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French Canadian
Feb 23, 2004

Fluffy cat sensory experience

MrZig posted:

I bought a new "Epic" (model number E100) full face helmet from the local Kawasaki dealership for $50. It was regular $200 but since the guy said it was from last years stock it could be had for 50 bucks.

Thing is, I just looked at the tab and it says it was made in January of 2003. It's never been used as its brand new, but should I still take it back? I heard that you should replace a helmet every 3-5 years depending on its use, but this hasn't been used. On the other hand, it is 6 years old.

I only plan to use this helmet as a backup/passenger helmet. But if it wont save my life, what's the point of having it?

Picture of said helmet:


Click here for the full 1204x800 image.


It might be okay. Maybe the liner or glue holding it in might have gotten a bit brittle, though if it was all boxed up, probably not. I think I'd return it based on principle, and also just to be safe. You can get Scorpion helmets for like $70 from some places I think.

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MrZig
Aug 13, 2005
I exist onl because of Parias'
LEGENDARY GENEROSITY.

French Canadian posted:

It might be okay. Maybe the liner or glue holding it in might have gotten a bit brittle, though if it was all boxed up, probably not. I think I'd return it based on principle, and also just to be safe. You can get Scorpion helmets for like $70 from some places I think.


I brought it back to the guy and he said the date stamp only says when the helmet got approval from Snel or some such, not the actual manufacturing date. He said the helmet should only be a year and a half old.

Here's the stamp on the inside of the helmet:




What do you figure? Does he know what he's talking about?

SubponticatePoster
Aug 9, 2004

Every day takes figurin' out all over again how to fuckin' live.
Slippery Tilde
I'd say he's smoking crack. Put him to the test by finding another helmet of the same make and see if it's got a different date stamp on it.

MrZig
Aug 13, 2005
I exist onl because of Parias'
LEGENDARY GENEROSITY.

100 Years in Iraq posted:

I'd say he's smoking crack. Put him to the test by finding another helmet of the same make and see if it's got a different date stamp on it.

There were 2 other blue helmets, and 2 red ones. Each had the exact same date.

There was also a green one which had a date from 2002.

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.
He's loving retarded.

With that said, Arai claims 7 years of shelf life, or 5 years since break in, whichever comes first, so I'd wear that helmet until Jan of 2010, or until you find a good deal on an upgrade.

MrZig
Aug 13, 2005
I exist onl because of Parias'
LEGENDARY GENEROSITY.

Z3n posted:

He's loving retarded.

With that said, Arai claims 7 years of shelf life, or 5 years since break in, whichever comes first, so I'd wear that helmet until Jan of 2010, or until you find a good deal on an upgrade.

That's what I thought. Why would they put a date on the inside of a helmet if it wasn't the date it was made? Funny, him and another guy in the store both said it was almost brand new. I don't think I'll be going back there.

In any case I think I'll keep it at least until 2010 simply because it was $50. I'll also keep it for when using an ATC, that's right 3 wheels bitches, in cold weather.

MrZig fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Feb 3, 2009

fnkels
Aug 17, 2004
I'm about to buy a full set of gear from newenough. If anyone has a coupon code they can send my way, I'd be forever in your debt.

Uthor
Jul 9, 2006

Gummy Bear Heaven ... It's where I go when the world is too mean.

fnkels posted:

I'm about to buy a full set of gear from newenough. If anyone has a coupon code they can send my way, I'd be forever in your debt.

email me at turkosza [at] gmail [dot] com. I was saving it, but it's got only a few days left before it expires and I don't think I'll be using it.

MrZig
Aug 13, 2005
I exist onl because of Parias'
LEGENDARY GENEROSITY.
A local around my area is selling a textile Joe Rocket jacket and Teknic gloves. He doesn't know the specific model as he's out of town, but he does have a picture of them:


Click here for the full 1014x676 image.


They have apparently been down, but only at a stand still. The right shoulder of the jacket has scrapes from laying down in the dirt, and apparently the gloves are leather.

First question is does anyone recognise what model they are?
Second question is what would be a reasonable offer ($CDN), assuming they're quality gear?

