Motodisiac

When it comes to Adventure Touring jackets there are plenty of choices on the market. You can spend anywhere from $200 to $1500, and there are numerous options with just about every material, style and color imaginable. However if you happen to be a lady, you are often stuck with low quality, bulky and unattractive offerings. How many technical adventure jackets are available for lovely females? Null. At least this was the case until REV’IT! VENTURA was announced in late 2010.

First thing that becomes apparent when you take the jacket out of the box is upscale feel to it. It’s impossible to describe it, but it just feels quality. The fabric is very soft and nice to touch, all seams are perfectly straight and little touches like laminated reflective panels stand out right away.

Just like its less expensive sibling SIREN, REV’IT! VENTURA jacket comes with two removable liners. Unlike SIREN though the REV’IT! VENTURA Jacket was built for be true 4 season jacket. You will be able to use it whether it’s hot or cold, just set it up according to the temperature.

In the summer you would probably want to remove the collar that exposes mesh underneath. It’s attached via metal snap buttons and a couple velcro panels. Easy to remove, even though you will probably do it only several times a year. The collar itself features standard REV’IT! adjustable sliding button that is extremely handy and hook / loop system that is probably useless since you will be taking the collar off when it’s hot.

Besides removable collar mentioned above, it also has two chest vents strategically placed to open wide courtesy of unique female body parts pushing them open. Another crucial factor in VENTURA jacket’s ventilation are two way sleeve zippers. They offer unprecedented access when open, easing your chore if you prefer to tuck your gloves in. Open them another way, and they expose huge vents that run all the way to mid bicep. Simple, practical and genius. There are two more vents on the back but they will not do much unless the front ones are open.

In colder weather you have an option of using either waterproof, thermal or both liners at the same time. They are attached to the jacket via high quality YKK zippers (the rest of the zippers are also YKK) The system is really foolproof. A lot of people do not like using the internal waterproof liner because they outer shell gets soaked during hard rain, but from my experience that is way to go if you want versatile jacket. Anything waterproof on the outside will not be breathable, and it just doesn’t work in the summer. If you ride more often in the rain than in sunny weather just move to California, your life will get much better.

There are two pockets in the front, both are waterproof. They are big enough to fit standard smart phone in one and wallet in another one without feeling bulky. There are two more pockets inside the thermal liner, I would use them during the rain just in case. Big pocket on the back is intended for waterproof liner storage, but I do not like it because it feels awkward when something puffy is in there.

Night time visibility is enhanced via laminated reflection panels. There are two on shoulders and one big one on lower back.

The jacket is flared at the bottom to better accommodate hourglass figure, but thanks to two Velcro straps at the hip it’s possible to make it fit just right, properly displaying all curves. My wife loves this feature.

A word about the fit of REV’IT! VENTURA jacket. It was primarily designed for Adventure Touring, and that means loose and comfortable cut. According to my measurements it runs almost a size bigger than REV’IT! size chart suggests, so you should probably get one size smaller. Compared to SIREN jacket it fits slightly bigger in the body and a lot looser in the sleeves. Just for the reference, here are two pictures comparing REV’IT SIREN and VENTURA in identical sizes. See the difference?

Looking at spec sheets all jackets appear great. Even the budget models are loaded with vents, pockets and liners. Look for review videos on YouTube and you will be confused even more. Sellers are reviewing things and everything they sell seems to be of the highest quality. So when researching for the best one it’s nearly impossible to weed out the ones that don’t really work. And most of them don’t. REV’IT! VENTURA is the one that does. From functional features to stylish and comfortable cut, it’s simply supreme. I have yet to see ladies jacket that comes close. And you can get a set of matching REV’IT VENTURA Pants. It’s a win win.

Every serious rider knows that it’s nearly impossible to have one setup that works in all kinds of conditions. A jacket that is toasty in the cold of Alaska will cook you alive in the heat of Baja desert. It’s next to impossible to make a suit that works great in all extremes. Manufacturers do not give up though, and REV’IT! SAND is a product of such efforts.

