Episode 036 – I am throwing all my motorcycle gear away – Part 2

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Mile Marker – Tom’s throwing out his old motorcycle gear

tom: So now what? This is part two of a two part series where I threatened to throw off. Well, actually I’m doing it. I’m throwing all my motorcycle gear away.if you didn’t listen to the last episode, I had just gotten back from a 5, 200 mile ride and, uh, you know, We had a great time as 12, 12 days, Seattle from Iowa to Seattle and back, everything from 95 degree with wind to 47 degree.

Go get it. Where’d I put the rain gear? That kind of thing. so kind of like Being a little more organized, being very organized and being very, particular about the gear. So basically I have two writing jackets that I use both Joe rocket, one’s mesh and one, I think they just call, what do they call it?

Textile textile. I thought that sounds weird though. Doesn’t it? It does sound weird. even the mesh on this ride was too hot and sticky. It was, Where the armor is at is great. You need armor for when you’re going to, if you, you know, in the event that you crash, but, oh my gosh, it was just so crazy. And then the particular mesh jacket I have, I think was more of like a standard or sport bike riding jacket.

Yeah. Like it’s went back to its original. It’s halfway back to its original state of being petroleum. And so, you know, 95 degree day. And petroleum sticks to the leather on my back rest. Actually, I think it was on the bottom part of my seat, not even up to the back rest. So you’d sit there pretty soon.

You’re like, uh, I’m stuck. I cannot move, you know? So like, then you’re pissed. So you do like a whippity of your butt cheeks over, you know, it ain’t good. So first of all, that was too old. Number two, I mean, this stuff looks like it was black and it looks green now because it’s faded so bad in the sun. Yeah, and then it’s it’s big like it’s big gear.

Yeah,

tom: but then I can’t fit it into a bag.

Like, you know, so it’s like just a hot mess. So that’s what I’m getting rid of that. The textile jackets no better. Cause it’s even bigger,

Todd: you know, the mesh jacket. When you say it’s bigger, it’s thicker,

tom: like

Todd: bulkier,

tom: bulkier. This is well, the analogy is this. The Joe Rockets, all these things, are sleeping bags.

And they come in a bag. I need to get them back in the bag they came in, and they don’t fit back there anymore, because whatever happened when I took them out, they don’t fit back in there. So it’s all good, well and good, when you wear it on the way, but then if you want to switch something out, you, you, they don’t make a bag big enough, you end up in a trailer.

Todd: do those also have like They do.

I’ve taken most of it out.

tom: No, it’s always flexible. All the armor is flexible. Yeah, all the armor is flexible. So then when I’ve been riding with, you know, so then for a long time I wore shorts, no pants, so that was probably not the best choice, especially when I hit a deer with a motorcycle with it, you know.

So I liked the concept of the pants. And then back to my side bags are packed to the gills. I didn’t brought my stupid bike cover, but then it barely fit because I did a trunk relocation on the bike. So I get the first place I do it. I’m like giving it the old frigging, you know, put your shoulder into it, man.

Because you’re like, Oh, sure. Back now, you know, And that’s what it was your trunk went four inches back, but right the cover And then I’m pretty sure I brought the full cover which I didn’t even realize I had a half and a full So the hat the full covers probably I mean it took up a quarter of a bag. Oh, oh at least yeah So that was frustrating.

I mean, like, it was cold.

You know,

tom: so like, layering, right?

What will Tom do for new Motorcycle Gear?

tom: So that’s, Let’s see every pretty much everything that’s wrong with the gear that I have. I love my boots. I’ll talk about those in a little bit, but

Todd: I was just going to ask, is there any piece of equipment that you have that you like that you’re going to keep?

It sounds like the boots, everything else going away. Okay. The boots. All right. Well, we’ll come back to that.

tom: Yeah. Any thoughts about any of that Todd or like, you know, What are you thinking about maybe your gear a little bit?

