It's that time of year again. Time to put away the lightweight summer mesh jackets and bust out the brawnier winter motorcycle gear. Park the sportbike in the garage until spring and roll out the GS (or KTM or V-Strom of course). No more outdoor picnics in the sunshine. Just raw, bleak, absolutely bone-chilling weather. There will be freezing rain, sleet, blizzards. All of this makes it seem like the perfect time to ride, right? If you have the right gear for the weather, then there's no doubt about it.
That said, we're rolling out a series of HD videos we're calling our 2010 Cold Weather Motorcycle Gear Guides. Our hope is that these guides will serve as a means to navigate the vast array of cold weather motorcycle gear, effectively making the buying process that much easier. We've broken it down into four categories: Everyday Riding, Sport Riding, Sport Touring, and ADV Touring.
This first video focuses on our picks for Cold Weather ADV Touring Motorcycle Gear. We cover six different outfits from five brands to give a glance at the many different options available. Check out the full video below:
The first outfit we featured is REV'IT!'s new flagship all-season all-weather outfit, born from their new marriage with GORE-TEX. The REV'IT! Defender GTX Jacket & REV'IT! Defender GTX Pants will perform tremendously under any conditions that Mother Nature throws. We've done a two full 10-minute videos on the Defender, one in which we discuss application, features, and fit; in the other we break down the armor and liner system. You can check them out by visiting our REV'IT! Defender GTX Jacket & Pants.
Next up is the new for Fall 2010 Alpinestars Durban Gore-Tex Jacket & Alpinestars Durban Gore-Tex Pants. With a strong history of producing apparel for the race track and roots in motocross gear, it only seemed logical that Alpinestars would eventually enter the ADV Touring realm with strong offerings. Building on the strong foundation of the Alpinestars Frontier Gore-Tex Jacket, they spent another year worth of R&D and came out swinging with the Durban suit. The Alpinestars Durban Suit plays really well in the arena of ADV Touring gear and offers a ton of four-season versatility. We'll be rolling out our full 15-minute review of this suit in the very near future.
Third in line is the Firstgear TPG Rainier Jacket & Firstgear TPG Escape Pants. We already knew that Firstgear had hit an ADV Touring home run last fall when they released the TPG Rainier, a jacket that immediately joined the upper-echelon of all-season all-weather gear. But the R&D in the TPG pants weren't quite there yet. Give them another year of hard work, and they roll out the much new and improved TPG Escape pants. The addition of molecular-level d3o armor, the completely redesigned fit & articulation and a generally more well-thought out product results in a pair of winter motorcycle pants that can flex its muscles up against the best of the best on the market.
The Olympia X-Moto Jacket and Olympia X-Moto Pants also get a thumbs-up from us. Out of all the cold weather ADV motorcycle gear we carry, this outfit is likely to be the most versatile in terms of multi-season wearability. Utilizing Olympia's Mega Vent Panel system, this suit will work very well with the integrated hydration pack in the summer as well as performing exceptionally in the brutal, bitter cold of winter. The waterproof breathable liner will keep you dry, the Thermolite lining will keep you warm, and the 2000D Cordura reinforcements will keep you protected. This is a great middle-of-the-road option that offers a ton of bang for the buck.
Next, we featured the Klim Adventure Rally Jacket & Klim Adventure Rally Pants for the rider who is going to do the majority of riding off-road. Think something along the lines of a 90% off-road, 10% on-road split. Inspired by the Dakar Rally, Klim created this suit to be the most bomb-proof outershell on the market today. Constructed exclusively with the most rugged GORE-TEX materials, the Klim Adventure Rally Suit is waterproof, breathable and ultimately indestructible. The only caveat with this outfit is the lack of thermal liner. Basically, what you choose to do for in terms of insulation is your call with this suit, but the exterior is heavy-duty to the point where we couldn't leave it out.
Finally, perhaps the best-selling ADV touring outfit over the last three years at RevZilla.com, the REV'IT! Cayenne Pro Jacket & REV'IT! Cayenne Pro Pants. Prior to the previously-detailed REV'IT! Defender GTX Jacket & Pants, this was the absolute mountaintop for REV'IT's ADV gear. And for good reason. It offers true four-season flexibility, with removable liner systems, Hydratex waterproof breathability, and futuristic materials like SuperFabric. The implementation of the Exkin liner, 2x warmer & 1/2 the weight of Thermolite, means you'll be nice and toasty in the frosty weather. This is without question an upper-echelon beast of an ADV touring outfit.
There are two 10-minute video reviews detailing this outfit that you can see by visiting our REV'IT! Cayenne Pro Review page.
That does it for our first Cold Weather Motorcycle Gear Guide. Stay tuned for all four installments.
Linear Mode
