Protective gear?

[Abercrombie]

As I said before, dual sport riding isn't big here and I have no one to ask but you folks.  What do you guys wear for protection while riding dual sport? 

For boots I have two pair of boots, so short of full MX boots I think I am covered.  I have a pair of Sidi Adventure Gore-tex and a pair of Sidi Discovery rain.   I hit a deer and wrecked my Shoei Hornet DS but I have an inexpensive HJC that fits great and I am happy with and I have a pretty good selection of gloves.

My question is upper and lower body protection and how much or little is needed.  I have been looking at some Acerbis upper body protection like the Koerta 2.0, Cosmo jacket, Deflector X-fit, or Deflector MX jacket soft.  I am also thinking some hip protection wouldn't be a bad idea along with knee protection.  Does a guy need a full knee brace or just some decent knee armor?

Thanks for you input in advance.

[greatbuffalo]

A lot of this has to do with how aggressive you ride or how much you think your find yourself beside a bike taking a nap. I like a jacket with good padding in the shoulders, elbows and back along with the abrasion protection it afford. The same with pants. You can take your pick of what ever is in your budget. There are good gear most price points.

There are a lot of guys that use upper body protection like you mentioned. I think it depends of the person. Some people who are more confident wear very little gear. I am long since done with nasty injuries so I tent to go further than some but a bit less than others.

I think its all personal preference.

[Harry Potter]

Guess I'll take a stab at this. First I guess how do you define dual sport, are you talking about connecting single track trails or long distance adventure riding? A helmet with a pointy sun visor can make your neck hurt on long high speed stretches. What is your age, young and imortal or old and I take for ever to heal? Are you a perfect weather dual sport rider only or I ski the crud type rider. The more you do it all the bigger your closet and gear bag has to be. There are many companies like Olympia that design layered or convertible gear that can be your one and only four season outfit. Check out Anthony's videos on Revzilla.com  As the great buffalo said elbow pads, shoulder pads, a back pad, knee pads, and hip pads are all part of ATGATT, all the gear all the time whether your riding a HD cruiser or an OB(orange bike.) If you purchase your typical adv outfit you might want to consider up grading the pads to  SAS-TEC or D30 type technology. This winter I am going to be adding Coccyx protector pad pouches to all my gear. I am easy to spot at a Ryan Young Trials class because I have on more protective gear than anyone else and that's because I suck at it.

Wow how did I forget this, at crosstrainingenduro.com is the perfect video to answer your question. It's called the "Which Enduro Protective Gear" video.

[Abercrombie]

Thanks for the input guys.  To answer a few of your questions Harry Potter, I am also an ATGATT kind of guy and I think I am pretty set up for long distance adventure riding on my Tenere.  I'm 54, in average shape, like to ride a little faster than I should, but don't bounce like I used to.  For adventure touring on the Tenere consisting of highway, gravel, fire roads I usually wear a standard non ADV helmet since I hit a deer and wrecked my Shoei Hornet DS.  I haven't replaced the Hornet DS since I felt the sun visor bill was tiring at highway speeds.  For the rest of my gear I wear a Klim Latitude gore-tex coat and pants with the D30 armor in all the right spots along with Klim gloves and the Sidi Adventure gore-tex boots.

My goal is to get into a little more dirt riding with my XR650L and maybe ride with some of the folks from this forum in the Black Hills for the spring or fall ride or tackle some or all of the DakAL.    I would like to take the XR into some back country or single track that the Tenere isn't well suited for.  As I stated before I have very little dirt experience other than the what I have racked up on the XR and feel the need to have gear that is more appropriate to that type of riding.  In the 1000 miles I have racked up on the XR, I have discovered if your going to ride in the dirt you should be prepared to meet the dirt and this is the reason I am inquiring about off road or dirt bike armor. 

So far I am planning on using my inexpensive HJC dirt bike helmet with googles, and a pair of Sidi Discovery boots which I understand doesn't have the best of ankle protection.  If the weather is cool i have an inexpensive fly adventure style armored jacket with a pair of Aerostitch Darien pants that I can use.

So that is a little more background and the focus of my question is geared toward the XR on rougher two track, or single track riding.
That brings me to my question of am I going the right direction if I purchased something like the following?

For upper body protection I am looking at the Acerbis Cosmo jacket, or something softer like the Acerbis Deflector X-Fit or MX soft jacket?
For knees I am looking at some soft knee armor like a Acerbis Soft knee 2.0?
For ass and hips I am thinking of some type of padded shorts or pants?
For off road riding pants should a guy get inside the boot or outside the boot pants?

Sorry for all to noob questions and I look forward to meeting a few of the guys on the forum and hopefully joining in on a ride or two.
Thanks in advance for the answers and advice.

[Harry Potter]

When I get off work I'll look up the gear you listed. In the mean time also check out Gumby's (Barry Morris) video on hot weather gear on www.crosstrainingenduro.com   Buy hot weather gear and you can always cover it up when it is cold. Hot weather riding is harder to get the right gear for than cold.

[Dr Psyko]

I think you're more then good wearing what you describe. I'm more into mountain bikes lately, and they have some great protective gear. Lightweight and minimal. I noticed Andy Goldfine has recommended bicycling shorts and other gear in Aerostich, and since I have a lot of this stuff I've tried it. The good old spandex shorts work great under normal riding gear (more control, less chafe, cooler, etc.,), and I've also used mountain bike (mtb) knee pads under normal riding gear with good results. Just don't wear the spandex at any motorcycle rally and you'll be fine.

[Fletch]

for me it depends on what I'm riding. I'm a total idiot on the 300 and will get into situations I shouldn't (my enthusiasm exceeds my skill frequently). I know this and prepare accordingly. Full gear including a leatt.
On my 1190 I ride considerably slower and take far less chances. I am probably a little light on protection but typically wear decent road boots, jacket w/armor, leather gloves. I do typically wear jeans with no knee protection, but it's a risk I have accepted. I am getting older (just turned 50) so may re-evaluate over the winter.

Mike

[Lonesome Dave]

My 2 cents!
I wear padded spandex shorts when I'm riding trails.  And yes I get comments about them at the rallies.  But I have fallen in them countless times and it does minimize hits to the hips, especially on a rock.  I also wear chest protector (broke a bunch of ribs once w/o one).  I like wearing knee braces, I had them for 2 years before I would wear them.  After finally wearing them and getting use to them, I always wear them.  I have marks and/or scratches on the braces that I don't know how or where they came from.  But the marks are not on me, that's all I care about!  Also good moto boots.  But, at least wear the adventure boots.

On my Tiger, I'm like Fletch, not in riding skills, but in gear.  I wear a lot less protective gear.  However I always have the riding jacket with armor.  I should wear more on the lower half, but usually its just adventure boots.  Let me rephrase that.....along with jeans of some sort. whew  I'd never hear the end of that one!  Don't say a word GB.

[locopny]

Well for me...All I have currently anymore is a MX skid lid (Bell with the wind catcher visor) and an older street lid that I wore a lot on my last bike.  wearing glasses I preferred the face shield over goggles.  I'm certainly no expert rider, but I did use a chest gear (Fox I think it was)....but sold it with the last bike.  I wore out my Moto boots but were worth wearing all the time riding.

Adventure boots?  you mean like hiking or something?
I will likely get a jacket with some dirt nap cushion (but will likely get used a lot riding the paved roads).  and a new street style lid.  In the southwest deserts...I waited until after my leg found a cactus before getting shin and knee guards....painful is an understatement. 
The more I think about this topic reading what you all have written...I think I'm likely to want a bit more than I used to have as I'm sure my skills are not as good as I remember them being.  And the "bounce back" time line is measured in multiple days opposed to multiple hours now.