Now that I have used REV’IT! SAND Jacket and pants for nearly a year I can give you fair and honest assessment of it’s abilities, advantages and issues. First, I would like to go over basic features.

SAND Jacket comes in few colors - Silver / Black (my choice), Silver / Red, Black / Silver (should have been my choice) and beautiful Safari / Black. I picked Silver / Black because it’s easily the most beautiful of them all, but as it turns out that gorgeous silver gets dirty awfully quickly, especially if you ride a lot. Luckily it washes really well, so if you do not mind taking the armor out once in a while, pick this color for ultimate visibility. Black / Silver will stay cleaner much longer, but it’s very plain looking. Oh well, thank god for good wife. By the way had I seen Safari / Black beforehand, I would probably choose it instead. It’s very unusual and will get a lot of attention.

SAND Jacket comes with 2 removable liners - one is breathable waterproof that looks and feels like Gore-Tex liners I have seen on BMW jackets, and one thermal. Both liners could be used either together or separate from each other. According to REV’IT! the outer shell is treated with water repellent coating, but it must have worn off before I got it wet for the first time. No complaints here - I knew the outer shell is supposed to get wet.

There are several vents on the jacket, and I must say they are extremely efficent. The chest vents open via the zipper and then you roll the fabric to the side, locking it in place with velcro flap. That exposes very open mesh, with a layer mesh foam underneath to aid air circulation. Another vent is on the sleeves, and that is one of my favorite features on SAND jacket - it allows the cuff to be wide open, so you can tuck in your gauntlets with ease. Two front pockets are supposed to be fully waterproof, and while I never risked putting my iPhone in there, they never leaked even in the worst rains I had to ride through. There is another waterproof pocket on the inside of waterproof liner, that is where my valuables usually go if the weather turns foul.

So how does it feel in daily use? What I love the most about SAND suit is that it’s pure and simple. A lot of manufacturers tend to over complicate their garments, hoping that if they pack them with gimmicks it will attract more customers. SAND is completely different in this regard. Every little feature is functional and useful, and everything works as it’s supposed to. There are almost no Velcros on the jacket, as they always wear out with time. I love how rugged the zippers are, I predict that they will outlast the jacket itself. All fabric transitions are reinforced with extra stitching, and elbows have rubber like coating to increase durability. You can tell REV’IT! crew learned from their past mistakes - all weak points of my older REV’IT! jackets have been addressed.

With both liners removed the outer shell is lightweight and comfortable. I was able to use the jacket throughout the summer, even though on some days I wished I was wearing full mesh jacket. Most of the time however I was right in my comfort zone. Little hook and loop on the collar really help to bring some air in. Overall, SAND outfit far exceeded my summer expectations as usually 3 season outfits are not great in the heat. I think the key is having the outer shell that is not treated with any waterproofing. Breathability is one of my biggest requirements since most of my riding is in try weather, and we rarely get rain here in Southern California.

SAND Pants work in similar fashion, with two removable liners you will be comfortable in most of weather conditions. I had to adjust the position of knee armor to insure it’s in the right place, but I’m taller than average, so that is expected. I keep forgetting about cargo pockets, and they are extremely handy for putting small things in them. The bottoms of the pants are larger than usual - it is clear that SAND pants were designed to accommodate bulky off road boots. There are plenty of Velcro adjustments to make them tight around the boot though. One small gripe I have about SAND pants is ventilation. While the pants seem to breath OK and the zippered vent brings some air in, it could be better. I hope REV’IT folks in Holland are listening.

