What's the best (and worst) piece of gear you own?

There's a similar thread on ADVrider, and I think it's a great idea. So here goes:

Best: Olympia Stealth suit
Mesh EVERYWHERE. Takes about 30 seconds to get on. Just enough high-viz to catch the eye without looking like a radioactive banana. Looks durable. My only complaint is the extra lengths on the elbow armor tightening strap flap around in the wind once they're snugged down. Oh and the collar is a little low. If you commute in the heat, you owe yourself to have a look at this thing.

Worse: Fieldsheer mesh gloves, I forget the model. Doesn't matter, they're total E36 M3. Uncomfortable, and they just fell apart at the left index fingertip. Real confidence inspiring. Pretty much made Fieldsheer an "avoid" company for me.

I dunno about best, there's many things that are great, but perhaps not at everything. From my classic leather jacket to the brush guards, the heated grips to the little Spitfire windscreen.

But worse has to be every rain suit I've ever tried. None work. I'm soaked, sitting in a puddle, and cold. Somewhere, for some absurd amount of money, I suppose there is something that actually works. But I've never experienced it.

Sixsixone pressure suit. It's uncomfortable, heavy, and ridiculously hot. Why the back protection is 4 times heavier than the rest of it, I don't know. I hate it but continue to wear it until I find the right set of hockey shoulder pads with front/back protection.

I really like my Gmax 46X helmet. Perfect fit, and super light.

Zomby woof wrote: Sixsixone pressure suit. It's uncomfortable, heavy, and ridiculously hot. Why the back protection is 4 times heavier than the rest of it, I don't know. I hate it but continue to wear it until I find the right set of hockey shoulder pads with front/back protection.

Acerbis Koerta, or the High Velocity Gear Juggernaut.

The Koerta is the gold standard, and it shows.

Best: Vanson Lightning jacket, with OEM soft armor and foam/plate back protector. It is made of leather, two layers in many places, so it is hot in summer while at a stoplight. However, the vent system is quite effective, and allows me to wear it in the winter as well. It fits me perfectly, and the quality of construction and durability is simply amazing. It's annoying that the liners and armor cost extra, but I guess one has to pay extra for quality. I hope to continue using this for decades.

Worst: Gloves. I don't like either my winter or my summer gloves. My summer gloves, Joe Rocket Atomic are cool (temperature-wise) , but they will probably shred to bits instantly in a crash, and my winter gloves, while toasty, have annoying seams that get between my fingernails and fingers and have weird pressure points. Eventually I will get some nice gauntlet perforated gloves for Florida's warmer 8 months.

Best: Motocentric Mototrek backpack. LOVE it. It's my "briefcase" to take to work even when I'm not riding.

Worst: No strong feelings here actually. In general, cheap gloves drive me nuts.

Osterkraut wrote: Acerbis Koerta, or the High Velocity Gear Juggernaut. The Koerta is the gold standard, and it shows.

I saw the Koerta, and it looked good. You can even buy it without the mesh shirt. The shoulder pads look a little skimpy to me, and after my experience with the pressure suit, I'm not eager to drop $150 on a piece of equipment that might not be very good. I can get this for $20, so I might try it this weekend. I'm nursing a pretty good shoulder injury from a crash a few months ago.

Best set of gear has probably been my Scorpio EXO400 helmet. It's tough to get the visor to fog up even on freezing mornings, and it's quite comfortable; I've had no complaints with it.

Worst would be a set of Icon Super Duty gloves. They self destructed so fast that I'd really hate to see their light duty.

Best: Icon Super Duty 4 boots. The first real motorcycle boots that are all-day comfortable and can be walked in for more than 100 feet. Hope they wear better than the gloves above though!

An honorable mention has to go to the bandana-stretchy-tube thing that I wear under my helmet. No seams, can be used as a neck gaiter, love it.

Worst: I don't buy much, and never really bought anything that hasn't worked out well.

Best: Vanson perforated jacket and pants

Worst: BMW motocross boots. The buckles break continually

I have a love hate relationship with my Shift Envy jacket. I love it 90% of the time, then I get caught on the elbow armor when I put it on and it becomes slightly less lovable.

Best: I LOVE my Alpinestars gauntlet gloves. (I don't know the model name), I got them on super clearance at Cycle Gear for like 40 bucks. Leather and carbon, how can you go wrong?

Worst: I dunno...probably shorts!

Best thing I own is a Moose Racing enduro jacket made of Gore Tex. That thing is awesome even if it is mid '90's red and purple. When it's 10 degrees outside you zip up all the vents and it can become a steambath if you want. If it gets in the 50's you open the front and rear zipper vents and you get enough breeze to keep you comfy. If it's warmer and raining, open all the vents including the big ones under the arms and you stay (reasonably) dry. Too bad Gore Tex was contributing big $$ to organizations which actively lobbied to shut down OHV trails.

Worst was a tossup between a pair of Xtreme pants which just unraveled during my first ride with them and a pair of MSR boots where the soles came off, no offer of help from either company.

Curmudgeon wrote: Too bad Gore Tex was contributing big $$ to organizations which actively lobbied to shut down OHV trails.

WTFBBQ? Explain.

Osterkraut wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote: Too bad Gore Tex was contributing big $$ to organizations which actively lobbied to shut down OHV trails.

WTFBBQ? Explain.

I heard this before as well, but I have no evidence.

I do, however, have this.

In reply to Osterkraut:

Not trying to derail the thread, but if true, it seems like Gore Tex was/is attempting to cater to the interests of a more lucrative customer-base. Why risk a boycott by the fanatics who comprise the bulk of your consumers?

And now, we return to our normally scheduled programming.

