Gear Selection and Price!
#1
06-29-2007, 10:08 PM
Gear Selection and Price!
I guess I better say hi before I start asking too many questions... So, hi! 
Anyway, I'm quite new to riding (the only manual-trans bike I've ridden was when I was around 10, and I only rode it twice!). I'm 20 now, and got the urge to ride.
I've whittled my choices of bike down to the 500R - I'd like a bigger bike (Yam R6S looks fun), but given the price and my lack of experience, it's just out of the question for now. I've looked around for bikes a bit, and signed up for the MSF course (tomorrow and Sunday, actually)... but what about gear?
I looked at gear a year or so ago, when a bike was further out of reach... I'd figured on mostly Fieldsheer (I think is the name) textile/armor (jacket, pants, boots, gloves) and an Icon helmet (I think it was the 'domain' style). So, a full(?) set for under $1,000.
Is a full set of decent gear for $1,000 or less reasonable?
Note that I'm not after full racing leathers or anything... just something to help keep me a little safer on the ride to/from work (and plenty of leisure riding I'm sure).
Is textile 'good enough'? And cheap enough?
Anyway, I'm quite new to riding (the only manual-trans bike I've ridden was when I was around 10, and I only rode it twice!). I'm 20 now, and got the urge to ride.
I've whittled my choices of bike down to the 500R - I'd like a bigger bike (Yam R6S looks fun), but given the price and my lack of experience, it's just out of the question for now. I've looked around for bikes a bit, and signed up for the MSF course (tomorrow and Sunday, actually)... but what about gear?
I looked at gear a year or so ago, when a bike was further out of reach... I'd figured on mostly Fieldsheer (I think is the name) textile/armor (jacket, pants, boots, gloves) and an Icon helmet (I think it was the 'domain' style). So, a full(?) set for under $1,000.
Is a full set of decent gear for $1,000 or less reasonable?
Note that I'm not after full racing leathers or anything... just something to help keep me a little safer on the ride to/from work (and plenty of leisure riding I'm sure).
Is textile 'good enough'? And cheap enough?
#2
06-29-2007, 11:34 PM
RE: Gear Selection and Price!
One of the motorcycle mags did a comparison on materials. Don't know when and which one, but the leather could be draggedthe furthestbefore it wore through. Textile followed, then kevlar blends, then of course cotton, which lasted about 5 feet. Cortech has some very thick leathered jackets and good armor for around 250-300 bucks. Have fun!
#3
06-29-2007, 11:46 PM
RE: Gear Selection and Price!
Its easy bro, spend on what you can afford right now and upgrade later as needed.
You should have at the least; Helmet, jacket (leather preferable), over the ankle boots (a must) and heavy armor jeans (leather pants preferable).
I ride in full gear, leather 2 piece with race boots and Have been hit 2 times on the freeway and walked away to the hospital each time. I still have all my skin, thank God! and no cagers ran me over or I would be dead!
Gear up, arrive alive and with your skin
You should have at the least; Helmet, jacket (leather preferable), over the ankle boots (a must) and heavy armor jeans (leather pants preferable).
I ride in full gear, leather 2 piece with race boots and Have been hit 2 times on the freeway and walked away to the hospital each time. I still have all my skin, thank God! and no cagers ran me over or I would be dead!
Gear up, arrive alive and with your skin
#4
06-30-2007, 03:58 AM
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: La Costa, CA
Posts: 807
RE: Gear Selection and Price!
Bell Helmets is all but extinct now, but their product saved my life at least once. A great old advertisement of theirs read: "If you have a ten-dollar head, wear a ten-dollar helmet."
Here's one I just made up now in a drunken stupor: Spend your dollars on your bike, your pennies on upgrades, your nickles on gas and your quarters on protective gear.
That you are even considering penny-pinching on protective gear suggests that you have not yet had The Crash. After you've had The Crash, you will spend all you have and gladly go into credit-card debt to get the next level. As fun as motorcycling is, I would skimp on my next bike purchase before I would skimp on protection from the asphaltosaurus-wrecks.
True story: I woke up in the hospital once and asked my tired looking wife (now ex-wife): "Where am I? What happened to my bike?"
