off road lid

hi guys n gals

may be in a position around payday to be splashing out on a crosser style lid for me forays into the muddy stuff, apart from the supremely sexy arai tour x thingy [how much , wotz your recomendations

In this months 'Bike' there's an ad for Nitro lids - £79.99

Bike quote "No one in the office can believe the price because of the quality!"

I'll be checking them out at Ally Pally

Chris, have a look at the Premier off road helmet. About £130/£140.

Don't but the cheap and nasty off road helmets with removable chin guards. Unless you have a cheap and nasty head, which you don't.


Take little notice of magazine tests, all the helmets have to pass the same tests. So buy one that fills your requirements.

Goggles: Get the Scott ones and fit their double glazed lens, coz they don't steam up.

Slightly off thread but in my painful experience, buy the best off road boots you can possibly afford. Shoei £150, Alpinestars £200 etc. Buy, and always wear Knee guards and body armour.
Consider a pair of Sinisalo/ Scott cold weather enduro gloves around £30.
Enjoy

Good luck
Tim

Pay a bit more for a lot more!!!

The Arai Tour X is good value at £300 rrp.

On Ya Bike , Manchester have a free to join loyalty scheme and will knock 10% off purchases.

So for £270 you could get a plain Tour X.

timolgra said:

Shoei £150,

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Sorry brain not in gear, I meant 'Sidi' instead of 'Shoei', (not the Courier which are ok at £130 but off road boot at £150).

The Tour X may be a fine helmet, very expensive but not too bad with Beesley6 suggestion. Still too hot without goggles. Who's wearing them in the Dakar?
Tim

..kit...

Oi!...Tim...

..so if i wos to get kitted out for off-roadin from scratch, what would be your choice of gear....top ta toe..?

I've done a little in the past (still got me XR200 in the garage, unused for 2 years) and would like to get into it again..

..the wife always said that off-roading wos when i appeared to enjoy myself the most..

What about bike?....road an XR400 in Andora..great bike ..watd'ya recon?

Ta

'Ere I'm not an expert y'know. Others may agree or disagree with my choice.

This is what I wear from head to toe.

Premier off road helmet, Scott goggles with double glazed lens.
Sometimes a Buffy thingy.

Helly Henson fast wicking base layer.

Plastic Axo chest and back protection. (May upgrade to a Knox back protector whilst keeping chest protector).

Rhino jacket with lining removed, fitted with shoulder, elbow and back armour. (Any cheap waterproof jacket will do, some use expensive Gortex Enduro but Gortex won't breath when it's dirty.
Many use Sinisalo jacket and matching trousers).

Sinisalo gloves, one pair of summer and 2 pairs of winter (they are not waterproof as they claim and lining pulls out making it a barsteward to put back on so a warm dry spare pair makes sense).

Hein Gericke Rallye pants with Hiprotech armour in hips, and knees. (many use moto X pants).

Knee/shin guards.

Ex army but buy them new?? gortex overtrousers (brilliant at £30)

Sidi off road boots, but I used to wear Sidi Courier as both on/off road boots untill the bike landed on my foot and broke it.

Ex army gortex boot liners.

Anne Sommers split crotch panties oh sorry I've finished now.

I try not to buy anything because of how it looks but because it works and is cheap without compromising safety. Expensive boots are a must have.

As for bikes, well it's a sweet shop out there so be wary of buying anything too powerful or racey.


XR 200 is great to get back into the sport in fact some good riders use them.
XR 400 is a great bike, better for situations where you really do need the extra grunt, also better on the road.
XR 250 is what Johnny Boxer and I prefer, although my new one is now a 280 which for me is about right. You can get them with electric start now.
Yamaha Serow 225 with electric start has low seat height..

There are loads of other bike. out there some with electric start, remember that 2 strokes have little engine braking although start easily and some have a 'lively' power delivery, although Honda CRM 250 with a powervalve is good.

But I would stay with something as simple, light and reliable as possible.

I have to admit that as for actually having fun, your old XR 200 will give £10 000 worth of GS more than a run for it's money in the winter.

Hope that helps
Tim

..well that's given me enough to think about mate...

..many thanks for the info Tim... i'll try and start that bloody XR200 next weekend, always wos great fun but too slow on the tarmac bits...

