Boots or Pants??

Yeah, the Mercury's look good, but I don't ride too often when it's cold. I think the Four Season pants' versatility would be perfect for me, if the protection is good.

 

Ive shopped at NewEnough Several times and never been dissapointed with their service. Sure their prices in their normal area arent always the best, but its the closeouts and bargin basements that are amazing. I got a $400 Hein Geirke Leather jacket for 180$ and a closeout Firstgear Denali Textile jacket for 160$ over 250$ anywhere else at the time.

Back on topic, Im with the minority it seems, PANTS, and LEATHER ones at that. I took a 35mph slide on my first bike in jeans and leather SKATER shoes, The shoes stayed on and protected my feet but I rubbed a hole in my knee and hip, Luckily the rash wasnt too bad. I now where high ankle Leather hiking boots and Firstgear Quickdry Leather Overpants. They retail for 300$ got them on ebay for 100$. Spending $200 on a pair of good used leathers on ebay and 50-100 on a new pair of hiking boots will do you more good than spending 300 on a pair of boots and no pants. Just my 2 cents.

 

Agreed. I laughed at whomever votes motorcycle specific boots over pants, especially if you have some decent work boots already. If your work boots aren't worn out completely, they're over the ankle, leather/cordura, with good stitching still, I would throw on some new laces and call it good. Definitely PANTS!


If I remember right, Fieldsheer gear didn't seem very high quality or at least not as high quality as some of the other brands if I remember right. I haven't looked at it in about 6 months in all fairness though.

Did you check out the FIRSTGEAR line of pants? They are hard to beat in the textile market.


First Gear HT Air 2.0 "mesh" Overpants ~$175 - I have these for mild weather. They are mostly mesh(First gear offers another pant "mest tex 2.0" or something that has a wee bit more mesh) but have tough cordura like material in high abrasion areas as the seat and knees. You definitely need to add better knee/hip padding($40 bucks covered additional knee and hip armor that was CE approved and it still fit with the supplied original "padding")



So far they have been great down to about 55 degrees with the liner in. They definitely don't stop ALL the air but knock quite a bit down with the waterproof liner. They've been pretty good up to 70 degrees so far...but that's all the warmer they've been up to here in Michigan this season. When you're moving and the rain liner is removed they feel pretty damn good.

 

Seeking consensus, IMO, most are in agreement that good boots, pants, jackets, helmets and gloves are a good idea. Faves and hot deals are great.

Singling out one's own fave dealer whether online or in the hood is cool too. Nice to have both. Better yet is having comparison shopping for all that neat stuff we do need, gotta have to keep up with the Joneses and Jonesing.

The avaliability of stuff increases almost geometrically. There are a couple of brands in general that IMO are crap and are 3rd world sweatshop stuff.

Considering the Held gloves, those are and were my immediate need. I won't be buying them from anybody at MSRP. Of that you can be sure. Way too many choices out there in cyberville not to take advantage of a deal.

A few years back I was jonesing for a Hein Gericke Kilaminjaro. My local dealer a nice guy and as an aside, I think I was his very first customer springing for a K&N filter a 36mm Mikuni and a White Bros (Supertrapp) pipe and can for my SR500, told me his best deal was a bit over five hundred bucks. I got one online for $330.00. Hein Gericke and FirstGear are one in the same.At that time HG was getting sued for pulling fast ones on small dealers. The deal here is we never know what is really going on with this pricing, who is who and what is what. We would like to think we do but like navels, azzholes, and on at least some of us to start with, foreskins, much of what we think is opinion. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it at least for today anyway..

 

That a steal

Dude you got a steal on that boot Bra.:thumbsup::biggrin:

 

Sidi Strada Evo Air - $100 craigslist. Just got them today. Gonna check out pair of Cortech leather pants tomorrow - $100.

 

^^^^^^

Way to go getting BOTH!

BZ

 

I have been following this thread closely.

After seeing some of those pictures and reading everyone's comments, I've realized I want a pants and boots NOW.

Boots are easier for me - I see. I research. I like. I buy.

But I'm having difficulty with pants. Foolishly, I only ride in jeans now, and that needs to end.

I would like a pair of pants that I can wear over my jeans. Is that typical, or are most of these designed to be worn right over your underwear?

Since wearing pants is new to me, I don't know if that means they will not fit correctly if I am wearing them over other jeans, and hence, in the event I go down, the pants come off/bunch up because of an improper fit. That kind of defeats the purpose.

Can I go and guy "whatever" pants I ultimately decide on, and just get them a size bigger, on the assumption they will fit over my jeans?

