Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Ride Safe (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/ride-safe/)

-   -   The Riding Gear thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/ride-safe/42000-riding-gear-thread-111.html)

Looks like you are on a riding gear shopping spree!
Now please don't say that you are going to wear two jackets at a time for "extra-protection":D


You can actually use this jacket for the city rides and keep the AGV for city rides, as mesh is lot more comfortable than the textile ones in city/traffic!

Needless to say that yellow colour jacket will definitely increase your "visual-bhp" ;)

rl:

You meant Yellow for city rides and AGV for highway rides? Btw, both are mesh textile jackets and as you probably note from images AGV quality seems superior. But, will know it for sure only when i get to feel them in person

Haha:thumbs up

(Summary):
Basically, I am having trouble deciding between these, because other than styling & price, there is hardly any difference noticeable to me-
Jackets: SPG Hyperion / Helios / Atlas / Icarus / Achilles
Gloves: SPG Ares / Pegasus / Phaeton
Pants: SPG Proteus / Odysseus
Helmet: SOL SF1 / 68II, or should I be looking at LS2 and other brands?

I did see that, but I would rather have over-pants than riding jeans, so that I can wear whatever I want under my gear for whatever occasion.

Looking at the SPG website now, I noticed the SPG Proteus pants. Are they over pants or pants meant to be worn without anything underneath? Any opinions on them? SPG lists them at 6.3k, if they are good I am willing to stretch my budget. There's also the SPG Odysseus, what is the difference?

I am extremely confused about all the different SPG options. There is the Hyperion, Helios, Atlas, Icarus, etc. What are the major differences between these? On the website they all seem good!

Like I said in reply to the other post, I want riding overpants and not jeans. Is there any option that would go well with the Spartan jackets? Preferably something that is waterproof/has a liner, wearing normal pants + riding gear + rain pants would be quite tedious! :eek:

I was thinking of looking at gear in person, but probably won't be visiting Bangalore until the end of the year!

Do you have any idea how the Helios compares to the other jackets?

Fundamentally the difference will be in the material used for the Jackets, Gloves & Pants. Helios is a full mesh jacket with Armor. Very well suited for our kind of climates where it wont cook you in the jacket even during summer or sunny days. I think Hyperion or one of the others that you have listed is a Textile jacket which is made of Cordura. Very durable material and good protection but gets really stuffy and hot even when you stop at a traffic light. One of the others is a Leather jacket which has best abrasion resistance since Leather is good to resist abrasion but again has the problem of ventilation during sunny rides.

Gloves: The Ares is a Full Gauntlet gloves which covers your wrist and goes over your jacket. Pegasus is a short cuff glove made of same material as Ares. Phateon is cordura on upper and leather palm mostly for better ventilation and is again a short cuff glove.

Pants: Odysseus is a cordura riding pant with similar properties of the material like the jacket outlined above. Ventilation is a problem but superior protection against abrasion. Proteus is a mesh riding pant with good ventilation. Odysseus needs to be worn with probably a dri-fit kind of apparel underneath. If you buy the right size, you cannot wear a denim or formals underneath and even if you are able to, it will be soaking wet at the end of the ride due to sweat. Proteus should probably allow you to wear different clothes underneath since its a mesh pant and aids in good ventilation.

Hope this helps!

Unfortunately, I cant do a comparo with the other jackets as this is my first rider jacket.

That said, Helios, being a mesh jacket, is very comfortable to wear and I have no trouble even with the laptop backpack in the b2b traffic.

I have the same issue with my Dri Rider riding pants. Which is that in spite of ventilation zippered vents open, by the time I pull them off after the ride, my undies are soaking wet. Ditto for my socks inside my WP riding boots as well, but that's another story.

What are these dri-fit apparel to be worn under riding gear? Do you have pants to be worn under riding pants as well as tops to be worn under riding jackets? Are these those body hugging tight pressure suits (like cycling shorts spandex/lycra)?

These are inners that you wear under your riding suit or riding gear. This prevents sweating and can be worn as a tshirt under your jacket. Atheletes wear it under their shirts. They are available in just jerseys, track pants form and shorts.

