[sridhu]

Originally Posted by HowDifferent?

Looking for inputs from experienced riders. I have come back from a three day ride. Have cleaned my riding gear except my gloves. Not sure what is the best way to clean the gloves, the outside and the inside. Any inputs will help. Thanks..!

What HELD Gloves recommends

Basically:

• Clean your gloves in tepid water using mild soap or special leather cleanser
• Wash in clean water afterwards to remove chemical residue
• Do not use fabric softener
• Wrap the gloves in dry cloth and squeeze (no mangling!)
• Put the gloves on when still wet and clench your fists to mold them back into shape
• Air-dry the gloves (no heating, direct sunlight or dryer)
• Put on the dry gloves and knead to make them soft
• Treat the gloves with a leather care product

[AjayJohri]

Hello Bikers!

Will be grateful if you could advise the go-to shop for the following in New Delhi, ideally in Karol Bagh area:

1) Biking Gear: Saddle bags, mobile charger, touring seat etc.

2) Biking Apparel: options beyond RE apparel for riding jackets and pants, gloves, biker boots etc.


Thanks and best regards,
Ajay

[sukiwa]

Originally Posted by AjayJohri

Will be grateful if you could advise the go-to shop for the following in New Delhi, ideally in Karol Bagh area:

1) Biking Gear: Saddle bags, mobile charger, touring seat etc.

2) Biking Apparel: options beyond RE apparel for riding jackets and pants, gloves, biker boots etc.

Have you looked at Rynox store?
Other outlets would be Pathpavers or High note performance.

Unfortunately, none of these are in Karol Bagh area.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

A little birdie tells me that the once popular brand Cramster, will soon make a comeback in the Indian market, with a range of products that will be very affordably priced.

And here it is, Cramster gloves. Flux and Breezer are priced well whereas K2K full gauntlet is inline with Rynox Strom Evo 2. Entire Cramster gloves range is priced below Rynox, hope this helps more riders use gloves often.

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by AjayJohri

Will be grateful if you could advise the go-to shop for the following in New Delhi, ideally in Karol Bagh area:

Chopra Automobiles is the one stop solution for all your needs! It's a small shop loaded with stuff, be patient and they can get you stuff from their godown. Check Youtube channel, 'rps riding gear' for latest stock updates. Do your homework and you can get anything you want from them!

Happy shopping,
surjaonwheelz

[neil.jericho]

A few days ago, I dropped into a nearby Royal Enfield showroom on the way back from a ride. What caught my eye in the riding gear section was a lovely yellow jacket. This is the new Streetwind Eco mesh jacket which retails for a very affordable price of Rs 5,950. The guy who was in charge of the riding gear section was on leave and hence, I didnt learn more about the jacket in the store.

Later, I found out that the jacket is actually Royal Enfield's and India's first sustainable riding jacket. Each jacket is made from 75 recycled plastic bottles. It comes with Royal Enfield's Ergo pro-tech CE level 2 armour at the shoulder and elbow. There is no back protection bundled with the jacket but you can get one from Royal Enfield. With 90% ventilation, it will be perfect for the daily commute. The jacket has 600D abraision resistance for the mesh and 610D for the impact zones, which is pretty good considering the retail price. Of the 3 available colours, the yellow is an absolute standout. There is also a velcro strap on the left shoulder for personalization.

I didnt try it on since I was a little sweaty but my interest levels in this jacket are really high. If the back armour from one of my existing jackets can fit into this, I just might pick one up.

While other Indian riding gear brands have been launching jacket after jacket after jacket after jacket (you know who Im talking about ), its nice to see Royal Enfield fight back in this highly competitive and price focused space, with a rather unique offering.

[advstreak]

Is anybody having a recommendation on EN 13634-certified boots?

I am looking from the perspective of commutes and breakfast rides so will prefer designs that look a little less technical.

There seem to be a couple of options only for less than INR. 10K. The first one being RE CABO WP BOOTS: https://store.royalenfield.com/en/ro...ve-45-11-olive

And the second one being MOTOTECH Urbane Riding boots: https://mototechgear.com/products/mo...t-riding-boots

I would love to hear if there are any other options in the same range and also feedback regarding these two boots.