This year we had some serious rains down here in Southern California, and I commuted through every one of them. Good news is that SAND performed as advertised - no leaks to report. On a couple occasions I noticed a couple of wet sports around my waist, but that is most likely caused by waterproof liner riding up. What I found works is making sure it’s over the pants when you already got on the bike, otherwise it creeps up when you swing your leg over. When outer shell gets soaked is surprisingly dries very quickly, especially on the bike. It also doesn’t carry a lot of water, WR coating must be working because I can hardly notice any difference in weight when it’s wet.

Overall I love my SAND suit. The cut is about as good as it gets and the features are excellent. If they made it from more expensive Cordura and included Gore-Tex liner I would be even happier. Wait, that would be the DEFENDER suit? I can’t believe I have to upgrade again. Oh well.

Usually when we buy helmets, we are affected by marketing campaign. Then there is fit and feel of course, but our initial interest is usually spiked by the ad from helmet manufacturer. Usually they all claim to offer ultimate protection, and as a consumers we have no way to check their claims. Most if not all helmets pass DOT testing, but what does it tell us?

DOT test is a god bless for budget helmet manufacturers. Even lowest quality helmets usually pass it with flying colors, and it allows their producers to claim their helmet is just as safe as more expensive models. This is the main selling point of many budget helmets these days.

What I always wondered is how different helmets compare to each other. Is full face saver than the flip up? Same test under exactly the same conditions, with published results for our consideration. A couple of years ago Motorcyclist magazine published controversial “Blowing The Lid Off” article, testing several helmets at the time. If anything, the article just proved that all helmets are not alike, even if they share DOT stocker.

I just discovered this website: http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/home .It may be old news, but I have never seen it, and it has some nice information. UK Government agency purchases helmets from retail stores, tests them and publishes the results. We can look at them, and compare helmets side by side.

I’m quite surprised that my uber expensive Schuberth C3 didn’t do that well. My equally expensive Arai Quantum has “poor” side impact rating? Nolan N103 that I ditched because it was heavy and uncomfortable has 5 star rating?Wow. Seeing this web site before would definitely impact my purchasing decision.

A note of concern: they say every helmet is subject to 32 different tests (front, side, rear and crown are the most obvious ones). I’m curious if they use new helmet after each test. As we all know, helmet styrofoam can only absorb the impact once, and the helmet should not be re-used afterwards. I’m wondering if this somehow affects the result of the test. Then, when we crash we do not replace our helmets as we bounce down the road.

Unbelievably, it has been almost two years since I quit my job to pursue my dream. It was arguably the worst time to start new business from scratch, but here I am, still around and kicking. Of course there are some things that I wish were different, but overall I’m very happy with where I’m at.

Every reputable company is on Facebook these days. I also signed up a couple a weeks ago, and I find it pretty addicting. No, I do not play Mafia Wars or grow my own garden there. I just enjoy sharing my quick thoughts with the world. Check it out for yourself and become a fan here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marina-Del-Rey/Beach-Moto/111105122265174

I’m trying to promote this new dream product for any motorcyclist - TYREGUARDIAN Puncture Protection system. If course to sell it I would have to use it myself. So I take one can with me so I could fill my tires when I get home (no compressor at work). While transitioning from 405 to 101 freeway with my knee down, I feel the bike getting squirrelly. I write it off to pavement irregularities. Another mile down the road, and the bike feels even weirder. I keep thinking I imagine things. As I pull off the freeway at my exit and stop at the red light, a peek at the rear tire reveals that it’s way low on air. I got a flat goddamn it! By the time I pulled into my garage few blocks away, I was riding on a rim. So much for timely use of TYREGUARDIAN.

This morning I woke up two hours earlier to deal with the issue. Tire inspection reveals gaping hole right in the center. Luckly, I have a set of Michelin Power Race take offs waiting for such a moment. A bit of cursing and fighting with tire irons, and they are on. To say that the bike has been transformed in an understatement. I better put in the TYREGUARDIAN now

Here is the product that stupid me should have used: http://beachmoto.com/tyreguardian/tyreguardian.php

A long time ago I bought Termignoni muffler for my Multistrada but I wasn’t rushing to install it on a bike. Previous owner already opened up the air box by punching out the snorkels, and bike was already getting to much air - sputtering, backfiring and even stalling once in a while. I knew that without proper mapping installing Termignoni exhaust would only make things worse. So I was desperately looking for solution.

