You may want to decide where most of your riding will be before deciding on gear.
Apart from that, what off-bike activities will you be doing, what's your riding style / speed / hours per day and so on, and what's your comfort level with the protection / comfort / utility trade off?

For example, I wouldn't dream of using an Aerosmith Roadcrafter in the tropics.

Some thoughts / IMHOs: in general I detest waterproof jacket liners as that means the outer shell eventually gets saturated, which isn't good for cold protection and takes days to dry.

For the tropics, mesh gear works well, I prefer the simpler stuff with no liners, and use backpacking shells for rain. Along with a performance fleece jacket / midlayer, the shell and mesh jacket can provide quite good cold weather protection.
I prefer layering with the best available gear to the all in one riding suits. The individual layers can be used off the bike as well.

Some ride in motocross boots, I find them terribly uncomfortable to walk in. For Se Asia and it's low speeds, I find hiking boots to work fine.

Apart from mesh gear, I also use a motocross style compression jacket and leg / knee protectors.

Sent from my Android chinaphone, please excuse the spelling

[QUOTE=tigershel;425405]Y
For example, I wouldn't dream of using an Aerosmith Roadcrafter in the tropics.

Does the "Aerosmith" roadcrafter come with tassles, sequins and cut off arms? LOL

[QUOTE=realmc26;425411]Blame my phone. Auto spelling/completion works great...

Sometimes... :-)

Actually, those mods would probably make the Stich a lot more functional. The sequins would make it more visible, especially at night, and the cut off arms would be great in the heat.

Sent from my Android chinaphone, please excuse the spelling

Thanks for the kit suggestions. Unfortunately there seems to be nowhere in my area that stocks Rev It gear ☹

The Klim stuff looks great, but again not sure if it’s available in my area, or even the UK. Would really want to try before buying.

Thanks for the glove and helmet suggestions. Will check them out.


Thanks for the input guys. I’ve combined my response as I think your suggestions have a common theme.

Just to give you a bit of more info. We’ll be riding two up on a GS adventure and will probably be sticking to mostly better roads in Europe. I’m doing an offroad riding course in Wales before we leave so I hope to get more practice/be more comfortable in the dirt by the time we hit more developing countries. We’ll hopefully not be putting in really long days as we have a good amount of time for the trip.

With regard to kit, I’m of the mind that it’s near impossible to have one suit for all weather conditions we encounter. Plus I’m very aware of image. As Tobi points out, I don’t want to be turning up in poorer countries looking like an alien in a spacesuit! Tigershel and JayEss, you make good points, which is why I’m considering now going for the Forcefield protective pro 2 shirt and trousers, and then a basic mesh jacket/jeans combo above. This could then be supplemented with an extra fleece layer in the cold and a waterproof on the top when it rains.

Does anyone have any experience with the forcefield kit?

Thanks,

Joel

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