Topic: Riding gear costs?

[Hush]

OK so I'm returning to riding after quite a long break and my bike is just weeks away from finishing, when the kids came along 30 years ago and my wife put the screws on I gave away most of my riding gear to people who needed it.
Now I'm starting from scratch and the list is quite formidable, in my teens a pair of jeans, some 2nd world war airmans boots, a pair of ex police gloves and a dodgy helmet was all that was needed. (oh yeah and a scarf I stole from my Mum)
Looking at my shopping list I have:
1) riding jacket, water proof, armoured, reflective, removable inner lining. $150
2) Helmet, flip front FFM K4. $200
3) Gloves, water proof, armoured knuckles, gauntlet sleeve guards. $70
4) Boots, leather, waterproof, armoured bits. $200
5) Riding trousers, armoured, waterproof, reflective $80

And that's only the basics to get me riding:=$700

Is that about what most casual riders would be outlaying, I realise that I will need more bits for winter riding etc but for now that will get me on the road in fairly good protective gear.
Being half a hundred years old I expect to be only riding on blue sky days when the sun is shinning brightly and all the car drongos are asleep in front of their tv's .
This may (will no doubt) change as I get some miles up under my wheels and no doubt the bike bug bites me deep again.

[Rocking-M]

Hey Hush, spend a few more bucks on the Jacket and I'd suggest leather with CE shoulder, elbow, and back armor.
Such as the Fieldsheer Super Sport 4, you can find it for $250.

Riding pants, get armored knees and there again spend a few more bucks for the
such as the Alpinestar Apex pants with the GP knee (tibia) protectors (you want need the sliders just yet  )
these pants also have hip protection.

We all don't want to slide but if we do these will protect you.
I was wearing Alpinestar Bat Pants and did not have the GP Tibia protection,
that's what I cracked too. With the insurance money for gear, yep nationwide replaced
all my gear, I'll be going to the Apex pants.

Only folks that will think your over dressed are those who haven't hit the pavement yet.

[heffay]

maybe i'm lucky, but i'm pretty well armored for basically fee.

hand-me-down stuff is a good way to live.   

it also helps to have a dad that is more into bikes than you are when that really seems an impossibility.   

shop harder!  even when i buy stuff i pay half what you are quoting.  my armor jacket came from bike bandit and cost $60 +/- some change.

[NickC]

Steel toed waterproof boots- free
http://www.newenough.com/closeouts/leather_suits_jackets_and_pants/teknic/blade_leather_motorcycle_jacket.html=$100

Still deciding on gloves....

[DarkRider]

Sounds like a good list to start with Hush. At the moment i have more then $700 just in my upper body armor...HJC Helmet, Belstaff Airstream Jacket and Alpinestars gloves. When it comes to the costs of riding gear its how much of a value you place on the body parts your armor is protecting.

[NickC]

Dark,
I somewhat agree with your last statement. Usually more $$ does mean better quality, but if you find the right stuff, just because it is cheap doesnt mean its bad stuff..

[upperlake04]

4) Boots, leather, waterproof, armoured bits. $200

  Military surplus leather boots, well-made, leather lined, sturdy thick soles cost me $40. here.  Thanks for spelling armour correctly also.

[Hush]

Cheers Rocking M, you gotta remember down here in Kiwi land we don't get great deals on stuff as the whole country is the size of Japan but with only 4 million citizens(we just reached that mark this year )
That's not even a decent city in USA......
Also we are heading for Summer and that means most days 26 to 30 degrees celsius, the area I live in (Hawke's Bay) is sheltered by a big range of mountains that direct the bad weather up the middle of New Zealnd and out through the Bay of Plenty.
I have a leather jacket but as they are not designed to give protection to the rider I decided on the Cordura jacket.
Specs are: 600D Cordura
                Ressia Membrane
                Zip out Thermal liner
                8 inch trouser connector
                4 outside pockets and 2 inside pockets
               Zip up air vents
               Water proof
               CE Removable armour in the Back, Elbows and           Shoulders(EN1621-1:1997:-Type A)
               Kidney padding
               Resistant to all forms of rot and mildew

Still looking for a set of trousers to go with it, will see if that Alpinestar Apex brand is available here in li'l ole Godzone.

