My Riding Gears - Mini Review

Riding gears are a biker's second skin, it is the most important investment any serious bike enthusiast should make after the bike itself! Helmet saves your head, what about the rest of your body? Good investment in riding gear is never a waste of money, it is a long term investment, which will save you some major damages in case of an accident. Ever since i started touring on my bike two years back, i started to invest in riding gears, right from the basics to the other accessories required by a long distance tourer. Thanks to Biking communities, i came across right persons who guided me in to buying the right stuff and also from the right places. Here are my gears and a mini review about them:


Fieldsheer Adventure Pant:

Finally! after months of wait and nail biting moments, i got my new riding pants! The hunt for this pant took me close to 4 months. This is a major addition to my Riding gear. I was using my friend shashi's riding pants for my earlier rides that was a First gear riding pant, with leather and foam padding, I used it with my Kneeguards worn inside the pant. I was amazed at the practicality of riding pants, I could sit anywhere i want during the butt breaks in rides, i didn't have to worry about pants getting dirty or such. It helped during rains, my torso and limbs were dry even in downpours and i was not feeling the cold chilly winds while riding during night times.

So i decided to buy a riding pant. But i had to figure out which model would suit me. I had seen Lovejoshi's Cramster Riding pants during the hampi ride and i had almost decided on buying the cramster pants, but then i felt at around Rs 5500/- they were bit pricy and decided to explore the options. I asked Dada (Jsr, biking veteran) who had earlier got me my gears from abroad, dada gave me good options in Fieldsheer. Finally I choose the adventure pant as i didn't need a over pant type riding pants. Thankfully, my colleague was in usa this time and i managed to order them online. But when i went to order at my usual site the rates were up from earlier $130 to $162.
I was disappointed that i would have to pay more, but thanks to google baba, i came across another site which was still selling this pant at old rate of $130 and they weren't charging for shipping with in usa and no other hidden tax as well. So i bought this pant for $130 0r Rs 5135/- all inclusive! from this site (now they have increased the price to $145!)

It's been hardly 24hrs since i got this pant and haven't even seen them properly, so the review will have to wait :P But the build quality, materials used and feel of the pant is top notch! way better than cramster pants and am happy that i could get it at a cheaper price than the cramster wala pant. Few features:

1. They have a inner liner pant too, which can be worn as seperate pant
2. The liner pant is also waterproof, can be used it over formals during rains in city
3.The pant's insides is kinda rubberish, so not comfy for hot weather, but iam not bothered as i love sweating like a pig :P
4.Even with out liners, the pant is water proof
5.The knee armour is adjustable, Three velcros are there in bottom and top of knee armour, you can remove the velcros and adjust the armour to suit your knee's position.
6.Only the inner liner pant has open space near the fly area, while the pant doesn't have open space near the fly area, but there is a zip! even if you open the zip, there's a wall of cloth inside, so technically to pee, you have remove the pant or you have to cut that piece of cloth :P

Coming to my other riding gears:

Fieldsheer Congo Mesh Jacket:

This was/is my First riding jacket, that too a videshi brand :P All thanks to Dada. Dada was in usa, when he was upgrading his riding gears. He bought Feildsheer Kilimanjaro riding jacket, so his Congo sport riding jacket was idle. So i jokingly asked him if he would sell it to me, guess what? he agreed! This was bought from dada in early 2007 and it has been part of my rides ever since, Dada gave me a very good price for it, i was hardly 8 months at that point of time. Now it is retailing for $90 here. All in all, a very good jacket, it has a seperate inner liner, i haven't used it in any of my rides, decent waterproofing, but needs inner liner to stay dry during heavy downpours. Again the fit and finish is superb! The icing on the cake was the price i got it for! (no, iam not revealing that here! :P)


FirstGear Mesh-Tex Gloves:
Got these touring gloves in early 2007 and it's been part of my riding gear while touring ever since. Dada got it for me from usa when he was there in early 2007. These are excellent gloves for indian weather, extremely comfortable during summer and humid seasons. Even though they are not waterproof, they dry very quickly when drenched in rains. I had paid Rs 1400/- for these babies then, Now they are retailing for $30 here. These gloves have with stood the abuse of my rides so far, there are no signs of wear and tear yet. But they don't have solid protection on fingers, just leather patches, they have plastic protection on knuckles and the lower palm area has very good quality leather, which gives excellent grip and obsorb sweat from hands easily.




The above gears are the ones i use while i go on long rides/tours. I managed to build city riding gears too. Call me nut case, but i don't feel that spending money on riding gears is waste of money or such, i feel they are long term investments which will save my ass one day if my luck runs out! :P

Cramster Breezer Mesh Jacket:

Got this cramster mesh jacket in mid 2007 from Cramster I was looking out for a decent city riding jacket as i had got my first taste of comfort from the fieldsheer jacket. City riding is risky compared to my long rides, because you tend loose your focus and get lost in thoughts as you know the roads and each and every pothole on your daily commute route. So i happened to be at cramster shop one fine weekend to assist balaji, who wanted to pick up a Cramster touring jacket. I saw this mesh jacket there and tried it on, The "M" size was perfect fit for me, the arms were bit short, but more importantly, the armours were fitting where they were supposed to be there. I paid Rs 4400/- for this jacket and have been using it daily from so many months. It's a real confidence booster and a must have for horrid city commute. Since it is mesh, the air flow is good and not that uncomfortable during hot days. Mine is an all black jacket, but retains the same pattern as the one in the pic. Decent armour protection and worth for daily rough use.

