Riding pants or Carhardts + armor?
 

I'm about to set off for South America for 6-9 months and am still debating what to wear for pants. I have a pair of revit dakar pants that get a little too hot and the armor doesn't seem to stay where it's supposed to. For that matter I've never found a pair of riding pants that fit me well and are easy and comfortable to wear. I'm wondering if I should just forget about riding pants and get some heavy carhardt work pants and wear some strap-on MX style knee/shin armor over them. This would make getting off the bike and walking around in towns much easier and less conspicuous as well. For rain gear I'd just have some waterproof overpants that I can pull on over my boots. I also hate that riding pants use waterproof liners. When it's hot and steamy I won't have the liners in, but then that tropical rain comes all of a sudden and I have to pull over and strip on the side of the road in the rain to put my liners in. That's just stupid. Any opinions out there?

Sounds like you're not happy with your Dakar pants. Perhaps it's time to try some other combinations. The Dakars aren't perfect but without the liners they do cover a wide range of temperatures, are easy to clean, look marginally less like a multi-coloured stormtrooper and the loose fit does help with the cooling. I used my set in Africa (West Coast, N to S) and I'll use a new set for my Russia trip next year.

riding pants are the best camping trousers ever. mine are bmw jobs with plenty venting, armour and not too silly a colour scheme.

why bother putting liners in for a tropical storm? you're not made of sugar, who cares if you get a tad wet, as long as it's warm? anyhow if they're goretex liners they rely on a humidity gradient to get sweat from in to out. so are therefore useless if it's hot and wet.

cheers,
andy.

Have you seen the Klim Dakar pants? Seach on Avdrider.com and you'll find all you need to know.

I'm wearing those with some EVS vision knee brace / guards for riding in morocco. Only going for a few weeks, but the temps and roads will be similar to what you'll be doing.

I have a pair of waterproof trousers with zips all the way from the ankle to the waist, so I don't even have to pull them over boots - just stand, wrap and zip!

Any single garment which aims to be all things is always going to be a compromise. I went down the route of:

Armour strapped to my knees where I'll need it and it'll stay put.

Tough trousers with extra venting to keep me cool.

Waterproofs to keep water out.

And I bet it's no more bulky than an all-in-one pant.:thumbup1:

You might want to keep looking for a comfortable set of riding pants ,however in the meantime check out some Wrangler Rigg pants ,they are made of tough material and have cargo pockets ,which helps when you need to carry a lot of stuff on your person .
Riding pants usually have pathetic pockets .
I hate to say it but , some of the BMW pants are quite good and are available in wierd sizes for abnormally shaped buggers .

Must say I am happy with my BMW city pants they have good armour, they do get hotter than normal but they blend in well, although without any extra work they are only light shower proof but this doesant sound like it would be a problem for you.

In the past I have worn combat trousers with mx armour over or under at the knees, with a gore tex camo overtrousers for very wet conditions this combo works great and covers all conditions.:scooter: plus it costs a lot less than the BMW pants did.

for better protection what about draggins or similar and just nikwax then that would be a great combo and would protect against gravel rash as you dont always fall and slide on your knees !:mchappy:

Riding pants
 

About 18 months ago I bought a pair of BMW pants made of some sort of magic fabric: they breathe when it's hot, close up when it's cold and for the first 12 months they really did not let a single drop in. The weakness is always at the pocket zips - about 6 weeks ago I rode non stop in the rain for three hours and I was wet to the toe tips inside my (still waterproof after a year) offroad boots. And it was never over 12 deg C. At the price I think only a year's good performance is simply not enough and I won't buy them again. But they still look decent.

End of 2005 in South America I wore weatherproof (lined) pants and I will not EVER do that again. They should sell those things with a trailer full of sugar soap and deodorant!

The BMW pants' armour is still the most comfortable I've experienced and now I just take a rain suit along...