Jacket recomendations??????

[cali_beemer]

Well, my 11 year old BMW jacket (I believe its the Kalahari). Its been a great jacket and rock solid. Today the zipper broke and it may be signs a new one is needed. The velcro has been not holding and I am sure the body armor has broken down by now as well. So, I am considering replacements. I am a big guy, over 300lbs. I ride year round but I try not to ride much below freezing, and it can often get well over 100 degrees, so I need something flexible for temperature. It needs to be waterproof for the times I have been caught in the rain. My current jacket has served well by removing the liner when hot and opening up the mesh in the arms and the back. Very diverse. Any recomendations?

[sardineone]

I like my Belstaff Mercury jacket really well for cold to moderate temps. Haven't been in a down pour with it yet but, friends tell me it will shed water well. Definately cuts out cold winds and has a great liner for the cold. I'd recommend a mesh 2nd jacket for high temps and humidity as I have in the Ohio Valley of Indiana for hot summer rides. My hot weather jacket is a First Gear Mesh.

[Linz]

http://www.newenough.com/closeouts/textile_jackets_and_pants/first_gear/kilimanjaro_50_textile_motorcycle_jacket_sand_only.html

 

These are great jackets and at the moment, a great price.

 

Linz

[cali_beemer]

http://www.newenough.com/closeouts/textile_jackets_and_pants/first_gear/kilimanjaro_50_textile_motorcycle_jacket_sand_only.html

 

These are great jackets and at the moment, a great price.

 

Linz

 

That may work, very simialr to my current BMW jacket.

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

Cali

Being up the road a grand total of a couple miles, I ride year 'round unless it's raining at that moment...spousal pressure. but it helps keep the bike clean.

I use a First Gear Kili 4 about 7-8 months out of the year. The other four months, I use a First Gear Mesh Tex. Liners in and out, vents open/closed, as temperature dictates. The Kili is way too warm for me in the summer and vice versa on the Mesh.

The cycle gear off of Madison will match any online Firstgearusa.com price and I keep an eye on their sales for deals. The Kili I got last year on eBay after watching for awhile and making an offer on it.

[XTrooper]

At 100 degrees, you're probably going to want/need something else, but for the rest of the time, the BMW Tourance 2 jacket should fit the bill. It's comfortable, waterproof, warm in winter, has a removable liner, and isn't crazy expense. I got one of these for both my wife and I and our dealer knocked $90 off the $450 list price.

 

[jb11GSA]

Had my Olympia AST for a couple years; great jacket. A bit stiff when first got it, but with time it softened up and proved to be great in downpours, as well as cooler temperature (30 to 40 degrees with the insert) riding (no insert 40 to 80 very comfortable). I have a second jacket that I use in the summer time (mesh) - I just get too warm with the AST (80 degrees plus).

 

Good luck,

 

 

Joe B

04 R1150RT

[Penforhire]

I'm a happy Motoport 2-pc wearer. I like how it uses a separate waterproof liner as that lets me wear it in warmer weather than a urethane-lined jacket. But somewhere just north of 100 F I still reach for my assorted-vendor partial-mesh gear.

[moshe_levy]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Aerostich http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-suits If I have a good month I may spring for a Darien!

 

-MKL

[cali_beemer]

I know some of you may laugh at this one, but has anyone bought a airbag jacket form overseas? The concept seemed good, but not so certain about implementation. I know a guy that bought one and overall the jacket seemed very high quality. I am not certian about buying without being able to try on first.

 

[pokorskij]

I have the Motoport/Cyclport Ultra Mesh Kevlar and it is great in hot weather, and with liner good to 30 or 40's.

 

One item that is not mentioned too ofter about this jacket/pants and the rain liner that goes inside. While it is a little trouble to add the liner, requiring a stop etc. the difference with this jacket and pant combination in the rain is the that Kevlar does not absorb any of the rain/moisture. Once it stops raining, the outside portion dries in minutes, unlike a lot of jackets with the inner rain liner that remain wet/damp for quite a while.

[Whip]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Aerostich http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-suits If I have a good month I may spring for a Darien!

 

-MKL

 

 

 

+1

 

 

 

[TEWKS]

If I have a good month I may spring for a Darien!

-MKL

 

If ya have a really good month you could get yourself a Rukka.

 

 

Pat

[cali_beemer]

Well, i am trying to revive the old jacket. I dont really want/cant afford a 4-500 dollar jacket. The kilimanjaro looks pretty good for the price. We will see house thie revival of my current jacket works out. My wife is going to see about having a new zipper put in.

[moshe_levy]

Cali-

 

The Kili is beyond "pretty good" for the price. It's incredible. Check out the other TPG Firstgear jackets on the same site. My friend picked one out that retailed for $400+ last year for around $150.00. Can't beat it with a stick. A new zipper will likely cost you $50-75 (at least it does around here). For that, you're halfway to a brand new jacket. I would go that route, personally. The advancements in materials and venting alone are worth buying new.

 

-MKL

[UberXY]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Aerostich http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-suits If I have a good month I may spring for a Darien!

 

-MKL

 

Have had a Roadcrafter for ten years and a Darien for seven. Pricey, but two thumbs up.

[JR356]

TourMaster Transition 2 works very well for the wide variety of CA weather.About $160-170 retail.Better vents than the Kili 5,even though that NewEnough deal is great.

