Bike Gear

[Steve H]

I'm looking for a new textile Bike Jacket for the winter. I currently have a Buffalo Jacket which seems well made but does leak (I only paid £25 so I cant complain). Ive been looking at Hein Gericke, in the past they have been quite good value for money, the jacket (Rallye) thats within my price range (£150 max)  however has a waterproof lining rather than the exterior material being waterproof, seems odd, anyone got a similiar jacket.
Other makes Ive looked at are Spada which seems to come out well in RIDE tests and IXS which I can find nothing about. Again anyone got one of these Jackets

[hondamichael]

most jackets nowadays have waterproof liners and codura or whatsoever outside
the main problem is the front of the jackets or the sleeves having wet zones inside 
so if you really look for a cheep and cheerful textile motorcycle jacket
i can recomand to a certain extend  hein gerickes own brand jackets with  theire
own membrane "SHELTEX" or you could also look at getgeared.co.uk for "louis" jackets
getgeared is importing the staff from the german company louis (louis dont have a distribution centre in uk but ,offer to send stuff to the uk on theire website "all in german" , you could get things cheaper as you pay vat in germany19% and again in uk 17% but you get it back once you send in the vat receipt from the uk they also offer spare parts too and all these things  http://www.louis.de/_102f8ff59fbad7dc155ce1353ba8ffa0ef/index.php?topic=foreign)
but back to your issue all these membrane things dont get near the quality of the real "gore tex" stuff  but you can get cheap deals around for jackets with gore tex at least you have the reassurance its really waterproof  btw my frank thomas jacket is also waterproof and was only £70 ,ok at real heavy rain i also get a wet patch inside around the belly  so i did with my bering jacket too wich was near £200

[pigafetta]

I've got one of them cheap Voto jobs off Ebay for about £50. A short while back I took it for a good couple of hours test ride on a rainy day. It was constant light/medium rain, not absolutely throwing it down or anything but my T-shirt was totally dry when I got home. Much better than my old Frank Thomas Aqua jacket.

Dave B

[SteveC#222]

I've used an Akito Cobra jacket daily for the last 5 years and it has only started to leak in really bad rain in the last year or so.  Re-proofing seems to be effective for about 6 months but I'm now looking for a replacement. It's been pretty good for a £100 jacket.  You can still get them new from ebay for around £70 or the latest jacket - the Python - for about £125 which is probably what i'll be looking at.

[bullet350]

i've got a frank thomas jacket, £99 at J&S.

absolutely fantastic. the lining only goes in for about a month each winter, and its not too hot in summer (should you ride to somewhere with a summer).

Whilst in France i had torrential rain for a day. 8 hours riding and only covered 200 miles gives you an idea of how wet it was. i was completely dry underneath, with just a bit of rain travelling through the cuffs.

If i'd paid £150 i'd still be peased with it. i've used it virtually every day since feburary and it doesn't seem to have worn at all.

frank thomas textile and waterproofs are highly recommended by me, although their leathers seem a bit 'cheap' considering the price.

bullet350

[Andy M]

I'm on my second Hein Gericke set. The first one is now 8 years old and in daily use. The only thing wrong with it is the failure of two of the pocket zips and the fact it's now mucky pink rather than red. My "smart" one is a mere baby at 3 years old.

I like the Gericke stuff because of the pockets. A few other types I looked at simply didn't have enough places to put things.

One thing I'll say about all this type of garment (I had Frank Thomas before) is that they are never as waterproof as a proper rain suit. The rain suit also dries a heck of a lot quicker, so I still tend to put un unlined suit over the top when it's stair rods and/or i'm heading for campsites and the like.

Andy

[guest7]

I'm still a fan of Dainese kit. Mine has lasted for years and is still going strong. But so it should, it cost a fortune.

I struggle to understand why all the pockets on these jackets are in the outer (non-waterproof) layer, but there you go, that's fashion eh?

As Andy says, a lightweight oversuit is a good idea on top of the cordura in very bad weather.

The one good thing about the Goretex membrane being an inner layer is that it doesn't get dirty and therefore lasts a lot longer.

My advice would be to wander into a Daniese emporium (closest to you is in Hadfield Rd Cardiff) and try a few jackets for size. Once you have established what fits then you can keep an eye out on Ebay for 2nd hand Dainese kit. You won't regret it.

My Dainese Anchorage jacket is 12 years old, has been in two big accidents, survived a year out of favour when it grew mould hanging in the garage and been mistreated in lots of other ways. It is still waterproof and still in one piece.

GC

[Steve H]

http://www.louis.de/_102f8ff59fbad7dc155ce1353ba8ffa0ef/index.php?topic=foreign)

Interestingly the jacket I'm interested is the same price in Euros and I would pay in Sterling from the UK. Just need to be sure about the sizes