I currently have the Olympia GT Air Transitions jacket, and Airglide 2 pants, Alpinestars SMX-5 boots and Drystar gloves. I'm thinking a heated vest (recommendations?) and some body armour underwear type gear. Also a good head sleeve to keep wind from sneaking in under my helmet and neck line. Post some products and links.
for winter riding, I wear Firstgear kathmandu. If it gets too cold, I will just add a tight (layering) fleece jacket under the jacket. Also have the Firstgear HT Overpant. Got me thru anything Pacific NW winter could throw at me, minus the rain, of course.
http://www.firstgear-usa.com/fgweb3.nsf/Products/7FE9862173823F06862574E1005BAEC4?opendocument (http://www.firstgear-usa.com/fgweb3.nsf/Products/7FE9862173823F06862574E1005BAEC4?opendocument)
Gerbing makes nice heated gear. I have a Gerbing jacket which I've used for 2 Seattle winters and it is very nice.
http://www.gerbing.com/Products/Liners/heatedJacketLiner.html (http://www.gerbing.com/Products/Liners/heatedJacketLiner.html)
You'll also need a temp controller.
http://www.gerbing.com/Products/tempControls.html (http://www.gerbing.com/Products/tempControls.html)
Not the cheapest...but they are high quality.
I wear Aerostitch Darien jacket and pants as well. I've never gotten wet in 2 winters. Again, not cheap...but you get what you pay for. I also like that they make colors besides black. IMO, it isn't smart to wear black in rainy weather...I like to be visible since people don't expect motos on the road in those conditions.
http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-suits/darien (http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-suits/darien)
I wear the Darien pants every day over jeans for commuting. Very comfy after they get broken in...and easy to get on and off.
If you go the Darien jacket route, I'd skip the fleece liner, as the heated liner is better...and if it's too warm for a heated liner, any thin jacket will work underneath.
The Roadcrafter line is also very nice.
I have Olympia Cold Throttle gloves. They have good protection, are relatively thin yet warm, and are pretty waterproof. Reasonable price as well.
http://www.olympiagloves.com/viewgloves.html (http://www.olympiagloves.com/viewgloves.html)
Nice winter gloves are tough to find though.
Any good waterproof boot should work fine. I have a set of 3 year old Motorphoria boots...but they (the company, not the boots) went tits up. :-\
+1 on Gerbings and +1 on the jacket liner, rather than the vest.
I also like my heated grips, nice thing is they are always there just in case.
great feedback, thanks.
I plan on picking up an Olympia Motorsports AST jacket and Recon 2 pants.
Going to have to get heated gloves too and wondering about what to do with boots.
+1 on the Firstgear Kathmandu jacket. It's a good fall/winter/spring all rounder. Keeps me warm and dry. Lot's of pockets, i use heated gloves with it in the winter but didn't feel the need to use a heated jacket liner much, at least down to 30 degrees. It has decent venting but a little too warm for summer.
With the monster you have to be careful of how much power your setup will draw from the electrical system. It was NOT designed to support a lot of accessories (especially at idle).
I've been making do down to 15* for 45mins with:
- Hein Gericke all season w/ goretex liner (10+ years old)
- balaclava microfleece
- fleece long underpants w/ thick jeans atop
- thick socks
- Joe rocket winter gore-tex gloves
- heated grips
my thumbs are actually the first to get cold (above 80mph or after 45mins @ 75mph). I'm looking into some handguards to cure this.
Q
ive wanted the Scoprion EXO gear, XDR setup for a while. it looks really warm compared to what i have now.
I havent found a good temp range for what they recommned on it. but this guy says 38 degrees is fine. I'm looking to ride for about 1 hour in 10-25 degree weather (thats without windchill).
http://www.scorpionusa.com/riders/customer-testimonials.html (http://www.scorpionusa.com/riders/customer-testimonials.html)