Because 07 and later Multistradas come with O2 Sensor, getting proven Power Commander was not an option. It just wouldn’t work, with ECU getting confused with O2 sensor. Pretty much the only option was buying Ducati Performance ECU (which by the way disables O2 Sensor) I wasn’t rushing to take this route due to $500+ cost.

Once day I was browsing www.desmoporsche.com and I noticed that they offer ECU remapping for all Ducati models. A couple of very quick e-mail exchanges later, I took my ECU out and shipped it to DesmoPorsche in Texas. Bobby assured me that it’s going to be done within a day or two. I had a feeling for DesmoPorsche wizards cracked Ducati ECU code and I will have DP map loaded into my stock ECU. For $250 it was worth the try. Re-Mapping also disables O2 sensor, so I figured even if the bike didn’t run right, I could alway get Power Commander for optimal tuning.

After about a week of riding my bicycle to work, I politely sent DesmoPorsche an e-mail, requesting an update. Answer came almost immediately. Bobby had a problem with equipment and my ECU wasn’t done yet. As a small business owner I understand that problems sometimes come up, sp I decided to wait. More waiting meant more burned calories By the way Bobby offered to overnight my ECU back to me in case I need to ride.

So in another week I had my ECU back. DesmoPorsche even sent it via express mail at no cost to me. Total cost was $260 (plus $12 I paid to UPS it to DesmoPorsche) The day I received my ECU back I HAD to install it and test it. Bobby mentioned that I may have to reset TPS so I also ordeded Technoresearch tool at the same time.

First I tried it with stock exhaust just to be sure the bike runs. It fired up immediately, and didn’t sound much different. The smell however was another story. I could tell the bike ran much richer now. Good. After the Termis went on, I went for a ride. By the way the bike ran just fine without TPS reset, but I did it afterwards just in case. Now I have VDST tool

I’m glad to report outstanding results. The bike tuns smoother than ever, it revs up a lot quicker and pulls hard all the way to the redline. It seems like DP map really affected the bottom end response and added quite a few hp in upper RPM range. I think my bike runs just about PERFECT right now. Gas mileage suffered just a little bit, it seems l lost 3-4 mpg.

A word about the Termignoni. It sounds just like I wanted - not loud at all, but very Ducati like. PERFECT.

So, if you have aftermarket pipes and stock ECU, please do the right thing and re-map it. Your bike will feel completely different and you will love it even more. Thank you Bobby and DesmoPorsche.

This is going to be a really long and very detail oriented post about an ordeal I just went to with the KTM dealer in Santa Monica, California. So please brace yourself if you want to share my pain. Otherwise please move along. No hard feelings.

My KTM 950 Supermoto was coming up to a big 10K mile service also known as the 15K kilometer or every 2 year service according to the owner’s manual. This is a major service that pretty much includes anything and everything. Namely an oil change, new spark plugs, change brake fluid, valve clearance check and adjustment, bleed fork legs and the whole bunch of assorted checks. After conferring with my rider friends we made a collaborative decision that it would be best if an authorized KTM dealer performed this big service. I did not feel like doing all this work in my parking garage with limited to no tools. Neither one of my rider friends is a mechanic skilled enough to perform the valve clearance check and adjustment. Also the owner’s manual suggests that “all service work on your KTM should be performed by a qualified KTM dealer”.

I made some research and found two KTM dealers in my area – KTM of Santa Monica and KTM of Thousand Oaks. After spending some time on the phone with both, getting price quotes for the service and posting on advrider about which of the two my fellow ADV riders would recommend the choice has been made – KTM of Santa Monica.