She replied in precisely the same tone a special-ed teach might use on a very-retarded six-year-old: "(sigh... you had a crash on Palomar. Your bike is a little damaged. You hit your head on a rock. You're at Palomar-Pomerado Hospital and [:-]you've been asking me these questions for the last six hours.[:-].
I hit my head hard enough to have double-vision for 11 days after that crash. And I'm convinced the only reason I'm not wearing an adult-diaper and drool-bib is that I was wearing a $650 Arai ZX7RR helmet that she and my father had just bought for me that Xmas. Imagine having double-vision for 11 days; not being able to drive a car (or ride a bike), read a book, or browse the internet...
Paralysis sounds tempting by comparison, IMO.
The doctors said: "It's either going to get better on its own, or it's not. But there's nothing we can do either way."
I now own an armored Aerostitch suit, Vanson leathers, Arai helmets, armored gloves, and Sidi superhero-boots. Not because I harbor any illusions about being impervious, but because I want to make sure that if my next crash is bad enough to paralyze me, that it's bad enough to kill me too. No, I'm not fatalistic or suicidal; I just don't want to burden my loved ones with changing my diapers or wiping the drool-crust from my chin.
And if there are any self-righteous soccer-moms reading this: No matter how many crumple-zones and air-bags you surround yourself with, safety will always be an illusion.
Ride safely!
-Chris in Carlsbad, CA
Here's one I just made up now in a drunken stupor: Spend your dollars on your bike, your pennies on upgrades, your nickles on gas and your quarters on protective gear.
That you are even considering penny-pinching on protective gear suggests that you have not yet had The Crash. After you've had The Crash, you will spend all you have and gladly go into credit-card debt to get the next level. As fun as motorcycling is, I would skimp on my next bike purchase before I would skimp on protection from the asphaltosaurus-wrecks.
True story: I woke up in the hospital once and asked my tired looking wife (now ex-wife): "Where am I? What happened to my bike?"
She replied in precisely the same tone a special-ed teach might use on a very-retarded six-year-old: "(sigh... you had a crash on Palomar. Your bike is a little damaged. You hit your head on a rock. You're at Palomar-Pomerado Hospital and [:-]you've been asking me these questions for the last six hours.[:-].
I hit my head hard enough to have double-vision for 11 days after that crash. And I'm convinced the only reason I'm not wearing an adult-diaper and drool-bib is that I was wearing a $650 Arai ZX7RR helmet that she and my father had just bought for me that Xmas. Imagine having double-vision for 11 days; not being able to drive a car (or ride a bike), read a book, or browse the internet...
Paralysis sounds tempting by comparison, IMO.
The doctors said: "It's either going to get better on its own, or it's not. But there's nothing we can do either way."
I now own an armored Aerostitch suit, Vanson leathers, Arai helmets, armored gloves, and Sidi superhero-boots. Not because I harbor any illusions about being impervious, but because I want to make sure that if my next crash is bad enough to paralyze me, that it's bad enough to kill me too. No, I'm not fatalistic or suicidal; I just don't want to burden my loved ones with changing my diapers or wiping the drool-crust from my chin.
And if there are any self-righteous soccer-moms reading this: No matter how many crumple-zones and air-bags you surround yourself with, safety will always be an illusion.
Ride safely!
-Chris in Carlsbad, CA
#5
06-30-2007, 05:08 AM
RE: Gear Selection and Price!
ORIGINAL: calamarichris
Bell Helmets is all but extinct now, but their product saved my life at least once. A great old advertisement of theirs read: "If you have a ten-dollar head, wear a ten-dollar helmet."
Here's one I just made up now in a drunken stupor: Spend your dollars on your bike, your pennies on upgrades, your nickles on gas and your quarters on protective gear.
That you are even considering penny-pinching on protective gear suggests that you have not yet had The Crash. After you've had The Crash, you will spend all you have and gladly go into credit-card debt to get the next level. As fun as motorcycling is, I would skimp on my next bike purchase before I would skimp on protection from the asphaltosaurus-wrecks.
True story: I woke up in the hospital once and asked my tired looking wife (now ex-wife): "Where am I? What happened to my bike?"
She replied in precisely the same tone a special-ed teach might use on a very-retarded six-year-old: "(sigh... you had a crash on Palomar. Your bike is a little damaged. You hit your head on a rock. You're at Palomar-Pomerado Hospital and [:-]you've been asking me these questions for the last six hours.[:-].
