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Enough is Enough:

A

ARValkguy

Guest
Ok first off let me begin by saying, I have no problem paying more for a better quality piece of equipment. I do ride a BMW afterall. I don't usually try to put a price on my safety or the safety of my passengers be it my Wife or children.
I want to hear from you, your thoughts about the prices on some of the crap we buy to keep ourselves safe, warm, dry, cool or just some goofy gadget we found in the back of some magazine. Some of the prices for things specifically riding gear are completely ridiculous!! I love the BMW airflow pants and jacket but are they really worth 800 bucks? Is an Aerostich suit worth a thousand dollars? I would just like to hear what you all think. I know that some of you are fairly affluent even if you refuse to say it, but even those of you with a ferrari in the garage must say to yourselves DAMN that is crazy expensive from time to time. Or am I just a tight Bastage?

Kelly
 
I destroyed $1500 worth of new riding gear last week. Yes it was worth every penny as it kept my hide intact.

I don't mind paying more for function. I won't pay more for something just for the right look or to wear the right lable. Not that style isn't a factor, its just not the top of the list.
 
I try to buy wisely

I've bought two jackets, riding pants, boots and two pairs of gloves in the past year.

One jacket was $250, Olympic Air mesh. The other was $150 or so for a 3/4 length Tour Master jacket, $150 for Tour Master pants and around $120 for Tour Master boots.

I'm happy with the gear, it is comfortable, armored, waterproof and serves my needs.

I wouldn't pay a grand for a suit but that's me.
 
I paid $800 for an Aerostitch Darien jacket and pants outfit. Thankfully, I never tested its crash-worthiness, but I also wore it for about 150K miles. The only reason I stopped wearing it was because I wanted something different. Did I get my money's worth out of the jacket? I think so. It's still in my closet and ready when I want to wear it again.
 
Ok first off let me begin by saying, I have no problem paying more for a better quality piece of equipment. I do ride a BMW afterall. I don't usually try to put a price on my safety or the safety of my passengers be it my Wife or children.
I want to hear from you, your thoughts about the prices on some of the crap we buy to keep ourselves safe, warm, dry, cool or just some goofy gadget we found in the back of some magazine. Some of the prices for things specifically riding gear are completely ridiculous!! I love the BMW airflow pants and jacket but are they really worth 800 bucks? Is an Aerostich suit worth a thousand dollars? I would just like to hear what you all think. I know that some of you are fairly affluent even if you refuse to say it, but even those of you with a ferrari in the garage must say to yourselves DAMN that is crazy expensive from time to time. Or am I just a tight Bastage?

Kelly


How about the price of foot peg lowering blocks???
 
I want to hear from you, your thoughts about the prices on some of the crap we buy to keep ourselves safe, warm, dry, cool or just some goofy gadget we found in the back of some magazine. Some of the prices for things specifically riding gear are completely ridiculous!!

If nobody paid the prices, they would most certainly be slashed and they'd still make a very healthy profit. Ever wonder how MSRP can be cut by 20% or more...huge mark-ups!!!

Did you know that is costed $2.50 to make a pair of Nikes (in the news)...yet people pay over a $100 for them and if you knew what the salary of a Nike employee was, you'd wonder who was making all the money.

As for gear, just about all of it is made where labor is dirt cheap. I doubt most riding jacket or pants run more than $20 to make and I'm being generous.

So the best thing to do is stretch the number of years you get out of your riding gear. I get well over 10 years out of mine.

Remember, when you part with a buck, it ends up in someone else's pocket and the rich get richer.
 
I don't mind paying more for function. I won't pay more for something just for the right look or to wear the right lable. Not that style isn't a factor, its just not the top of the list.[/QUOTE]

I destroyed $1500 worth of new riding gear last week. Yes it was worth every penny as it kept my hide intact. Hope your ok :thumb
 
I destroyed $1500 worth of new riding gear last week. Yes it was worth every penny as it kept my hide intact.