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.
I wouldn't pay more than 100$(CDN) for everything. There's no market for used gear, and it's been down. You can't verify seam strength in a jacket after a crash, and although it's [/i]probably[/i] not a big deal, I wouldn't go for it unless it was a screaming deal.

Gr3y
Jul 29, 2003

MrZig posted:

A local around my area is selling a textile Joe Rocket jacket and Teknic gloves. He doesn't know the specific model as he's out of town, but he does have a picture of them:


Click here for the full 1014x676 image.


They have apparently been down, but only at a stand still. The right shoulder of the jacket has scrapes from laying down in the dirt, and apparently the gloves are leather.

First question is does anyone recognise what model they are?
Second question is what would be a reasonable offer ($CDN), assuming they're quality gear?

Those Teknic gloves are probably an older model of their Chicane model. I just bought a new pair for like $35. So I would probably ask for less then that.

The jacket, no idea. Joe Rocket seems to come out with a new line or series of an existing line roughly every six hours.

MrZig
Aug 13, 2005
I exist onl because of Parias'
LEGENDARY GENEROSITY.
Good to know, thanks guys.

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.

Gr3y posted:

Those Teknic gloves are probably an older model of their Chicane model. I just bought a new pair for like $35. So I would probably ask for less then that.

The jacket, no idea. Joe Rocket seems to come out with a new line or series of an existing line roughly every six hours.

Drop that price to 60$(CDN) then. I thought the gloves would be more expensive.

Drunk Pledge Driver
Nov 10, 2004
They look way nicer than any Chicane gloves I've seen. They're probably Lightnings or Violators.

MrZig
Aug 13, 2005
I exist onl because of Parias'
LEGENDARY GENEROSITY.
They are indeed violators.

http://www.gmo1.com/v/vspfiles/photos/tekn_violatorpro-2T.jpg

Listed as $139 new from that site:
http://www.gmo1.com/product_p/tekn_violatorpro.htm

Edit: They're "Violator Pro"

Gr3y
Jul 29, 2003

MrZig posted:

They are indeed violators.

http://www.gmo1.com/v/vspfiles/photos/tekn_violatorpro-2T.jpg

Listed as $139 new from that site:
http://www.gmo1.com/product_p/tekn_violatorpro.htm

Edit: They're "Violator Pro"

Ep, your right. I thought they were Chicanes due to the knuckle protection, all the new Violator gloves have a flat bar instead of the carbon fiber bumps.

Does the lobstering on the fingers allow for better dexterity or is it just extra patches of leather sewed on for more padding?

Also I've just finished picking up all my gear, and need to know if I'm missing anything glaring.
I've got:


Click here for the full 800x600 image.

Vega Nitro Sport boots


Firstgear HT Air overpants


Click here for the full 800x600 image.

Teknic Chicane jacket


Click here for the full 800x600 image.

Teknic Chicane gloves


Click here for the full 800x600 image.

HJC CL-SP

and everything together:


I'm planning on taking the pants and jacket to an upholstery place to get a full circumference zipper sewed in, how much should I expect that to run me?

IAMKOREA
Apr 21, 2007

Gr3y posted:

I'm planning on taking the pants and jacket to an upholstery place to get a full circumference zipper sewed in, how much should I expect that to run me?

I bought an alpine star textile jacket at cyclegear on sale tonight, it came with a 3/4 zipper. I'm looking at pants online and none of them specify what sort of attachment they come with. Anyone with alpinestar textile pants know which ones come with 3/4 zippers?

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.
Just posting this up at the request of someone in the scooter thread.

My g/f was heading northbound on a 2 lane street in the left lane, with a side street intersecting it on the east side of the street. A car in the right lane was slowing to turn right onto the side street, and blocked the view of a kid learning to drive in a volvo station wagon waiting to turn south (left) on to the street that my g/f was riding on. He pulled out into the street to make his turn, saw my g/f, slammed on the brakes. She swerved to avoid him but didn't blow the DY, despite there being no traffic coming in the opposite direction, and thinks that the kid freaked out and let off the brakes as she went in front of him and rolled forward to close the few inches of clearence that she needed to get by. She was angry afterwards for not blowing the DY, as if she had, she would have had plenty of room and would have avoided the accident entirely.

