[RRR]

After a lot of research, I got myself a Rynox Stealth Evo Jacket, pretty impressed with their offerings at the price point however I want to callout few things which could have been better.
1-Velcro stitching feels flimsy at some places-




2-Horrible combination of thread colors, Black on White!! such an eyesore






3-KNOX & DuPont branding stitched outside!- Show-off?


PS- This is my first post, if anything is off, please excuse.

[roy_libran]

Originally Posted by RRR

I want to callout few things which could have been better.
1-Velcro stitching feels flimsy at some places-
2-Horrible combination of thread colors, Black on White!! such an eyesore
3-KNOX & DuPont branding stitched outside!- Show-off?

PS- This is my first post, if anything is off, please excuse.

Thanks and Welcome!

I daresay, nothing at all is 'off' with your post; in fact you have excellent eye for detail which is laudable.

I personally love Rynox products but know that they could be better. Still they seem to meet all the basics at a very reasonable price point.

[Thumping Soul]

Just took the delivery of my Ravishing Red Interceptor 650 earlier this week.


Now, I'm hunting for suitable riding gear. The first on the list is a riding jacket and RE has some amazing options atleast from the look / description of it. But seeking advice from the experts here. I have shortlisted three of these jackets from the RE's portfolio:

1. KHARDUNG LA JACKET OLIVE - https://store.royalenfield.com/khard...et-olive-green
2. NIRVIK JACKET-BROWN - https://store.royalenfield.com/uming...g-jacket-brown
3. STORMRAIDER-GREY - https://store.royalenfield.com/nakee...ng-jacket-grey

Please help me choose one and also advice how would Rynox compare against these.

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by Thumping Soul

1. KHARDUNG LA JACKET OLIVE - https://store.royalenfield.com/khard...et-olive-green
2. NIRVIK JACKET-BROWN - https://store.royalenfield.com/uming...g-jacket-brown
3. STORMRAIDER-GREY - https://store.royalenfield.com/nakee...ng-jacket-grey

Please help me choose one and also advice how would Rynox compare against these.

All these are very good 'Touring' jackets for colder seasons. These cannot be your daily rider! RE has a very good comparison chart on their site

If you're looking for a riding jacket for daily use then a mesh jacket would be your pick. Try the RE jackets at a store then you can compare them to the Rynox jackets.

The best jacket will be the one you will wear the most

[CptSlow]

Originally Posted by RRR

After a lot of research, I got myself a Rynox Stealth Evo Jacket,

I bought the exact same jacket couple of weeks ago though haven't had the chance to use it yet. In the store I tried out Solace, Venom & BBG jackets as well but Rynox Stealth Evo had the best fit. It is my first riding jacket purchase and the top things I was looking for were CE level 2 armors, a chest armor or at least pockets for a chest armor and good fitting. Rynox had all 3 while fitting perfectly in my budget.

I have Pune-Lucknow ride planned in March which, I am hoping, will give me plenty of opportunity to test it thoroughly.

[swiftnfurious]

Has anyone been using the Macna Equator riding jackea - any feedback ? I kind of liked the quality. Its expensive at 25K.

https://www.spartanprogear.com/colle...-riding-jacket

[GreyNomad]

Originally Posted by Thumping Soul

1. KHARDUNG LA JACKET OLIVE - https://store.royalenfield.com/khard...et-olive-green
2. NIRVIK JACKET-BROWN - https://store.royalenfield.com/uming...g-jacket-brown
3. STORMRAIDER-GREY - https://store.royalenfield.com/nakee...ng-jacket-grey

For daily riding + breakfast rides pick up a mesh jacket. I have been using a Rynox Air GT for almost a year now and it’s quite amazing. Other options in a similar price range would be rynox tornado pro, Scimitar Razr v3, solace urban. If you can stretch the budget to 11/12k Viaterra has recently launched the Munro. Personally not a fan of RE jackets as they don’t seem VFM for what they offer.
Do remember to decide on your max usage before you select a jacket and definitely try out physically for fit. As surajonwheelz pointed out, the best jacket is the one you will wear the most.

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Has anyone been using the Macna Equator riding jackea - any feedback ? I kind of liked the quality. Its expensive at 25K.

https://www.spartanprogear.com/colle...-riding-jacket

If you are looking for a touring friendly jacket and are ready to spend this much, I would highly recommend checking out Klim's collections. They should be around 30K. Path pavers in Delhi is their retailer. Klims is a different league when it comes to touring jackets and comes with lifetime guarantee.