The person from their service department I was talking to reassured me that everything and anything that the 10K mile service entails would be taken care of. The price quote for this big service was 640 dollars in labor (8 hours of labor at $80/hr) and approximately $100 in parts. I was sort of surprised that the labor part had a fixed price independent of whether the valve clearance should be adjusted or not. Basically if you see that the valves require no adjustment the time spent working on a bike is way less than 8 hours. Oh well … I was told that they do not necessarily need to charge me for all parts as they might use something like brake fluid that they already have in their shop. That later turned out to be an outright lie. By the time I had to drop it off my KTM had developed an acute case of a clutch slave cylinder failure. I had also asked them to take care of that and replace it with the new Evoluzione clutch slave cylinder. That added another half hour of labor ($40) plus the cost of the part itself, roughly $200.

The stage had been set. I dropped the bike off last Saturday, 8 days ago. What happened next was something I would never expect from an authorized KTM dealer performing an almost 1000 dollar service.

I dropped the bike off on Saturday, 8 days ago and got a call the following Sunday. My service adviser told me that the big 10K service had been done. And all they need now is to order the clutch slave cylinder. However they could not proceed until I pay for it. That sounded slightly ridiculous to me. It wasn’t like I randomly called them and asked them to order a part for me. My motorcycle was sitting at their shop already. They just performed an $800 service that I would have to pay for. Yet they wanted me to prepay another 200 something dollars “just to be sure” I won’t back out of this deal. I asked my service adviser if it was absolutely necessary for me to come in person and pay for it. He promised to talk to his service manager and call me back. Never happened.

After waiting the rest of Sunday, Monday and half of Tuesday I decided to take matters into my own hands and called them. As before it had been confirmed now by the service manager that I did need to come in and pay. I promptly showed up at their front gate with my Visa out of its holster. I got presented with two invoices totaling almost $1100 – one for the 10K service, another for the clutch slave cylinder and half an hour of labor to get it installed. I paid everything in full and took off.

When I got home and looked at the invoices things stopped making any sense to me. First of all despite the fact that there is no sales tax on labor in the state of California the invoice for the clutch slave cylinder had sales tax added on labor as well as on the cost of the part. “Honest mistake”, - I thought. And then I looked closely at the 10K mile invoice and noticed something strange. The invoice listed oil, oil filter, some small items like 2 o-rings for like a dollar each. However some items that should have been present like a new air filter or brake fluid were missing. And I had a charge for … 8 spark plugs in there. Also there was no reference to whether shims were used or not to adjust the valve clearance. I became really suspicious. Just by looking at the invoice it pretty much seemed like I got a $640 dollar oil change. I refused to believe what I saw.

I was back at the dealership the next (Wednesday) morning. I wanted clarification of what had been done to my motorcycle under the 10K mile service as well as understanding why my bike needed 8 spark plugs. After a very few apologies I had received a $62 refund (6 spark plugs plus tax on labor). Then I got a chance to talk to the mechanic that worked on my bike. He told me that he had looked at the air filter and it looked clean enough. So no replacement was needed. Pretty strange given that my motorcycle endured a 1K mile trip to Baja and a 1K mile trip to Death Valley. He also told me that he looked at the brake fluid and it looked alright to him. Therefore he did not feel it had to be changed. Well, the KTM owner’s manual begs to differ. It clearly states that the brake fluid needs to be changed during this service. Both the mechanic and the service manager reluctantly agreed with my previous statement and told me that they’d do that as well if I WANTED TO.

I left the dealership that morning with mixed feelings. On one hand it seemed like things that happened were just honest mistakes. On the other hand they looked like a complete lack of professionalism. I was inclined to think it was the latter. If it’s in the book it has to be done. If you call yourself an authorized KTM dealer first thing you do is look in the book to see what is it you have to do in a given maintenance procedure.

