Team-BHP - The Riding Gear thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by drive_angry (Post 4363187)

Hi Rohan, could you please provide the link and the cost of these boots? anyone here using AlpineStar full riding suit? I want to get some feedback on usability and durability. My apologies if the question is repeated.

drive_angry

Hi, I got them from Motomadness on MG road in Delhi (right before the Arjangarh Metro Station). Paid 21500 for these. Have picked up pretty much all my riding gear from this store. Pretty close by from gurgaon.

The Alpinestar full suit is on the radar for me too- not immediately but by next year for sure.

Cheers
Rohan

Hi everyone

With great pleasure I announce that I am finally too desperate to delay buying my first bike. :D

I am setting aside a budget of 45,000 INR, +/- 5000 INR for the riding gear, and need all the advice I can get from you all!

The following is what I plan to buy:
2 Helmets (1 for myself, 1 for female pillion rider)
1 jacket
1 pair gloves
1 pair shoes
1 pair knee protectors

I will mostly be touring on weekends. 70% tarmac, 30% dirt. Not much use in the city.
The gear should support in harsh sun, rain, fog and long distances.
I am thinking of spending on gear which can be gradually upgraded, but basics should be good to start with as this will be a long term purchase, especially for helmet and jacket (will upgrade for good spine protection in time).

What I have in mind,
20,000 for helmets, 15,000 for Jacket, 10,000 for all else.

I have around a month or 2 to buy all the above. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who can get these things for me from US, so might be purchased in store HERE in BANGALORE. But if there is someway to order from US, get it delivered with a visit to the customs, while saving money, then I can plan to do that.

If in case I am sounding like an amateur, I admit I am one. Please correct me wherever I was wrong. I do have riding experience, thanks to dear friends, just that I don't understand riding gear so much. Tried going through the posts here in the last many pages, but got confused.

______________________

In addition to the above, I'm planning to buying waterproof saddle and tank bags, hopefully multipurpose ones which can also be used when not biking. (for a Dominar 400)
I don't know what should be the budget for them, or what options are available. Is it possible to get strap on saddle bags which allow a pillion to sit in comfort? Please suggest options that you may be aware of?

Looking forward,
Parishrut

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parishrut (Post 4365372)

Hey Parishrut,

First of all congrats on deciding to buy the Dominar, welcome to the Dominar clan clap:.

First thing first, if pillion is going to accompany rides frequently, then I strongly suggest to get a riding gear for the pillion as well.

Jackets - There are quite a few well known brands, Rynox, TBG, Solace in the range you mentioned, try and buy anything which you feel comfortable, but make sure you buy a CE Level 2 armoured jacket. Level 2 Jacket from these brands should cost upto 11k.

Solace has a female jacket too, which you can check out.

Helmet - MT, Sol you can check out, there are lots of options in the range of 6 to 7k. For female, you can check out THH which is DOT certified, have bought the same for my better half as well.

Gloves - Again there are options in the brands mentioned for Jacket, since your riding is more of touring, suggest you to get full glauntlet gloves.

Happy shopping and riding.

KK

I couldn't find anything on this topic when I was looking to buy a leather jacket so I wrote a post about it on my blog. Here it is:

I’ll get straight to the point:

When I was looking to buy an Alpinestars Leather jacket I searched far and wide on the web for India-specific information on how feasible/practical is it to use one of those here. I found diddly-squat. So after having used one for a little over a month, I felt the need to write this post.

Caveat: I have a Shima mesh jacket too for day long rides in peak summer and through the monsoons.

Right, on with it then. For context, I live in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. Winters are mild with temperatures ranging from 30C high to 10C low. Summers are intense with mercury firmly in the 40’s during the day and 30’s in the night. Since I don’t plan on riding with the jacket in the rain, my primary concern was heat. The one I bought is partially perforated because I figured it’d be my primary winter jacket. Fully perforated ones are also available.

Reasons I wanted a leather jacket-

I bought a big bike and leather jackets make those things go faster, obviously. It’s just science, bro. brother. homie. my dude. my wayward son on who needs to carry.

Safety or whatever.

My biggest question was – Is it worth spending 30k for a jacket I might only use 2, maybe 3 months in a year? Nowhere could I find an answer. No forums, no articles, nothing. And the answer is *drumroll please* YES.

It works. I bought it in Feb 2018 and have ridden 3000 kms so far. Have removed the inner liner and will most probably only need it next Dec/Jan. My jacket is not the fully perforated kind and it still works as long as you’re on the bike and moving. I went for a ride last Sunday, March the 11th year of our lord and saviour Hulk Hogan 2018 praise be unto thy moustache brother, HH. At 3pm with the temperature at around 36 deg C and humidity at around 15%, I was able to relax and enjoy the ride. Being still was definitely a problem between 3 and 5 pm but after that even stopped by the side of the road one didn’t feel the need to take off the jacket. The shoulder vents do their job well and you can actually feel the perforations letting the air in. There are perforated vents in the back that take the hot air out. It all works as long as you’re riding.

Most riders prefer not to ride under the blazing sun unless they’re touring, of course. It is the 14th of March as of this writing and so far I’ve only used my mesh jacket once. I usually ride early mornings or after sunset during summer months and the only problem I seem to be having with the leather jacket is keeping it clean after riding in it so much. As the days get hotter I’m sure this will change. The air gets really hot around Apr-May-Jun and then riding even with a mesh jacket feels suicidal.

I will update here as and when something crops up.

Here are some pictures that show the venting and the perforations.

Hopefully this helps :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by animeshb (Post 4378671)

Guys, I am looking for the following gear. Please assist with pointers to buy at a physical Store ideally in Delhi NCR.

1. HJC CL-17 Helmet
2. A decent Full face child / youth helmet for a 9 year old (ideally less than 8K)
3. General Riding gear (jacket, boots, gloves or whatever can be sourced) for a 9 year old

Also, please suggest a pair of warm weather gloves. I have an old pair of Alpinestars SP-X Gloves which needs replacement.

You can look at redline racing. I got my HJC from them. They are based in West Delhi and are accessible by metro as well. For riding gear a good option is go rev up at arjan garh and high note performance in chattarpur.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RohanDheman (Post 4379787)

Thanks Rohan, for the suggestions. I will have to figure out how and when I can pay a visit to Redline Racing. They look to be quite reputed for parts too it looks like - I am also in the lookout for frame sliders and a radiator guard. I bought a Bike Cover online from High Note performance which was delivered in day.

Every summer, I struggled with the thought of buying a hydration bag. Kept procrastinating, since I managed to stop and have water from the bottle when we regrouped. I remember being very thirsty wanting to have some water, but would tell myself, just a few kms more. I would be very thirsty eventually and would not enjoy the ride. When we stopped, I had to remove the helmet to have water.
Proper hydration is very important for long rides and this year I started seriously searching for a hydration bag.
Most of the bags I saw were too big and cumbersome with lots of pockets etc. Some had negative reviews about the hydration bag getting bad smell, fungus, leaking etc.
I wanted a good quality bag to carry 1 or 2 liters of water with no pockets. I have lots of pockets in my touring jacket where I carry my papers, money, purse, extra key and tissues.
Kriega was launching the 2 lit bag, with no pockets. Looked nice and had a great choice of colors.

https://kriega.com/hydration-packs/hydro-2-lime

Pre-ordered this last month and after the launch got delivery by FedEx in 4 days. Looks great, very comfortable to wear and use. Easy to refill and clean. Could easily sip on water without removing the helmet.

This year, we have been doing long rides and I am very impressed with the Kriega hydration bag.