Rachit

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Rachit.K.Dogra

If you are looking for a touring friendly jacket and are ready to spend this much, I would highly recommend checking out Klim's collections. They should be around 30K. Path pavers in Delhi is their retailer. Klims is a different league when it comes to touring jackets and comes with lifetime guarantee.

Rachit

Only the goretex versions come with lifetime guarantee and they are closer to 50k retail price.

bigbadbikes are the official importers of Klim in India.

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Only the goretex versions come with lifetime guarantee and they are closer to 50k retail price.

bigbadbikes are the official importers of Klim in India.

I was at pathpavers 3-4 days back and he had a few Klim jackets. He made me try Mojave, which was quite different than usual textile/Mesh jackets. It was cordura 1000 and not Goretex. He told me it comes with lifetime guarantee. He could be mistaken as well, as I am not aware that lifetime warranty claim was only for Goretex ones.

Lifetime warranty aside though, Klim looks and feels super good.

Rachit

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Rachit.K.Dogra

I was at pathpavers 3-4 days back and he had a few Klim jackets. He made me try Mojave, which was quite different than usual textile/Mesh jackets. It was cordura 1000 and not Goretex. He told me it comes with lifetime guarantee. He could be mistaken as well, as I am not aware that lifetime warranty claim was only for Goretex ones.

Lifetime warranty aside though, Klim looks and feels super good.

Rachit

Actually the lifetime guarantee is a misnomer as experienced by members i know at another forum. The lifetime guarantee is ONLY in the goretex waterproofing and is offered technically by goretex via KLIM. Now since goretex is applied and covers the entire jacket, it therefore warranties the entire jacket. Typically these jackets ever fail only from a manufacturing defect or from the waterproofing going bad. In either case warranty applies.

You also get a brand new jacket if you take a spill in your goretex Klim jacket and wipe the road with it. Goretex pays for your old jacket (by giving you a brand new one) to study how their goretex does in motorcycle accidents. Again via Klim.

I suggest you study the actual warranty terms issued by KLIM as opposed to verbiage from a local dealer

The mojave is a dirt or dual sport jacket. The baja s4 is a step up from there. The cordura is the base material and that is all. The baja is mesh and will breathe well. Goretex is a lamination done on the outer of the jacket.

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Actually the lifetime guarantee is a misnomer as experienced by members i know at another forum. The lifetime guarantee is ONLY in the goretex waterproofing and is offered technically by goretex via KLIM. Now since goretex is applied and covers the entire jacket, it therefore warranties the entire jacket. Typically these jackets ever fail only from a manufacturing defect or from the waterproofing going bad. In either case warranty applies.

You also get a brand new jacket if you take a spill in your goretex Klim jacket and wipe the road with it. Goretex pays for your old jacket (by giving you a brand new one) to study how their goretex does in motorcycle accidents. Again via Klim.

I suggest you study the actual warranty terms issued by KLIM as opposed to verbiage from a local dealer

The mojave is a dirt or dual sport jacket. The baja s4 is a step up from there. The cordura is the base material and that is all. The baja is mesh and will breathe well. Goretex is a lamination done on the outer of the jacket.

Ahh!! Thank you for the detailed explanation!! Makes sense.

I did hear KLIM giving a new jacket in case you end up tearing the old one in case of a fall.

I am not exactly looking to purchase KLIM as of yet. I have 2 existing (Dainese and RevIT) jackets still in very good shape. But yes, I did get attracted to KLIM jackets on display at the store. The fit and finish was superb.

Rachit

[neil.jericho]

The palm protector on one of my A* SP2 gloves has surprisingly started giving away recently. Im not sure what has caused this problem, I havent had a fall from my bike while wearing it. Considering I paid around Rs 10,000 for it a few years ago, I certainly would have wanted a much longer life from the gloves, but it is what it is and all my other purchases from A* have lasted me for several years. Anyways, in this condition, I doubt that it would really protect me in case of a fall and so I started looking at other options.

I really liked the Rev'it Monster 2 (link) except for the fact that the palm protection felt a bit inadequate. Also, the price is definitely a little stiffsky. But it did feel like a lovely pair of gloves.

The other pair of gloves that seemed to fit me well were the A* SP8 V2 (link) gloves. This was a CE certified pair of gloves that became my backup option in case nothing else fit me well.

Since I have heard good feedback on the top two Indian options - the Via Terra Grid and the Rynox Storm Evo 2, I thought I would give them a shot before finalizing. There were two pairs of Storm Evo 2 gloves available at DJ helmets and I tried both pairs. I was very surprised to find that both pairs had the same issue with the fitting. The right glove allowed for a lot more movement than the left glove. At first, I thought it was just my hands getting used to the fitting of the gloves, but the exact same fitment issue was there on the second one as well. When the sales guy and I checked out the gloves, we found that the stitching on both the left and the right glove was different.

