• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

Torn on what to wear for the trip

glenfiddich

TravelsWithBarley.com
Okay, in the greater scheme of things this is a pretty wimpy dilemma. But thanks to Barley's bed and the wonderful storage space beneath it, I have room to take two sets of riding gear. From Vermont to Oregon via the Great Plains, Badlands, Black Hills, Beartooth Pass, backroads of Montana, Lolo Pass, Mt Rainier, St Helens, Mt Hood, Crater Lake, NorCal Redwoods and back up the southern Oregon coastline I'll probably experience everything from brutal heat to torrential rain.

I'll definitely be taking my mesh for the hot sections: RevIt pants and BMW Airshell top. I'm not a big fan of removable liners, but they work well even if it feels like a sauna in a warm rain.

But for cooler climes and gentle rains I'm torn between my Onesie Stich...and my RevIt Sand pants and Cayenne jacket with liners. The Stich is more comfy as long as I'm moving, will keep me dry enough in a drizzle or a gentle soaker, but is less than optimal at rest stops when I have to take Barley for a walk to pee and supplement his diet with small rodents.

Must sit down and do a cost-benefit analysis...
 
The Stich is more comfy as long as I'm moving, will keep me dry enough in a drizzle or a gentle soaker, but is less than optimal at rest stops when I have to take Barley for a walk to pee and supplement his diet with small rodents.

Must sit down and do a cost-benefit analysis...

Buy an Aerostich Darien. I covers every riding situation and you can take the jacket off at rest stops. :ha

I used to wear a Roadcrafter 2, and wore it unzipped into two halves. That was before the Darien gear came out.

Ian
 
In my experience, whatever you choose...will be the wrong decision. LOL

At least that's the way it's worked for me in the past!

Cheers!

PS. Like your handle Glenfiddich, but I prefer Glenfarclas. ;)
 
We are doing our several months on the road trip this summer. I have with me my Aerostich Darian jacket and two pairs of riding pants - Roadcrafter 2 piece pants with zip on bib top and First Gear mesh pants.

The Darian jacket is the best all around gear I have. It is cooler than my Roadcrafter in hot weather. In anything over the mid 90s the hot air blowing through mesh is hotter, or if you are sweating enough for cooling under the mesh there is a serious threat from dehydration.

So cold, cool, warm, or hot I wear the Darian. I save the mesh jacket for short trips in sub-90s temperatures around home.

I am comfortable in the Aerostich pants up to about 85. I am comfortable in the First Gear mesh vented pants above about 55.

So I look at the forecast for the day including temperature and liklihood of rain and pick accordingly. The Aerostich jacket and pants are my wet weather gear. Sometimes I switch pants in the middle of the day if tempertures change a lot or if we are about to hit rain.

Today, in Utah, we started out about 70F, dipped to 55F or so, and then hit a high while riding of a bit over 90F. I wore the Darian and the First Gear pants.
 
My solution

My 0.02 -

First I pull the armor out of my regular jacket, and I leave the armor in my mesh jacket.

I like to wear the mesh jacket with a long sleeve shirt when it's toasty, and the main jacket packs small.

When it gets cooler I wear both, and the mesh jacket (with armor) becomes my liner.

For below the belt, I wear silk long johns under the riding pants. They are cool and comfy.

As Paul cautioned, DO be careful about dehydration on long trips in the heat. It sneaks up on ya.

- Steve
 
Last edited:
riding

I've done quite a bit of research on this and have found the Darien Jacket and AD1 pants work best for me worn over LD comfort tights and shirt. With the vents closed and sleeves wide open, I can wet the sleeves and it feels very comfy and temps about 90 as long as you're moving. I've tried mesh and various BMW jackets but the stich works.
 
AD1's

Just got my AD1 Lights and about to ride far in them. I rarely have to pack two jackets but this trip so. North Shore of Alaska has me doing so. My mesh jacket for the lower 48 and into southern Canada. My Olympic AST goes on after that. I used a compression sack(strap type) to get my Olympic AST at a reasonable size inside saddlebag. It was just too bulky to not squish it down in size. I may go back and remove the pads, do over. But then I must store the pads! Hopefully I can reshape the pads, as I know I reshaped them a tad in that sack. Randy
 
Go with the mesh

I'm from Colorado and made the trip to OR last year in mid-June. Will also go to Salem. Recommend the mesh, it's easier to gear up for the cold. I did Mt Hood in the snow and Mt St Helens in a cold rain. I had a heated vest over a light long sleeve fleece and was fine in the cold. Put the rain jacket and rain pants over the mesh pants and jacket and was fine for the rain.
 
Back
Top