I also live in the nyc area and at one time I commuted about 30 miles to brooklyn almost everyday. My rule of thumb back then was not to ride if it was less that 32 degrees. I had these 3 finger gloves that looked like boxing gloves. They did the trick. Layers and ski pants did the rest. But...I would not recommend this to anyone. Its just not worth it . Stay home and look at maps and plan a nice spring trip. The rule of thumb is 50 degrees now. Think about it ...is all that gear really worth it. The winter is only 4 months.
Cordura Clothing?
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I'll back you up on that one. Aerostich is the best Ive seen IMO... I have a First Gear Kilaminjaro, Aerostich Roadcrafter and Aerostich Darien pants and jacket for my wife. One Buddy has a Tourmaster suit and others had Joe Rocket Gear. We also checked out the BMW gear prior to buying the Darien jacket and pants. Of what I have seen or used personally here's how I would rank 'em.
1. Aerostich Roadcrafter - Built like a tank yet all day comfortable. No problems in heavy rain (not tested for longer than 60 - 90 minutes), cool in the summer and, uh... Er... you can add layers in the winter
Quick and easy in and out.
2. Toss up between the Darien and First Gear. Darien is better in warmer weather with a tougher shell material. My first gear has better storage but with a lighter shell material but does have thicker abrasion pads on the elbows and shoulders. Venting is better on the Darien as the system on the first gear is funky and doesnt flow very well.
3. BMW Gear - While supposedly tough as can be the shell felt to lightweight and the price for the pinwheel is steap.
4. Tourmaster suit - At around $400 is a good deal, though leaks in light rain all over. Its also very warm in the summer. If fair weather is your thing though its a great deal.
5. Joe Rocket - I assume they make higher end stuff but what Ive seen has been pretty cheesy. Not too many riders I know keep it for long.
Side note: my buddy with the tourmaster traded in his frank thomas gear for it and is happier. Seems the Frank Thomas gear that he had purchased was designed in england for english weather. Needless to say with very little or no venting California summers were hell. His tourmaster is a bit cooler but not by much...
1. Aerostich Roadcrafter - Built like a tank yet all day comfortable. No problems in heavy rain (not tested for longer than 60 - 90 minutes), cool in the summer and, uh... Er... you can add layers in the winter
Quick and easy in and out. 2. Toss up between the Darien and First Gear. Darien is better in warmer weather with a tougher shell material. My first gear has better storage but with a lighter shell material but does have thicker abrasion pads on the elbows and shoulders. Venting is better on the Darien as the system on the first gear is funky and doesnt flow very well.
3. BMW Gear - While supposedly tough as can be the shell felt to lightweight and the price for the pinwheel is steap.
4. Tourmaster suit - At around $400 is a good deal, though leaks in light rain all over. Its also very warm in the summer. If fair weather is your thing though its a great deal.
5. Joe Rocket - I assume they make higher end stuff but what Ive seen has been pretty cheesy. Not too many riders I know keep it for long.
Side note: my buddy with the tourmaster traded in his frank thomas gear for it and is happier. Seems the Frank Thomas gear that he had purchased was designed in england for english weather. Needless to say with very little or no venting California summers were hell. His tourmaster is a bit cooler but not by much...
I would take issue with your Joe Rocket comment actually. Up here in Vancouver its seems to be a fairly even split (IMHO) of Joe Rocket, First Gear and Leather.
[aside]
Most shops here have a JR or FG preference and of course being Vancouver you want rain protection above all. Not that it's been raining here much recently...riding in January; who'da'thunk it. Average temp's of about 7 degrees (thats 40-something for you yanks).
[/aside]
I can speak with confidence that the Joe Rocket Revolution jacket is a solid investment. I have ridden through a solid downpour (no fairing either) for about 2 hrs and when I got to my destination I had pools of water in my boots and gloves but the upper body was dry...except where my helmet dripped down my neck. I even kept my digital camera in the right-upper-external front pocket with no concerns.
It vents like crazy during summer, the zip-out fleece jacket is adds good warmth for fall/winter/spring, the integrated backpack rocks, replacable body armor (shoulders and elbows) and it has enough pockets that you look like you are having a seizure patting them all to find your keys
Got it on sale as well!
E/.