[MadhavNarayanan]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

That’s great Madhav. I believe this is a recent launch, please share your detailed feedback after some usage. This will help others who may be looking for this product.

Ride safe.

Cheers

A quick review on my new Viaterra Miller Jacket and Riding Pants!

We did a 5 day ride to Goa from Bangalore and back. The idea was to do a Monsoon Ride, but it turned out to be a "Barely Any Rain" ride, except for the last morning when we started to ride back from Kumta to Bangalore. It did pour heavy, but the rains soon disappeared just as we started riding.

The Jacket is well ventilated with a lot of mesh in the chest area, despite the chest armours! The quality from viaterra is top-notch. The seller at the shop insisted that I buy a tight fitting jacket, which seemed to be a little uncomfortable at first, but I got used to it in no time. I thought the length was a little on the shorter side, but the placement of shoulder armours were perfect. The elbow armours sat well in its place too. Zippers are again of top quality and work flawlessly. The jacket connects to the riding pants via a zipper, and this works pretty well too.

The riding pants again was super comfortable, despite all the humidity. Comes with a very large flap opening at the bottom, that helps you easily get in and out of the pants. The velcro is placed thoughtfully to ensure the neck of your shoes get covered by the pants. I use a TCX WP Mid rise shoes. Since this is a midrise the pants sometimes tends to rise above the shoes, but I felt no discomfort. The knee guards were firmly in place. The hip protectors felt snug and comfortable too.

The jacket and pants come with no additional liners (rain\winter) and those will need to be picked up separately. I have a decathlon rain jacket that seems to be doing a decent job, which I wore over my riding jacket when it rained a bit. Did carry a regular rain pant along, but did not feel the need to wear it.

We covered a total distance of 1466 KMs in the ride, and never once did I feel any discomfort. I think this was money well spent.

[neil.jericho]

Last year, I had shared some details on Royal Enfield's E39 short riding boots (The Riding Gear thread). Now, Royal Enfield has taken things a step forward with the launch of their E39 mid rise riding boots.

As most of the regulars on this thread know
- prices of imported riding boots have been increasing at an extraordinary rate. They are becoming unaffordable to most regular riders.
- the ISI mandate (which was once postponed) is here, as surjaonwheelz recently reminded us (The Riding Gear thread), so stocks are going to be scarce.

In light of this, Royal Enfield's move to launch their E39s is a welcome move for the rider community.

Coming to the boots, like the short E39s, these waterproof leather boots seem to be solidly built. There is no mention of what safety standards it adheres to. Of the 3 available colours, I got to see the red one and the neon one. For riding pants, gloves and boots, I am a firm believer in using waterproof products because they save you the hassle of pulling over onto the side of the road, pulling out your rain protection layer and then resuming your riding. That routine gets terribly annoying in a hurry.

Once supplies of imported boots dries up in the next couple of months, I assume that these waterproof boots will become the default choice for tourers in the Rs 10 to 20K price range.

[siddhant]

Originally Posted by advstreak

There seem to be a couple of options only for less than INR. 10K. The first one being RE CABO WP BOOTS: https://store.royalenfield.com/en/ro...ve-45-11-olive

I was looking for urban boots and had ordered these since they were available at a 30% discount (Rs 5950) during the independence day sale. Received these today!

Given these are TCX boots sold by RE, quality is very good and protection feels adequate for city use. Ingress for the first time will be difficult and I needed to loosen up the laces all the way. However, egress was much easier comparatively. I hope these will improve after 3-4 rides, when the shoes have been broken in properly. Also, these are indistinguishable from your regular sneakers.

Compare the length and height of these with my touring boots, the Shima RSX-5 (now discontinued). My size is EU 43 and these boots are a perfect fit. I went for a short 1-1.5 hour ride and despite not being very breathable (these are tagged WP boots), these felt quite comfortable and I had no problems in shifting gears. Right now, I don't know how comfortable these will be for continuously wearing over 7-8 hours (office use). I am going to use these for city and even those short weekend rides. I feel this is a decent deal for Rs 6000 but 8500 feels a tad bit expensive. Let's see how these hold up.

[lazyrev]

I went to some shops to try out riding jackets and liked the Solace AIR-X Jacket L2 the most. It is the best one I could find that would serve my needs (90% city driving, 10% highway driving).
Has anyone used this jacket here? Any long term reviews?


