If you remove the liner out of any jacket / trousers (or there is not one from day one) the answers are always the same:
A. Do not use the kit on cold days; own a second suit. Or.....
B. Use appropriate layers. Opinion will differ as to what constitutes good material / makes of clothing make ‘the best’ layers. Some like merino, some the synthetic equivalent, others might like something that came from the army surplus shop or a T-shirt and sweatshirt advertising the makers of their motorbike.
C. An electrically heated layer, which might evolve to embrace an inner jacket, liners for their trousers, heated socks and heated gloves or glove liners.
D. Put the liners back.
Do some reading up on layering (it has been around for years) and do the same on electrical clothing. Work out which you think will suit you best and / or how much you want to spend.
Me? I have a choice, though I have not raided the army surplus stores nor do I posses a BMW branded T-shirt. Why a choice? It will depend on what I think the weather / temperature will be like. This is no different to me deciding to wear a rain coat and carry an umbrella, or whether just to take an umbrella for my walk to work or whether to take neither and just chance it.
In truth, the electrical clothing (all four items, individually controlled via two separate, two pot, wireless controllers) maybe works best. That being said, I might well not use it, instead using a fleece, if I think I will be sitting around outside or walking to a bar on a spring or autumn evening. Or I might not use the electrical trouser liners but use base layer ‘tights’ instead. I am a big believer in clothing that doubles-up to save space. For example, a decent fleece can serve two purposes: Use it on the bike or off. There again, it might depend on how bulky the fleece is and / or what you have on beneath it and / or how much room there is beneath your chosen outer jacket. In other words, there is no hard and fast rule.
In short, I am not dissimilar to the post from Schtum, in that I cannot remember when I last left the generic liner(s) inside my Rukka gear. That includes removing (from day one) the rather nifty liners that come with the Nivala suit, which others quite like and never putting them back in again. Put simply, I prefer to make my own choices as to what to wear, my mum having left me to my own devices years ago.
Here’s an example for a month away, camping in France, for the last three weeks in August and the first week in September:
1. A Rukka ‘air mesh’ suit, unlined and not at all waterproof. Some ‘summer only’ gloves and waterproof Daytona boots.
2. A waterproof over jacket and trousers, along with some waterproof ‘three season’ gloves. I could have taken the GoreTex liners for the ‘air mesh’ suit but I opted for the over jacket and trousers, simply as I thought it would be quicker to put them on, should I encounter a sudden heavy downpour or the temperature dropped suddenly in the mountains.
3. A thin Rukka equivalent of a fleece but not as ‘hairy’ if you get my drift. Again, something not too bulky I could wear beneath the ‘air mesh’ if I felt like it or wear in the evening, when the sun dipped down below the mountains.
4. A merino T-shirt and an alternative, merino long sleeved version, both with half zips.
5. A Buff.
I worked out that I was unlikely to need anything electrically heated. It all worked fine. If I did the same journey in November or March, I would take a very different - fully waterproof - suit, very probaby my electrical gear (in some sort of combination) and say, a heavier fleece. I would also probably not camp.