...'ope ta see ya soon..

Regards

I agree with Timolgra, I also use a Premier off road lid with the removable lining and it is superb. Also agree about the Boots although I have Alpinestar tech 6's which IMHO are much better than the Sidi's as they stay in shape once they dry out unlike my old sidi's which went rock hard and you struggled to get your foot back in. Once I came off riding up a steep bank and my foot got pulled into the back wheel and twisted nearly 180 degrees, if it had not been for the boots it would have been far worst than a swollen ankle and hobbling around for 3 months. I also wear an axo chest protector and elbow Knee protectors, since falling and chipping my kneecap (very very painful).
Army goretex bootliners and over trousers are a must.

As for bikes I had an old XR250 which was great until I reasembled it incorectly after fitting a new camchain and broke the side case. Luckley I was offered a very cheap XR400 with 1500 KM on the clock from a guy in our dirtbike club who came off and broke both wrists, and was told by wifey that she would divorce him if he got back on. So I sold the 250 to a mate for £250 and he now uses it. In some respects the 250 was a better bike as it was really easy to ride in all terrain, although the 400 is also very good if not just a bit tall for me.

cecilthecat said:

I also wear an axo chest protector and elbow Knee protectors, since falling and chipping my kneecap (very very painful).
.

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Isn't it funny how we wear more protection AFTER finding out how much it hurts without it! I bought my Axo chest protector the day after a massive whack on my sternum, I was in so much pain I could hardly try the thing on. Even the guy in the shop was wincing.
My imagination got the better of me with knee guards though and I often wear them on the road, keep your knees warm too.
I agree that your Alpinestar boots are probably the best.

One of the veterans in my off road club wears steel toe capped wellies and old fashioned shin pads and has had no nasty injuries over the past 20years or so. Yet.

Regarding the tall seat height on XR 400, a short arsed friend of mine also had this problem. I fitted a lowering link on the rear shock, dropped the forks and after removing the front of the seat cover, cut away most of the foam and replaced it with some thinner, higher density foam cut out of a camping mat, then restapled the cover back. It's about right for him now.
I'm lanky and prefer quite a tall seat height, but tend to stand up most of the time, when seated and would like to put a foot down I just give it a whiff of throttle. That way I am going faster when I fall off and probably explains why I use so much body armour.

Tim

I always ride off-road now with an open face helmet - better air intake and cooler. Also have a Bell Moto-X ,but find it too restrictive.
Scott goggles with velcro single sided straps.
Walking clothing as layers to wick , under my Evolution Porelle Waterproof shell jacket.
Moto-x jeans with walking waterproofs over top.
Boot gaiters - essential
Waterproof socks - essential inside my old Sidi Top Action off-road boots.
Sinisalo waterproof gloves and moto-x ones in summer.
Kidney belt and elbow/kneepads for protection.

Seems like the premier is a well liked off road lid any of you guys no where i can have a look/try one on?
I have ridden off road with an old open face in the past so its about time i treated myself!

Cheers in advance. Dave.

Helmet et al

I'ed certainly look at the Premier and also the Lazer off-road helmets, these will weigh in at half the price of the Arai. Nice though the Arai is I would avoid it if you want a lid mainly for off-road as I wouldnt be able to justify the expense.

As for other kit, UFO make great body armour with a back protector and kidney belt built in all held together with mesh. Ive been using one of these for a year and find it really protective and comfortable. Their about £100.

Acerbis make a great enduro jacket but these tend to be personal taste, look for something that fits well over armour and can be done up at the neck and wrists, also make sure it has loads of pockets.

I use No fear motocross jeans in the summer (cos they were cheap and fit over knee and shin armour) and Spidi lined cordura trousers in the winter.

As for boots I wear Sidi Couriers which seem to have survived a fair number of falls although I agree that you could buy full motocross boots for the utimate in protection. I would recommend Alpinestar tech 6.

As far as bikes are concerned I started on an XR250 but after doing the Andorra trip with MotoAdventures (high recommended) I bought a DRZ400E and absolutely love it, very flingable and loads of power.

See you on the Cambrian

I use a Bell Moto 7 for everything, all year round - very comfortable, removable lining, good ventilation, stable at speed.
Not as well finished as the Arai VX Pro that preceded it, but it was half the price!