Greggers
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Some of you may have seen my Omani Holiday ride report in the KTM section (if not then go and read the fekker!) but I thought it might be good to do a quick crit on the gear we used during the tour.
We were lucky enough to have a set of KLIM Badlands Pro clothing to use on the tour. The first impression of both the trousers and the jacket is that they are incredibly well made and feel very sturdy indeed. It is obvious that a lot of thought has gone into the practical aspects of the design, with a generous cut to accommodate base layering, and the provision of plenty of storage pockets. Vents were numerous and appear well placed and all are protected by high quality waterproof zips. The D30 back protection armour in the jacket initially felt a little bulky, but as soon as it had warmed up and was able to conform to the body shape it almost ‘disappeared’ and became unnoticeable in use. The jacket’s integral kidney belt made a huge difference to the way it hangs, taking a lot of its weight off the shoulders and almost making it ‘float’ on the torso . The American zip takes a little getting used to however as the zip’s slider is on the opposite side to what you’d expect on a European garment.
The trousers have an equally ‘engineered’ and satisfyingly secure feel to them. D30 armour inserts in the hip and knee areas make these a very protective pair of trousers, with leather patches on the inner mid-leg sections giving protection from contact with hot high level exhaust pipes. The lower legs have the usual gusset and waterproof zip to accommodate heavy boots, and the trouser cuffs are secured with another waterproof zip and poppers, a great improvement over the previous Velcro strap system. There are two vents on each leg, when both are open it creates a good through-draught for cooling air circulation.
The geography of Oman was a seriously rigorous test of this equipment. At altitude the temperatures dropped well into single figures, but closing the vents was all that was necessary to retain body heat and stay comfortable. I was riding in two CoolMax T-shirts and never once felt chilly. In contrast, riding at sea-level found us in temperatures approaching 38C which is where the technical qualities of the fabrics used are quite simply staggering. The venting works extremely well to channel air through the suit, and the cooling effect it offers when used with wicking base-layers is a real eye-opener. Only when standing still in full sunlight did it become marginally warm, but as soon as there was air-flow through the suit the temperature dropped quickly and significantly to comfort levels.
I wore Alpinestars Tech 7 boots throughout this expedition. These are very bulky MX boots but the Badlands trousers accommodated them without any problems at all. The 450 Rallye I was riding was extremely tall and it required some gymnastics to get aboard. The low cut crotch of the trousers occasionally made it difficult to swing of my leg over the saddle. The only issue I had with the clothing was that the lower left leg came into contact with the bike’s exhaust pipe when I was stationary. Sadly I didn’t realise this until it was too late, and experienced significant burning of the bottom part of the trouser cuff which partially welded the lower leg gusset zip. This damage could easily be avoided by extending the leather protection a further six inches or so which would completely prevent this happening at all.
We didn't have any rain to speak of while we were in Oman, but since I've been home it has literally pissed down with rain every time I've used the bike. Having work the suit a few time now I've discovered a few nice touches - the long cut of the jacket really helps stop any gaps and keep the back section nice and warm. The jacket has a soft neoprene cuff around the neck with an adjustable elastic drawstring that stops any drips down your neck and there's another drawstring at the bottom of the jacket to keep things nice and snug too.
I've worn the suit in a couple of very heavy downpours and can say that even after three hours of deluge I stayed dry. If it's really chilly I'd still be wearing long-johns and a fleece top though.
Klim Adventure Glove.
The gloves give the same impression of quality, with both the construction and the materials used being of a very high standard. The leather is very soft and flexible and protective padding is well placed over the fingers and knuckles. The gloves are unlined and have perforations along each finger and across the back of the hand making them very suitable to hot weather wear. The only criticism I can offer of the gloves is that even with a LARGE size, the fingers have a very narrow cut. Straight from the packet they are really only suitable only for people with very thin digits, but if you have remotely chubby fingers like me then you’ll need to do some work with the gloves to get them to fit. With cold hands I just about managed to squeeze myself into them, but when my hands were hot it was a losing battle. I managed to soak the gloves in water for a few minutes until they were completely saturated then stuffed a small screwdriver handle down each finger. This was just enough to ‘ease’ the leather and re-size the gloves’ fingers to fit my digits. Wearing the gloves until they had dried allowed the leather to conform exactly to my size and after that the fit was perfect (although Sue thought it was a little odd that I was wearing damp gloves to bed...)