She hit him at roughly 30-35 mph, as it's a 35mph zone and she's pretty dilligent about going the speed limit. She was launched off the bike, highside style, as the car caught the front forks of the bike, turning the bars to the right, and she got flung off the bike, most likely catching the bumper as she went.



She was wearing Tour Master textile pants, an A* Stella jacket (the original, so not made anymore), A* SMX4 boots, and A* SP3 gloves, and Suomy Vandal helmet.

She ended up with some bruising on her hands (probably could prevented by better gloves, she has Helimot Buffalo 365s now), and a lot of bruising on her knee from impacting the car. Her ankle was fine, although swollen, and the visor came off the helmet, although there was no visible impact damage to it, we decided it would be best to replace it, as the visor mechanism was damaged somehow in the accident. Visor was gone so we have no way of telling if it got scraped up, which it probably did.

Gear pics:

Boots:




Pants:



Jacket:




I think that's it.

Gnaghi
Jan 25, 2008

Is this a good first bike?

Z3n posted:

Just posting this up at the request of someone in the scooter thread.

My g/f was heading northbound on a 2 lane street in the left lane, with a side street intersecting it on the east side of the street. A car in the right lane was slowing to turn right onto the side street, and blocked the view of a kid learning to drive in a volvo station wagon waiting to turn south (left) on to the street that my g/f was riding on. He pulled out into the street to make his turn, saw my g/f, slammed on the brakes. She swerved to avoid him but didn't blow the DY, despite there being no traffic coming in the opposite direction, and thinks that the kid freaked out and let off the brakes as she went in front of him and rolled forward to close the few inches of clearence that she needed to get by. She was angry afterwards for not blowing the DY, as if she had, she would have had plenty of room and would have avoided the accident entirely.

She hit him at roughly 30-35 mph, as it's a 35mph zone and she's pretty dilligent about going the speed limit. She was launched off the bike, highside style, as the car caught the front forks of the bike, turning the bars to the right, and she got flung off the bike, most likely catching the bumper as she went.



She was wearing Tour Master textile pants, an A* Stella jacket (the original, so not made anymore), A* SMX4 boots, and A* SP3 gloves, and Suomy Vandal helmet.

She ended up with some bruising on her hands (probably could prevented by better gloves, she has Helimot Buffalo 365s now), and a lot of bruising on her knee from impacting the car. Her ankle was fine, although swollen, and the visor came off the helmet, although there was no visible impact damage to it, we decided it would be best to replace it, as the visor mechanism was damaged somehow in the accident. Visor was gone so we have no way of telling if it got scraped up, which it probably did.


Glad to hear she has only minor injuries. Stories like this have made me really slow down and keep an eye out going through intersections, as well as cover the brake always, and I've already had a few close calls that could've been worse.


What are the thoughts on the Icon Timax 2 Jacket?

http://www.newenough.com/pricing/private/126

It's selling for a good $120 less than I saw previously and I think it's pretty sweet looking. I know general opinion is Icon gear doesn't hold up well, but this jackets looks to have just as much, if not more, protection than my ten year old Dainese Jacket.

Gnaghi fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Feb 12, 2009

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.

Gnaghi posted:

What are AI's thoughts on the Icon Timax 2 Jacket?

http://www.newenough.com/pricing/private/126

It's selling for a good $120 less than I saw previously and I think it's pretty sweet looking. I know general opinion is Icon gear doesn't hold up well, but this jackets looks to have just as much, if not more, protection than my ten year old Dainese Jacket.

It looks weird to me because the entire thing is backwards: They added mesh over the shoulders and elbows...why?

I couldn't rock it for style reasons alone, but if you dig the style, then it's a probably a decent jacket. I'd verify that they're not totally retarded, though, and check to see that they just added the mesh on TOP of the leather. If they removed the leather to add mesh in high wear areas...:psyduck:

Also, jesus christ, for 500$ I'd buy a top of the line Dianese jacket instead. Full leather and higher quality.

Edit: Upon further inspection, I wouldn't buy that jacket. Looking at the leather on top of the mesh...I don't like that design.

Z3n fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Feb 12, 2009

Gnaghi
Jan 25, 2008

Is this a good first bike?

