new suit - BMW Rallye or Aerostich??

[davegs]

GS gloves,

I assume that these must have been the Mk1 versions, brought them s/h from here. Very good the vents work as in heavy dust find little patterns on the knuckles where the vents are so they do work, wore them all the time
but only found the falling off / grazed wrists syndrome after the ultimate test.
(mexican truck drivers). I would think if they now have longer cuffs these would be a very good glove, depending on the cost of course!. But very good in hot weather.
Dave G S.

 

[de crowe]

I have and use a variety of the stuff mentioned above.
As to the rally 2 v. Aerostich, for me the aerostich (darien hi-viz) is the biz in wet cold weather.today was a real test, driving rain and hail for 4 solid hours. i have an aerostich heated fleece liner jacket but it does not work on my r1200gsa as it appears to trip the canbus system. it draws more than 5 amp i am told. it is no biggie, switch off the ignition the bike resets.( i use a Widder heated vest instead no problem with canbus )

I bought the rallye 2 pro on sale last year and apart from the colour and look which i dislike, ( i wish i was charlie) i find it excellent for "dry" trail/road riding or just messing about. i do not find it great in rain. the other jacket gets saturated and heavy and while it rarely(if ever i cant recall) penetrates the inner goretex lining I believe the rallye is aimed at the dry riding end of the market.

As to the atlantis, i rarely wear the jacket. bought suit second hand on ebay, seems to be error with "bmw" size as the jacket is like shrunk wrapped on me even though it is the same size as my other bmw stuff. I agree with what you say otherwise. the atlantis pants are my favorite. i have them with the goretx liner and i love them. wasn't aware i could machine was them.
either way safe riding.

 

[STUBBS]

the stitch would get my vote for all year round use and practiability loads of vents to open when hot and enough room underneath to layer when cold

 

[Jon P]

Reading all of the replies, I reckon that I am going to go with the Aerostich and possibly the Darien over the Roadcrafter - the jacket looks to have a longer cut and I prefer the slightly more conservative styling.

I like the idea of the BMW suit, it looks well specified (though I am fed up with the liners) but I definately do find it looks a bit too loud for my taste - and I do understand the term 'twat suit!'

Thank you one and all for your responses.

 

[Thunder]

Might be too late if your decision making has been finalised, but as your in the US you might want to check out Olympia Motorsports range and see if their is a dealer near you.

I've had both an Aerostich Roadcrafter and one of their Phantom suits so have been able to compare them, and quality and performance are second to none for roughly half the cost.

 

[Jon P]

Might be too late if your decision making has been finalised, but as your in the US you might want to check out Olympia Motorsports range and see if their is a dealer near you.

I've had both an Aerostich Roadcrafter and one of their Phantom suits so have been able to compare them, and quality and performance are second to none for roughly half the cost.

..............No......don't confure me more

I reckon I have been promising myself an Aerostich suit ever since I saw my first one in about 1992 - I met a bloke in Cumbria who had exactly the same colour red R80GS as myself (he also had an MZ250 - his prefered mount... if you are out there?)

So, I am set on a Darien......I found last night a very detailed review on line of a comparison between my Kalahari and a Darien which comfirms my selection.

Thanks again for everone's advice

 

[Deleted Member I]

..............No......don't confure me more

I reckon I have been promising myself an Aerostich suit ever since I saw my first one in about 1992 - I met a bloke in Cumbria who had exactly the same colour red R80GS as myself (he also had an MZ250 - his prefered mount... if you are out there?)

So, I am set on a Darien......I found last night a very detailed review on line of a comparison between my Kalahari and a Darien which comfirms my selection.

Thanks again for everone's advice

Where is that?

Nice to share with us

 

[Jon P]

Here you go novice - have a look here ............ http://www.ibmwr.org/prodreview/jacket.html

 

[vfxmark]

I have extensive Roadcrafter suit experience...bought first one in 89 , still own a ten year old one, and just finally bought a newer (slightly larger) one. Lived in NYC and rode eastern seaboard up and down before moving out here . Aerostich will actually survive Maine mosquitos!