In use I would prefer to see some padding on the top of the little fingers, and in my opinion the leather used for the palm of the glove should have remained in one piece with the padding to the palm (hypothenar) area sewn on top rather than made from a separate piece of perforated leather. My concern is that this area is very vulnerable in the case of road impact, and the perforated leather will not be as resistant to abrasion as a single piece of full grain leather. The gloves have a small tab sewn in to the lower wrist area which gives you something to pull when putting them on – this is a nice design touch.
Klim F4 Helmet.
The first and most obvious impression of this helmet is just how light it is. At just over 1450g, it is a full 200g lighter than my old Tour-X – this is a significant difference and makes the helmet very easy to wear. There’s no ‘S’ size though. I generally use a 55-56 helmet, and have found that both Shoei and Arai ‘S’ sizes suit me well. The Klim however is a 57-58, and ships with extra wide cheek-pads to take up that slack. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with that approach to sizing, but in practise the helmet was very comfortable to wear and didn’t present any problems at all. Fitting an intercom headset was a breeze and required very little cutting or re-shaping of the inner shell. The finish of the helmet was quite simply superb, and the graphics were striking without being overpowering or gaudy. In use I found the chin-strap snagged quite frequently when tightening, perhaps this is due to the double buckle’s rectangular shape rather than the more conventional double ‘D’ configuration.
There are a couple of gripes however. I admit I have been spoiled by the integral visor of my Tour-X, but that is my benchmark. The aperture of the F4 is huge and can easily accommodate a pair of goggles, but the downside of that is that wind gets in everywhere. It might just have been an unhappy coincidence, but I suffered a lot of high air pressure buffeting when riding at speed which pushed the helmet to one side and pressed my goggles right onto the side of my nose. This obviously is not too bad just for a few minutes, but as we were doing a lot of highway miles I was constantly looking for a pocket of still air behind the shield to relieve the pressure on my nose and face. This was compounded by the lack of any means to secure the goggles strap to the back of the helmet – the paint’s high gloss finish let the strap slip off the back of the helmet all too often. This was a complete pain in the derriere as the goggles would end up being pulled down my nose taking my glasses with them. it was next to impossible to replace the strap without stopping. Perhaps a lip could be cast into the bottom trim of the helmet to prevent this happening. I’ve solved it by using double sided tape to stick a short section of exhaust strap rubber to the back of the helmet. This secures the strap and stops it sliding up OR down.
Alpinestars Tech7 MX Boots
I've had these for a couple of years but haven't really worn them. My old Sidi Couriers, while looking the 'business', were actually about as supportive as a damp woollen sock so the prospect of a repeat injury to my already weakened ankle was not desperately appealing. The Tech7's came out of storage and were worn for the first time in earnest.
When these boots are new they are stiff, properly stiff. If you imagine a ski-boot you'll have a good idea just how stiff they are. This was my only reservation about using the boots. Their rigidity is derived mainly from the one-piece construction, with no attempt at ankle articulating hinges at all on these puppies! They are constructed mostly from polypropylene but have a reinforced faux-leather midsection. They also have replaceable sole units so if you do manage to wear them out you can simply glue another bottom on! Despite this stiffness I forgot all about them after the second or third day's riding. They became a little more supple, but even then were still quite rigid - maybe it was me just getting used to walking with them on, but by the end of the week I was 'day-long' comfortable in them both on and off the bike.
I take a 9 in a normal shoe, but these are a UK 10 and fit me with room for my SealSkinz. The closures are secure and will only open when you want them to - end of. There are a couple of small vents on each ankle which helps ventilation and cooling but the downside of this is that they aren't waterproof to any significant extent. I managed to get mine waterlogged (see the first day's ride report) and they stayed wet for days and ended up stinking. They still smell like old pond water so I guess I'll be testing Febreze's claims in the not too distant future.
There you have it. I've tried to keep it all pretty much impartial and hope that some if the comments will be useful to anyone considering this kit. If I can make one final and very personal comment about it, it would be: "It's fucking ace!!"
