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-   -   The Riding Gear thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/ride-safe/42000-riding-gear-thread-108.html)

The buggers at Snapdeal cancelled my Spartan Helios Jacket due to non-availability of size.

Any reviews of Cramster's Eclipse Jacket? Part leather/part mesh - http://www.cramster.in/Products/Cram...d-1333203.aspx

How about visiting a Spartan store nearby and picking it up. When it comes to riding gear nothing beats the try and buy method.

Ordered a pair of Tundra winter/ rain resistant gloves from Cramster online store on Saturday. Paid 2100 bucks for the pair including shipping. I believe they are tough enough to stand the abuse for good time. Waiting for the product to get delivered.

The Vega helmet is on the way. Should reach by today or tomorrow.

Anybody has any ideas as to where to source good Riding Gear/Jacket in Bangkok? Which market etc.? Which brand etc.? I will be there at the end of this month. Thanks in advance.

Not sure about Bangkok, but a few recommendations from my side:

1. www.PlanetDSG.com
2. Cramster.in
3. Honda riding jacket available at Honda Merchandise store near you. Not sure about online availability.

Bought some riding gear last week. So now my riding gear is complete with the list below:

Helmet: LS2 FF350
Gloves: Spartan Ares
Jacket: Spartan Helios
Pants: Spartan Odysseus
Boots: Tourmaster Solution 2.0 touring boots

Did a ride of around 500 kms fully geared up. The pants are very comfortable and you can stay in them all day (without the rain liner of course). The jackets are super ventilated and even during B2B traffic you dont get that cooked in the jacket feeling. The boots are pretty comfy though i had a scary moment when i stomped on the rear brake by mistake and almost had a fall. Lever modulation takes some time to get used to with the boots. The gloves are the only ones which were not very comfortable and ended up causing pressure near the wrist and at the tip of the thumb. Thinking of changing them if they dont improve over time.

Since i ride a D200, the riding pants ensured that the heat from the bike is not felt even when it is at operating temperature (typically 8 bars on the temp. gauge) for long periods of time in the saddle. Once i entered the city the gear endured heavy rains for nearly 1 hour as there was mad traffic. The liners did their job pretty well. The jacket liner had left a wet patch about the size of a tennis ball near the neck area on my t-shirt after 1 hour of incessant rains. The pant liner held up better with just the area near the vents getting slightly wet on one side (might have got wet before putting in the liner too). The highlight though was the boots. Once i got used to them, there was no looking back. You can be in them the whole day and after 1 hour ride thru slush and rain, once i got home, my socks were bone dry. Not a drop of water has gone inside!!

Drying the gear was also pretty easy. Just wiping them with a wet tissue got rid of all the mud and muck from the pants and boots. Drying them in the sun without the armors did the job in about an hour of putting them out to dry. Thats pretty quick if you ask me :) Overall very happy & satisfied with the purchase.

Not sure if you are still here, I usually buy from RidersDiscount or Revzilla. I also have some local shops I pick up stuff from. If you know what you want I can talk to the shop for some small discounts. PM me where you are in States, if you in LA are I can take you the shops around.

PS:I don't work for any of the shops. :D

What is the budget you have for Boots? I would prefer Sidi or Alpinestar. I have no personal experience with Bilt, these are exclusively sold at Cycle Gear only. Having looked at a few boots from Bilt I feel they are not that great. Let me see if I can get some pictures from the shop this weekend.

Visors are easy to change. You may get some better deals on eBay

Hi Abhinav. Good to see a fellow biker geared up. Where did you buy the gear from? Mind sharing the price of each of the gear?

Also the gloves need to break in. Keep wearing them and you they will get adjusted to your hand shape and size. It took 2 weeks for my DSG primal gloves to get adjusted. Now they are just perfect

Hi Sagar. I bought the gear from Biking Spirit on St. Marks Road (Behind the Triumph Showroom).

Helmet: LS2 FF350 - This is with me for some time now. Used mainly for touring. Dont remember the price i paid for this. Was in the ball park of around 3000.
Gloves: Spartan Ares - 3299
Jacket: Spartan Helios - 6299
Pants: Spartan Odysseus - 6299
Boots: Tourmaster Solution 2.0 touring boots - 10,000 (Actual price was 13k but due to some discounts that were running on these, got these for 10k).

Thanks for the tips on the gloves. Will use them everyday to work and back to break them in. :)

Hi Abhinav. That's a good set of gears you've got. How was your experience with Biking Spirit?

My timing of buying the gear was wrong. Firstly they moved their shop at exactly the time i wanted to buy the gear. Not their mistake. But they did not have stock of my size (M) in both jackets and pants. I had to wait nearly a month for stocks to arrive. Even on the day they said the stocks would arrive due to logistics issues it arrived around 4hrs late.

But this apart, they really know their stuff with regards to riding gear and I was pretty happy with the way they explained each and every thing and also helped me understand how to go about gearing up. Very knowledgeable folks.

I waited nearly 2.5 hours on the day stocks arrived and i was happy i did that since they had got very limited stocks in each size. If i had not waited and decided to come next week, i would have ended up disappointed again!

Cramster's ECLIPSE Leather+Cordura+Mesh 3 layered Riding Jacket Review

Ordered Cramster's Eclipse Leather+Mesh Jacket - http://www.cramster.in/Products/Cram...d-1333203.aspx after prolonged discussions with them. Landed cost was 7.6K including 350 bucks for courier.

Some features as mentioned on their website -

All Weather Hybrid Riding Jacket

True All Weather Convertible Jacket with Dual (External & Internal) Multi Climate Liners.
Extreme Comfort & Safety in Any Kind of Climate.
Styling: Short | Convertible | Top Leather

Primary Layer/Outer Shell: Premium Grain Leather + TechnoTex®
Secondary Outer Shell: Maxtex Cordura + Heavy Duty Mesh
Contact Layer: Perforated Mesh Liner

Integrated Water Resist Layer: Original Reissa® Powerskin | Breathable | Rain/Wind/Snow Resistant
Inner Detachable Layer: Thermolite® Warm Liner - Best In Class | Full Length Fully Detachable
Outer Detachable Panel : 360Degree Removable Technotex Panel
On the Fly Textile to Mesh (with Reissa Inner) Convertibility

Exclusive Pluggable Flourescent Reflective Vest for Supreme Day+Night Visibility
CE Approved Armours - 5 piece set (2 Shoulder, 2 Elbow and 1 Back armour pad)
Optimized Air Flow
PreCurved Sleeves for Max Comfort
Adjustable Sleeve Straps
3M Scotchlite® Reflectives - Front & Back
YKK® Zippers

So today I received the jacket, in less than 48 hours of making the payment.

International quality fit and finish, not a stitch out of place. Here it is with the armours removed.


Premium feel


Close up of the Premium Grain Leather and the Maxtex Cordura


CE Protection on all armour, Reissa Powerskin material used from Korea, 3M Reflexate Technology


Inner removable Thermolite Warm Liner for winters, 360Degree Removable Technotex Panel with On the Fly Textile to Mesh (with Reissa Inner) Convertibility and the pluggable Reflective Vest which is removable.


All CE approved Armour and Back Pad.


Summer Mode with the lower Cordura portion removed to reveal the Mesh Layer with waterproof pockets.


Detailed review to follow after proper use. Seems a great buy till now.

Sorry for the back to back post, but here's how it looks worn, front and back, with all CE Armour in place but 2 layers removed i.e. Inner Thermal layer and Lower Cordura Layer (that makes it full water-resistant) for revealing the breathable Mesh i.e. in SUMMER mode -

Dhiraj,

Awesome stuff! I had 2 questions. How is it at your elbow while riding? Since these come pre-curved arms does it wobble when riding or are they firm around your arm?

2) Can i buy just the shoulder and elbow inserts?

Well the short handling I did with it till now, it seems quite comfortable though it is not light by any standards and I presume riding jackets should not be in order to provide proper protection. Though not as heavy as a full leather one from Harley. Elbows are quite comfortable and do not seem to move. Detailed review on this point after 2-3 rides.

For your second point, I presume you will need to email/phone Cramster - info@cramster.in M:098800-89225(Mon-Sat: 10am -8pm)