With the back and pit vents open, and pockets open, the suit is not too bad even in hot desert between LA and Vegas (now live in LA) and I wear my stich all summer long here for longer rides... for short rides I have mesh gear but do not want to trust to it at freeway speeds of southern california.
Re: waterproofness, for extended wet use (morn till night in the rain) the BMW goretex liners might work a little better... I get a little seepage after a few hours in my roadcrafter. The biggest prob with roadcrafter in rain comes if/when you do not attend to the little flaps inside the zippers - the material does not leak but the zippers can seep and if the flaps are folded back you will feel it.
My fave thing about the stich is ease of entry and exit, either one or two piece is so easy that you do not need to sit down to get in and out of the pants...step in one leg and zip other leg closed.

I have been down a few times in my stich... twice in rain on dirt or gravel roads, (once with a very long slide) and once on Streets of Willow racetrack (another decent length slide) Racetrack slide resulted in severe scuffing of two ballistic pads - neither of them burned all the way through... forty or fifty bucks for aerostitch to replace the two pads.
I LOVE the tempr-foam internal pads...they are soft and compliant enough to allow movement but do protect... but in very cold weather, keep the suit in the house - if you leave it in the garage and try to put it on, the pads will be very stiff until you warm them up with your body heat.

In short, if you are riding all the time, all the time, all the time in the rain, you might want to consider something else, but for all-around use with most rain days involving only a few hours of rain at a time, I like the stich... partially because when it starts to rain, you are already in it... you just zip up the armholes if it was hot before the sky opened and on you go!

Mark

 

[Jon P]

I ordered a Darien two piece today - I decided that I would let the suggest either Darien or Roadcrafter............as I like aspects of both suits. The clincher in the end was when I relaised that you can't really wear the Roadcrafter trousers on their own - they will fall down!

I don't know about you chaps but sometimes Ilike to be able to to my jacket off and leave my trousers on!..

I couldn't decide on what colour to go for...........damm! So I 'played safe' and ordered classic all black.............though I do like the blue......maybe I can change my mind??????????

By the way - it's true what they say - the telephone service is first class.

 

[Thunder]

I ordered a Darien two piece today - I decided that I would let the suggest either Darien or Roadcrafter............as I like aspects of both suits. The clincher in the end was when I relaised that you can't really wear the Roadcrafter trousers on their own - they will fall down!

I don't know about you chaps but sometimes Ilike to be able to to my jacket off and leave my trousers on!..

I couldn't decide on what colour to go for...........damm! So I 'played safe' and ordered classic all black.............though I do like the blue......maybe I can change my mind??????????

By the way - it's true what they say - the telephone service is first class.

Jon

Just to clarify you can wear the Roadcafter 2 piece trousers on their own if you also order the optional bib

Good luck with the new threads

 

[GS TRV]

both?

 

[Jon P]

Jon

Just to clarify you can wear the Roadcafter 2 piece trousers on their own if you also order the optional bib

Good luck with the new threads

I gave up with bibs when I left the high chair..............last month!

Yes, they did explain that I could use the optional bib but then I have got another piece of clothing on and now the jacket can't be attached to the trousers. Truth is I just can't imagine any occasion when I wouldn't want not to be able to remove my jacket and leave just my trousers on.

 

[Jon P]

I don't believe it.............have changed my mind - I called up Aerostich and swapped my order from a Darien to a Roadcrafter two piece complete with bibs!

Repeat after me..............I must not change my mind again, I must not change my mind again, I mu..............

 

[Thunder]

Out of interest Jon, what factors produced this change?

 

[Urban Rider]

Might as well chuck in my opinion....

My vote goes for the Rallye Pro 2. I bought mine in Apr this year specifically for a trip down to Spain in June. On the journey down I rode through very differing types of weather from very cold temps, slight rain to seering heat.. The suit performed brilliantly especially in the heat. When riding through southern Spain the temp was up in the 30s and with all the vents open enough air was passing through to keep me nice and cool. On the journey back through France I had 4 days of torrential rain and again the suit performed perfectly. The gore tex inner did it's job and kept me dry. I've washed the suit a couple of times and apart from the issue I had with the trousers fraying (which BMW sorted by replacement) is as new.... I can't comment on the Aerostitch cause I've not used one.....