I don't necessarily think that the OP was implying it was not worth keeping yourself or your rider safe. But I think my question would be thus:

Does it have to cost $1500? I drool over the $400 Nolan helmets. But does one provide more protection to my dome than the $149 HJC CL-15 I have? It's DOT and SNELL rated. I have a First Gear armored jacket I bought from New Enough on closeout for $49, Field Sheer riding boots from eBay for $79 and Joe Rocket gloves I picked up for $5.00. If and when I spend $100 for a pair of textile armored over pants, will this stuff provide me less protection than a $1000 suit?
 
Somehow the cost of the gear I have bought over my motorcycling days does not bother me as much as some vendors handling & shipping fees.

I recently bought a cellphone adapter cord for my chatterbox 50 that cost $24.99. The shipping & handling was $12.02. It came to me in a medium sized envelope???

This is one of the reasons that I like to attend the national rally, no shiping & handling fees on top of the list price of the item (so far as I can tell) It's also nice to be able to try on and hold in your hand something that you are about to shell out some hard earned bucks for.
 
I wont do business with companies that make money on shipping. I've sold plenty of stuff on the internet and know that COST of shipment STILL depends on the item size and weight and there are ways NOT to screw the consumer on it.

A couple of years ago, I got an emailed link from my niece and nephew for their school fundraiser with Innisbruck. Could order stuff from them with the money going to their school.
So I did. A little bit from each. Couple rolls of paper and something else. Total cost was probably $20. Shipping totalled $25. I was BULL TIHS! I fired off an email to the company and got the standard "Oh we have minimums, weights, blah blah blah." I will never buy anything from them again. Told my brother that I will GLADLY send the money directly to their school before I give it to that company again.
 
Somehow the cost of the gear I have bought over my motorcycling days does not bother me as much as some vendors handling & shipping fees.

I recently bought a cellphone adapter cord for my chatterbox 50 that cost $24.99. The shipping & handling was $12.02. It came to me in a medium sized envelope???

This is one of the reasons that I like to attend the national rally, no shiping & handling fees on top of the list price of the item (so far as I can tell) It's also nice to be able to try on and hold in your hand something that you are about to shell out some hard earned bucks for.

S&H has become a new profit center for most businesses.

As an example, I wanted a plastic plug that fit the brake reservoir on my sailboat trailer. S&H was more that the part. Asked them to mail it at cost. They answered that they "can not" mail a part to me.

Ordered it at the local auto parts store and saved $13.00 in S&H!!!!!!
 
Prices Are Too High

I think many items are priced too high. A contributing reason is that many marketers are inefficient.

When you buy clothing, you are also paying for all the small sizes and real large they never sell. It burns me up when I go in a store and find no large shirts, but 5 medium and 8 small shirts. My wife get frustrated when she can't find a size 8 or 9. The rack will be full of 4 - 7 and 10-14. I rarely find 8-9 shoes while there are plenty of 6-7 or 10-12. Instead of buying 6,6,6,6,6 of things, they need to buy 2,6,24,6,2 of things.

When Cadillac advertises a CTS on TV it is always a RED ONE. Go to the dealer and they will have a ton of silver, white, and tan ones, but no red. Many of them will be part of the year end clearance.

I have a friend who sells Fords. For the last two years I have asked him about how are the Hybrid sales doing? His answer is that Ford cannot provide them with the Hybrids, so they don't sell many of them. Ford is pushing the Trucks and SUVs.

I am trying to buy an Extra Large motorcycle cover at Walmart (for my R1100RT). They have over 20 Large size covers (wont fit), but the Extra Large spaces on the shelves are empty and have been for over 6 weeks. I am still waiting.

So since they are all so messed up, they make it up by charging and arm and a leg for what does sell.
 
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Most of the lower priced gear will protect you up to a point, but typically the higher end stuff will do a better job and come out of it in better shape afterwards.

In my case (full story here), the $1500 includes the jacket, pants gloves and helmet. The helmet was the most expensive single item on the list. The gloves were the cheapest, and were also the lowest quality brand item. They did the job, but barely. If I had slid another 10 feet, I think my hands would have been exposed and injured.

