplace or Craigslist, paying $0.20 - 0.50 / dollar of the current on sale price. But it takes time and patience and going after it when you find something you are looking for.
 
Still looking. Think I will eventually get both a pair of mesh and a pair of jeans.

Any long term Motorcycle Gear / New Enough customers? Does it seem to you like they are going out of business? Hope it's not the case......... but their variety of products/suppliers has diminished and what they do carry usually only have a few sizes left. Their prices aren't a good as before either, now they are usually equal to Revzilla, Amazon and Cycle Gear.
 
I have been a customer of theirs since the New Enough days. The business has definitely changed since then (longer ago than I care to think about), but I guess that's life. Some of the old companies that sold their end of season leftovers to New Enough / MCG aren't even in business anymore, or have changed their plans. Fieldsheer comes to mind there. I'm not certain, but my mind thinks that some of the companies just put out more products back then, when motorcycling was king. Some of the old staples, like Joe Rocket, had more jackets than they seem to now; another sign of the times. Less product = less closeouts. Myself, I'm generally a 2XLT in most jackets, and every now and then, I find something that fits for a great price on MCG. I often check the "Last Chance Bargains" section.
 
Go on the Aerostich website today. They are having a good Sale. Limited sizes. If you can fit what they have you can get a great deal.
 
Mario m said:
Go on the Aerostich website today. They are having a good Sale. Limited sizes. If you can fit what they have you can get a great deal.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link, I did visit and look around. Not much in my size unfortunately. Pricey equipment but when you consider it can last 10 years that offsets much of the expense.
 
Ended up going with the black TourMaster Ridgecrest pants for the mesh solution.

Still looking into the riding jeans option to give me some alternatives. The one negative to the Tourmaster pants (pointed out by Motorcycle Gear) was them being tight to pull over boots. While they are tight they do fit over my two pairs of Sidi mid calf boots. The knee armor pockets have adjust ability to get them where I need them. Just need some warm weather now.

May have to start a new thread about gear rack options. Where to put all this gear when not in use? I've run out of clothes chairs. I'm now the proud owner of another pair of waterproof pant liners I will never use. I'd like to see gear mfrs give option to skip the liners for $$$ savings. I think I have four un-used liners now.
 
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