 

JR356

[Bologna]

+2 on "Stich"

[Roadwolf]

I, also, highly recommend an Aerostich... in my case... the two piece RoadCrafter.. I am on my second one after almost ten years of the first one. Very versatile and nearly waterproof. Can be hot in the summers, but I don't mind sweating with the knowledge that I am getting some serious protection from the gear. I wear it over work clothes and when out tooling around, sometimes just shorts underneath the pants. Love it and highly recommend checking them out. Price is steep at first, but when you think of how long these will last/hold up and how versatile, I think it pays for itself in the long run.

[Toad]

Oh boy I want to buy a Stitch!!!!

[lvnvbiker]

So far I've got nothing but good to say about my Tourmaster "transitions 2" jacket. Kept me dry in some good downpours and is warm enough down to around 40 with no other layers for me, and with a silk wieght long sleeve base layer and a sweatshirt/termal shirt I've been toasty down below 20 degrees ambient and I don't know what temp after you count wind chill at 80-90 mph.

And as far as venting it does a great job on the GS, in the heat of summer here in Vegas on the RT it was too warm but then what isn't...

 

Heres a link; http://www.tourmaster.com/xcart/catalog/Transition-Series-2-Jacket-p-240_3.html

[racer7]

I've got a Roadcrafter one piece, a Rev'it Scirroco jacket a lot like many of the others in this thread and a mesh jacket fot hot weather (Rev'it makes a nice one but so do others).

And the Gerbings gloves and jacket are there for really cold stuff.

 

I don't think there is one item that spans the full range.

I think a minimum set is two jackets (one for cool/moderate and one for hot) plus Gerbings or similar for truly cold.

 

I pick for the ride. The sitch becomes an automatic first call for long distance or all day stuff unless it is so hot that the mesh is required. The stich with vents and Goretex is pretty decent at high temps by itself but eventuslly will fail to do it at high heat matched with high humidity. After al, it is Cordura, etc..

 

Shorter runs or extremely hot I use one of the jackets plus some form of lower body protection based on the ride and temps.

[Lmar]

Preview

 

 

In response to:

Poster: lvnvbiker

Subject: Re: Jacket recomendations??????

 

So far I've got nothing but good to say about my Tourmaster "transitions 2" jacket.

 

+1 for the Transition 2 jacket.

[cali_beemer]

Well, I am going to go try on a few jackets tommorow. I think I I have it narrowed down to the Kilimajaro 5.0 and the transition 2. They both seem pretty comprable. I need to try them on first. So far all I have seen is pictures on the net. Newenough.com has the transition 2 for 170 bucks. So, 30 bucks more and I can have any color I want. I am not sure I dig the sand. If I go with the transitions there are some nice colors, black or black/yellow or brown/black all look nice. I am naturally attracted to the all black but the yellow/black is nice and better visibility. The brown and black is nice as well in a conservative way.

[cali_beemer]

So I went and tried on the First Gear Kilimanjaro 5.o and the Tourmaster Transition 2. They both fit well but I preferred the way the transition 2 fit. The transition 2 seemed like a much better design like it was designed by someone that rides. The vent design of the Kilimanjaro seemed like it would be ineeficient. The zippers were hard to access and the vents wont stay open to allow air while riding. The transition 2 had a nice design that would hold vents open while riding. Very nice. However, I felt the Kilimanjaro was a much higher quality jacket. It also felt heavier and felt like it would be warmer in the winter. So, now I am confused. I stopped by the BMW delaer but they are in between jacket models so there were no BMW jackets in stock at all.

[cali_beemer]

Well, I just ordered the Kilimanjaro. The 139 dollar deal was too good to pass up. I will have to try the vents. I may just end up buying a mesh jacket for the summer. The Kilimanjaro seemed better for winter time. It seemed higher quality and was less expensive than the transition 2. The body armor of the Kilimanjaor seemed better as well. Well, its done now. I have heard alot of great reviews of the Kilimanjaro and the store highly recomended it. I liked the fit of the tranasition 2 better and the venting was intelligently designed.

[JonathanE]

I wasn't even shopping for a jacket and I would have ordered one myself, if they had my size. That was just too good a deal to pass up.

 

Shucks.

[Dietrich]

Thanks for the link. My buddy and I both bought the Kili. At that price it was a no-brainer.

[Morrie]

I just bought an Olympia AST touring jacket and so far I am very happy with it. It's dual purpose with a mesh outershell and a zip-out Thermolite inner. It's quite warm and I'm assuming the mesh will be cool in the summer. Armor is quite good and there are lots of pockets and pouches. The overall quality appears to me to be excellent. It's the only jacket I have found with a zip-in lining that has full sleeves. I've seen many with just a vest zip-in. It was $249 but since it's dual purpose it serves the function of two jackets. Hap's Cycles here in Sarasota sells them and a lot of people around town are using them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cali_beemer]

It's the only jacket I have found with a zip-in lining that has full sleeves. I've seen many with just a vest zip-in.

 

The kilimanjaro and the transition 2 both have full sleeve liners. One of the things that I have read about the kilimanjaro that people like is that the liner can be removed and worn like a regular fleece jacket. I am looking forard to the warmth of the kili. My BMW kalajari isnt the warmest in 45 or so and below temps. Although, I dont believe it was designed for those temps.

[1LIFE2LIVE]

www.motoport.com makes some nice jackets/pants that can be custom made.

 

Has hundreds of crash test testimonials regarding the quality of there gear.

 

I own a pair of the kevlar air mesh pants & 3/4 length jacket (high viz) with liners and they fit perfect.

 

Check them out.

 

08 RT

[brianbmw]

How about a Joe Rocket Ballistic 7.0. They can be had at newenough for about $140. Webbikeworld gave it a great review.

 

Brian