Angel's Racing BZero Glove:
This was my first addition in terms of proper riding gear. I bought these in 2006. Used these gloves for daily commute and they really took a lot of abuse, have ridden in rain and these have got wet more than once! They dry pretty quickly too. These gloves have excellent Armour protection on knuckles and rubberised protection on fingers. Another advantage is these gloves cover the entire wrist unlike most of city riding gloves. The only disadvantage is, the palm area has very thin leather and the left glove tore near the thumb/palm area once and i managed to repair it with a desi jugaad. Now the finger tips have started to show holes, the mesh has worn off due to constant use. These lasted me more than 1.5 yrs with daily use. I had paid Rs 1600/- then including shipping. Am trying to repair these gloves again, so i can use this in emergencies. This holds a special place as it was the first proper riding gear i bought. Angels racing has come out with 2008 edition, the Bzero has got a face lift now, but i don't like this new avatar, i liked the old one that i have. These can be bought from here.

Progrip Knee Guards from Krp:

For me, knee guards were essential as My Zma doesn't have crashguard unlike other bikes. I had earlier tried unsuccessfully to do some jugaad to fix a crash guard on my zma, but the various examples i came across didn't exactly convince me. So i decided to stop wasting my time in trying to find a crashguard for my bike and bought these knee guards. I paid Rs 1800/- then for these including postage. I saw these knee guards in Xbhp's Krp Site. i bought these in mid 2007 and have been using these for my long rides as well as city commutes. I wear them under the pants for a reason! When i had newly bought these, i went on a small ride wearing these like normal kneeguards above my jeans, during our first butt break, i discovered to my horror, that these kneeguards have scrapped off paint from my zma's tank sides! That happened because in zma, iam used to hug the tank as i ride and these kneeguards have a metal piece at the joint, the exposed metal nut had rubbed to the tank and the paint had scrapped off! :( So ever since then, i started to wear them under the pants. I use them for daily commute too, much to the amazement of my colleagues :P After periodical daily use, the elastic bands have expanded, apart from that, there is no other issue with this. My only grouse is the joint of the knee pads should have had a rubber mould or such to cover the exposed nut, which would have prevented the tank paint scrapping off problem.

Shift Chaos Gloves:

I bought these sometime in May 2007 through my friend who was in usa. This was one of those instinctive purchases! :P I even managed to convince sachin to get one! I was just browsing for city riding gloves and i chanced upon these. I paid Rs 1800/- then. Now they are retailing for $40 here. The feel and comfort is class apart. This glove has lot of leather on the palm area (goat skin) and hardened leather near the impact areas of palm. Also knuckle protection. These fit like second skin and are extremely snug, unlike other gloves. Sore point is thumb lacks any protection, just the mesh material compensates. Also it doesn't cover your wrist. I use these very rarely, keep them safe in sealable covers :P coz i want to avoid dust and dirt on these. These haven't been exposed to rains, the leather will go for a toss if they are exposed to water. Ideal for dry weather and city cruising. Kinda pricey, but the quality is top notch. This is the best city riding glove i have as of now.


Cramster Twist Touring Gloves:

I never had a faint idea that i would buy these, till Sunil Dhummi of bikenomads posted about it in one of our ride planning threads. He had bought these gloves from cramster but these turned out to be a tad big for him. So he had posted if anyone wanted to buy those, there was even a try and use and then pay offer! :P So i thought lemme have a look and see and tried these on. It was a perfit for me, but i felt the gloves were too thick and throttle control seemed to be difficult. But i liked the warmth of the glove when you wear it and also the comfort factor so i decided to buy it. Sunil on his part, gave me a nice discount on them and I happily bought them. (no, i won't tell how much i paid :P) These retail in cramster for Around Rs 1300/- Even though it is listed as touring glove, i find it comfortable for city rides. What i like in this glove is the Cuff area, it neatly swallows the end of the jacket cuff and when you ride, it doesn't allow cold winds to go through the jacket from the cuff area. It was a blessing during the winter season and i love them during early morning rides and late night rides to office during night shifts. Have been using these from close to 3 months every day, they have taken the abuse well. They are surprisingly water proof too, have got drenched twice in rain wearing these, but not a drop of water went it! Over a period of time, the thickness has gone down considerably and now throttle operation or clutch usage is easy with these gloves on. It lacks any real leather look, looks 99% fake leather and doesn't have hard armour on knuckles either. But for the price i paid, these are a steal, Recommended for rainy season and winters. Can be used for touring too.

Well, there you have it, sort of mini review of my riding gears. No, i don't mint money or earn hordes of it either! So before you think iam some cash rich candidate, lemme clarify that all these gears were bought over a period of 2 years, one by one and i have invested a major chunk of my earnings in them. Have gone totally dry financially few times due to one major buy too!

I haven't posted about my Helmets coz i don't have pictures of my helmets as of now, will edit this post and add details about my helmets after i get the pics. Briefly though, i use GPR helmet for touring and recently bought another GPR helmet for daily use. I was earlier using GPone. I would recommend GPR over any brand in the sub Rs 3000 budget as of date because of GPR's top notch finish and quality. The visor is a treat and almost on part with AGV's Rs 600 visor. GPR's visors cost Rs 330/- . I will save the Helmet review for another day :P