riding gear

[What?]

Originally posted by Coldkiwi
Aye.. came into the city from howick at 6:15 this morning and got thoroughly pissed on the entire way!! Road spray, foggy visor, and heavy rain.. oh joy.

No need for foggy visors. For $30 you can get a Fog City visor insert - it is a thin film which adheres to the inside of your visor. You will need a new visor for it to stick properly, and take some care to make sure it is dry when installing. I have been using them for something like 12 or 15 years now and would not be without one (except on my Nolan, which takes a clip-in insert, enabling a quick change from clear to dark).

As for gloves, in winter I wear Spidi AL3. These are totally waterproof and very warm. Too warm for this time of year. In summer, I rely on snowseal to help keep the mitts dry.

I also have a PVC oversuit made by Jet Leathers. Costs about $100, does not leak, is light weight so rolls up small and comes with a replacement gaurantee for IF it does leak. Can't go wrong.

[boris]

A good place to pick up ceap leather jackets is cash converters. I got mine for $40 an old AGV one,Had to sew up two pockets,that i would not have  used anyway.I have one of flash  touring jacket things tooA Clover .But over summer it was to hot to ware.I do know leather dose work well in a crash.Ten+years ago I Fell of at about 120k the speed normaly got threw the corner at,this time it didn't stick,slid down the road but i was wearing my rain gear ,which was riped to bits, over my leathers and still managed to put a small  hole in the leather and a red graze on my arm about the size of a five cent bit.

 

Boris

[Coldkiwi]

I'd recommend looking through The Budget Shop in Onehunga Mall. That place has the biggest range of leather jackets (yes, more than motomail) at incredbily good prices considering how well built they are. (Try from $250 for a brand new jacket thick leather, with a contoured cut, padded rolls etc!)

definitely worth looking at and I'd wager it would come out best value for money

[wkid_one]

My best advice - if buying new - buy tight.  All jackets and trou give.  You want the armour to be HARD AGAINST your impact points - if there is a gap, they can actually cause more damage.  A gap between the armour and body can actually still see the bone break before the armour does........just something to be aware of - especially if buying leather.

 

[Coldkiwi]

Mike,

on the helmet side of things, I picked up a KBC helmet last year quite cheaply from Mt Eden and have been very happy with it.Well made, flush visor and good seals (don't underestimate the need for good seals)and nice graphics for $400. The Nex range that some stores (Mt Eden, Cycletreads and I think Leading Edge have them that I've seen) are stocking now is also good looking and similar quality.

I saw some really good deals on the Shark range at Mt Eden as well last week if you want to spend a few hundred more and get a top quality good helmet.

[wkid_one]

On the subject of skidlids - KIWI are back in to producing helmets, ask around - these are excellent quality well priced kit

[MikeL]

Thanks for all the info. There's plenty here to keep me busy. I'll have a browse in Motomail this weekend and also check out that Budget shop in Onehunga (just down the road from where I live - how come I didn't notice it before??). I actually picked up my current jacket, leather pants and boots from Cash Converters - good prices but apart from jackets not a lot of choice. I'll also go and talk to the people at Mt Eden - I've bought a couple of things for my bike from them and been impressed by their friendly and efficient manner. (Will find out about their service department next week as I've booked my bike in for a 30,000k service).
Thanks for all the advice.

[Suzi Q]

Also Check out Colemans - got my Clover Jacket from them - they sent it down to CHCH for me.
I wish there was a decent amount of Ladies gear - there is more now than in the past, but still not enough choice in CHCH!

[Lou Girardin]

Thanks for all the info. There's plenty here to keep me busy. I'll have a browse in Motomail this weekend and also check out that Budget shop in Onehunga (just down the road from where I live - how come I didn't notice it before??). I actually picked up my current jacket, leather pants and boots from Cash Converters - good prices but apart from jackets not a lot of choice. I'll also go and talk to the people at Mt Eden - I've bought a couple of things for my bike from them and been impressed by their friendly and efficient manner. (Will find out about their service department next week as I've booked my bike in for a 30,000k service).
Thanks for all the advice.

PM me MikeL, I may be able to help, but I can't promote AMPS on this site.
Lou

[MikeL]

PM me MikeL, I may be able to help, but I can't promote AMPS on this site.
Lou

Thanks Lou. My original post was over a year ago, and since then I've upgraded almost everything, so am fairly well set up (my recent oops proved the effectiveness of my gear in preventing anything more serious than a broken collarbone). I've got 2 helmets - the one I was wearing when I crashed has a broken visor hinge and some deep gouges in the shell so I'll need to replace that but there's no hurry - I'll wait until there are some special deals going.

[aff-man]

Look at mt eden they have sharks for $500 (only fibre glass not carbon) but still bloody good as well as some other deals.

[SPman]

Look at mt eden they have sharks for $500 (only fibre glass not carbon) but still bloody good as well as some other deals.

Red Baron had HJC AC10's for $499 - Carbon Kevlar

[phil_elvey]

IMPORTANT: (I am about to start a thread to this so you can read it there as well, but...) I just received today a set of Dainese leathers that I brought over the internet from a Co called Motorace (www.motorace.com). They are awesome! 2-pc black suit with all the armour (real decent stuff, too) and they look the shit. The whole lot cost me $1100! Hundreds less than if I had gone to buy a suit of similar quality here in NZ. As you can probably guess, I am stoked.

With helmets, I just got a new HJC AC-11 helmet and are very pleased with it. It has a cool mouth guard sort of thing that directs your breath down out of the helmet (and away from the visor) to lessen the visor fogging up. Definately helps. I saw a Shoei for a reasonable price and thought "Choice, a chance to own the best" but tried it on and didn't like it, no matter what size it was, so you just have to try the different brands on to see what one fits your head.

With gloves - here in maritime mediteranian NZ, you need definately need two pairs of gloves (summer and winter), trying to ride in winter in a half-pie pair of gloves just causes pain and frustration, and going out for a sporty ride on a summers day in inch thick gloves will cause a bit of cursing also.

Hope this helps