Summertime is here, have you got the gear?
Welcome to this week’s warm weather Cruiser Customizing tip of the week.
Just last week, Chris and I took off to Laughlin, NV for the Laughlin River Run. We tested some
of the gear that we’re using today. What gear were you wearing, Chris?
[Chris] Well, I had the TCX boots here, some overweights here, bubble gloves--I had a Poker
Run 3-in-1 Mesh Jacket, and an Icon vest.
[Kyle] Now one of the major pieces that’s going to allow you to stay the coolest you
can possibly stay is some sort of cooling vest. Fieldsheet’s got the Iceberg and Techniche
has their standard vest. Now while we’re filming this tip I’m going to go ahead and
throw this vest in the water so we can show you exactly how this works.
Let’s start with the feet and work up.
On this particular ride Chris was wearing a pair of TCX mesh boots.
How’d you like the fit and finish, Chris?
[Chris] I mean the fit is awesome, they’re super comfortable, they vent pretty darn amazing,
sometimes if it’s a little too cool, you probably don’t want to be wearing these
boots.
[Kyle] So any of the TCX air boots are going to allow you to have full ventilation. This
boot from Icon is one that I’ve been wearing for over a year now. It’s got lots of leather
protection, lots of buckles, and the air flows straight through it and it’s extremely light.
If you’re looking for more of a work boot type boot or a race boot, the Icon and the
TCX are great boots to go with.
When it comes to vented riding pants, there’s really two options. There’s leather and
textile. The leather pants are really nice if you’re looking for something that’s
going to be absolutely the most abrasion-resistant you can get.
If you notice the leather itself is perforated. Take a look.
This here is an example of the perforated leather and how the air can flow straight
through.
With the textile pants you’ve got pretty much the same thing. You’ve got the abrasion-resistant
Cordura as well as mesh that lighten the crotches and the legs. When it comes to your torso,
there are tons of options. There’s lots of different mesh jackets and ventilation
systems. Now which jacket were you using this weekend?
[Chris] I was using the Pokerrun 3-in-1 Jacket, it’s a mesh jacket that has a really cool
vest on it so you can put that vest on, it fits super well.
[Kyle] Nice. I was wearing the Tourmaster Intake Jacket here, which is one of my favorites.
The Intake Jacket is a full-mesh with a water-proof windproof liner and in addition to that you’ve
got an insulated quilted liner which allows this jacket to be comfortable from as hot
as you can get all the way down to about fifty degrees.
Now let’s talk about gloves.
During this trip you wore the bubble.
[Chris] Yeah I wore the bubble by Racer. Awesome gloves, padded over the knuckles, padded palm,
just a super comfortable glove. And it fits really well.
[Kyle] The next step up from the fingerless vented glove is going to be a pure mesh glove.
This glove here from Icon is a great example. You can also go the next level and get a full-fingered
leather glove that’s then perforated.
Now this is not going to flow as much air as the mesh glove but it’s going to provide
you with protection.
I have this Powertrip Glove here that’s a prime example of a cruiser-style vented
leather glove.
Now that I’ve covered the majority of the warm weather protective riding gear, let me
demonstrate the best and most effective way to use the cooling vest.
As you can see, the cooling vest soaked up most all of the water that was inside that
tray.
The neat thing about the cooling vest is that this inside layer is water-resistant, meaning
the water is not going to flow through the inside to your t-shirt, it’s going to stay
held to the outer vest, and then it’s going to evaporate off of the vest, created a cooling
effect around your body.
The key to keeping this vest working for a long period of time is for you to get a vented
jacket or mesh jacket to throw over the top.
What this is going to do is it’s going to allow the air to flow over the jacket, it’s
going to allow this vest to have a cooling climate all around your body without the sun
directly hitting that vest and evaporating even more water off you quickly.
So this cooling vest and jacket combination is guaranteed to keep you cool in the hot
summer months.
Thank you for joining Chris and I for this warm weather Cruiser Customizing tip of the
week. Tune in next week when we talk about locks and security. Until next week, take
care and ride safe.
