Best or high quality Commuter Riding Gear?

[daboo]

I don't have another vehicle other than my motorcycles & I wear full gear even if I go 1 mile to the store. I use Olympia gear & I upgrade all of the padding to level 2 amour. The Olympia pants are very easy & fast to put on & take off. Because I ride year round in all types of weather I have several different types of Olympia gear.

Plus 1. I can't be comfortable riding like the fair-weather riders here do with blue jeans and a nylon jacket. I know the pavement down the block a half mile away is just as hard and abrasive as it is if I was to ride 500 miles to get to it.

The Olympia gear is well made...probably as good as Klim and others for a couple hundred dollars more. Like others here who commute year around, I have summer gear and winter gear with some overlap on both depending on what the temperature range will be that day. The Olympia gear is easy to get on and off in seconds. The AST2 jacket (there's a newer jacket with a different name, but the same thing really), it has great ventilation that puts the air through to you...yet is waterproof. The pants aren't waterproof...but since they don't have a waterproof lining built in, means your boots don't snag when putting on the pants. For a brief shower, they'll keep the water off of you. For an extended ride in the rain, they have some waterproof liner pants you can put on.

Chris

[JoeDabbs]

Upon purchasing my latest Beemer, an R12003 (new) I threw in a new BMW Rally jacket. I've been waiting for a downpour to ride in and it happened on my commute today. Bone dry upon arrival. It's a nice jacket, designed veryy well. It doen't come with a thick inner liner, but a sweater and heated vest kept me toasty last winter. Compared to my previous RT's, I'll most likley opt for an upgraded heated liner with arm heat for next winter.

[daboo]

The heated liner versus just the vest is really nice.

Right now, the "old" style Gerbing gear seems to be on its way out. The Warming Store http://www.thewarmingstore.com/gerbi...liner-12v.html has what I thought was a great deal on the jacket liner that I've had for years now. My old one like this, finally got a broken wire in the left sleeve that supplies power to my gloves. The price on this jacket liner is $169.99.

From what I can tell, the only difference in this "old" liner versus the new liner by Glyde is the name and the ability to hook up bluetooth and wireless controllers. I didn't need, or want that. So I bought another like I'd been using for years now.

The liner in the link above has heated panels in the chest, back, arms...and collar. The collar is really sweet when it is cold, like in the 20s. It blocks the wind cutting through and is nice and toasty. I used mine daily for about 8 months of each year...probably about three years total. I definitely got my money's worth.

Next fall, you'll be paying around $250 or more for a heated jacket liner.

Chris

[JoeDabbs]

Thanks for the tip! I don't use bluetooth stuff either so this looks like nice deal...