[heffay]

Dark,
I somewhat agree with your last statement. Usually more $$ does mean better quality, but if you find the right stuff, just because it is cheap doesnt mean its bad stuff..

agreed, i have 2 near new arai helmets that fit very well, one matches each bike = free
another bell helmet for back up = free
all dot and snell approved and 95th percentile of helmets i see on most people

the cortech jacket i have is an advanced sport by tour master regularly $230ish and like i said it was $60 from bike bandit... they have amazing deals sometimes.

also have an AGV leather jacket which was a hand me down... fully padded, somewhat collectible, and FREE

my gloves were a gift from gordon who was gifted them by linda who won them at the raffle we were all at.     they fit me best. 




so, i'm not saying go beg for clothing... i'm only saying i have a 230 some dollar coat that i got for 60... shop harder!   

[kach_me]

What to wear when my commute is less than 15 minutes (and that's if I screw around)?  I would like to dress for the crash, but am having problems finding gear that I can put on over my work clothing.   Any thoughts? 

[DarkRider]

Dark,
I somewhat agree with your last statement. Usually more $$ does mean better quality, but if you find the right stuff, just because it is cheap doesnt mean its bad stuff..

Dont get me wrong. I agree with your statement completely Nick. Usually most known manufacturers lower priced gear is still much better then some of the cheep gear you may find on ebay. Guess it really comes down to this...Select gear based on how much you value the parts of the body that they are protecting (helmets are a big one here). However if you are on a limited budget when getting your gear try to select something from a known manufacturer first because a lot of them usually have some decent gear going for decent prices. Bell comes to mind same with Alpinestars and Icon. Even HJC has some very affordable helmets that are just as capable of protecting your head as the their higher priced gear. A great way to find out just how well gear fairs out in testing would be to read reviews on the gear you are looking at. Motorcyclist did a detailed test on helmets that were both DOT only and Snell approved...That test showed that its not always the Helmet that has the most $$ in its price that protects the best...the one that did the best in it was only a $75 DOT approved Plastic shell helmet. If i recall right it was a Z1R..

[Rocking-M]

Cheers Rocking M, you gotta remember down here in Kiwi land we don't get great deals on stuff as the whole country is the size of Japan but with only 4 million citizens(we just reached that mark this year )
That's not even a decent city in USA......
Also we are heading for Summer and that means most days 26 to 30 degrees celsius, the area I live in (Hawke's Bay) is sheltered by a big range of mountains that direct the bad weather up the middle of New Zealnd and out through the Bay of Plenty.
I have a leather jacket but as they are not designed to give protection to the rider I decided on the Cordura jacket.
Specs are: 600D Cordura
                Ressia Membrane
                Zip out Thermal liner
                8 inch trouser connector
                4 outside pockets and 2 inside pockets
               Zip up air vents
               Water proof
               CE Removable armour in the Back, Elbows and           Shoulders(EN1621-1:1997:-Type A)
               Kidney padding
               Resistant to all forms of rot and mildew

Still looking for a set of trousers to go with it, will see if that Alpinestar Apex brand is available here in li'l ole Godzone.

A kiwi eh? I was made an honorary Kiwi on another forum.    

Yea, y'all get pretty hot but we can match you where I'm from, if your in traffic there's not much to
do but sweat with the gear on, but on the road I find the gear to be not to hot.
Sounds like you got a good jacket, does it have the armour (I spelled it this way to make Dave happy).
The jacket I just did a long slide in was a fully perforated Fieldsheer Airspeed 4 ($250).
Here is the result if you didn't see the other post (this was a deer inflicted high side, somewhere around 60mph when I hit)

now wear through on back,


wear through on shoulder but armour underneath and no shoulder damage to me.  



Did rip out one seam,





You can source a pair of fully perforated leather pants with the GP knee inserts and you'll be set.

The Fieldsheer air pants don't come right out and say they have the armour,

http://www.kneedraggers.com/details/Fieldsheer_Sport_Air_Leather_Pant--620638.html

I'm not a fan of textiles but these would probably do the job,

http://www.kneedraggers.com/details/Alpinestars_A10_Air_Flo_Textile_Pants--633172.html


I've turned into a gear pusher...

[kghost]

Thats a good post Rocking....great pictures. Top notch bro.

[tramp]

good list
get a better jacket
anything that cost $150 is show and tell, not functional

[heffay]

come put my jacket on tramp and repeat that.

i almost want to go crash just to prove it.

[fuzzybutt]

i paid 149.00 for my joe rocket phoenix 4.0 jacket and the matching joe rocket boots i paid 15 for off of sleaze-bay. no armored pants yet as there are none made for extra fat kids like me  i just got a HEAVY buffalo leather jacket for winter riding. paid 149.00 for it too.