HG Touareg Jackets...

[Tony Robson]

So there are 5 available on line.....

Don't know how many in my local store... yet... but I'll only have 1 day to buy so what they have is what I can buy....

The range is:

1) RALLYE GTX III - Hein Gericke (UK) Ltd.
For £299......

2) RALLYE LC3 - Hein Gericke (UK) Ltd.
For £179....

3) TUAREG '89 SHELTEX Hein Gericke (UK) Ltd.
For £139....

4) TUAREG 89 JACKET WHITE/BLUE - Hein Gericke (UK) Ltd.
For £139

5) TUAREG RALLYE GTX II - Hein Gericke (UK) Ltd.
For £249

Has anyone owned OR currently ownone of these... ???

How Good... ???

Good Points vs Bad Points .... ????

I'm heading to Europe for 7 or 8 weeks.. road based... but want flexability....

Thanks for your suggestions in advance...

Tony.

[kentfallen]

I confess to being a fan of the H.G Taureg brand. I now possess a 2006 H.G Rallye Jacket and matching trousers. My stuff is now dis-continued. I obtained it 4 weeks ago at the Peterborough BMF Show. I couldn't resist the bargain - £40 for the jacket and £40 for the trousers. Normal retail price was about £350 for the suit. I also got a brand new Shoei X-Spirit (Lawson) for only £100 BARGAIN OF THE YEAR!

The 2008 gear looks great value and well made. Personally nearly £300 for a jacket seems somewhat steep so I'd opt for a mid range option.

The other option is BMW gear costing in excess of £800 for a full "top of the tree" suit! I don't doubt it's good quality but thats more than the price of some bikes I've owned (some real gems too)!

This would be the pick of the bunch you have identified but cheap it aint - Hein Gericke (UK) Ltd.

[jaskeane]

I would go for the rallye i have been using H.G for some years now and find there gore-tex stuff much better then the sheltex when the weather turns bad.

[Matt Cartney]

I stumbled upon pretty much the perfect touring combo almost by accident. I have their Taureg textile jacket with NO waterproof element. It is extremely robust, still going strong after 20,000km or more of adv. touring. Underneath it in inclement weather I wear a North Face Paclite Gore-Tex jacket which is light enough to wear underneath without any discomfort. It keeps me completely dry in even very wet weather and has the advantage that when I'm off the bike I have a good quality, lightweight, nice looking jacket to wear. I got the Paclite for £100 in a sale and the Tuareg cost £130. So £230 all up isn't cheap I guess, but I got two jackets for my money, rather than one!

If the Gore-Tex in my Paclite wears out (as Gore-Tex is wont to do!) I'll just buy a new Paclite, rather than a new bike jacket as well.

Matt

[Tony Robson]

Thanks, folks...

I hadn't thought about wearing my waterproof layer - underneath - the protective layer...

I carry a Mountain Equipment Pac Lite stuff away rain jacket for evenings so might as well use it... nice idea....

Any other thoughts...

Tony.

[Bjorn]

Got an old (2005) HG Tuareg Rallye GTX suit from ebay for £120. As new, really nice.
Been wearing it on my RTW trip from London to Sydney so far. Believe it or not, but Italy was 3 weeks of nearly solid rain for me. Even on long stints on the highway in a downpour, the HG Tuareg stuff was always waterproof. Only the trousers let some water in on the 'downstairs department' but I think that was coming from between the jacket & the trousers (there's a gap, but a different riding position/rearranging trousers and jacket helped).

Had a Shelltex jacket before & wasn't happy with it at all. The other thing I like about the HG Tuareg Rallye is that the GoreTex is NOT part of the outer jacket, so that's really good for when it gets hot. (We're going through Turkmenistan/Uzbekistan in July/August...)

Bjorn

[Bernard]

I took Matt's advice and bought a paclite gortex jaket to replace the liner in my BMW Rallye2
jacket, the original being a bit crap and useless on its own. Got the jacket for £20 off ebay.
Great idea Matt.

[davewelling]

I got tired of buying Goretex which wasnt reliable. I use the cheaper stuff and put on a w/proof overjacket.

[Frank Warner]

1) The HG UK site does not post overseas - you need to go to the HG germany site for overseas postage. At least that is what I found some time ago.

2) As well as putting the waterproff layer under the jacket - mine is large enough that I can put it over the top of the jacket .. If I'm not likely to fall off and it is cold than puting the waterproffs over the top adds to the warmth .... just to add to teh combinations avalible to you when travelling..