Z3n posted:

It looks weird to me because the entire thing is backwards: They added mesh over the shoulders and elbows...why?

I couldn't rock it for style reasons alone, but if you dig the style, then it's a probably a decent jacket. I'd verify that they're not totally retarded, though, and check to see that they just added the mesh on TOP of the leather. If they removed the leather to add mesh in high wear areas...:psyduck:

Also, jesus christ, for 500$ I'd buy a top of the line Dianese jacket instead. Full leather and higher quality.

Edit: Upon further inspection, I wouldn't buy that jacket. Looking at the leather on top of the mesh...I don't like that design.

Ok, well maybe I'll just save myself some money and hold on to my old Dainese jacket. Mainly my interest in it was just cause of the blade runner styling.

The Wormy Guy
May 7, 2002
Just wanted to post up in this thread and say that it's always worth the trip to your local motorcycle store to check out deals on leathers. At the recent Cycle Gear after hours sale, I got an Alpinestars SMK jacket, already marked down to $199, plus 20% off which brought it down to about $170 out the door. Basically a $400 jacket and I got it brand new in my size. I've also found that prices online, even at NewEnough, aren't that much cheaper if at all than brick and mortar stores.

Zen: Yikes, I think I might need to pickup better gloves too.

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.

The Wormy Guy posted:

Just wanted to post up in this thread and say that it's always worth the trip to your local motorcycle store to check out deals on leathers. At the recent Cycle Gear after hours sale, I got an Alpinestars SMK jacket, already marked down to $199, plus 20% off which brought it down to about $170 out the door. Basically a $400 jacket and I got it brand new in my size. I've also found that prices online, even at NewEnough, aren't that much cheaper if at all than brick and mortar stores.

Zen: Yikes, I think I might need to pickup better gloves too.

Gloves or boots? :v:

You can occasionally get a good deal at a local shop, especially if they know you. I had a shop that I went to all the time in Santa Cruz and they hooked my g/f up when I brought her in, both the boots and jacket were bought there.

8ender
Sep 24, 2003

clown is watching you sleep
I want to shamelessly brag about this sweet tool roll that my fiance sewed for me the other day. I only have one stupidly small cubby on my Yamaha two stroke for tools and the original tool bag is long gone. I was previously just wrapping them in a rag and stuffing them into the cubby.



Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.
That's pretty awesome and :3:

Gr3y
Jul 29, 2003

Z3n posted:

It looks weird to me because the entire thing is backwards: They added mesh over the shoulders and elbows...why?

I couldn't rock it for style reasons alone, but if you dig the style, then it's a probably a decent jacket. I'd verify that they're not totally retarded, though, and check to see that they just added the mesh on TOP of the leather. If they removed the leather to add mesh in high wear areas...:psyduck:

Also, jesus christ, for 500$ I'd buy a top of the line Dianese jacket instead. Full leather and higher quality.

Edit: Upon further inspection, I wouldn't buy that jacket. Looking at the leather on top of the mesh...I don't like that design.

Isn't Titanium a bad thing for protective gear? I guess it would be great if there was a chance of getting thrown into a picket fence, or a line of Saxon pikemen, but I would think that it would offer sweet gently caress all in the way of impact resistance and simply transmit the force of the impact through itself and into you. I thought for jackets you wanted something that compresses so it eats as much of the initial impact as possible.

Orange Someone
Aug 20, 2007
Hmmm

Gr3y posted:

Isn't Titanium a bad thing for protective gear? I guess it would be great if there was a chance of getting thrown into a picket fence, or a line of Saxon pikemen, but I would think that it would offer sweet gently caress all in the way of impact resistance and simply transmit the force of the impact through itself and into you. I thought for jackets you wanted something that compresses so it eats as much of the initial impact as possible.

I'll have a stab at this, but if anyone sees I'm talking out of my rear end, just jump on top of me.

If I'm remembering this rightly, it depends on what sort of crash you're trying to protect yourself against. Having titanium in the high-wear areas means that if you've come off your bike and are skidding across the floor at 100mph, your kit is a whole lot less likely to be worn away complelely by the friction of the passage. Kit for protecting yourself on a track is more likely to have the titanium sliders on the 'edges' of you. This is down to the fact that there's actually run-off areas on tracks, so you don't want to dig in, instead you lose your speed by sliding across the top of the gravel/tarmac.