I got a call few days later. Everything was completed and the bike was ready for me. I went to pick it up yesterday, Saturday morning. Upon my arrival I was presented with yet another invoice. This time it was for the brake fluid. I can’t say I was pleased. Just a few days ago I was essentially schooling these very employees of this very KTM dealer about the ways of the 10K mile maintenance and what that maintenance includes. I was expecting that I would not have to be charged for something they had forgotten to do. Especially in light of the mistakes they made the other day. Well, I was wrong. I began to slowly boil up. The tipping point came when I went to pay the invoice. The cashier told me that the service manager made a mistake yet again. The total for the brake fluid should have been slightly less than what the invoice showed. That was the precise moment I decided I was going to be very meticulous and pedantic with them.

My motorcycle was already rolled out of the service area when I got back with the paid invoice. My service adviser causally handed me the keys and began to wander off. As previously stated I had just turned into a meticulous and pedantic bastard. So I began checking every little bit of the motorcycle. What I noticed immediately was that both of the front orange fairings were really dirty. Also I spotted a scratch a few inches long on the rear orange fairing. And to top things off the tire pressure in the rear tire was 7 psi under what it should have been. That’s despite them telling me prior that they had checked everything and anything INCLUDING the tire pressure.

I kept my cool on the outside. However on the inside I was fuming. I brought all these three things to their attention. The mechanic rolled my bike back into the service area. Some 10 minutes later he had told me and shown me that I had a tiny cut on a rear tire. I could not legitimately say that the cut wasn’t originally there when I brought the bike in a week ago. So I decided to let that go. However I was not going to do the same with the scratch situation. We went back to the service manager. A few vague statements later I had him say that they will replace the part. He just had to look into the cost and availability. I am unsure why at that point he would want to look into anything other than making me happy. Whatever the cost is they have to be ordering it pronto and keep apologizing profusely for their terrible service. The service manager promised to call me as soon as he had any information. As of today, Sunday’s morning I haven’t received a call.

I am not going to let it slide though. I am really pissed off. And will keep the pressure on. Almost forgot one detail. As I was walking out the service manager said this: “Of course we are going to replace the scratched part. We are not a pop-and-mom shop; we are an authorized KTM dealer”. I did not feel like starting a pissing match. However the irony of the situation was that they did everything that would qualify them as nothing but a pop-and-mom shop.

Here is the bottom line to this story. I am utterly shocked that something like that could happen at an authorized KTM dealer. The whole reason I decided to to go to a dealer was to make sure all the little things and tweaks that this service entails would be properly done. I paid $680 in labor and my total was well over $1000 including parts. It is a lot of money to pay for a service. And when you pay that much money for a service you are not expected to double check what the dealer is doing to your vehicle. At this point I am absolutely unsure of what exactly was done to my motorcycle. Probably what they did do was just the oil change, the valve clearance check with no adjustment (the mechanic said I did not need one, however understandably I have to take anything those guys say with a grain of salt), clutch slave cylinder, clutch and brake fluid change and chain maintenance. The last two items though got included in the service only because I had explicitly requested them. And all of these things do not require 8,5 hours of labor.

At this point I am contemplating contacting KTM of North America and filing a complaint. This was a terrible brand representation on the KTM of Santa Monica’s behalf. This would not reflect on my love for the brand though. I still love my KTM Supermoto and still think KTM makes terrific motorcycles.

Fellow riders be warned – stay away from Honda, Kawasaki and KTM of Santa Monica.

It has been precisely 4 weeks since I had purchased the Wee. This would be my first in the series of review-like posts on various things my Wee has or does not have to offer. This particular post would be about the dreaded wind buffeting.

While I was doing my pre-purchase research I did notice that almost all of the current Wee owners listed wind buffeting as one of the biggest problems. Nonsense, I thought. Some people are just too sensitive and picky. Some people just don’t know what to do with the money they saved when they opted for a Wee instead of a more expensive BMW or a KTM Adventure. Those were the admittedly judgmental things that were running through my mind as I was reading those complaints. Up until I bought my V-Strom and rode it back home. The wind buffeting was next to unbearable. When there is smoke there in fact is always fire. The wind noise was not a matter of someone’s wild imagination.