Todd: Well, I mean, yeah, now you’ve, you’ve got me thinking. I mean, you haven’t talked about your gloves yet.

tom: jackets

Todd: or joe rocket pants?

tom: Sure. No reason on the joe rocket I mean for me i’m a bigger guy and not everybody has large sizes So joe rocket has bigger sizes, which thank you for them for that. Yeah. but you know, I mean It was because I wanted the mesh. I wanted the protection, but I wanted the mesh because I mean almost never do I get too hot, I would say too cold riding.

So I would just pick up all the mesh gear and use that, but it’s, it is bulkier because most of that mesh has two layers of mesh. It’s not like, Just mesh, like now I think you can get some Kevlar this, that, you know, there wasn’t really that out then, you know, this is probably

2010, five to 10. So it’s, you know, it’s 15 years old. Yeah.

Todd: And then when you, when you put your raincoat over your, your jacket, you had on, was that like too much bulk at that point? It

Yeah.

tom: but. Yeah. I mean, it was just like, it wasn’t comfortable, you know?

And then you put your rain gloves over, then you, I mean, you just feel like you’re like that kid in the summer, you know, you see those little toddlers that are walking around with like, you know, If I fall down, I’d need someone to come pick me up. So, yeah, I mean, it was, it was all of those things. Plus like that was a lot for not really, I wasn’t, wouldn’t say I was like perfectly comfortable after all that.

Yeah.

Todd: So have you done some research? Do you have like a plan? Yep. Absolutely. No, no, no, no. Here’s the, yeah, yeah. Here’s the plan.

tom: So basically what I’ve looked into and if there’s anybody out there that has. Better ideas on this. I’d love to hear it. But as far as I can tell there’s a company named Bonn Body Armor, and they really seem to be almost the only choice.

So I think you’ll see a lot of European stuff. so bond body armor seems about to be the only people in the U S that has it. So basically what it is, is that B O H N yeah. Basically what it is is I’ll call it underwear, you know, like it’s long underwear with armor in it for your legs. And it’s a very thin mesh with armor in it.

You can buy warm gear or cold gear. I was just going to ask. Yeah, they have both. Okay.

Todd: This sounds like I’d be hot because I get hot,

tom: right? So they have the cool writing gear and then they have the warm writing gear and everything is compatible. So you can take all your armor out of one and put it in the other.

So if you bought a shell for the winner, you don’t have to buy armor and shell.

Todd: Oh, so it’s separate. Right. Oh, nice.

tom: Now, I don’t know that you’d want to be doing it. If you wanted to have two or three pairs for a trip, I don’t know if you’d want to be doing that. But I think you’d have to do it because otherwise we’d run into the same freaking problem.

You’d have

Todd: too much crap.

Yeah.

tom: And you don’t need to have a separate, you know, go down and buy a cool Indian sweatshirt, or go down and buy a cool zip up that you like. You don’t have to worry about it being armored, because it’s, the armor’s under.

Todd: Gotcha.

tom: So your base layer is your armor. Yeah. Yeah. And so then the gloves, I mean, I really love, I have a pair of mesh leather icon gloves.

I love them. They’re form fitted, but now they’re almost too big for my hands. So I don’t know if I, can you shrink them?

Todd: Yeah, that I don’t know. Cause they’ve stretched out.

tom: Yeah. Like, I don’t know. They

Todd: get wet. I think

tom: my hands may have shrunk a little or something. I don’t know. I’ve lost a little weight.

So one, you know, I want to get some really decent gloves that are probably mesh. So Bond does not have, they don’t sell gloves. I’m looking for a glove brand. So let us know. Yeah, I’m open. I love my boots. I have Thoroughgood American Heritage Midnight Series 6 inch boots that have been awesome. And oh, by the way, I think we’ve talked about the traveling boot heater.

Yeah.

tom: That I absolutely hated.