Obviously, that can suck on the road because there aren't these handy large run-off areas on corners. Plus there's a much larger incidence of nasty vertical services to smash into out in the real world.

To summarise, kit for the track is designed to let you slide across the top and not dig in whereas kit for the road has more impact protection. This is not from personal experience, just what I've gathered from other conversations.

Gr3y
Jul 29, 2003

Orange Someone posted:

I'll have a stab at this, but if anyone sees I'm talking out of my rear end, just jump on top of me.

If I'm remembering this rightly, it depends on what sort of crash you're trying to protect yourself against. Having titanium in the high-wear areas means that if you've come off your bike and are skidding across the floor at 100mph, your kit is a whole lot less likely to be worn away complelely by the friction of the passage. Kit for protecting yourself on a track is more likely to have the titanium sliders on the 'edges' of you. This is down to the fact that there's actually run-off areas on tracks, so you don't want to dig in, instead you lose your speed by sliding across the top of the gravel/tarmac.

Obviously, that can suck on the road because there aren't these handy large run-off areas on corners. Plus there's a much larger incidence of nasty vertical services to smash into out in the real world.

To summarise, kit for the track is designed to let you slide across the top and not dig in whereas kit for the road has more impact protection. This is not from personal experience, just what I've gathered from other conversations.

No I get that part. But this is a street jacket with chunks of Titanium placed right over your spine. At the speeds this jacket is likely to experience (assuming the rider is somewhat reasonable) the leather/textile mesh should be enough to eat up a fair amount of friction before the rider starts getting rashed. Also if the titanium was meant to eat up the friction it still doesn't seem to be a great reason to put it directly over the spine, it would work equally well on the fore/upper arms or lower torso where it isn't over any joints.

Of course I'm neither a racer or jacket designer, so maybe I'm completely off base on this.

FuzzyWuzzyBear
Sep 8, 2003

Are there any non-hideous modern bike jackets? I love the Cafe Racer look and would like nothing better than a simple plain Cafe Racer-style jacket with no extra stupid color schemes or detail stitching or any of that garbage. To give an example: my roommate bought a plain black leather jacket from First Gear and I think even that is pretty bad-looking because while it is all black, it has lots of little detailing on it that makes it look robotic.

I'm also having a real hard time finding PLAIN black leather gloves that offer protection with durable, thick leather. Preferrably with a street cuff, not a gauntlet. Again, I don't want crazy colors and robot-looking padding everywhere.

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.

Gr3y posted:

No I get that part. But this is a street jacket with chunks of Titanium placed right over your spine. At the speeds this jacket is likely to experience (assuming the rider is somewhat reasonable) the leather/textile mesh should be enough to eat up a fair amount of friction before the rider starts getting rashed. Also if the titanium was meant to eat up the friction it still doesn't seem to be a great reason to put it directly over the spine, it would work equally well on the fore/upper arms or lower torso where it isn't over any joints.

Of course I'm neither a racer or jacket designer, so maybe I'm completely off base on this.

Titanium sliders are more for bling than anything else. It's not gonna hurt you, but it's probably not going to spare you anything either. I think the only legit use I've seen of titanium inserts is for track riders who drag elbow. For the rest of it, if your gear is reasonably decent quality, there's no way you'll ever slide far enough to wear through the leather, let alone some titanium plate, and under the leather plate is your usual CE type armor, so it's not like they're just using a titanium insert and then your shoulder/elbow/whatever is right under it.

FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:

Are there any non-hideous modern bike jackets? I love the Cafe Racer look and would like nothing better than a simple plain Cafe Racer-style jacket with no extra stupid color schemes or detail stitching or any of that garbage. To give an example: my roommate bought a plain black leather jacket from First Gear and I think even that is pretty bad-looking because while it is all black, it has lots of little detailing on it that makes it look robotic.

I'm also having a real hard time finding PLAIN black leather gloves that offer protection with durable, thick leather. Preferrably with a street cuff, not a gauntlet. Again, I don't want crazy colors and robot-looking padding everywhere.

http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=279547&

There's some nice recommendations there.