[aside]
Most shops here have a JR or FG preference and of course being Vancouver you want rain protection above all. Not that it's been raining here much recently...riding in January; who'da'thunk it. Average temp's of about 7 degrees (thats 40-something for you yanks).
[/aside]
I can speak with confidence that the Joe Rocket Revolution jacket is a solid investment. I have ridden through a solid downpour (no fairing either) for about 2 hrs and when I got to my destination I had pools of water in my boots and gloves but the upper body was dry...except where my helmet dripped down my neck. I even kept my digital camera in the right-upper-external front pocket with no concerns.
It vents like crazy during summer, the zip-out fleece jacket is adds good warmth for fall/winter/spring, the integrated backpack rocks, replacable body armor (shoulders and elbows) and it has enough pockets that you look like you are having a seizure patting them all to find your keys
Got it on sale as well!
E/.
I've got a Tourmaster CoreTech, a AeroStich Roadcrafter one-piece, a Joe Rocket Ballastic 3.0, and a MotoPort Ultra II. My favorite jacket is definitely the MotoPort by far.
I suffered many a long winter ride in the AeroStitch, the RoadCrafter is a very cold suit, and the one-piece is ***** to layer under (a good fitting suit means you'll need electrics to say warm, which I didn't have). The AeroStitch also isn't all that waterproof, I've spent many 8-10 hour days in rain and the Stitch was only good for about 3-4 hours before the cordura was soaked and the DWR was defeated. And yes, I renew the DWR coating yearly. The one-piece has the other problem of leaking through the zipper at the crotch, but it's a known issue , and I knew that when I purchased it. Overall the Stitch is great around town, hot as hell in the summer, and ok for longer rides... I really like the versatility of the two piece suit better, but didn't know that when I bought my onepiece.
The TourMaster and the Joe Rocket are good entry level jackets. They are both entirely useable and have some very nice features. I like the collar on the JR jacket, it's cut high in the back and has a nice fake suede lining. I haven't had it in a heavy rain, but it did leak through the preponderance of zippers and vents on the front of the jacket in a light rain. This might not be a problem on a fully faired bike. The arms are also precurved on the JR, but the armor in my XL doesn't fit right, it's almost as if the pads are the same size for every jacket size, so in some places they are too small for me. The Coretech is very old model (98 or 99) so might have changed. It has far less features than the JR, but the overall construction seems to be more robust. It is a simple design and that's where it's stregths lie. It fits well, has just enough pockets and is good for a rain storm.... Anything more than a couple hours or so, and I think it'd start to leak.
The MotoPort Ultra II has to be the most robust jacket I have seen. The entire thing is 1000 denier Cordura and has a separate zip out h20 liner. This is what confuses people the most about this jacket... It's really just an uncoated shell with armor and an extremely warm and waterproof zip in liner. It adds a lot of flexibility to the jacket, but you still have to worry about zipping in the liner if it starts to really rain. I wore it all summer here in DC and though it doesn't breath as well as the new mesh jackets, it does breath a helluva lot more than my Stitch. I like the flexiblity of the shell/liner combo as well as the fact I got a deal on mine by buying used. Strengths are its construction and versatility. The liner is extremely waterproof as well as very warm, I spent 10+ hours in late November riding around W.Va and Viriginia in the rain, it didn't leak nor did I get "muggy" like I do in my Stitch when the DWR fails. I only had to turn my electrics on half way through the ride. You have to get used to the fact that because the shell isn't coated, it gets soaked, but because the goretex liner is not laminated to the shell, it's no problem, you still maintain air space for the liner to breathe, and hence prevents the muggy feeling. I have applied a DWR (NikWak wash in stuff) to the Motoport in hopes that this summer it'll be enough to keep me dry in sudden summer showers. And yet another strength is no break-in time whatsoever, unlike some of the horror stories I've heard about Darien break-ins from fellow riders. The downsides to this jacket: dowdy is the best way to describe the styling, they don't offer tall sizes (then again, I never asked them, so it might be possible), they never answer email (call them), you have to carry the liner with you, and elbow pads are placed strangely.
Needless to say these observations are only valid for the types of riding I do, namely, a lot of long (300-700 miles) days on my Concours (faired), and a lot of dual sporting on my KLR (nearest dirt is 2 hours from me and I don't own a truck, so I ride there). I ride all year round, even put 34 miles on my KLR yesterday riding around DC in the snow storm. And for reference I am 6'4", about 240lbs. and wear a 46L suit jacket.