Options are available from various brands for baselayers - Knox, alpinestars, dainese. If looking to buy from India, contact Outdoor Travel Gear in Mumbai. They retail Knox products in India. Buy once the monsoon sets in. You should be getting a 20% off on the retail prices. Ordering online is also an option with these guys. To have a full download on the features and benefits, you can visit Revzilla or Sportbiketrackgear and you can search with key word - baselayers to get started.

Thanks, but what are they called? What name do I Google for? Or look online to shop for? Or tell my friend in Australia to get back when he comes here next. :)

Doc - These are called base layers

[Summary] Narrowed down options
Jackets: SPG Hyperion or Helios.
Gloves: SPG Ares or Pegasus, depending on pros+cons of full-gauntlet/short-cuff. What about the Alpinestars offering at similar prices (3-4k)? How do they compare?
Pants: SPG Proteus. Any other brand I should look at?

Thanks, that's very helpful.

Jacket: That narrows my jacket options to the Helios or Hyperion. I like the Hyperion because of the better protection, I'll have to decide between those two. Mesh on the Helios is not too durable. Leather is not an option because it would be waay too hot in the summer.

Gloves: What would be the better option for me? (I do not know the advantages of each). If the Ares is ventilated well enough to not become hot and sweaty in the summer, that would be my first option, because the full-gauntlet would be especially nice to have for the cold 6 am morning rides. (I am assuming the short-cuff ones would let air in near the wrist?) I also guess that the Phaeton isn't as protective as the other two and can rule that out. (Please suggest).

Pants: Okay, so since I rarely go on biking-specific trips to justify the purchase of the Odysseus, I would have to get the Proteus. Does anyone know if it will work well (i.e. zip together) with the Hyperion or Helios, so that I can use them together with their rain liners as a waterproof suit?

I am pretty sure that you can get these base layers at Nike shops, or any other sports/athletic outlets.

Sorry for the second post but I cannot seem to add this (30 min time limit) to the previous post, hoping for this to auto-merge!

More questions - in addition to buying chest and back armour inserts for the jacket, are separate knee guards recommended for the pants, or can knee armour of some kind be fitted into the SPG Proteus? Basically, if I buy for example: Hyperion, Ares, Proteus, chest + back inserts, will I have full protection, or will I need anything else? (Other than boots & a helmet).

Thanks a lot guys!

Think again on the Cordura. It gets very uncomfortable even just post monsoon sunny days. Since you are in the coast, getting out of the city itself will tend to soak you with sweat and make you sticky and miserable. Mesh is best suited and comes with back, shoulder, hip & elbow armors built in.

Ares does not have any vents for ventilation. But I have used it for 2 rides of 500kms each and now using them in the city. They are not very uncomfortable. These days Bangalore has some pretty hot afternoons but still the gloves dont tend to feel very uncomfortable. Have yet to see how they perform in Summer though.

Yes you can zip them together but not the rain liners. The jacket zips to the pant at the back of your waist for a fixed length so you can remove the jacket and let it hang behind you (like the MotoGP/Formula1 racers do before starting the race). The rain liners of the Jacket are a tad smaller in length to the jacket. So you cannot join the liner to the pants.

The proteus comes with Knee armor already in the pants so you dont need to buy any knee guards separately. For the jacket the back armor needs to be bought as the one with the jacket is dual density foam insert. Apart from this you dont need to buy any more armor since it comes with CE certified armor at the shoulder, elbow and hip. Same for pants which come with CE certified armor at the knees.

Hmm, how good is the protection on the mesh compared to the Cordura? Is there any jacket available that has good ventilation AND protection? Mesh seems like the bare minimum protection available.

What kind of temperatures are you talking about? I think I will get the Ares then!

If I zip them together and wear the rain liners underneath, what kind of rain protection can I expect?

That's good to know! What about chest armour?

Thanks again! :)

I dont live on my bike. I have limited riding gear. My problem is, the max size available is a tad too tight. My first ever purchase was from that brand called cramster. Looked so flimsy and all. 3 yrs on, still good. I do have spartan gear too.. excellent finish. The flux on camster is decent enough.

I dont want to get into this argument about crapster etc. None of the jackets from spartan fit my arm. forget shoulders and the bear part of me.

please suggest a larger jacket and touring gloves.

If you can leave all the dissin about brands and come up with something worthwhile I would be thankful.




.