[Abercrombie]

"Adventure boots?  you mean like hiking or something?"



These are my Sidi Adventure Gore-tex boots that I have been wearing on my Tenere.



These are my Sidi Discovery rain boots that I am planning on wearing off road.  The Discovery boots are not heavily armored with articulated ankles but they feel like they have pretty decent protection to them.

[Harry Potter]

Abercrombie Those are absolutely great boots. I checked out the gear you mentioned and it all looks really good. I upgraded this summer to Leatt 3DF Airfit Body Protector. The 3DF foam is like the D30 or Sas Tec type foam. There are videos on Revzilla covering the Airfit, Leatt 5.5, Troy Lee 7855, and Forcefield Pro shirt x-v. Two things on the 3DF Airfit, one I have had zipper problems but it is being covered on a one year warranty and secondly a Leatt rep told me it is being upgraded in 2017 with better breathing and a light gray color. Like Barry Morris says in his video it is really crazy that the manufactures only put this great stuff out in hot black. By the way the Tenere is a great bike!

Here is where I disagree with the other riders. I believe the protective gear is just as important on the big bikes. Two summers ago in northern British Columbia going 75mph (max legal speed in Canada is 60mph) I got a two inch slice in my front tire. I didn't see it, hear it, or feel hitting anything just all of a sudden I had no steering. I was heading towards an on coming car then the brain processed this is just like riding in sand. I regained control of the bike, got her slowed way down and onto the right shoulder, and at a much slower speed I did go down for a lucky slide into a grassy ditch. I wore a hole through my right boot down to the big toe. My right knee pad wore all the way through as did the tops of my gloves. My face shield looked like I took a belt sander to it. With all that I never lost a drop of blood, didn't break a thing, and not even a bruise. Two things saved my life, wearing all the protection and learning how to ride the R1200GS in sand at a Jimmy Lewis class.

[Fletch]

not saying I shouldn't wear more protection on the big bike, just saying I don't

[Hank]

Offroad - buy the best boots you can afford.   I think you can buy a good functional helmet for reasonable money but good boots are expensive.    I wear Gaerne SG10 boots which cost around $400, but they are great.   I am extremely happy with my AFX FX-17 helmet which cost about 80 bucks.   Its comfortable and fits right, and once it gets too stinky I can throw it away without feeling bad.   As a bonus it does have a removable liner so it can be washed pretty easily.   I also like good mesh or convertible pants, knee pads, and a full armor vest round it out.   I do want some padded shorts for hip protection.    Klim gear is high priced stuff but it really is nice.

On road, I just wear a padded/armored jacket, jeans, gloves, hiking boots, and a good helmet.     My street gear is the opposite of my dirt gear, for the street I have an expensive helmet and pretty cheap boots.    I like the noise (minimal) and comfort in a good street helmet.

I like leather jackets for protection but recently bought a Klim mesh summer jacket and, unlike my previous textile jackets, I think this one would survive a slide.     The others I've had I'm sure would have blown apart in short order if things went pear shaped.

I've taken a 60 mph slider wearing jeans, a helmet and t-shirt.   It didn't end well, so I'm pretty good about wearing at least the basics when I ride.

[greatbuffalo]

My thoughts exactly Fletch!

LD I heard Spanx is looking for some ideas for new products, maybe you contact them.

Just think how slimming these could be: Lonesome Dave's MotoSpanx

http://www.spanx.com/shapewear/mid-thighs/slim-cognito-high-waisted-mid-thigh-short-38-ms2433?1689=8849

[Dr Psyko]

I did a mtb ride down in Tucson last winter and I appreciate the fear of cactus! I had knee guards, but nothing on my lower legs and would never do that again. Different on the cycle though because I'm always wearing boots. I fell a couple times but managed to miss the nasty ones. Only a small spike, no hand tools necessary. Can't imagine what it would be like to fall into some of those things. Anyone ever try these padded undergarments, is it Bonn or something like that?