 

[Jon P]

Out of interest Jon, what factors produced this change?

It's a long story...............in '83 I bought my first jacket, a wax belstaff, followed by a silver Rukka suit in '87, to this I added a Belstaff leather suit (the one with the 3/4 length lacket) in about 1990, another Belstaff Nylon suit in about '93 and then a BMW suit in '99 which I have now just about grown out of. The BMW suit after almost 10 years service really does look like new - sure, they are pricey when new but they really are good.

It was about 1990 that I first saw an Aerostich suit and it looked like a really great bit of gear but as a lot of other Brits, I was a bit suspect of buying from overseas sight unseen. So, now that I live in the US (though probably moving North to Canada this year) I thought I would look more closely. Essentially my intention all along has been to buy a Darien, no a Roadcrafter, no a Darien, no a Roadcrafter..............see my problem?

Of course I realise that both suits are in fact very different but I like the look of the roadcrafter more than the darien but I suspect that the darien might fit better.............so I have now ordered a roadcrafter, but upon close inspection (which you can only do by trying it on and at least sitting on my bike) if I don't like the build, fit etc then I'll send it back and go and buy another BMW suit. All it will cost me will be the postage.

I have to wait four weeks as they don't have my size / colour in stock. Of courseI hope very much that I like it and it serves me for another 10 years.

 

[Jon P]

So, the saga continues........... I cancelled the Aerostich! - no problem they said as they would not have started making it for another couple of weeks anyway.

The more reading I did the more I can't make either of the Aerostich designs fit my requirements. Also, I put my old Kalahari on ebay and was amazed at the level of interest - then I started thinking of all the miles and 10 years worth of riding and the thing still looked and worked as if new.........so I bought a Rallye pro 2 suit! So to recap - I have always fancied an Aerostich suit (I have bought all sorts of their other gear over the years and its great - you should try one of their over shoulder bagss) but the darien has no lining and looks to baggy and is a bit hot for the summers here and the Roadcrafter is definately too hot and the trousers fall down if you take the jacket off unless you have the bib adaptor (more heat).

In the end my old BMW suit sold for $434.50! Amazing - it cost me about $50 a year - so I think I'll have another - yeahh I know that they are called a twat suit in the UK (noone over here knows what twat means anyway....or ******!). Seeing as I won't be coming back to the UK for many years yet I reckon I can wear one here and get away with it.

So there you go I have revealed and exposed myself regarding my tastes and the pros and cons of suits..............I reckon there is no suit that does not involve some sort of compromise. The removable lining of the BMW is something I have lived with for 10 years and it works.........cool without liner in the heat of summer just right on cooler days with liner in and warm in the winter with an electric vest.

I bought a blue one - and even got a 25% discount!

 

[Jon P]

My new BMW Rallye Pro 2 suit arrived today............very pleased! I had never really looked that closely at them before - the attention to detail is superb. I thought my old Kalahari was good - it certainly lasted well. My new Rallye suit seems to be even better made and really does stand up to close inspection - the features are fabulous.

I know it is a lot of money - but looked at a lot of suits lately and as with most things it seems you get what you pay for.

I now know where the term twat comes from.............I figure it is coined by all those who don't have a Rallye Pro 2 suit!

 

[simondippenhall]

Aerostich

15 years now with an Aerostich suit. (2 piece). Velcro staring to show its age in parts (no surprise!)

Used in US summer heat and in Western Sahara, and on snow blocked roads through the Atlas mountains. So copes well with heat and (supplemented by a Gerbing heated jacket) in very cold conditions.

Daily commuted 80 miles a day for past 2 years, works well over workclothes, and kept me dry in tonight's torrential rain, even when oncoming cars were pushing a bow-wave of water over me!

Would buy another except this one still works great!http://www.ukgser.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif