REV'IT! Gear for ADV Riders

Yeah I mostly agree. I have a Firstgear Kilimanjaro that I wore on a big trip last year. I spent 3 days straight in a downpour and stayed completely dry, but when I dropped out of the mountains and onto the plains of Montana where it was 100 degrees, the jacket was just too damn hot.

I figured I would try the liner thing since the Sand 2 has great venting. But it is completely freaking useless. I guess I will have to get some rain gear to put over my "waterproof" jacket.

The *best* jacket I have owned for function has been the Tourmaster Flex. It is just a well designed jacket because it has a water resistant (not waterproof) outer shell that you can remove, leaving you with an armored mesh jacket. It also has a quilted warm layer. The nice thing is the outer shell has no armor so packs small when it's warmer. It makes a great 3 season jacket for all but the coldest rides, unfortunately it just hasn't held up well. A riding buddy bought one on my recommendation and his has been holding up better so maybe my first year model has been improved some. I see they now have a Flex 3 so I may have to see if the new ones are better quality than my original. Even though I have zippers that don't work I still use this jacket.

This is never ending debate - is it better to have waterproof liner inside or outside? There are benefits in either setup, however for most riders who ride in true 4 season conditions removable waterproof liner is way to go.

Take your average weekend rider living let's say here in So Cal. With weather being nice most of the time chances of riding in the rain are almost zero, so what is the point of riding in waterproof jacket and sweating like mad because you had to have that waterproofing built into the jacket at all times? Yank that windproof and waterproof liner out and enjoy breathable jacket.

IMHO having waterproof liner built into the fabric only makes sense for people who ride in the rain almost daily. For the rest of us it's way better to have more flexible system with waterproof liners.

As far as SAND 2 jacket being waterproof, it is 100%. I'm going to make a video just to prove this. The liner is seam sealed and simply cannot leak unless there is manufacturing defect of user error.

It sounds like you would like SAND 2 Pants. I'm actually quite happy to see that Superfabric is no longer used in the pants, it's really abrasive and will scratch some bike's fairings (happened on my brand new Benelli Tre-K). Defender is nice, but Sand 2 is cut a little more like true adventure pant and with much lower price you will not feel as bad thrashing them off road.

D.

wouldnt it be easier to just hold a rain jacket in your backpack or something?
dont get me wrong, i have a sand 2 and i like it for the most part.

It's one of the options, this way your gear is always clean and dry.

D.

I agree. It must be those of us that deal with rain more (You in BC, me in OR). I refuse to buy pants that aren't waterproof without a liner, it really limits my choices, but chances are up here you will get caught in the rain, and I'm not going to be on the side of the road messing with a liner.

I have a rev-it jacket, BUT I use the "rain" liner as a wind barrier in cooler weather. When it actually rains, I go to a rain jacket over the top of my gear. When you are out touring the PNW, getting caught in the rain and having to put on a soggy jacket the next morning, in the cold, just sucks. I don't get why manufactures won't make the rain liner an over-jacket to keep everything dry, why put it on the inside?!? All that an inner liner does, is keep you dry, it doesn't help the gear from getting soggy and heavy, or your wallet and spare ear plugs in the packets from getting soaked. All they need to do is make the waterproof liner attach to the outside, it doesn't seem like rocket surgery to me.

After much thought and trying on various gear I opted for the Rev'it Poseidon.

I think they don't do this for several reasons:

1. You would lose access to all your pockets
2. Waterproof liner is not durable enough to be used on the outside. Simple tear and you will be complaining about lack of waterproofing again :)

The bottom line is there are two types of jackets / pants, and there is a reason why both exist. Just choose whatever works for you.

D.

Fantastic choice.

D.

But we want it ALL. ;-)

I agree that the normal liners used wouldn't work, it would be nice to be able to get a mesh jacket, with over the jacket rain option. The gore-tex is great, but not great as it warms up, its all give and takes. We all make due, its why I have a rev'it jacket with an inner rain liner, it fits "almost" all my needs. I just pack a cheap rain-shell with me to put on over the jacket, when i actually want to keep things dry.

The jacket is less of a big deal, putting an jacket on real quick, or putting a liner in on the side of the road is easy. The pants are the bigger deal, but there are lots of options with waterproof outer pants (Rev'it just doesn't make theirs in a size that fits me, since the poseidon only starts at M, so those of us that wear a S pant, are out of luck there).

The number of us in the rainy areas that have all said the same thing about jackets, makes you wonder if there wouldn't be a good market there for someone to make a jacket that is a little more in line with what people who live in really rainy climates seem to want. <shrugs>, really, ditch the membrane, and make a light waterproof nylon outer jacket, and put some reflective material on it, that can't cost **that** much more to produce.

There are more than a few one-piece rain suits out there. I have a BMW suit that I picked up used, and aside from a slight fitment issue, it works pretty damn well for street riding.