Yeah.

tom: Yeah. Well, I love it now because I realize that what it is, is these are, it’s a really compact two heating elements. That go in your boots. Well, what I did this last time is I put a t shirt over them when I, uh, for night, trapped the heat in them. Oh my gosh. The best thing ever.

Todd: And you’re doing that to dry the boot out,

Like, I think a good quality leather pair of boots, I, that’s what I like. There’s riding boots. There’s plenty of them. I’ve had those. They’re nice too, but I would definitely be bringing that. I fit that in there and you, the, my dryer and you wouldn’t even have like, it just fits in the smash between everything else.

Yeah. And the helmet, I don’t know what to do with the helmet. I, I would love, I mean, everybody has an opinion on the helmet. So, well,

Todd: what are the characteristics of your helmet that you don’t like? What, well, I mean, this is about your third or fourth helmet. Honestly, sixth, it seems like you’re, yeah, I know.

It seems like you get helmets. I mean, I’ve had

And now you buy HGC’s for like 250, but I mean, it feels like your head’s falling off when it, I mean, if you and I like to ride with our windshield lower, get some air and then it’s like a fricking blower and there’s no wind stoppage. And if you shut the things like you’re supposed to, it’s like a sauna in there, which I love saunas, but not when I’m riding on the road, I don’t want to, you know, so I don’t know.

I mean,

Todd: I

tom: don’t know.

Todd: I know a helmet to me needs to be lightweight, you know, so you don’t have that extra, but it also can’t pick up wind,

tom: make

Todd: turbulence. And, and, and I want them to be quiet inside. That’s what we were, you know, earplugs all the time because,

tom: and that’s what you do. I mean, I wear the earplugs and I’ve finally gotten everybody else wearing them now, finally, because they’re terror, it’s terribly loud.

My head tends to just get squashed. Yeah squashed front

Todd: front and back or side to side or all

tom: well Yeah, a lot of times my nose will touch the face shield if it’s all the way down

Todd: So, all right, so we’re looking for suggestions for it’s got to be a long shape then Just deeper. So I don’t know I’ll try them

tom: all but yeah, I you know and what you learn about helmets is that They only make like, if they go extra small to call it triple, extra large, there’s still only like, they only make like three shells.

Well, of course I’m on the fricking high end, you know, shoving my head up into a shell.

And so the thing was all cockeyed. So we stopped at a motorcycle shop. And she starts looking for a helmet. Well, she found one that fit her. You know, and that’s all we were looking for. And then I was like, it didn’t match mine. So I’m just like, mine was kind of getting loose. I’m like, I’ll just get one too.

So we had matching helmets, but they’re kind of like generic, no name. I mean, they’re fine, but. Well, and the

tom: other thing I really like to do. I really like to have the tinted shield because,

uh,

tom: you know, well, and that broke too, cause I think I dropped my helmet this time. Now I can’t move my stupid drop down sunglass thing.

Todd: No, no, that’s not for you, sir. I, I pull into a gas station. I take my helmet off. I put it on the passenger seat. And then I forget it’s sitting there. I pull away to go park. And yeah, the thing just rolls through the parking lot.

tom: Yeah. So if we fix all the gear problems, we fix all the helmet problems. And I’m also gonna, after I sort that out, I’m gonna look at some heated gear, I think, too.

Oh, yeah. Battery, uh, That’s what every, almost everything’s battery now, but there are some plug in. Okay. but yeah, so that’s pants, vest, gloves.

Todd: I was going to ask about your socks. I mean, they, they make like, uh,

I think the most interested I’m in is legs. I still got a pretty good insulation around here. and I’ve got heated seat and grips, but you know, like the snobby BMW guys say, you know, the heated grips are only in case to dry your gloves out, but not to keep your hands warm. That’s what the heated gloves are for.

But, uh, no, I’m going to check that out because there’s a lot of heated liners and, you know, so I’ve been looking at that as well. And looking, as far as rain gear goes, I’m looking at the Harley stuff because I think it’s the best. I really do. And I think it folds up tight. And then I started looking, they have some glove liners that are heated too.

So, oh yeah. Okay. So after that, we can start talking about bags.

Todd: You’re, so this isn’t just your riding gear. No, I’m throwing it all out.

It stacks. I had two, a big one and a smaller one connected together, stacked. So that was kind of nice. So like you got to start imagining if you ever want to get into your bag when you’re on the bike. How are you going to do that? Especially if it’s got a top lift and you’re stacking them? Oh, I so I would say the Curie Icon rolls were okay.

You know six out of ten.

Mm hmm.

tom: I had I bought a Curie Icon Rack bag that goes on the back of the trunk 15 seconds after we got back on the road after the rain gear whooping that thing went flying off Never to be seen again. That’s somewhere in Well, I don’t know. Oh, highway 90 somewhere. No kidding.

Mm hmm Now I I bought a curiacan trunk bag not their fault, but It wasn’t wide enough for the head, uh, the passenger, like, neck part. So, like, it just didn’t fit well enough. Oh. So, I’m gonna give that to Brad and see if it fits on your guys. Cause I think it’ll fit on yours. Cause I think your, like, neck or whatever, backrest.

Yeah.

tom: Is thinner than mine. I see. But I loved it because it had, like, pockets on the outside. And then you could open it.

Todd: Yeah,

tom: and I did like that part but then a complete fail on the goldwing which needs to take notes from the harley Is the harleys open their trunks to the side? Yeah, right Well now I get my rear tail bag loaded up on my back seat Oh, you can’t lift and I have another trunk bag on top.

Todd: And now that you say that I haven’t had anything in the.

Like the passenger seat. Yeah, right. So I’ve always been able to open weave with that trunk bag. Correct. But yeah, if I’ve got that stacked up high, I wouldn’t be. Oh, and I have a

tom: gallon jug sitting there too. That’s perfect. Yeah. So yeah, so that’s that. As far as I have this really brilliant idea to take the inside of my trunk and power, put all power in my lid and then I could have all my power stuff up there.

Well, that was a terrible idea. I think I’m going to move the power stuff down to the perimeter. Because, like, every time I open it, everything that I had velcroed there is, like, down below. Shut the door, it gets in the thing, I’m sticking cords out, in, out, like So I’ve got positive power, keyed power, and I’ve got all time power in there, because it’s really nice sometimes to go in to a restaurant, plug the Senna in for just that little cap, you know.

But,

Todd: Yeah. I mean, you

tom: don’t

Todd: put

tom: a helmet in there, but I don’t, right now I don’t eat. Cause I put it like a sign that says free helmet on when I get out and I go in hoping maybe somebody will take

Todd: it.

It looked really cool when you had all that electronic stuff mounted up. It looked great. You covered it. Oh

tom: yeah. I had a piece of plastic over it. Freaking awesome. Yeah. Cause if it doesn’t work,

Todd: that’s too bad.

tom: Yeah. So we’ll have to go back to the drawing board on that one, but that’s okay. Lessons learned.

Right. So I think that’s my, I’d like to get the, you know, a lot of people have the bag liners so they can pull in and out. I don’t know. I put tools in one side and never go get them. And on the other side I put, you know, left side I put all my tools and stuff. The right side I put the, rain gear, cover, stuff, a pair of, uh, mesh pants in there.

Todd: All right. So, so you talked about Bon Armor is gonna be your Yep. The gear that you wear, you think, I mean, you,

tom: you

Todd: have, I haven’t found

tom: even another brand, so,

Todd: okay.

Yeah, I’ll, now

tom: what about the, the luggage issues? Now what are you gonna do? I don’t know. So no plan yet. We got a mention from Viking bags, got ahold of us and they’re sending us a bag to test as well. So I’m going to test that one. And then I don’t know what we’ll do after that. I mean, I’m thinking I haven’t seen anything perfect.

