Here's my bit of kit...

At long last, I’ve purchased a proper motorcycle jacket. No leather & chrome mind you; I don’t ride a cruiser or a classic bike. I ride a “sport” bike, so matching cordura with CE protectors will do just fine. So a perfect opportunity to write about my riding gear then.

Helmet: GPR:
This is my 4th helmet, since I began riding 2-wheeled vehicles nearly 10 years ago. The first 2 ones were some local junk, but since international standard lids began becoming available about 3 years ago, I immediately picked up an MPA-AGV Pacific helmet (a yellow one, with the hopes that I’d buy a yellow motorcycle one day). The AGV served me well for the last 3 years through the thick and thin of daily use. So it was about time I got a new lid, and that I did; A GPR helmet (a yellow one, since I now do own a yellow motorcycle :-D). The GPR does seem to be one of the better ones available in the Indian market. It’s a pretty comfortable & as for safety, I’ve been told people have survived 150kph+ crashes with these on. Hopefully, I should never have to test that claim. My only complaint is that currently in the monsoons, the visor has a tendency to fog often. But this inadequacy can be easily overcome by keeping the visor just slightly cracked open.

Jacket: DSG Spike:
So I finally bought an armored riding jacket crossing hurdles of availability & sizing. It’s a lovely yellow (has to be :-D) cordura street jacket with CE Approved elbow, shoulder & back protectors. Got this from Dream Sporting Gear in Pune and its their own brand called DSG. Although they had a huge selection of jackets from big brands like AStars & AXO, I decided not to buy these coz they were more than twice as expensive and offered the same amount of protection. The best part of this jacket is that its got mesh inserts & a couple of zippered vents on the arms. Coupled with a water-resistant/wind-proof cold weather liner, this jacket is usable virtually all year around. Many people think armored jackets have their use only on the track, till they crash on the streets or see one of their riding buddies crash on the streets, doing street speeds. My take on this is, these jackets are comfortable, rain resistant, wind proof, tremendously resistant to impacts & abrasion, look absolutely smashing and don’t cost all that much. I’d have one of these over some fancy wind-cheater in a heartbeat.

Gloves: Teknic Chicane:
This was the first bit of kit I bought after I had acquired my new (yellow!) motorcycle. I really don’t know why I was desperate for full leather gauntlets, even before I had got any other piece of kit (did have a decent helmet though), but I’m really glad I was. Though these gloves look like racing gloves to the casual observer, they can hardly be called as “Track-ready”. But I guess they’re more than perfect for the kind of speeds out little Indian bikes do. A goat-skin construction provides a very comfortable & flexible fit, and where there is a need for serious abrasion protection, its covered with layers of cow-hide along with a fat steel thread molded knuckle protector. The Teknics are the only piece of my kit which have actually been tested for what they supposed to do. A couple of small spills when I was finding my “fast-motorcycle” legs left the upper surface of the cow-hide palm inserts a little scraped. A far better outcome than having my own hide scraped I guess…

Upper body fully assembled ;-)

Boots: Icon Field Armor:
These are my favorite bits of my current riding gear kit. After realizing that it would be very easy to seriously damage one’s feet in the event of a motorcycle crash, perhaps never to ride a bike again, or indeed even never walk properly again, I decided that sneakers just wouldn’t cut it & good motorcycle boots were the order of the day. Some intense research later, I found these; the Icon Field Armor boots. Plastic molded armor on the toe, heel and shin, three buckle straps to hold the boot firmly on one’s feet, a zippered side entry for easy on & off and laces behind the shin armor plate for a custom fit. And more importantly, all this without being as flashy as racing boots and at a fraction of their cost. Perfect! OK, so when I actually rode with them on, I wished they wouldn’t go underneath my jeans so that I could show them off, coz they really look like they belong on Robocop’s feet. But safety & coolness apart, they did wonders for my riding posture as well. Plus they have mesh inserts to ensure that your feet don’t get too sweaty. An absolute bargain at Rs. 3800 (US $92)…

This is not the end of my kit by far. Knee & Shin protectors, a full Spine protector, padded underwear, another pair of leather gauntlets and another helmet are in the pipeline.

Though I would urge any biker reading this to buy every bit of good riding gear kit they can afford (Hey… you could afford a bike, couldn’t you. So why not spend a bit on good gear), one should never neglect the importance of passive safety. The most important safety device on a motorcycle is the bit between the rider’s ears. Though I may go on and on about how safe my “Go Faster” clothes are, I’m have no hurry, or even the inclination, to test any of them out. Use your head, don’t push harder than your limits and ride safe. Best bit of safety feature yet...