I assume I'll have to talk to the manufacturer about what size they would recommend based on normal jean size.

I thank all of you for enlightening me to smarten up about this. I was definitely delusional thinking that jeans would be OK. Fortunately I have not gone down, and I'd like to get the right gear before/if I do.

Most of my money is tied up in the rebuild of my twin CAT motors on my 67 foot Hatteras yacht, so I'd prefer to keep it less than $200 (for the pants).

 

Hi Pliskin, for 239, Firstgear TPG escapes. Fieldsheer Astro's on closeout a great deal if you can find them. Both have CE knee and hip armor. TPG's have waterproof insulated liners that you could ride in the ARCTIC with.
Good thinking and good luck.
I saw one of the sage posters bylines early on that went, "ATGATT". All the gear, all the time...

 

Thanks flyno. I like the TPG pants - I actually have the TPG jacket, so it would be a nice compliment. Found the pants for $225, so not bad.

From reviewing on the internet, I get the feeling these are a warmer type of pant? I know that with my jacket, I take the liner out if its above 55 to 60, and once we hit about 75 or so, then I go to the mesh jacket (also First Gear).

Are the TPG pants considered an over-pant? Suggestions on a cooler pant?

Whats the difference between a textile pant, mesh-tex textile pant, and air-mesh textile pant?

By the way, anyone have First Gear boots? http://www.ridersdiscount.com/street-gear/boots-men/80742.php

Thoughts/Comments/Reviews?

 

Pliskin, TPG's without liner breath pretty well. TPG 2.0 Mesh Overpant might also be a good choice but I personally have not used them. The escapes are an overpant, and fit 1 size large without the liner. They don't cause my slacks to wrinkle up or anything when I wear them to work, and slide on and off just like sweatpants once you unzip the legs. To your point, the difference in pants is that textile only are more wind blocking, and IMO the other two are the same, combination of textile and mesh designed to breath well at speed.

 

The difference between the HT Air 2.0 "mesh" over panFirstGear HT Air 2.0 Mesh Motorcycle Overpants :: New Enough, LTDt and the Mesh Tex 2.0 riding pants is pretty much just that the HT AIR have full length leg zippers on the shell and liner. The Mesh-Tex don't have full length zipper. The Mesh-Tex do seem to have a wee bit more mesh...but not much.

If you check out new enough's website they have some of the best sizing information listed for any brand. They usually post actual measurements of the garments they sell and make suggestions based upon those measurements. Great for researching your size and weather they'll work over jeans or not.

The TPG Escape pants have really good reviews. The only reason I didn't get those is that for anything below 50 degrees I wear snowmobiling pants I got from Cabelas(they lack knee and hip padding, but the knee and butt are reinforced with the same fabric as most motorcycle pants and hopefully the poly fiber fill provides enough padding). I think they are called "Dry Plus" pants. Anyway, I picked up the First Gear HT Air 2.0 pant for anything above 55. Good construction and performance so far. Hope they can let me survive the muggy summer though!

 

icon pants.alpine star boots 3/4 problem sloved:thumbsup:

 

lol the red wing would look fly on the viffer 4 shore:wink:

 

These are on sale and I'm close to pulling the trigger.

Icon Hooligan Canvas Pants - Motorcycle Superstore

No built in padding, but I would add a set of Alpinestars Reflex Knee Guards shortly after and eventually some Icon Field Armor shorts.

 

Thanks.

Before I make my final decisions, I'm just trying to figure out if the TPG pants are going to be too warm on those summer days when I am wearing them over a pair of jeans. The cold doesn't concern me as much; i.e. I'm not looking for something that's going to keep me warm when the temperature drops.

So, if anyone has any last minuted advice or comments, I'm all ears. I plan on placing my order today for pants, boots, and while I'm at it, going to get some better gloves.

Thanks for letting me tailgate on your thread zPix. :thumbsup:

And thanks again to everyone for your insight and comments.

 

No problem Pliskin.

As an update, I ordered those Icon pants last night. I realize that they may not be my best option, but they were on sale and will be so much better than jeans, esp. when I add extra padding underneath.

Now just need some money for the boots.

 

I'm not too sure how warm they would be. I haven't tried them on so I have no clue how thick the shell is or how well they breathe. I do have the HT Air 2.0 and they are good down to about 55 for shorter rides depending on how much meat you have on your bones... They are definitely cooler than the TPG Escape model though.

 

Pants are more important since no one ever got arrested for not wearing boots !

 

Squirrel has a point there.