8ender
Sep 24, 2003

clown is watching you sleep

FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:

Are there any non-hideous modern bike jackets? I love the Cafe Racer look and would like nothing better than a simple plain Cafe Racer-style jacket with no extra stupid color schemes or detail stitching or any of that garbage. To give an example: my roommate bought a plain black leather jacket from First Gear and I think even that is pretty bad-looking because while it is all black, it has lots of little detailing on it that makes it look robotic.

I'm also having a real hard time finding PLAIN black leather gloves that offer protection with durable, thick leather. Preferrably with a street cuff, not a gauntlet. Again, I don't want crazy colors and robot-looking padding everywhere.

I have this jacket right now, which looks great with my 66' YDS, which is a sort of Cafe racer type bike. Its nice and plain, has basic armor, and its made of some really thick leather. It isn't as shiny as those pictures make it look either.

http://tinyurl.com/bx8gnz


I've also found these gloves to be a nice mix between modern safety features and a plain look. They're probably the best gloves I've ever owned.

http://stores.sportbiketrackgear.com/Detail.bok?no=3056

AkrisD
Sep 2, 2004
olololol '04 newb hurrrrrrr

FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:

Are there any non-hideous modern bike jackets? I love the Cafe Racer look and would like nothing better than a simple plain Cafe Racer-style jacket with no extra stupid color schemes or detail stitching or any of that garbage. To give an example: my roommate bought a plain black leather jacket from First Gear and I think even that is pretty bad-looking because while it is all black, it has lots of little detailing on it that makes it look robotic.

I'm also having a real hard time finding PLAIN black leather gloves that offer protection with durable, thick leather. Preferrably with a street cuff, not a gauntlet. Again, I don't want crazy colors and robot-looking padding everywhere.

Just go to http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com and look at the CRUISER gear. There are tons of plain black leather jackets and gloves. Hell, even in the sport section there are a few.

8ender
Sep 24, 2003

clown is watching you sleep

AkrisD posted:

Just go to http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com and look at the CRUISER gear. There are tons of plain black leather jackets and gloves. Hell, even in the sport section there are a few.

Thats the only thing I dislike about riding old bikes. I'm sort of required to wear retro looking gear. Sport bike riders have all the fun because they get to dress like a Power Ranger.

pr0zac
Jan 18, 2004

~*lukecagefan69*~


Pillbug

8ender posted:

Thats the only thing I dislike about riding old bikes. I'm sort of required to wear retro looking gear. Sport bike riders have all the fun because they get to dress like a Power Ranger.

I'd put the power rangers suit on to ride around on my girlfriend's scooter for fun. See also z3n's avatar.

As far as gear goes, everyone should consider looking around on local forums for used gear. I just picked up an awesome high end A* jacket for $150 on BARF. He even threw in the upgraded back armor and hanger. Tiny amount of wear but considering the thing was > $700 new I can't complain about a couple scratches.

Click here for the full 800x532 image.


Click here for the full 800x532 image.

Gr3y
Jul 29, 2003

FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:

Are there any non-hideous modern bike jackets? I love the Cafe Racer look and would like nothing better than a simple plain Cafe Racer-style jacket with no extra stupid color schemes or detail stitching or any of that garbage. To give an example: my roommate bought a plain black leather jacket from First Gear and I think even that is pretty bad-looking because while it is all black, it has lots of little detailing on it that makes it look robotic.

I'm also having a real hard time finding PLAIN black leather gloves that offer protection with durable, thick leather. Preferrably with a street cuff, not a gauntlet. Again, I don't want crazy colors and robot-looking padding everywhere.

http://www.newenough.com/protective_apparel/leather_jackets_and_pants/fieldsheer/aston_leather_motorcycle_jacket.html

http://www.newenough.com/protective_apparel/leather_jackets_and_pants/first_gear/scout_iv_leather_motorcycle_jacket.html

http://www.newenough.com/protective_apparel/leather_jackets_and_pants/tour_master/coaster_ii_leather_motorcycle_jacket.html

http://www.newenough.com/closeouts/leather_suits_jackets_and_pants/first_gear/honcho_leather_motorcycle_jacket.html (More greaser then cafe racer, but it can be armored up)

Personally I think Cafe Racer gear should have some color and style to it, like this one: http://www.jafrum.com/Motorcycle-Gear/Mens-Leather-Motorcycle-Jackets/MJ779 (note: lovely choice for a jacket). But it seems, like the souped up standard itself, that the happy middle ground between leather tasseled cruiser and space fairing sport bike is disappearing.

