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Riding Pants

C

craigstb

Guest
After attending the rally at Gillette I realized that I desperately need to invest in riding pants. Jeans provide no protection, are bulky to pack, and hot to wear in mid-July. Any suggestions on pants than offer comfort on hot days as well as cool mornings and that can be worn over shorts or jeans?
Thanks
 
I get 4 season performance from my tourmaster "venture air" pants and "intake" jacket.
 
no riding pants that you wear over other pants or shorts are going to be comfortable or cool. Get some dedicated riding pants. I have the BMW Rally 2 pros and find them very versitile. Take the water proof line out and open the vents, good for warm to hot riding, close the vents, good for cooler mornings, put in the liners and good for rain, wear some longjohns under them and good for cold weather. I've worn them from freezing to 100 and they work.(sometimes in one day around here!).

Earl
 
Tour Master Caliber

http://www.motogearoutlet.com/pants.htm About half way down. Wear them commuting over my chinos. Armor, waterproof, removable liners, velcro waist closure.

Rode home in a downpour today and stayed dry as a bone.

Could wear them over shorts but I haven't yet.

:clap
 
I either use my Venting Machine Pants or wear the Roadcrafter over jeans (the only "over pant" option in the wardrobe).

I've heard that BMW's Summer Pants and City Pants are also pretty good.
 
Try Olympia Airglide II mesh pants. I have 2 pair. Great vented mesh for hot days and a zip out removable quilted waterproof liner for those not so hot days. Great quality, good armour, and stylish too. I just did 4 days riding around the Catskills in mostly hot humid weather, and they performed great. Good down to about 40 degrees with the liner in. Lower than that, I have Olympia Rangers, which are solid nylon, with no mesh, and they get me down into the low 20's. Below that I have TourMaster Calibers which could go sub-zero, but they're very bulky and I look like the Michelin Man wearing them. Hope that helps.
 
I got 2 sets of clothes - Fall / Winter Gore Tex.
- Spring / Summer Kevlar
- Light weight rain gear -for summer

Get good gear - it might be $$ but you'll thank me later if something happens to you.

Bottom line is you get what you pay for - just like in bikes you ride.
 
+1 for the Olympia Airglide II overpants - they are very good for the price and great in the summer. I use them when it is 100 degrees and with the liner down to 45 degrees. Below that I use leather.
 
I have the Tourmaster Flex pants and jacket. I really like them a lot. I managed to get in almost 600 miles last weekend here in Ohio. It was 95 degrees and almost as humid. I was comfortable while riding and the mesh was comfy off the bike as well. I have worn the suit with the liners down to 40 degrees and been comfortable. For the money I think the Flex outfit is hard to beat.
 
I wear Darien pants in all seasons of weather.....last week they went from high 30's in the passes to 100+ in the desert.....they worked well across the board.....and with bicycle shorts underneath, I rode two 1,000+ mile days.....they worked in the rain because they are Gortex.....they flow air because they are Gortex.....and I like the fact that they are all-in-one, I have no need to change or put on anything because the weather changed.......

I think the most important thing is "fit"....if you are comfortable in the pants, and you have the right jacket (Darien for me) you will be just fine.....I like the Darien pants because they are a "jean" fit pant. And that fits me just right....

Good luck with your search.....
 
Riding clothes

To Jim Bud;
Please post the web address for the Darien pants you mentioned.
Thanks,
Lee
 
+1 for the Olympia Airglide II overpants - they are very good for the price and great in the summer. I use them when it is 100 degrees and with the liner down to 45 degrees. Below that I use leather.

Make that +2 now for the Olympia Airglide II overpants.

With the liners and insulated long-johns (medium to heavy weight) I've ridden in temps down into the teens.
 
Another big plus for Darien pants. I did not get mine fitted as overpants (i.e. I got them one size smaller), so they fit just like jeans and are comfortable on and off the bike. Comfortable over a wider temperature range. If it is cold, I wear some lightweight fleece long underwear underneath and if it is hot, just my riding (biking) shorts. Great riding pants! If I had to have just one, that would be it. But I don't have to have just one, so I also have some BMW Savanna2 pants for warmer weather and just put some lightweight rain pants over them (North Face Venture) if I'm caught in the rain. The only other thing I do is to take out the knee armor in all my riding gear and use some MX style knee/shin guards under the pants. I trust the better armor to stay in place and work better than lighter armor that floats in pockets in the pants. Fall on your knees once and you'll understand. That covers me for about everything until the 1pc. Roadcrafter gets put on...
 
I found from my Gillette Experience that it depends on what kind of cycle you have. My son-in-law has a R1200C and keeps cool and often gets cold. I have an R1100RT (fairings) and I keep warm and get too hot.

I use a mesh jacket and pants and up to 90 degrees do OK. After that I worry I am going to overheat and pass out, so I take my chances without the jacket. I remove my gloves at 85 degrees.

My mesh pants are only hot on the Knees where the pads are, but they make it nice to kneel on the ground while you are checking out your oil level or tire pressures. I don't think the clothes' black colors makes much of a difference. I am not sure white would stay clean.

I also have reinforced riding jeans but they are hot anytime above 80 degrees.

ReadyToRide.jpg
 
Summer Pants

I can vouch for the BMW Summer pants. Versatile, comfortable, good armour.

Second that. I've got four different sets of riding pants counting my kevlar lined jeans. A set of mesh armor Feildsheer that I liked allot but are now pretty raged - a set of Tourmaster "jean pants" that are a basic armor/waterproof pant - I only wear them in the spring and fall as over pants when it's cold. Then the Summer pants.

Love em. Good armor and I love the extra pockets and the ability to zip off the legs when you get to camp. They are water resistant enough to get you through most cloudbursts and somehow much cooler than sweaty-sticky jeans.
 
color of clothes

a couple of months ago some swine stole my black Nitro jacket while my rt was parked. The only jacket that I could find locally that fit me was a space suit colored light silver color.I hate riding in anything but biker-black. However, for most of the year in south Texas I have found that the lighter color is much cooler in hot weather(which is all we have down here) than black. I was very surprised that the lighter color made such a difference in how hot it feels. I am a convert-but black still looks better to me. The silver does get to looking tacky much faster than black.
 
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