Luckily one of my fellow rider friends is a V-Strom owner. His Wee is outfitted with an aftermarket windshield bracket and an aftermarket windshield. He also happens to own a so called Suzuki factory tall windshield. It is a few inches taller than the stock one. All that called for the proper testing of different combinations of stock and aftermarket brackets and winshields. I made a bold decision to park my sport-commuter KTM and ride the V-Strom for a few weeks of testing. It is not that easy to understand why the decision to park the KTM for a few weeks did not come easy. Only people who’s ever ridden the KTM 950 Supermoto especially in a lane splitting situation can understand that. The Supermoto is in a complete different universe as far as the fun and grin factors go. Oh well. I did what I had to do. And just like that the proper testing began a few weeks ago.

So courtesy my Strom riding friend here is what I had at my disposal.

Windshields:

• Suzuki stock windshield
• Suzuki factory tall windshield
• Givi  D260ST windscreen

Windshield mounting brackets:

• Suzuki stock windshield bracket
• MadStad adjustable windshield mount

The advantage of the aftermarket mount is that it enables your windshield to be adjusted for 25 degrees of tilt angle as well as 3″ (76mm) of height. And you can do that without any special tools while you are seated on your motorcycle. Another big benefit of this bracket is that it allows the air to flow under the windshield as well as over it.

Over the course of the last few weeks I have tried all possible combinations of the 3 windshields and 2 brackets. I also tried riding without any windshield. I even tried a home made solution where two spacer had to be placed under the lower screws to make the windshield tilt more on the stock bracket.

I can probably go into specifics of each combination. However I will just skip the mundane details and jump to the very conclusion. What worked for me was either the no windshield at all option or any of the windshields with the adjustable bracket. It just does not seem like the stock bracket is good enough regardless of the windshield. I did not feel much difference with a taller Suzuki screen or the even taller Givi screen when mounted on the MadStad aftermarket bracket. Understandably that depends on a given rider’s height. I think if I was a shorter rider (I am 6′ tall) then it is not entirely impossible that a taller windscreen on a stock bracket would also work for me.

What I chose to do for myself was just to get a new aftermarket bracket. The right tilt angle would work just fine on my stock screen. I left it at that, went online and placed an order on one of my favorite websites - twistedthrottle.com. My new MadStad bracket is on the way.

I just came back from a motorcycle adventure trip to Death Valley. As a true adventure rider I was equipped with some adventure riding gear. Among those - the Cayenne Pro jacket and pants.

For those of you who don’t know what Death Valley is and the name did not give you any hints I will say that it is a desert located on the border of California and Nevada. And deserts are known for huge temperature fluctuations. I was quite interested how the Cayenne Pro combo would perform under those conditions.

We hit all kinds of temperatures on our 4 day excursion.  As all motorcyclists know the biggest pain in the ass is to stop and layer up when you get cold or layer down when you are hot. You would much rather keep rolling. The terrain and roads in Death Valley are such that they go up and down the local mountains. So one minute you are hot, the next one you are cold. We saw temperatures ranging from 65F(16C) to 85F(26C) within 30 mile stretches. And this is when the design of the Cayenne Pro jacket and pants proved to be far superior than any other motorcycle gear I have ever worn.

The pants have vents going along the sides of your thighs. The zippers are conviniently located and are very easy to operate when you are seated on a bike as well as when you are standing up. Unlike the same kind of zippers on my previous REVIT! riding pants I was operating those with ease. And would close and open these vents multiple times during our trip.

The jacket’s vents system is far more complex. It features two zippered vents on each of the sleeves. Then it has the chest vents that close up on velcro and stay open with the clip buttons and the zippered vents in the back. Clearly you can’t unzip the back zippers unless you either ask you friend or take your jacket off. However the chest vents and the sleeve vents are operated easily even while you are riding. Two big thumbs up for that. And yet another interesting way to add more airflow is to release the velcro-ed cuff of the sleeves and make the cuffs really loose. It would draw a lot of air in your sleeves thus creating more airflow.

These venting  features came really handy on our trip. All 3 of us wore the same jacket-pants combination. And neither one of us could say enough compliments to the quality of the Cayenne Pro jacket and pants as well as the utilitarian nature of the gear. The combo works amazingly well for the needs of an adventure rider. Highly recommend!

It has been raining for the past couple days out here. I drove my car on the first day and was utterly disappointed and frustrated. Being used to a fast commute in and out of the office I found myself crawling home at a speed of a casual jogger. I had enough and decided to ride the next day.

The weather did not seem to be cold. So I opted out to wearing the following REV’IT! gear for my trial by rain:

• boots - Rival
• pants - Cayenne Pro with only rain liner in
• jacket - Ignition with also only rain liner in
• gloves - Monster
• socks - Tour Summer

Yes, every piece of my gear was REV’IT!. Well except for the helmet :).

The next day saw no rain in the morning. It was a bummer as I wanted to battle test my gear in the inclement weather. There were some sprinkles later in the day and then the rain stopped again. There was nothing on my commute back home. Only the last couple of miles saw some rain. I was happy that I was on a bike up until that moment. The visibility through the helmet’s visor immediately became obstructed by the droplets. The helmet started fogging up no matter what I’d do to its vents. 5 minutes later I pulled into my house happy and relieved. I would not have to do that again. Or would I?

I was still curious about seeing how my gear can fight the elements. The couple of miles in the light rain could not be a test good enough to see how the gear performed its waterproofing duty. And I also hate the rain induced traffic. The decision was made and I was on my bike this morning ready to battle the inclement weather.

This time around it was the rain from the first minute of my commute. My helmet began fogging up, droplets were spawning on my visor at a lightning fast speed. I did not close the visor all the way and left a small crack. That helped preventing the fogging. However made my face much colder at freeway speeds. 10-15 minutes into my commute I started to realize what mistakes I made in my gear selection. Obviously the Monster gloves were not meant to be worn in the rain. Luckily my hands don’t get cold easily. So that was not a big deal to me especially knowing that all I got to ride is 15 miles. The bigger mistake was not to put thermal liners in both the jacket and pants. I began feeling cold due to the fact that the gear started soaking in water. When I arrived to the office and changed I found out that the rain liners in both the Ignition jacket and the Cayenne Pro pants did their job well. I was cold but dry. I suspect however that the pant pockets are not that good at water proofing. My cell phone felt a bit moist. However I can not legitimately back up this claim as my hands were not exactly dry when I was pulling the phone out of the pocket either.

Here are my thought on the gear items I wore:

• The REV’IT! Ignition proved to be a really good all around jacket. It is stylish and functional. If you are caught in the rain and have the liner in you will not get wet. However its pockets are definitely not waterproof. So if you plan on using this jacket in the rain then make sure to either ziploc the pocket content or store your stuff some place else. And do not forget to put the thermal liner in. Although this jacket has a pretty meek thermal liner. It is only a vest and it is not particularily too warm. But better then not having any at all.

• The REV’IT! Cayenne Pro pants were awesome. Again make sure to wear the thermal liner in and you will be good. I am sure you can find tons of reviews that pitched those against much worse weather conditions than I did earlier today.
• The REV’IT! Rival boots - comfortable and 100% waterproof, nothing else to say really.
• The REV’IT! Monster gloves although are awesome gloves are absolutely not meant to be used in the rain.

It stopped raining completely now and it is likely that it won’t be raining on my commute home. If it does start raining again I won’t mind. Now I know for the fact that my gear will keep me dry :).