Rallye 2 jacket

Trying to get an idea as to whether the Rallye 2 BMW jacket is worth the cash? £400 new from my local dealer, but going on ebay for around £250. Worth the cash?? Looks and feels like a pretty pukka jacket, but worth trading in my Hein Gericke...??

chucko said:

Trying to get an idea as to whether the Rallye 2 BMW jacket is worth the cash? £400 new from my local dealer, but going on ebay for around £250. Worth the cash?? Looks and feels like a pretty pukka jacket, but worth trading in my Hein Gericke...??

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I switched to the Rallye 2 recently and rate it as one of the best suit I've ever had.

Had a look on Ebay and noticed one of the jackets does not come with a goretex liner, would not consider this as an option totally impractical for our weather.

Happy shopping

If the one on eBay has no liner then don't buy it The material is essentially waterproof but there are so many vents and zips in the shell it's like a sieve when it rains.

Still the best riding gear I've ever had and it looks just like Ewan's too

chucko said:

Trying to get an idea as to whether the Rallye 2 BMW jacket is worth the cash? £400 new from my local dealer, but going on ebay for around £250. Worth the cash?? Looks and feels like a pretty pukka jacket, but worth trading in my Hein Gericke...??

Click to expand...

I've used the rallye 2 suit for the last 12 months, the jacket is fantastic. I used it through the last winter without any problems or leakages, I used it to tour Germany/Switzerland & Austria in temperatures up tp 38 Degrees and it was great. In the cold wear a fleece underneath and you will be fine!

If you spend the cash, you will not regret it at all

I used a Rallye 2 for one year and found it an exceptional all round jacket. Performs well in the cold and wet provided you use the goretex insert. The only downside of having the goretex as a separate layer on the inside is that the outer layer gets soaking wet and remains so for a while after it stops raining. Being a separate layer you also have to stop and put it on when it rains (unless you leave it on all the times but this can get a bit hot). You also need to be careful about keeping things in the pockest as they can get quite wet at times although there is a separate goretex pouch provided that can be used inside the pocket. The extensive use of zipped vents means the jacket is equally suited in very hot weather. Quality is excellent and the jacket is machine washable (mine came up like new just before selling it). One downside is that you end up looking like half of all GS owners and with the inevitable link to LWR.

I now have a Rukka A Tech which I find as good if not better. The goretex is on the outside, integral with the jacket, and you also get a separate thermal insert. All pockets are also waterproof. I find the fit is better but thats only a personal thing. The one downside is the lack of vents.

Ay up,




Give Pidcocks, Long Eaton a call........They have `em on offer at the moment mate................really cheap...!!!!.....


Not.

Yep as sayed, also for me the best suit i ever owned. Also got it from e-Bay. The liners should be included, otherwise don't buy it, it isn't complete without the liner!

The only pity is that LWR guys weared it - now every jap user thinks you're a gay BM poser

It's the best suit in the market for this purpose though and only comes out under the BM trademark unfortunately. But well worth the money! I can say the same to Savanna (now it's called Santiago) suite my better half has, it's even better in some terms, but more pricy too, mind. The best side about the Savanna/Santiago is that you aren't a LWR gay poseur - most people don't know it's accually a BMW suite

My own thoughts re the Rallye 2 jacket, and its comparison with HG are that I've just returned from a few weeks in Europe, where we experienced complete opposites of weather. On the journey down through Germany it just touched 40 deg. Both the Rallye 2 and the HG Toureg trousers were superb. In particular the vents in the jacket kept a through flow of air which though not cool, probably prevented me perspiring to death.
The return journey was the opposite, wet and cold. The Rallye 2 probably wasn't warm in comparison to other jackets I've owned, perhaps because of the air getting through the zips. But in the most torrential rain I think it kept me dry. I say think, because my arms felt damp, but am perhaps inclined to believe that this was only condensation.
The 'waterproof' Toureg trousers from HG were absolutely useless. To be honest I would have been drier wearing shorts!!! Water came in at the groin and knees, and ran down my legs into my boots. I became too cold and am convinced was on the edge of hypothermia!!!! On the ferry they were checked and it quite clearly says Goretex Waterproof. So my advice is don't touch the HG stuff with a long pole, pay the extra and get the quality. If anyone from HG reads this forum then I warn you now, I'll be in to one of your stores within the week, and make my opinions known!!!!!!

Richard stevely said:

I used a Rallye 2 for one year and found it an exceptional all round jacket. Performs well in the cold and wet provided you use the goretex insert. The only downside of having the goretex as a separate layer on the inside is that the outer layer gets soaking wet and remains so for a while after it stops raining. Being a separate layer you also have to stop and put it on when it rains (unless you leave it on all the times but this can get a bit hot). You also need to be careful about keeping things in the pockest as they can get quite wet at times although there is a separate goretex pouch provided that can be used inside the pocket. The extensive use of zipped vents means the jacket is equally suited in very hot weather. Quality is excellent and the jacket is machine washable (mine came up like new just before selling it). One downside is that you end up looking like half of all GS owners and with the inevitable link to LWR.

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I'd have said all of that. I had the full suit for a year and did about 12,000 miles using it.

I'd add that it's boody heavy too and with all those pockets you can't help using them, making it even heavier! That doesn't sound like a problem until you find yourself wandering around on foot. Even when it was hot I found that wearing the thing and sweltering was better than trying to lug it about.

The other thing that I noticed when I swapped to a less bulky suit was that it causes quite a lot of buffeting because the jacket catches the wind more. On long days it actually added to the physical effort (not something I'd ever considered until I bought an Atlantis suit).

I see the new Black and Grey one and sometimes I'm tempted to buy one but the reality of living with the previous suit always kicks-in.

It's a great jacket and well worth the money, but you need the goretex liner for this country.

Ride a GS in the rain and the elbows fill with water, between the goretex liner and the jacket... get off your bike and the water runs down the sleeves and fills yer waterproof gloves

Good fun eh!

Don't bother with the trousers to the jacket though, I wear, as ever, mi best friend... the Atlantis 3 pants


www.adventure.gs

The other suit to try is the BMW Streetguard 2 - this has the goretex outer and so is always waterproof. It also has a removable thermal liner and doesn't shout BMW... I've only had mine a couple months and so haven't had a chance to try it in the rain. But I did survive in the heat - it has under arm vents.

It isn't cheap tho' :-(