Touring with leathers vs textiles | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Touring with leathers vs textiles

when its really pouring breathable doesn't matter, it has to much moisture on the outside to breath. Just get a good waterproof oversuit and bundle it up. The rubber dollar rama gloves are your best friend. get a dollar rama roll of electrical tape and tape your cuffs so the water doesn't blow up your sleeves and your pant legs don't flap.

Your under gear ie: wicking undergarments will have more to do with comfortable than the outer stuff. Discover the joy of Merino wool, sheep are out in the rain all the time and happy.
 
MacDoc said:
Above my payscale and can't image they don't get hot in summer.

These boots are waterproof too....

$89 on sale - superlight - comfortable to walk in - full Goretex
The hunting crowd got us all beat for choice and value and very cool even in tropical conditions.
They come nicely to my knee armor.
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They've been out for a long time and you can find them cheaper now. I actually got mine "used" they were never worn before for $150.

I don't mind paying a little extra for gear that will last me a long time and I will wear all the time. Most of the gear I bought to save me money sits in my closet.
 
I'll buy gear used as well. My 2002 Joe Rocket mesh has been incredible given the abuse.

I encourage new riders to pick up used gear instead of blowing a grand on new that they may never get use of.
 
I wear leather and pack Frog Toggs and well as boot covers. Back in 2012 I did a 4 day tour through NY, VT and NH and it rained 3 of the 4 days. The Toggs kept my leathers dry.
 
All the "waterproof" gear I've owned has only stayed waterproof for a year or two before starting to leak. My Frogg Toggs that used to be waterproof, now leak. My Teknic Freeway jacket and pants leak, the pants leaked from day one, the jacket leaked once last year, but leaked pretty bad. The one exception are my BMW Allround goretex boots that haven't been ridden in rain yet so can't say for sure.

I'm going to give Nikwax a try and see if it will help, otherwise I'm going to have to fork out some money for goretex jacket/pants.

BTW, biggest advantage to a touring style jacket is all the pockets. The amount of useful things I can carry on me is unbelievable. That one reason alone is worth it over leather sport bike style stuff.
 
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I bought Frogg Toggs Horny Toadz jacket and pants last October. I've used them a few times in thunderstorms. No water leak at all. They're actually really fantastic for the price. I suppose we'll see how it is as time goes on but the Toadz are not a coating, they're a 2 layer fabric with taped seams. Seams can be re-taped if necessary.

The jacket and pants are bulky because I bought them to fit over existing clothes with a bit of slack so there wouldn't be tight pulling in the seat etc. which would stress the seams. But they are quite light. Easy to throw in a bag.

They're not perfect but for someone on a budget who needs breathable rain gear they're it. Goretex is more expensive and the 1 piece BMW rain suit isn't breathable.
 
Nikwax and most other DWRs don't really waterproof. They are for the face fabric so it does not immediately saturate with water and prevent your sweat from passing through it. Waterproofing comes from the membrane(goretex, event, neoshell...) behind the face fabric. These membranes fail quite often unfortunately. The seam tape fails often too.


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This is the non-breathable BMW rainsuit.
298_A0118907_large.jpg
 
daught said:
Nikwax and most other DWRs don't really waterproof. They are for the face fabric so it does not immediately saturate with water and prevent your sweat from passing through it. Waterproofing comes from the membrane(goretex, event, neoshell...) behind the face fabric. These membranes fail quite often unfortunately. The seam tape fails often too.


Sent from the future using my GOLDEN iPhone 30 SS
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Too late, just placed on order through Cabela's 30 minutes ago, worth a try at least. If it doesn't work, I'm going goretex.

The nice thing about goretex is that they gaurantee anything carrying their brand to be waterproof for the life of the product, http://www.gore-tex.com/remote/Satellite/content/our-guarantee#sec-our-gurarantee. When I was researching boots, I found a couple reports where people were reimbursed for the cost of their products if they were found to leak.
 
Oh btw nikwax IMHO is no where near as good as revivex :p

Also face fabrics make a huge difference in how effective rain gear is. Good face fabrics shed rain really well so DWR is not that critical.