Thanks again to Dave Lomax and the team at Adventure Spec for giving us the chance to review this gear.
All the best
Greg
We were lucky enough to have a set of KLIM Badlands Pro clothing to use on the tour. The first impression of both the trousers and the jacket is that they are incredibly well made and feel very sturdy indeed. It is obvious that a lot of thought has gone into the practical aspects of the design, with a generous cut to accommodate base layering, and the provision of plenty of storage pockets. Vents were numerous and appear well placed and all are protected by high quality waterproof zips. The D30 back protection armour in the jacket initially felt a little bulky, but as soon as it had warmed up and was able to conform to the body shape it almost ‘disappeared’ and became unnoticeable in use. The jacket’s integral kidney belt made a huge difference to the way it hangs, taking a lot of its weight off the shoulders and almost making it ‘float’ on the torso . The American zip takes a little getting used to however as the zip’s slider is on the opposite side to what you’d expect on a European garment.
The trousers have an equally ‘engineered’ and satisfyingly secure feel to them. D30 armour inserts in the hip and knee areas make these a very protective pair of trousers, with leather patches on the inner mid-leg sections giving protection from contact with hot high level exhaust pipes. The lower legs have the usual gusset and waterproof zip to accommodate heavy boots, and the trouser cuffs are secured with another waterproof zip and poppers, a great improvement over the previous Velcro strap system. There are two vents on each leg, when both are open it creates a good through-draught for cooling air circulation.
The geography of Oman was a seriously rigorous test of this equipment. At altitude the temperatures dropped well into single figures, but closing the vents was all that was necessary to retain body heat and stay comfortable. I was riding in two CoolMax T-shirts and never once felt chilly. In contrast, riding at sea-level found us in temperatures approaching 38C which is where the technical qualities of the fabrics used are quite simply staggering. The venting works extremely well to channel air through the suit, and the cooling effect it offers when used with wicking base-layers is a real eye-opener. Only when standing still in full sunlight did it become marginally warm, but as soon as there was air-flow through the suit the temperature dropped quickly and significantly to comfort levels.
I wore Alpinestars Tech 7 boots throughout this expedition. These are very bulky MX boots but the Badlands trousers accommodated them without any problems at all. The 450 Rallye I was riding was extremely tall and it required some gymnastics to get aboard. The low cut crotch of the trousers occasionally made it difficult to swing of my leg over the saddle. The only issue I had with the clothing was that the lower left leg came into contact with the bike’s exhaust pipe when I was stationary. Sadly I didn’t realise this until it was too late, and experienced significant burning of the bottom part of the trouser cuff which partially welded the lower leg gusset zip. This damage could easily be avoided by extending the leather protection a further six inches or so which would completely prevent this happening at all.
We didn't have any rain to speak of while we were in Oman, but since I've been home it has literally pissed down with rain every time I've used the bike. Having work the suit a few time now I've discovered a few nice touches - the long cut of the jacket really helps stop any gaps and keep the back section nice and warm. The jacket has a soft neoprene cuff around the neck with an adjustable elastic drawstring that stops any drips down your neck and there's another drawstring at the bottom of the jacket to keep things nice and snug too.
I've worn the suit in a couple of very heavy downpours and can say that even after three hours of deluge I stayed dry. If it's really chilly I'd still be wearing long-johns and a fleece top though.
Klim Adventure Glove.
The gloves give the same impression of quality, with both the construction and the materials used being of a very high standard. The leather is very soft and flexible and protective padding is well placed over the fingers and knuckles. The gloves are unlined and have perforations along each finger and across the back of the hand making them very suitable to hot weather wear. The only criticism I can offer of the gloves is that even with a LARGE size, the fingers have a very narrow cut. Straight from the packet they are really only suitable only for people with very thin digits, but if you have remotely chubby fingers like me then you’ll need to do some work with the gloves to get them to fit. With cold hands I just about managed to squeeze myself into them, but when my hands were hot it was a losing battle. I managed to soak the gloves in water for a few minutes until they were completely saturated then stuffed a small screwdriver handle down each finger. This was just enough to ‘ease’ the leather and re-size the gloves’ fingers to fit my digits. Wearing the gloves until they had dried allowed the leather to conform exactly to my size and after that the fit was perfect (although Sue thought it was a little odd that I was wearing damp gloves to bed...)
