Cortech/Tourmaster

[Kannon]

What is the difference between the Cortech and Tourmaster products? They seem to offer very similar products and as far as I can tell they are the same company. Is one product line better than the other?

 

Thanks,

[EffBee]

Both are owned by Helmet House. Tour Master is the budget line. Cortech is the mid-priced line. Fieldsheer (distributed by Helmet House) is their high-end line.

[Frustrated_Diver]

You might want to look elsewhere than Tourmaster. Zippers seem to fail frequently and the current hiviz jacket, in my mind, has design flaws. Next set for me will not be Tourmaster.

[Albert]

You might want to look elsewhere than Tourmaster. Zippers seem to fail frequently and the current hiviz jacket, in my mind, has design flaws. Next set for me will not be Tourmaster.

 

Is that anecdotal or have you had frequent failures? I currently have 4 Tourmaster jackets and 3 pairs of pants (so lots of zippers) and none have had a problem.

[tallman]

Ditto.

Nothing but good experiences with them.

When I did have an issue, and it didn't affect the function of the jacket, they asked me to send it back, after several years of use, and then it was replaced.

Very, very, positive experiences with TourMaster and they were one of the first with Tall sizing.YMMV.

[Lmar]

I have a Transition II jacket and like it. No issues with zippers or any other part of the jacket.

[Selden]

Ditto -- Transition II jacket is my favorite ever. TM jackets have clearly been evolving in response to actual rider needs, and have lots of thoughtful touches.

 

The only zippers I have ever had problems with were on a pair of FirstGear overpants -- the zipper pulls kept falling off all the way to Alaska and back. Luckily, I always found the missing piece, and was able to re-attach it.

[flat_twin]

Both are owned by Helmet House. Tour Master is the budget line. Cortech is the mid-priced line. Fieldsheer (distributed by Helmet House) is their high-end line.

 

To quote Johnny Carson "I did not know that!"

 

I bought a used Tourmaster jacket and pants 7 years ago. I only wear them now for cold weather rides because they don't breath at all. They're not top of the line by any means but I haven't had any seam or zippers failures.

[LennyA]

I have been using Tourmaster/Cortech products for ten years and I am very satisfied. Never any failures. Great value.

[Frustrated_Diver]

Guess i’m the only one having zipper problems with 3 of the 5 Tourmaster garments i own (2 jackets, 2 pants, rain gear). In June i replaced my pants because the zipper failed and the jacket because the zipper had started to fail. The pants zipper pull tab broke off and the zipper locked in the up position. That required pliers to get it down, breaking the rest of the pull. The jacket zipper had started to not seal when zipping up.

 

Now the pull tab has broken off where the cheep forged metal comes out of the plastic fob on the new jacket’s main zipper. Tourmaster, to their credit, sent me a new pull abet with no instructions. So far i’ve been to both a seamstress and a cobbler for help. Neither will touch it, saying that plastic zippers can’t be fixed. (At least I got to ride the bike during 2 lunch hours in fantastic weather. ) Twist-ties can be used as a pull tab for a simple fix, I’ve found.

 

In addition to the zipper problems, I’m not happy about the excessive amount of black trim on the hi-viz jacket and the “silver” pants have more black than silver – not a good thing here in the sun of the Republic of Texas. Also, the wrist hook and loop tabs are of a very stiff rubber that seems to catch on everything. For me, at least, the next set will have somebody else’s logo.

 

[lvnvbiker]

The differance between Cortech and Tourmaster has nothing to do with quality. The Cortech stuff is more sportbike oriented while the Tourmaster stuff is well more Tour aimed. I've had both along with Fieldsheer and have not had a bad experiance yet with them, and currently have the new Transitions 2 jacket in highvis.