Protective Gear Brands

[TheGallows]

I've been riding for a couple months but now I need to get some proper gear. I found a site that has some good deals but I'm not sure what brands are respectable. Are any of these in this list no good?

Alpinestars
Cortech
FirstGear
Tourmaster
JoeRocket
Sidi
Powertrip
Held
Shoei
Speed Strength
FS
Scorpion EXP

[TheGallows]

HAALP!



bumpbumpbump

[The_AirHawk]

Never heard of "Powertrip", "Speed Strength", or "FS" - the others are all generally-considered good quality, well-known brands. (not sayin' those three are bad, only never heard of 'em).

I've personally used gear by FirstGear, Tourmaster, JoeRocket, Sidi, and Scorpion - as well as Icon, AGV, and KBC. My Wife crashed a few years-ago, and she was wearing a FirstGear jacket and KBC helmet, and both held up really well (although she broke her shoulder when the bike struck her after it struck a boulder). Without the gear, she WOULD have been injured far worse.

[TheGallows]

thank you very much.

[The_AirHawk]

Almost forgot the JoeRocket jacket a friend gave me, the MotoGP jacket I got on clearance a couple of years ago, and the perfed-leather Kobe' jacket that I rode with through about 50 rainstorms. You probably can't get Kobe' here in the States anymore (easily). Damn fine workmanship, very agressive styling.

If you think you'll be doing the "all-weather" thing, I'd lean toward synthetics. Any "mesh" type jackets you should consider will have a limited lifespan, and should be viewed as "one crash jackets" - they'll probably give you 70-80% of the protection of a "standard" jacket (while being a LOT cooler), but will essentially disintegrate upon contact with the road.

Leather will be the most durable, but not always ideal for every situation, except maybe the crash itself.

There's a saying that goes "Tell me what type of Crash you plan on having, I'll tell you what kind of Gear you should wear". You just have to compare gear between brands, and decide what's best for YOU. Here's a tip: You WON'T be able to tell if something is "perfect" when starting out.

Buy what's most comfortable and fits best for YOU. Things like the placement of the armour, accessibility to the ventilation wearing gloves (or even if you have to take the jacket OFF to open the vents), whether the sleeves or the back of the jacket rides up on you, etc. - all those determine whether or not you'll be so annoyed with the jacket that you won't wear it. And like a helmet, it won't protect you if you don't wear it.

Try on a lot of jackets before buying one (even if you later buy the same thing online) - those "boutique"-style moto shops are more likely to have a large selection. Try on helmets and gloves while you're at it - even if you're not actually looking for those at the time. Well-fitting gear is hard to come by, and trying on a lot of stuff you DON'T like is how you decide what you DO like.

[mugwump58]

Originally Posted by TheGallows

Alpinestars
Cortech
FirstGear
Tourmaster
Held

Throw in Lee Parks and Nolan and I can say I've used and been satisfied with the gear. Unfortunately there is no "good" answer. You're have to find out somethings for your self. I've got stuff here and there that didn't make me happy. I should find one of those used gear stores I've read about.

Airhawks got good info, although I'm not to sure about the Popeye's thing.

Oh yeah Velocity Gear armor

[sarnali2]

I think we've established that Popeyes is the best chain Fried Chicken on earth already.......

for inexpensive gear Joe Rocket is very good, I crash tested a 4.0 Ballistic jacket and walked away without too much damage, the jacket didn't fare so well but it did it's job.