FirstGear 2010 TPG Rainier Textile Jacket

I found some of these at http://www.motorcyclegear.com/stree...first_gear/tpg_rainier_jacket_2010_brown.html[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Red"]In brown/sand color.................various sizes for $232- delivered
[SIZE="3"][SIZE="4"][B]I have been looking for a used Darien Light , but I thought this was at least considering..............
Any opinions on these jackets?.............Am I wasting my time on an inferior product?.......Should I hold out till I find an affordable used Darien?[/COLOR]
[/SIZE][/B]I have been riding some 45 yrs, but have never bothered (or had money for ) real motorcycle gear.............I am planning a trip to from Washington DC to Patagonia for 2013 (fingers crossed), and am looking to gear up and dress like a responsible adult for a change.......Any advice greatly appreciated[/SIZE]

:huh (what is with all the fonts?)

FG makes nice jackets and their TPG line is very well made with lots of features. I have a pair of older TPG pants and like them very much.

The Rainier gives you a few more convenience features than the Darien (more vents, under the helmet rain liner, insulated liner, etc.). I will let others comment on the Stich armor vs. d3o, I think they are both good.

If I were in the market for a new jacket, I would buy the FG at this price (mind you, I own two Dariens, regular and the light) plus a hi-viz vest to go on top. The tan color is probably the worst color as far as visibility is concerned.

I have one, and I like it very much. It is well made, and at that price, $232, an incredible value. I've driven in blinding pouring rain, and it did not leak. The zip-in soft-shell fleece liner is very nice, and very warm, and can be worn on its own as a jacket. That fleece liner alone would sell for over $100 as a stand-alone jacket.

I have owned several Aerostich Roadcrafter suits, and I find the TPG system to be much more comfortable. It is not armored nearly as well as the Roadcrafter, but then it doesn't cost $1,000, either.

One common complaint of the 2010 TPG Rainier is that the forearms are cut tight. If a rider has Popeye arms, the jacket may not fit.

[BInmates...................Obviously I am experiencing a bit of a learning curve here with my posts....A wee bit of patience with an inmate who just received formal invite to join AARP?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF???!!!
B]With any luck I will be a pro in no time...............until then please allow yourselves to be entertained
Slacked off..............

FWIW... I have the Rainer Jacket and TPG Escape pants. I'm sure that there are more protective rigs out there and probably more comfortable, but this set up nails a really sweet balance. I will say that it isn't the best jacket in warm-weather, but it is quite tolerable if you don't mind a bit of sweat. Weather protection? Oh yeah, I've ridden though near black out rain in this set up (along with Harley FXRG Boots and Tourmaster Drimesh gloves) and arrived with my white dress shirt completely dry, thank goodness. haha The material breathes nicely, I've napped in it to see how it breathes and woke up dry. The d3o armor inspires confidence and makes me feel fairly safe along with the toughness of the 600d nylon and kevlar reinforcements.

I'm a really big fan of the liner as well -- it is also water-proof, breathable, warm and made of 100% magic leprechaun fleece. It even looks nice when I wear it solo, people often ask me who makes it because they mistake it for a high-end fleece rather than a liner.

Basically, I would not think twice about wearing this gear to Patagonia... in fact that's exactly where I plan to take mine in 2015. I snagged mine up one a really sweet deal from the local euro-dealer and with this deal being slightly sweeter... I'd drink the Kool-Aide.

Had a Darien and a Roadcrafter. Picked up one of these TPG's at the closeout price from Motorcyclegear.com a couple weeks ago. For comfort and features this jacket has those two previously mentioned jackets beat. Based on materials and construction, I believe it would slide down the road equally as well as the Darien. The Roadcrafter might win in this contest....

Go for it. At these closeout prices it's a real bargain.

I just bought one of the closeouts as well. It really is a great jacket very comfortable, good venting, great liner, lots of pockets. I liked it so much I just ordered the TPG Escape pants.

I have owned a Darien in the past and this jacket is 10 times more comfortable.

Thanks for sharing your experiences with the Rainier.................it definetely sounds worth checking out..................Unfortunately they didn't have XL left, but I ordered a L and a XL Tall....................we'll see whether either one fits................I did find a used Darien in LG a few weeks ago, but with the shoulder armor in place it was too tight.........I will keep my fingers crossed
Slacka doodledoo

I do not know about that perticular jacket but if it is as good as my 10 year old kilimanjaro it is well worth the price. I actually called FG about my 10 year old jacket and asked about the water proof that mine has lost some over the years and my pads that just seem to be too soft. They gave me a good lead on what to use on the jacket to bring back some of the water proofness and also sent me out some new pads FOR FREE. Shoulder and Elbow!!!! Great Gear and I think Exceptional support especially on a jacket that has well served its time.

