Adventure gear - what are you wearing?

[Woodman]

Did someone mention the nose chop incident?

The scars are healing slowly.

Or this one

that was a fun couple of hours in the hot sun aye

Yeah, make their own gravity apparently. I'm not familiar with the poor chap who is being pilloried but he obviously rides just like me. I would probably like him if we met.

He rides a leeetle bit more sensibly these days.

Well, yeah. But KLR riders.....

Agreed, they are special.

Every time I see that picture of poor old Nige's nose nip, it makes my eyes water

You should have been sitting where I was!

Mind you every other internal visor helmet I have checked out since, the visor springs back with very little pressure, whereas mine locked in place.

[R650R]

Saw the ad online for the latest Klim Badlands jacket. Very impressive specs then I saw the price. Is it really worth more than twice the price of some other well specced jackets?. Hard to benchmark jacket value in the true sense of :are you really getting what you pay for?. Must check out some online reviews such as Webbikeworld.

I think Klim and Dainese command the price as they have goretex who guarantee the waterproof part for lifetime warranty.
For the good run I've had out of my gear its do I replace with like and the keep original for dry weather thereby making new stuff last longer or buy expensive stuff and hope it doesn't wear out the same....

[Waipukbiker]

Yeah, If I was after a new jacket and the money was available I wouldnt hesitate with the Klim but my current jacket is still completely waterproof after 4 years and doing what it was designed to do so all good for now.

[XF650]

Pfffffft. That's amateur. I had a certain DT up to the top of the tank.....:facepalm

I know the feeling....

[R650R]

After considering all options I pulled the pin on new RST Adventure II setup. Got a great deal from Erikkson Honda who've looked after me in the past with regards to gear.
Price is actually cheaper than to buy overseas so a great deal. Wanted black and silver (Klim look) but we only get black option in NZ.
Previously had the RST Paragon II jacket, they now at Paragon 4 and been lots of little changes. The RST has vents for Africa and they are big ones which addresses my previous only real problem with them.
Bought in same size and jacket feels like a much nicer better cut fit and style wize and the ADV specific pants feel better in seated position and vented well too.
Best of all the waterproof membrane can be zipped out making repair easy, have it last longer by not in when you don't need it and technically replaceable on its own.
Pushed for info on wether the membrane could be bought on its own as spare part in future, sounded possible but unconfirmed. Hopefully they willas be good marketing, point of difference on service for them.
Now all I need is some shitty weather for decent test lol

[Box'a'bits]

I've got the RST Adventure (not II). Looking at the video, the II is mostly a slight cosmetic update with a throat coat added. I found that the inner waterproof liner isn't entirely up to spec, & leaks a bit. Also, the jacket once wet acts as a heat exchanger. So in really heavy weather I run an external waterproof system.

I'm really happy with the jacket in most other conditions, especially the ability to vent via the mesh panels.

[JimmyC]

As an aside, do any of you factor in colour and its subsequent potential heat issues in the sun when choosing gear? My last jacket (Revit Cayenne) was all black and was pretty warm, when stopped in traffic it was definitely noticeable. It didn't vent terribly well however. My current jacket (Revit GTX Defender) is very light in colour, even more than the RST above. It definitely felt cooler but then the venting was better also.

I'm seriously contemplating getting the Klim Badlands set in the next few months whilst I'm in a position to, but I'm not a big fan of the grey\black combo purely from a cosmetic point of view. Wondering if there'd be much, if any, difference between that and the black set when it comes to heat in direct sunlight? My ponderings stem from having recently moved to Tauranga from Wellington, it gets a lot hotter up here with much less wind, but when it rains, it's usually like a biblical event.

[Big Dog]

As an aside, do any of you factor in colour and its subsequent potential heat issues in the sun when choosing gear? My last jacket (Revit Cayenne) was all black and was pretty warm, when stopped in traffic it was definitely noticeable. It didn't vent terribly well however. My current jacket (Revit GTX Defender) is very light in colour, even more than the RST above. It definitely felt cooler but then the venting was better also.

I'm seriously contemplating getting the Klim Badlands set in the next few months whilst I'm in a position to, but I'm not a big fan of the grey\black combo purely from a cosmetic point of view. Wondering if there'd be much, if any, difference between that and the black set when it comes to heat in direct sunlight? My ponderings stem from having recently moved to Tauranga from Wellington, it gets a lot hotter up here with much less wind, but when it rains, it's usually like a biblical event.

Most coloured gear stops at 3xl.
I wear whatever I can buy in a 5-7xl.

Sent via tapatalk.