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I cracked and ordered in a Dainese Xantum D-dry textile waterproof jacket. Even if its not totally waterproof it will be better in the cold with my leathers. With the tour master rainsuit over it I imagine I'll stay dry

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So I got a Dainese textile jacket (Xantum D-Dry) and textile pants (new air drake tex). Both are really comfortable, more subtle and fit really well. Its nothing like the crunchy joe rocket stuff I tried on a couple of years back that made me feel like I was getting ready to play in the snow.

I definitely like the textile pants overall compared to leather for when I'm off the bike. The textile seems much better in the cold but on the other hand it doesn't breathe as well. I think leather/mesh/textile all have their place, it kind of sucks I need 3 outfits but so be it.
 
I tour in leathers (perforated). I use the ICON PDX pant and jacket over the leathers during the rain and cold.
Works great keeps me dry. Road through days of rain and was dry.
Also use some Held gortex race gloves and Puma gortex boots.
Hands and feet never got wet.
I don't know what Held treats the leather with but within 2 hrs of the rain clearing the leather would be nearly dry.
Awesome gloves.
 
regder said:
All the "waterproof" gear I've owned has only stayed waterproof for a year or two before starting to leak. My Frogg Toggs that used to be waterproof, now leak. My Teknic Freeway jacket and pants leak, the pants leaked from day one, the jacket leaked once last year, but leaked pretty bad. The one exception are my BMW Allround goretex boots that haven't been ridden in rain yet so can't say for sure.

I'm going to give Nikwax a try and see if it will help, otherwise I'm going to have to fork out some money for goretex jacket/pants.

BTW, biggest advantage to a touring style jacket is all the pockets. The amount of useful things I can carry on me is unbelievable. That one reason alone is worth it over leather sport bike style stuff.
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Any examples of what you keep in there? I'm really curious...I could never understand why anyone would need all those pockets that come on touring jackets on a motorcycle...I could understand if you didn't have any sort of luggage at all but otherwise most sport tourers have saddlebags and a top case and more than likely a tank bag.
 
So I'm really impressed with this Dainese textile jacket. It really doesn't really feel like I'm wearing anything, its actually kind of unsettling. The D-Dry liner is nice but makes the jacket a sweat box when its hot/humid. With the liner in the jacket is the warmest I've ever been on the bike. I think this will be relegated to being my cold weather (20 degrees and under) jacket. I think this will definitely help me start touring earlier in the season and keep touring later into the season.

As comfortable as the textile jacket is I can't shake the love I have for leathers, its just so reaffirming to have on and ideal in worst case scenario where it meets pavement. I think ideally I'd go with a perf leather for my main jacket and layer it underneath as necessary. I figure I can use a thermal base layer + goretex windshirt on cooler days, and something like under armour heat gear + an evaporative cooling vest on hotter days. I guess I'll continue to deal with rain using the tour master rain suit.
 
I wear scorpion leather/textile xdr jacket, its real balistic textile and the rain liner works. I wear textile JR pants and rain pants.
I also carry a lightweight hiking rain jacket that i can wear under or over my mc jacket and it kept me dry since 2006.

Boots I am on my 3rd A* web goretex. I'm regretting that i bought my firstgear boots for this trip as it is not waterproof, MEC boot cover works over it.
For gloves, I can wear any as long as I have my hand-guards installed.
 
brownelvis said:
Any examples of what you keep in there? I'm really curious...I could never understand why anyone would need all those pockets that come on touring jackets on a motorcycle...I could understand if you didn't have any sort of luggage at all but otherwise most sport tourers have saddlebags and a top case and more than likely a tank bag.
Click to expand...

I have a three case Givi setup (122L total) so for the most part I'm not short on storage. Been a while since I've touched the tank bag though,I like the idea of being able to leave the bike in a strange city and be free to walk around. Even when I did use the tank bag, it was only for touring.

A rough list of things I currently have in my touring textile jacket that I wear daily:
Gerber Clutch multitool
Pen
Tire pressure gauge
Spare credit card, caa card, American money (bills and some change)
A few pairs of ear plugs
Canon S90 camera
Spare bike key, luggage key, house key
Pack of cigarettes (trying to quit...)

The back fanny pocket can carry the cold weather liner or shirt if needed, but normally I'll just toss my iPad in it if I don't have the trunk on.
 
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