I plan to replace the items with exactly the same brands and styles save the gloves. For those, I'm looking for something better next time.

Sometimes the extra cost is not just for better protection but for longterm wear and durability or for comfort and convienience features. Then its a matter of deciding if that's whorthwhile to you or if you can make do with the less expensive stuff.
 
Does it have to cost $1500? I drool over the $400 Nolan helmets. But does one provide more protection to my dome than the $149 HJC CL-15 I have? It's DOT and SNELL rated. I have a First Gear armored jacket I bought from New Enough on closeout for $49, Field Sheer riding boots from eBay for $79 and Joe Rocket gloves I picked up for $5.00. If and when I spend $100 for a pair of textile armored over pants, will this stuff provide me less protection than a $1000 suit?[/QUOTE]


I don't think the listed items above will provide less protection. I too have at one time used just about all of the above. I did find that they just don't last as long. Cheap zippers, cheaper materials etc. My solution was to buy as mush used gear as possible. There are lots of good deals out there. Just start with the flea market and you will see what I mean. I could buy new, but I'm just to cheap. :thumb
 
Last year when we bought this BMW (our first)- a 15 Y.O. K1100RS, I sent away for the BMW clothing catalog. First bad sign was when the prices are separate from the catalog. BMW branded clothing may be high quality but those prices are nuts!

This is my first year back riding after 20 years away. So combine improved products with 20 years of $$ inflation and I have some serious sticker shock.

We have shopped around and are both ATGATT with middle quality gear. The best there is? Not quite. But I am comfortable with our level of protection. Question is, how much is too much for our protection? $1000, $2000, $5000, or more....??

Would I like an Aerostich suit? Sure. Given that the K was my only transportation this Summer, maybe it is worth it. But with 2 kids in college this year, no.

But you are right, many prices sure seem outrageous.
 
Sometimes the extral $$$'s you pay are for additional features, not necessarily greater protection. Is that worth it? Maybe, some of those additional features are pretty darn nice.

For helmets, I'm thinking venting, ease of replacing a shield, removable/washable liner, etc.

For a jacket, I'm thinking about pockets, venting, liner, zippers, etc.

I could go on for gloves and boots.

Using Aerostich as an example, they have top notch customer service, and a good product. Is customer service important to you? If so, then that's part of what you're paying for.

The same goes for other riding gear. I bought a HJC CL-15 last year as my "interim" helmet after my Nolan sustained a severe blow. It was 6 years old anyway. I picked up the HJC because it was relatively inexpensive, and it fits my head perfectly. It doesn't vent near as well as my Nolan did, and frankly, is almost as noisy. But, it's DOT and SNELL rated, so I'm fairly confident it would protect my head as well in a fall. So, from a protection standpoint, I'm OK, but feature-wise, I got what I paid for.

Just something to think about.
 
I got back into riding in 2004, and I went looking for a good set of gear. Unfortunately, none of the off the shelf sizes worked. I have long legs and even the long sizes were too short. So, I had some gear custom made by Motoport. Expensive stuff, but at least it fits and its comfortable. So, I would say it's money well spent. I later tried on the Rally Pro 2 pants, and they fit. So, I bought the jacket as well. This was another expensive suit, but I think it was worth it.

Also, just because all helmets are DOT approved does not mean they will all preform equally in an accident. DOT just provides minimum standards. Many many manufactures exceed those standards. And, there are no standards for pants, jackets etc. I had a pair of Joe Rocket pants that got torn up when I dropped my bike about 10 MPH. I don't mind spending money on good gear that will save my hide.

My attitude is that the cost of the suit is kind of an insurance policy. The suit is way cheaper than the medical costs if you get injured. Granted the gear wont prevent all injuries, but the proper gear can at least minimize the injuries.
 
***Sorry for the temporary hijack.***


Jeff,

Curious about what you do for a rainsuit.

My inseam is 36. I have not been able to find any rainsuit with legs longer than 34 inches at best- and once I sit down in a 34 it is at my boot tops.


Any suggestions on where to look?

Thanks,
John
 
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