Best: Aerostich parcel bag. Mine's in their Hi-Viz Lime Yellow, and it has a big retroreflective stripe. Visible. I almost never ride without it, and I carry it a bunch off the bike, too. It's basically my giant, ugly briefcase. Fantastic piece of gear. I also have a Belstaff Interceptor (old model, long since discontinued) jacket that I bought sight unseen from NewEnough before I even got my first bike, and it's still the jacket I grab 9 times out of 10.

Worst: cheap gloves. Any of them. I've given up on most motorcycle gloves in general, and just wear cowhide work gloves with separate liners for cool/chilly weather, or Firstgear winter gloves when it's truly cold.

Best: I have a lot of bests. My wonderfully light but hopelessly outdated HJC helmet. My recently purchased Joe Rocket summer mesh jacket. My Tractor Supply bull riding gloves (they are the bomb). Some of this stuff was bought on the internet out of desperation and has been a complete and pleasant surprise.

Worst: not hated, but my Alpinstars boots don't wow me. This may have more to do with buying them over the internet in a hurry vs trying different ones on. They function fine, but aren't the most comfortable things.

It's amazing how often I read about motorcycle specific gloves sucking. A very serious rider/instructor guy I took a non-motorcycle class with told me he'd spent probably over a thousand dollars trying out various gloves with mostly disappointment. He then bought the gloves I use for around $30 and has been happy ever since. They don't have armor, which bothers me a bit, but the comfort, 3 seasons protection and decent quality leather make for a happy rider.

Best: My Shoei helmet. I had previously only had cheapie helmets, and the $350 pricetag scared me off. But trying it on, I fell in love, and my first jaunt out of the store parking lot made me a convert. They're worth every penny. Comfortable, quiet, and stable.

Worst: Well, I guess the ridiculously worn out slip-on boots that I use. I just can't motivate myself to buy new ones. I probably should.

I see a trend of gloves that suck really being a problem. Interesting to note.

On using non-moto gloves, though, I must place myself in the "opposed" side.

Those were Alpinestar's very comfortable "street" gloves. They're very similar to gloves you'd get from a hardware store... they burned right through in my getoff. My replacement pair is much better armored.

Ok I have a few myself.

Good stuff: Shoei helmet which fits my egg head, I'm sure their are other great helmets out there but this one got my 300$. Cabelas kangaroo gloves are great for summer riding and have lasted quite awhile.

Junk: Frank Thomas weather proof gloves, they basically had too many seams for the material to support and broke at a seam around the fingers. I got these from my Mom and she said the things weren't water proof although they said they were, I might have sprayed them with silicone sealer(camp dry) to make them more water proof.

Gore Tex was supporting the Sierra Club which had launched an all out attack on OHV in the US, to include dirt bikes, 4x4's, snowmobiles, etc. For that reason, Moose and a couple of other manufacturers of OHV clothing quit using Gore Tex and started using material similar but which was not as good. Mine is one of the Gore Tex pieces. The story over the last few years is G-T has finally begun to contribute to OHV organizations and for that reason some of the gear companies are using their products again.

BTW, something very similar happened with Camelbak, which is another of the best pieces of OHV gear I have ever owned. I was part of the letter writing campaign which finally pushed them to make a contibution to the Blue Ribbon Coalition.

The Ford Foundation (Ford Motor Co's philanthropic wing) contributed large amounts to the Sierra Club and their ilk but AFAIK has never put a dime in the coffers of any OHV organization. If someone knows different, sing out!

On topic: gloves are one of those things which are considered disposable in the dirt bike world. Over 3 months they get really tatty and just plain fall apart so I owned an BUNCH of different brands. The ones I liked best, no matter the brand, always had clarino leather palms which were 'pre curved' so they didn't bunch up and cause blisters.

I have an Arai dirt bike helmet, great stuff. I had a Shoei, I had to modify the foam shell so it wouldn't press against the top of my forehead. Before I did that, it would cause a headache within 10 minutes.

Best: Joe Rocket Velocity gloves. $24.99 and look like they'd do nothing at all in a crash. Wrong. They made great brake pads and I wasn't sore there. If you don't like wearing gloves on a motorcycle, humor me and buy these; they may save your skin and bones.

Worst: Alpinestars mesh jacket. Big bucks new, pretty cheap used, and I can see why. The padding shifted right out of the way when I hit and I got some severely bruised/cracked ribs.

Honorable mentions: SpeedStrength textile pants - 0 damage in a 30 MPH highside and wet road landing. Alpinestars SMX5 boots - again 0 damage in the crash.

Unknown: Bell Vortex helmet. I was lucky, my head never hit the ground. It has decent ventilation underway but the shields are just plain awful. My first lasted 3 months and this one probably won't make it to 6. The coating on the inside disintegrates in the Texas weather and gradually becomes slightly reflective.

I'll add a few good experiences as well.

I have had two different pairs of boots. The ones I currently wear, TCX X-5's, are extremely comfortable while on the bike. They are really quick and easy to put on, they can work under jeans or over pants, and the waterproofing works flawlessly. I found my last-generation model on sale for half off. I would still consider them worth full price (around $240). They have hard soles, which makes for loud steps on tile, but their solid black coloration makes them pretty nondescript when walking around.

Another honorable mention is my Timbuk2 messenger bag. Originally designed to cater to the bicycle crowd, mine has held up well over two years of daily wearing. The strap is really easy to adjust depending on whether or not you're wearing a jacket, and depending on how full it is packed. The downside is that it does not have a lot of pockets on the inside for organizing your belongings, but the upside is that it does not have a lot of pockets on the inside, so it is easy to carry around bulky items. It also has a waterproof lining, which has saved my laptop computer from Florida's surprise sunshowers more than once. I much prefer it to a backpack, because it sits much higher on my back, and by using the cross strap, it doesn't move around at all.