I hit my head hard enough to have double-vision for 11 days after that crash. And I'm convinced the only reason I'm not wearing an adult-diaper and drool-bib is that I was wearing a $650 Arai ZX7RR helmet that she and my father had just bought for me that Xmas. Imagine having double-vision for 11 days; not being able to drive a car (or ride a bike), read a book, or browse the internet...
Paralysis sounds tempting by comparison, IMO.
The doctors said: "It's either going to get better on its own, or it's not. But there's nothing we can do either way."
I now own an armored Aerostitch suit, Vanson leathers, Arai helmets, armored gloves, and Sidi superhero-boots. Not because I harbor any illusions about being impervious, but because I want to make sure that if my next crash is bad enough to paralyze me, that it's bad enough to kill me too. No, I'm not fatalistic or suicidal; I just don't want to burden my loved ones with changing my diapers or wiping the drool-crust from my chin.
And if there are any self-righteous soccer-moms reading this: No matter how many crumple-zones and air-bags you surround yourself with, safety will always be an illusion.
Ride safely!
-Chris in Carlsbad, CA
Bell Helmets is all but extinct now, but their product saved my life at least once. A great old advertisement of theirs read: "If you have a ten-dollar head, wear a ten-dollar helmet."
Here's one I just made up now in a drunken stupor: Spend your dollars on your bike, your pennies on upgrades, your nickles on gas and your quarters on protective gear.
That you are even considering penny-pinching on protective gear suggests that you have not yet had The Crash. After you've had The Crash, you will spend all you have and gladly go into credit-card debt to get the next level. As fun as motorcycling is, I would skimp on my next bike purchase before I would skimp on protection from the asphaltosaurus-wrecks.
True story: I woke up in the hospital once and asked my tired looking wife (now ex-wife): "Where am I? What happened to my bike?"
She replied in precisely the same tone a special-ed teach might use on a very-retarded six-year-old: "(sigh... you had a crash on Palomar. Your bike is a little damaged. You hit your head on a rock. You're at Palomar-Pomerado Hospital and [:-]you've been asking me these questions for the last six hours.[:-].
I hit my head hard enough to have double-vision for 11 days after that crash. And I'm convinced the only reason I'm not wearing an adult-diaper and drool-bib is that I was wearing a $650 Arai ZX7RR helmet that she and my father had just bought for me that Xmas. Imagine having double-vision for 11 days; not being able to drive a car (or ride a bike), read a book, or browse the internet...
Paralysis sounds tempting by comparison, IMO.
The doctors said: "It's either going to get better on its own, or it's not. But there's nothing we can do either way."
I now own an armored Aerostitch suit, Vanson leathers, Arai helmets, armored gloves, and Sidi superhero-boots. Not because I harbor any illusions about being impervious, but because I want to make sure that if my next crash is bad enough to paralyze me, that it's bad enough to kill me too. No, I'm not fatalistic or suicidal; I just don't want to burden my loved ones with changing my diapers or wiping the drool-crust from my chin.
And if there are any self-righteous soccer-moms reading this: No matter how many crumple-zones and air-bags you surround yourself with, safety will always be an illusion.
Ride safely!
-Chris in Carlsbad, CA
Thats some good info and I am glad that your ok man.
#7
07-02-2007, 03:11 AM
RE: Gear Selection and Price!
Holy crap cal. That's one hell of a story. Good advice for everyone.
#8
07-02-2007, 06:22 AM
#9
07-02-2007, 02:15 PM
RE: Gear Selection and Price!
Alright, thanks guys!
I'm on a tight budget, so I have to skimp a little (that is, I won't be getting top-quality gear head to toe). I plan on a good helmet (around $350-400 for that), and I'll just get the best I can on the remaining gear, given the remaining funds!
As money comes available, I'll upgrade (and end up with a passenger set, waaay down the line, when I'm ready for passengers :P )
I'm on a tight budget, so I have to skimp a little (that is, I won't be getting top-quality gear head to toe). I plan on a good helmet (around $350-400 for that), and I'll just get the best I can on the remaining gear, given the remaining funds!
As money comes available, I'll upgrade (and end up with a passenger set, waaay down the line, when I'm ready for passengers :P )
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