[R650R]

I've got the RST Adventure (not II). Looking at the video, the II is mostly a slight cosmetic update with a throat coat added. I found that the inner waterproof liner isn't entirely up to spec, & leaks a bit. Also, the jacket once wet acts as a heat exchanger. So in really heavy weather I run an external waterproof system.

I'm really happy with the jacket in most other conditions, especially the ability to vent via the mesh panels.

The absence of the throat coat would have been your problem. When I got lazy/caught out from time to time without it on the Paragon II a surprising amount of water finds its way in via your neck.
Never had problem like you say with paragon which is made out of same material, perhaps your outer shell needed a repellent freshen up, a small degree of maintainance is needed for these type of things.
Really impressed with RST warranty service in past so not worried about any issues.

As for someone elses comment about black colour, don't think it matters much when you have such a solid barrier. I find leathers actually cooler in hot sun if keeping on the move, I reckon the problem with getting hot is all down to lack of venting.

Just noticed they supplied a separate polypropel type black neck balaclava too, nice touch.

[R650R]

Adventure spec helmets... aside from the ability to wear googles (which is not going to be often for me) are there any other advantages apart from big beak sunvisor?
Most of my ADV miles are predomoinantly on road getting to somewhere interesting, should is tick with road style helmet???
Will only be interested in top of the line Arai or Shoei so not interested in quirks of any of the cheap stuff....

[Gremlin]

As an aside, do any of you factor in colour and its subsequent potential heat issues in the sun when choosing gear?

I think about it, but often the colours don't work out. My previous jacket was a Revit Off Track, in khaki and black, was fine with it. Defender is all black. Ultimately I don't think it really gets that hot in most of NZ to be too much of a factor, unless it's a lot of slow going stuff. Manufacturers seem to enjoy putting out bright reds or blues in their colour pattern, which a, I don't like and b, will shortly look like shit. I'm not keen on the light colours as they show dirt very quickly (my idea of washing my gear is riding in rain) but that said, mud doesn't match black too good either

[clint640]

Adventure spec helmets... aside from the ability to wear googles (which is not going to be often for me) are there any other advantages apart from big beak sunvisor?
Most of my ADV miles are predomoinantly on road getting to somewhere interesting, should is tick with road style helmet???
Will only be interested in top of the line Arai or Shoei so not interested in quirks of any of the cheap stuff....

Just the sunshade aspect of a peak is pretty damn useful, especially if you have a dusty/dirty visor. Another thing I've found handy is that when riding scrubby tracks offroad, with the visor up cos it's slow & sweaty, the peak protects your face & visor from roost, branch & blackberry attack - just dip your head to fend it off. I've had road helmet visors ripped off before when riding scrubby tracks.

Cheers
Clint

[Trials Rider]

I think about it, but often the colours don't work out. My previous jacket was a Revit Off Track, in khaki and black, was fine with it. Defender is all black. Ultimately I don't think it really gets that hot in most of NZ to be too much of a factor, unless it's a lot of slow going stuff. Manufacturers seem to enjoy putting out bright reds or blues in their colour pattern, which a, I don't like and b, will shortly look like shit. I'm not keen on the light colours as they show dirt very quickly (my idea of washing my gear is riding in rain) but that said, mud doesn't match black too good either

My old ADV was black and for me it was like wearing a solar panel, I sweat a lot and don't like wearing layers, I wear the Klim Bladlands in Grey and I noticed a huge difference in lower heat absorption and with ten good vents on the jacket alone I can get plenty of venting on demand, the D3O back plate has channels across it to vent nicely too.

Winter is fine because it is complete wind stopper and that works extremely well too.

[Night Falcon]

My old ADV was black and for me it was like wearing a solar panel, I sweat a lot and don't like wearing layers, I wear the Klim Bladlands in Grey and I noticed a huge difference in lower heat absorption and with ten good vents on the jacket alone I can get plenty of venting on demand, the D3O back plate has channels across it to vent nicely too.

Winter is fine because it is complete wind stopper and that works extremely well too.

Black gear gets pretty uncomfortable in HB in summer if you don't have lots of good vents.

On the helmet peak discussion - I had to raise my peak on the Arai XD4 to max position as it blocked out my field of view too much when standing. Still keeps the sun out better than my old Shoei Hornet-don't know why they even put a peak on those they don't do anything....look ok though

[JayDNZ]

So I'm quite new to this and totally underestimated the amount of gear required, building my kit up slowly, but what's the main advantage of an adventure jacket over a road jacket? I assume better moment and ability to better controll temperature? Ie more vents? Probably different padding/protection too?