I also wear my power ranger gear to ride my '82 Nighthawk. gently caress the style, my gear offers more protection then the bomber jackets I see all the HD guys wear.

Z3n posted:

Titanium sliders are more for bling than anything else. It's not gonna hurt you, but it's probably not going to spare you anything either. I think the only legit use I've seen of titanium inserts is for track riders who drag elbow. For the rest of it, if your gear is reasonably decent quality, there's no way you'll ever slide far enough to wear through the leather, let alone some titanium plate, and under the leather plate is your usual CE type armor, so it's not like they're just using a titanium insert and then your shoulder/elbow/whatever is right under it.

I missed the part that there is some foam padding underneath the plates. At first it sounded like there was leather, titanium, more leather, and then your precious, precious spine.

Speaking of which, has anyone had any experience with one of these:
http://www.bikebone.com/page/BBSC/CTGY/AT

It sounds like a great idea, but I'm not sure how effective it would be in a get off.

8ender
Sep 24, 2003

clown is watching you sleep

Gr3y posted:

Speaking of which, has anyone had any experience with one of these:
http://www.bikebone.com/page/BBSC/CTGY/AT

It sounds like a great idea, but I'm not sure how effective it would be in a get off.

It would be hilarious to watch someone forget to detach the trigger for this, get off their bike, and then have their jacket airbags go off all over.

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.

Gr3y posted:

I missed the part that there is some foam padding underneath the plates. At first it sounded like there was leather, titanium, more leather, and then your precious, precious spine.

Speaking of which, has anyone had any experience with one of these:
http://www.bikebone.com/page/BBSC/CTGY/AT

It sounds like a great idea, but I'm not sure how effective it would be in a get off.

Warning: :words:

First off, let's just establish this: I am not an engineer, I don't test my gear beyond crashing in it, and I have no empirical data beyond my personal observations and what I've read over the years to back up my opinion on this gear. Anything that I have stats to back up will be cited.

With that said, I don't buy it for a couple of reasons:

First: You'd have to get gear fitted correctly so that it doesn't move around in an accident, as you'll get abrasions from gear that doesn't fit tight and snug. None of their suits/jackets look snug enough or low profile enough to address that. That's a problem with an expanding jacket. Probably not a huge deal on the street, considering the low median crash speed of of 21.5 mph. However, I don't like gambling on things like that.

Second: What, exactly, is it designed to prevent damage to? If you're wearing a proper full coverage back protector, it's not like it's going to cover any additional area, and a proper back protector will extend around to your kidneys. What about the additional bulk of the inflation mechanism on the right side of the jacket? Is that designed in such a fashion that should you land on it, you won't end up with damage to your body?

Third: .5 second inflation time sounds impressive, but...I've had accidents where I'm on the ground before I'd be far enough away from the bike to pull out the coiled release with a force of 66 pounds. So it offers effectively no protection there.

Fourth: It offers zero protection in the areas that you're most likely to hit and have injured in an accident (your extremities). Obviously, some of those wouldn't be easily protected by such a system, but those are the areas that I'm most concerned about when it comes to protection, along with the sides of my hips/upper legs, which are a huge impact area that a lot of people don't think about. When you lowside a bike, you're sliding on the side of your hips and shoulder. My Helimot suit has about 1.5 inches of padding directly over the hip area, and I landed squarely on that in my 2 (40/80mph) track accidents and then rolled to my back. This system would have offered pretty much nothing in those accidents, as the protective air pounches are all focused on the front and back. Their "testing situations" are very contrived, most of the time you're not tossing yourself off the top of the bike. It seems like they were trying to guaranty that the jacket would obviously inflate.