Thank you OP for bringing this up and everybody else for great comments This seems like a great bargain to get a decent waterproof touring jacket. BOUGHT!!!

I have Teton, which is a shorter version of Rainier. Very good jacket, except for protection. The velcroed armor system is brain dead, very inconvenient. D3o armor is flexible, but very thin and coverage is not that great. A flimsy foam in the back is too cheap for $500 jacket. Furthermore, the pocket for it is so small that an aftermarket armor will not fit.
Also my jacket leaks a little in places where my body is not protected by the windshield and rain hits the jacket under pressure.

Many of your gripes still apply to other jackets that are still selling at their $500 list price. Plenty of people have to trim sas-tec back pads to shoehorn them into revit jackets, and at full price.

I found the velcro for armor to be awesome - I can spend a few minutes at first situating the armor and then the armor is in the right place every time afterwards. I have around 10,000 miles on mine and it is still "waterproof". I did just re-spray it with camp dry blue before a 1800 mile trip, but that was more a precaution than corrective. d3o armor remains flexible enough at cool temperatures, something my 'stich armor doesn't do, and there was enough of a wait (4 weeks) for their cold weather armor that I had to pass. You need to be 100% certain the zips are closed, and the jacket shell feels damp/cold (but doesn't transfer water) if you don't have a midlayer between the jacket and your skin. I think about an hour at highway speeds during summer thunderstorm type downpours is the longest stretch of wet weather I've had it in, though.

At $232 new you aren't going to find much that beats the rainier.

I've found that recent years FirstGear is very good quality. I got a Kathmandu jacket and pants recently on closeout and find them comfortable, well-vented, good fitting and waterproof----however, FG armor (more like padding) is apparently where they are able to reach that great price point.

I know there are a bunch of other posts about this coat on the board if you search. Most are very positive. I have the original Ranier and I think it's a great jacket. Don't know about the newer ones, but mine has Knox armor in it and it's better than what comes in most other jackets. I had mine in Alaska last year and it withstood some serious rain in Turnagain Pass and never leaked a drop. Can't say that about my Darien pants though ! And I have found it to be much more comfortable right out of the box than many of the other jackets I have owned, including, and especially, the Darien I bought new years ago.

Bought my TPG a year ago. Have about 30,000 km on it. Lots of very heavy rain storms - bone dry inside. Liner works wll both for additional warmth and stand alone. Lots of pockets - sometimes forget where I put something. :huh

I had a get-off last summer - slid down a gravel road. No marks on the material from the gravel. Broke my collar bone but no jacket would have prevented that - armour prevented any shoulder damage.

This is not a warm weather jacket. I'm good in it up to about 90 deg at speed (less at slow speeds) then switch to mesh.

Hell of a deal for the $$$. Just ordered, thanks for the head's up.

A great deal. Couldnt pass that up. Thanks to Slacker for bringing this up.

So at what temp does this jacket get to hot to use dailly?

Just got mine . The only thing wrong with it is the 3do armor isn't as wide as standard armor. Where in standard armor goes all the way around your ellow this stuff cover only 70% . I can see someone going down and cracking a bone from a hit that is indirect . my other beef with it is the fact that it's using these crappy velcrom pockets to hold the armor in place. The only way to replace the armor is to beg your wife to make pockets that fit it . Its a great jacket otherwise . Far better then the Joe Rocket it just replaced.

The d3o armor covers exactly as much as the Knox armor the previous gen Rainier used (I had that first). FG likes to use the "B" shape protector in elbows and shoulders, iirc. It won't cover as much as BMW armor will, but that's the joy of custom molds and custom prices.

For me, the Rainier gets too hot at about 80 degrees, give or take. Depends entirely on type of riding. 90 or higher is fine if I'm really moving, it tends to suck in stop and go city traffic at 80-95, but so does everything else.

oh, and I'm not sure what other armor you'd be able to fit in it. Unless you size up, there isn't room in the arms for anything bigger, and probably not in the shoulders either.


Edit: I've got about 2 years on mine, used for everything but the worst of summer. Great jacket - mad I missed out on a silver one to replace mine. Holler if anyone has a silver medium in newish condition they decide they don't like :)