If you look at the image above, the material used on the inside of the thumb has a different shape and size on the left glove when compared to the right glove. When worn, one can clearly feel the difference. On closer inspection, I see that the right side glove is missing one of the yellow (reflective?) inserts in the Knox armour at the palm. Also the L shaped inner material looks to be two different shapes when you compare them, right?

Anyways, I tried the Tornado 3 gloves and immediately found that there was a difference in the fitment of the right side and left side gloves. This time, it was the elastic at the top of the wrist that was faulty. The stitching grated against my skin on the right glove but not on the left. The sales guy also has XL sized hands and he tried it himself and confirmed my observations.

I have suggested that they return these sets of gloves to Rynox and get replacements. I was quite disappointed to find these issues with Rynox's gear. Ideally, these should be caught by the QC team and these pairs should never have reached their retailers. You dont hear of Dainese, A* gloves or Rev'it gloves having such issues.

Before anyone starts thinking that Im being finicky and bashing the company unnecessarily, I am a happy Rynox gear owner. I have their Air GT3 jacket which I love and have recommended to bikers, left, right and center. I use their riding pants also. The first one I bought developed some issues with the stitches on the first ride itself, but it eventually got replaced by the company after some miscommunication with their dealer. The second pair of Rynox riding pants has served me well so far.

I applaud Rynox for making high levels of safety affordable to today's Indian riders. But they have to up their quality game to be taken seriously.

[rohitoasis]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Has anyone been using the Macna Equator riding jackea - any feedback ? I kind of liked the quality. Its expensive at 25K.

https://www.spartanprogear.com/colle...-riding-jacket

Not the same model, but i have been using Macna Hurracage close to 20K km now. If you remember, you had recommended me to visit Spartan when i was planning to buy the riding jacket. Let me list down my experience with the same.

1) Build quality is very good for the price. I chose it at premium over the other jackets at Spartan. I think it is worth the premium.
2) The inner rain lining is nifty and i had preferred that over separate rain liners for other jackets.
Advantage: Doubles up as cold weather lining too. Keeps me warm on rides in cold weather too. With rising temperatures in Coimbatore, i just removed the rain lining yesterday evening for the third or fourth time.
Disadvantage: Slightly difficult to remove when all soaked in sweat. Not much of a problem to remove when dry.
Slight moisture enters the gap between the sleeves and gloves, which i feel could be avoided an external rain liner.
Slightly on the heavy side with the liner, once removed, it is not very heavy.

[neil.jericho]

For the past decade or so, Ive been using only full gauntlets meant for sporty use and I am searching for a replacement to my A* SP2 gloves. I was quite surprised to see the current prices of gloves and the overall lack of availability of a quality gloves in the market.

Below Rs 5K
- Rynox Storm Evo 2: Terrible QC. Both right and left gloves were of different fits.
- Viaterra Grid : Excellent feedback from friends who own it but I did some research on the interwebs and found a lot of complaints about inconsistent build quality. Currently not available in Cochin.
- Royal Enfield : They dont have full gauntlets, but have CE certified gloves like the Vamos which comes with Knox scaphoid protection system and Knox knuckle protectors. This is a new pair of gloves and hasnt reached the stores here. I have had a very good experience with the RE touring jacket, so I dont have any concerns about the quality.

Above Rs 5K
- Rev'it Monster 2 : Excellent fit. International ownership reviews of the gloves point to it being expensive but worth the price. The only cons are my perceived lack of safety at the palm and the price (Rs 9,750).
- A* SPX Air Carbon V2 : International reviews are mixed and the gloves dont seem to have the usual A* quality. Pricing is ridiculous at Rs 9,999.
- A* SP8 V2 : Solid pair of gloves which felt very similar to my current A* ones. It loses out on top notch palm protection though, which is surprising. Also a new V3 has just been launched, so this one is on its way out.

We used to get a wide variety of A* gloves earlier, but now that doesnt seem to be the case. I suspect Covid related logistics challenges might have resulted in this scenario.

I really wanted to buy gloves from Rynox or Viaterra, as they meet all my requirements on paper. But the quality issues dont give me a lot of confidence. I had bought a pair of TBG gloves a few years ago and they gave up so fast that I decided not to spend any more money on their products. Consistent quality is what seems to differentiate the Indian brands from the international ones that cost more.

Has anyone used the Royal Enfield Vamos or the Rev'it Monster 2? Can you share some feedback on these? Are there any other options that members here can suggest?