Finally: Most of the issues that occur in an accident aren't due to the hitting the ground, they're due to your limbs flailing about and hitting stuff, or because you hit a solid object. I'm not going to gamble the rest of my safety on this system protecting my core when your core isn't usually the problem in an accident. If you hit a guardrail at 50mph, no gear will protect you.

So...this system doesn't really seem to address any issues that would cause it to protect better in the majority of accidents than existing gear. If you're concerned about your chest, you'd be better served with a good coverage chest protector without the issue of landing on the inflation mechanism, if you're concerned about your back, a back protector will provide more coverage without the additional cost and bulk, plus you can use gear that fits your body correctly, without have to have your gear be really loose fitting to allow for the inflation pouches.

The one thing that does interest me is the neck ring, as it could stop some head injuries, but at the same time, I've saved my helmets multiple times by being able to tuck my head to my chest as I crashed to avoid it hitting the ground. A system like this would force your head into the upright position, meaning that you lose the freedom of movement that may help you avoid smacking your head on something.

If you scroll up a few posts and look at my post of my g/f's gear, there was no damage to the back of the bike or her core at all, just on the lower front of her jacket, and her legs.

I'm not convinced that it's worth the money over more traditional gear.

Z3n fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Feb 13, 2009

Zenaida
Nov 13, 2004

FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:

I'm also having a real hard time finding PLAIN black leather gloves that offer protection with durable, thick leather. Preferrably with a street cuff, not a gauntlet. Again, I don't want crazy colors and robot-looking padding everywhere.

http://www.leeparksdesign.com/

Gauntlets and robot-looking padding seem to be useful for safety though.

Z3n
Jul 21, 2007

I think the point is Z3n is a space cowboy on the edge of a frontier unknown to man, he's out there pushing the limits, trail braking into the abyss. Finding out where the edge of the razor is, turning to face the darkness and revving his 690 into it's vast gaze. You gotta live this to learn it bro.
http://www.helimot.com/shopexd.asp?id=263

More expensive than the Lee Parks stuff, but I won't wear anything but Helimot gear these days...After walking away from 2 track crashes and 3 street crashes in their gloves, with the total cost for repairs being 20$, it's just not cost effective for me to wear any other gloves anymore. I had to toss previous sets of gloves after a single accident.

Plus, they'd probably make any of their gloves in full black if you called in and asked them for it.

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FuzzyWuzzyBear
Sep 8, 2003

Gr3y posted:

http://www.newenough.com/protective_apparel/leather_jackets_and_pants/fieldsheer/aston_leather_motorcycle_jacket.html

http://www.newenough.com/protective_apparel/leather_jackets_and_pants/first_gear/scout_iv_leather_motorcycle_jacket.html

http://www.newenough.com/protective_apparel/leather_jackets_and_pants/tour_master/coaster_ii_leather_motorcycle_jacket.html

http://www.newenough.com/closeouts/leather_suits_jackets_and_pants/first_gear/honcho_leather_motorcycle_jacket.html (More greaser then cafe racer, but it can be armored up)

Personally I think Cafe Racer gear should have some color and style to it, like this one: http://www.jafrum.com/Motorcycle-Gear/Mens-Leather-Motorcycle-Jackets/MJ779 (note: lovely choice for a jacket). But it seems, like the souped up standard itself, that the happy middle ground between leather tasseled cruiser and space fairing sport bike is disappearing.

I also wear my power ranger gear to ride my '82 Nighthawk. gently caress the style, my gear offers more protection then the bomber jackets I see all the HD guys wear.

Sup 1982 standard bike buddy. I ride an '82 Honda CM250C with clubman handlebars for a more cafe look.

Z3n posted:


http://www.helimot.com/shopexd.asp?id=263

More expensive than the Lee Parks stuff, but I won't wear anything but Helimot gear these days...After walking away from 2 track crashes and 3 street crashes in their gloves, with the total cost for repairs being 20$, it's just not cost effective for me to wear any other gloves anymore. I had to toss previous sets of gloves after a single accident.

Plus, they'd probably make any of their gloves in full black if you called in and asked them for it.

Those actually look really sweet, and even though they are padded they still look pretty timeless in my opinion. Do they fit under a jacket sleeve or do you really have to wear them over?

FuzzyWuzzyBear fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Feb 13, 2009

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