Z
I suffered many a long winter ride in the AeroStitch, the RoadCrafter is a very cold suit, and the one-piece is ***** to layer under (a good fitting suit means you'll need electrics to say warm, which I didn't have). The AeroStitch also isn't all that waterproof, I've spent many 8-10 hour days in rain and the Stitch was only good for about 3-4 hours before the cordura was soaked and the DWR was defeated. And yes, I renew the DWR coating yearly. The one-piece has the other problem of leaking through the zipper at the crotch, but it's a known issue , and I knew that when I purchased it. Overall the Stitch is great around town, hot as hell in the summer, and ok for longer rides... I really like the versatility of the two piece suit better, but didn't know that when I bought my onepiece.
The TourMaster and the Joe Rocket are good entry level jackets. They are both entirely useable and have some very nice features. I like the collar on the JR jacket, it's cut high in the back and has a nice fake suede lining. I haven't had it in a heavy rain, but it did leak through the preponderance of zippers and vents on the front of the jacket in a light rain. This might not be a problem on a fully faired bike. The arms are also precurved on the JR, but the armor in my XL doesn't fit right, it's almost as if the pads are the same size for every jacket size, so in some places they are too small for me. The Coretech is very old model (98 or 99) so might have changed. It has far less features than the JR, but the overall construction seems to be more robust. It is a simple design and that's where it's stregths lie. It fits well, has just enough pockets and is good for a rain storm.... Anything more than a couple hours or so, and I think it'd start to leak.
The MotoPort Ultra II has to be the most robust jacket I have seen. The entire thing is 1000 denier Cordura and has a separate zip out h20 liner. This is what confuses people the most about this jacket... It's really just an uncoated shell with armor and an extremely warm and waterproof zip in liner. It adds a lot of flexibility to the jacket, but you still have to worry about zipping in the liner if it starts to really rain. I wore it all summer here in DC and though it doesn't breath as well as the new mesh jackets, it does breath a helluva lot more than my Stitch. I like the flexiblity of the shell/liner combo as well as the fact I got a deal on mine by buying used. Strengths are its construction and versatility. The liner is extremely waterproof as well as very warm, I spent 10+ hours in late November riding around W.Va and Viriginia in the rain, it didn't leak nor did I get "muggy" like I do in my Stitch when the DWR fails. I only had to turn my electrics on half way through the ride. You have to get used to the fact that because the shell isn't coated, it gets soaked, but because the goretex liner is not laminated to the shell, it's no problem, you still maintain air space for the liner to breathe, and hence prevents the muggy feeling. I have applied a DWR (NikWak wash in stuff) to the Motoport in hopes that this summer it'll be enough to keep me dry in sudden summer showers. And yet another strength is no break-in time whatsoever, unlike some of the horror stories I've heard about Darien break-ins from fellow riders. The downsides to this jacket: dowdy is the best way to describe the styling, they don't offer tall sizes (then again, I never asked them, so it might be possible), they never answer email (call them), you have to carry the liner with you, and elbow pads are placed strangely.
Needless to say these observations are only valid for the types of riding I do, namely, a lot of long (300-700 miles) days on my Concours (faired), and a lot of dual sporting on my KLR (nearest dirt is 2 hours from me and I don't own a truck, so I ride there). I ride all year round, even put 34 miles on my KLR yesterday riding around DC in the snow storm. And for reference I am 6'4", about 240lbs. and wear a 46L suit jacket.
Z
Thank you all for your input! I haven't done any long rides this winter, so I haven't tried the Gerbing's set I bought yet. As for outerwear, I attended the show in NYC in January and ended up buying the discontinued Belstaff Typhoon jacket and pants at a good price. The only drawbacks I could see were the velcro rather than pouch system for the protection pads. It seems to have good features including lots of reflective stuff and ventilation zips, plus I liked the styling. My only gripe with the pants is that the size that fit well has the kneepads slightly lower than I would like for the relaxed bend of my FJ1200 (would probably be perfect for a Suzuki anything). Incidentally, the newer Belstaff pants, I forget the name but they had the heat resistant fabric on the lower legs, had a far inferior snap system at the waist. I couldn't keep them secured. As I try the clothing in progressively worse weather, I'll let you know how it performs.
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