P.S.: I tried using the forum search option but this thread has 300 odd pages so there were many results that were not directly relevant.

[JayPrashanth]

Originally Posted by siddhant

I was looking for urban boots and had ordered these since they were available at a 30% discount (Rs 5950) during the independence day sale. Received these today!

Given these are TCX boots sold by RE, quality is very good and protection feels adequate for city use. Ingress for the first time will be difficult and I needed to loosen up the laces all the way. However, egress was much easier comparatively. I hope these will improve after 3-4 rides, when the shoes have been broken in properly. Also, these are indistinguishable from your regular sneakers.

Attachment 2492774

Attachment 2492775

Attachment 2492776

Compare the length and height of these with my touring boots, the Shima RSX-5 (now discontinued). My size is EU 43 and these boots are a perfect fit. I went for a short 1-1.5 hour ride and despite not being very breathable (these are tagged WP boots), these felt quite comfortable and I had no problems in shifting gears. Right now, I don't know how comfortable these will be for continuously wearing over 7-8 hours (office use). I am going to use these for city and even those short weekend rides. I feel this is a decent deal for Rs 6000 but 8500 feels a tad bit expensive. Let's see how these hold up.

Attachment 2492777

Attachment 2492778

Just leave the 3 top eyelets empty for easy ingress. Same pinch: I have the same pair, bought at the same discounted sale!

[Malliketh]

Originally Posted by siddhant

I was looking for urban boots and had ordered these since they were available at a 30% discount (Rs 5950) during the independence day sale. Received these today!

Congrats on the purchase. Do share your review of the shoes when worn out on a regular day, especially if you get a chance to use them in the rain.

I use TCX Stelvio Full Length during the monsoon to work as the WP nature allows me to reach the office fully dry but have had my eyes on the Cabo for round the year wear to office (I switch to formal shoes in office which are kept there).

[sukiwa]

Continuing focus on Riding boots, here is a review of Gaerne G.Escape boots. I have done around 700 Kms in 5 weekend rides so far.



My previous Solace pair was showing its age(bought in 2017), leather had developed small cracks due to non-usage in covid times. Prices of riding boots have increased, supply has been limited, thus leaving limited options.
I wished to continue waterproof abilities, just that I wanted to try Goretex this time. I looked at LABs and chose Gaerne Escape after checking couple of Goretex models. Buying experience was a breeze. I chatted with LABs person for size fit and was told to go a size up. My regular shoes size is EU44, chose riding boots size as EU45. I wanted to know height of boots as I would be riding to office, LABs person shared a photo with steel rule showing 10" height. I ordered on a Monday, got delivered on Thursday. BTW, these boots were bought in 2022, posting about it almost a year later.

Most of usage so far has been in rains, no water inside. In one of the ride, I was using Decathlon rain pants and length was just enough to reach top of boots. In pouring rain, few drops trickled in at front; no issues in drizzles. I need to change to longer rain pants.


Quite understated looks, no flashy colours


Boot opening is quite wide, easy to slide in the foot.
Velcro on zipper runner, so no question it getting loose


Stiff back side with a small reflective patch


Sole is stiff as it should be, took me some time to get used in gear shifts. In rains, due to rubber on footpegs of my Suzuki V-strom SX 250, it was bit slippery. However, no issues in walking in these boots even on rocks near a waterfall.


bit of Italian flair

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by sukiwa

I wished to continue waterproof abilities, just that I wanted to try Goretex this time.
...
BTW, these boots were bought in 2022, posting about it almost a year later.

Well you posted it so late that no one can buy it now. Better late than never!

There's no USP of these boots and they were a premium offering (if I remember the cost) apart from Goretex and minimalist looks. One can get a lot more boots in the Falco touring range, Liberty, Atlas & Mixto.

Hope you put these to good use and your next pair is a full length one!

Ride safe,
surjaonwheelz

[naveenvenkatesh]

I am a complete noob when it comes to riding gear. Will be buying a bike soon (Speed 400x or HD 440 or CB350 Highness) so need to invest in some good riding gear (jacket, pant, boots, the entire nine yards!). Is there some store i can visit in Bangalore to try out these?