In use I would prefer to see some padding on the top of the little fingers, and in my opinion the leather used for the palm of the glove should have remained in one piece with the padding to the palm (hypothenar) area sewn on top rather than made from a separate piece of perforated leather. My concern is that this area is very vulnerable in the case of road impact, and the perforated leather will not be as resistant to abrasion as a single piece of full grain leather. The gloves have a small tab sewn in to the lower wrist area which gives you something to pull when putting them on – this is a nice design touch.
Klim F4 Helmet.
The first and most obvious impression of this helmet is just how light it is. At just over 1450g, it is a full 200g lighter than my old Tour-X – this is a significant difference and makes the helmet very easy to wear. There’s no ‘S’ size though. I generally use a 55-56 helmet, and have found that both Shoei and Arai ‘S’ sizes suit me well. The Klim however is a 57-58, and ships with extra wide cheek-pads to take up that slack. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with that approach to sizing, but in practise the helmet was very comfortable to wear and didn’t present any problems at all. Fitting an intercom headset was a breeze and required very little cutting or re-shaping of the inner shell. The finish of the helmet was quite simply superb, and the graphics were striking without being overpowering or gaudy. In use I found the chin-strap snagged quite frequently when tightening, perhaps this is due to the double buckle’s rectangular shape rather than the more conventional double ‘D’ configuration.
There are a couple of gripes however. I admit I have been spoiled by the integral visor of my Tour-X, but that is my benchmark. The aperture of the F4 is huge and can easily accommodate a pair of goggles, but the downside of that is that wind gets in everywhere. It might just have been an unhappy coincidence, but I suffered a lot of high air pressure buffeting when riding at speed which pushed the helmet to one side and pressed my goggles right onto the side of my nose. This obviously is not too bad just for a few minutes, but as we were doing a lot of highway miles I was constantly looking for a pocket of still air behind the shield to relieve the pressure on my nose and face. This was compounded by the lack of any means to secure the goggles strap to the back of the helmet – the paint’s high gloss finish let the strap slip off the back of the helmet all too often. This was a complete pain in the derriere as the goggles would end up being pulled down my nose taking my glasses with them. it was next to impossible to replace the strap without stopping. Perhaps a lip could be cast into the bottom trim of the helmet to prevent this happening. I’ve solved it by using double sided tape to stick a short section of exhaust strap rubber to the back of the helmet. This secures the strap and stops it sliding up OR down.
Alpinestars Tech7 MX Boots
I've had these for a couple of years but haven't really worn them. My old Sidi Couriers, while looking the 'business', were actually about as supportive as a damp woollen sock so the prospect of a repeat injury to my already weakened ankle was not desperately appealing. The Tech7's came out of storage and were worn for the first time in earnest.
When these boots are new they are stiff, properly stiff. If you imagine a ski-boot you'll have a good idea just how stiff they are. This was my only reservation about using the boots. Their rigidity is derived mainly from the one-piece construction, with no attempt at ankle articulating hinges at all on these puppies! They are constructed mostly from polypropylene but have a reinforced faux-leather midsection. They also have replaceable sole units so if you do manage to wear them out you can simply glue another bottom on! Despite this stiffness I forgot all about them after the second or third day's riding. They became a little more supple, but even then were still quite rigid - maybe it was me just getting used to walking with them on, but by the end of the week I was 'day-long' comfortable in them both on and off the bike.
I take a 9 in a normal shoe, but these are a UK 10 and fit me with room for my SealSkinz. The closures are secure and will only open when you want them to - end of. There are a couple of small vents on each ankle which helps ventilation and cooling but the downside of this is that they aren't waterproof to any significant extent. I managed to get mine waterlogged (see the first day's ride report) and they stayed wet for days and ended up stinking. They still smell like old pond water so I guess I'll be testing Febreze's claims in the not too distant future.
There you have it. I've tried to keep it all pretty much impartial and hope that some if the comments will be useful to anyone considering this kit. If I can make one final and very personal comment about it, it would be: "It's fucking ace!!"
Thanks again to Dave Lomax and the team at Adventure Spec for giving us the chance to review this gear.
All the best
Greg