There’s one, I don’t know if it’s a Saddleman or a Kyrie Icon that has kind of half moon on the back. That would be perfect for the Goldwing, but there again, height problems, you know, like you can’t get too tall.

Yeah, because

tom: that thing comes right over there. So that will be something to think about. So I don’t know I mean, I’d be curious what people that are right are not writing Goldwings do because I think almost every trunk I’ve seen goes forward except for except for Harley.

I don’t know. I mean, maybe that’s it, right?

Todd: Well, if

tom: it’s my bike,

Todd: I need a seat.

tom: The new one. Yeah. No, no. So I mean, I’m still a Russell day long fan, you know, the problem there of course is it’s not a problem, but you have to take your stock seat and send it in to get fixed. So, winter project, right?

Yeah. Well, that’s what everyone says. So it’s like booked out to who knows when right now, but, but yeah, I, I think I need to think about that a little bit more, as well. And then finally, I think the only last thing just after this 52. I need my handlebars back just a little bit more, an inch or two.

So, so I’m on the quest, man, I’m on a quest.

Todd: I’m looking forward to, to seeing all this. It’s too bad. You’re going to do it all at once. That’s expensive to

tom: well, I’ll be selling some stuff, you know, some motorcycle stuff, some other things I can find. How about all those 12 helmets you’ve had in the past? I wish they were worth anything.

Oh, all right. It might be worth a buck a piece. So yeah, that’s my, thoughts and reasons why I’m ditching. So

Todd: we need, we need suggestions for helmets, gloves. Yep. And, uh, some bags, maybe

Todd: you’re on a gold wing, a 22 gold wings.

So that might make a difference. I would

tom: also say, I’m curious what, with people on multi ride trips, are you taking your entire bag in? Cause I have this other thought. Maybe I just leave the bag on the bike and pull the liner, you know, even if it’s an exterior bag, you know, add on. Cause this, this Curie Icon I have in zips from the side, like I’m thinking I could put a bag in the bag, just pull the whole innards out and go with it.

So that’s another thought. I’m just curious if anyone does that, you know, and we’re going to get, I’m sure we’ll get the ones. That thing has so much luggage space, man. I can pack in a, you know, just get a trailer. I use a large wallet to pack my entire weekend. Who needs to change clothes? So, all right.

Toolkit

tom: I think we’ve kind of covered the toolkit a little bit, Todd.

Like, I wish there was a way to get it air flow Like dang, man. I mean I almost want a mesh helmet Really? I mean like who cares right if you can get it to not whistle at you. All right, so yeah and gloves What gloves are you using? You I would, you know, like, do you. Like, I don’t know, I’m sure a custom pair of gloves is probably going to cost you a couple hundred bucks.

But is there something like,

tom: I don’t, I don’t have anything touch pad, you know,

Todd: for me. but it has to be thin enough. So it’s accurate where you’re pushing things and

tom: where I have a problem with. And I think part of it is I have a very large palm and short fingers.

And so what I find is I ended up having like two millimeters of glove at the end. If there’s any, I don’t know if there’s a way to fix that or if there’s short finger, short finger gloves.yeah, I’m interested because yeah, I like a nice pair of mesh gloves. I like, uh, I would like a nicer pair of, but maybe then I can figure that I can put these liners or something over these and use heated, but I don’t know.

And

Todd: maybe there’s a custom glove maker that we, you know, that we don’t know about. That might be nice. Some

tom: man in Pakistan that knows how to make gloves, you know, I don’t know.

Todd: So

tom: yeah. Any other thoughts on Toolkit for this time around, Todd? No, I think you’ve covered it. That’s

Todd: pretty good.

tom: You’ve over covered it, mister.

Closer

tom: Well, if you liked the podcast today, please like, and subscribe or sign up for our BMR Rider Alerts. It’s our way of keeping you in the loop and we promise, we’ll No spam.

Todd: Yeah, keep the spirit of adventure alive and remember bikes friends and endless roads the stories ride forever Take care.