I have yet to come up with a good solution for off-roading in the rain. Between rocks, sticks and sharp bits of the bike, a normal "rain" suit is going to get thoroughly thrashed, and even aside from that issue, breathability is critical—if I wore that BMW rain suit riding the big GS off-road, I'd be soaked from the inside out in no time at all. I'd liken the problem to mountain-biking in the rain—it's exceedingly tough to balance the desire to keep water out with the desire to not keep heat and moisture in.

I have found the membrane in the Cayenne Pro kit to be a good solution for days that are either chilly and damp or warm but not hot days with passing showers (i.e. wet enough that I'd be unhappy just waiting for the liner-less gear to dry, but dry enough that the gaps around the liners won't allow enough water in to make me seriously unhappy). If it's truly hot out and I'm riding through passing rain (even if it's heavy rain), I'll usually just make sure that my wallet and cell phone are in a ziplock and/or in my side boxes and enjoy the zaniness of riding through a hard rain at 75+ degrees.

It looks like RevIt makes a nice rain jacket in the Cyclone H2O that would go with your gear. Since this is a RevIt thread I'll just tell you to take a look at the new Olympia Motoquest Guide jacket (replaces the X-Moto jacket). It looks like it does Exactly what you envisioned. I fail to see why this would be that much different than carrying the Cyclone along or other rain gear and slipping it on over the jacket though. Just a nicer implementation perhaps.

I carry a Rev"It Pacific H2O rain suit, I hold no fear of rain....

Salty.

Hi Dennis,
Do you still ship Rev It to Canada? I'm interested in Sand 2 pants to go with my recently and locally (Victoria, BC) purchased Sand 2 Jacket.

I just wore the Jacket on a trip to Calgary return and it was great. I'm around a 42 chest and 30 waist and the medium fit very well, if a little snug with the liners in. They were not used on my trip. It was sunny with temps in the mid 80's to mid 90's. The jacket was just fine while moving and reasonable when stopped. I'm used to Vancouver Island weather now and find mid 80's+ quite hot at the best of times. The waist adjustment was key for me. I tried on BMW gs Dry Suit and Klim jackets first, but, could not get a reasonable fit.

Unfortunately, the smallest size Sand 2 pants available were medium and with the waist fully snugged, I could have pulled them right off. My waist is 30 inches atm and I have a 30 inch inseam. I'm 5'10" and about 165lbs. I'm hoping the smalls would fit, but, cannot find a pair locally to try.

Thanks in advance for your time.

For anyone on the fence with respect to buying a Poseidon jacket / pants combo, I recently bought the jacket and pants from my local Rev'it dealer (I really wanted to have a physically local place to go into in case I ran into any problems and I trust and really like this dealer in Toronto - Riders Choice), went for an all day ride yesterday in hot and humid conditions. The suit is absolutely amazing - I really wanted something with Gortex on the outside, not having to zip in any liners underneath for waterproofing - I got mine in black (though the light grey looked awesome and would have been more reflective of the sun's rays but it's a very light colour and I didn't want it to look old and tired after a year or so as with my other Rev'it gear in light grey). The venting is top notch - those big fold back flaps on the jacket and the pants with exhaust zippers in behind those areas plus exhaust vents on the sleeves. While riding at any speed, the suit was perfectly comfortable and even on some occasions in traffic as I was going through small towns, etc the suit did not get too hot. I did get the cooling vest insert for it but chose not to use it yesterday as I wanted to gauge how warm it would get without it. Bottom line is that while expensive, this suit is absolutely amazing and lightyears ahead of previous Rev'it top-line designs. The fit is more "european" as opposed to big, square shaped Klim gear (which is the one of the reasons why I didn't want Klim). No slight against Klim, I know the stuff is amazing but if someone is looking for a rainproof top of line jacket / pants combination and wants a more "touring fit" rather than a big dirt bike fit, the Poseidon should be at the top of your list. I love it and am looking forward to my upcoming three day road / off road ride next weekend.

Happy 4th of July folks. I meant to post this earlier, but have been out riding

Jason,

There is no official data for abrasion resistance of materials. Even if it was available it would be extremely hard to interpret it, unless there was similar data for all materials other manufacturers use.

When it comes to material selection abrasion resistance is just one of the factors considered when the manufacturer selects the fabric. Others are comfort, breathability, appearance, cost, color availability etc. Usually higher priced garments use more advanced lighter fabrics with more abrasion resistance.

Since Vapor is somewhat mid range I would say it's also mid range when it comes to protection (on Rev'it! scale). If you want the ultimate you look into new items with CE2 rated armor such as DOMINATOR and CAYENNE.

The point I'm trying to make is that even if there is some kind of data out there, it's only relevant to that particular material. Materials like leather, cordura and kevlar come in numerous variations, so if you have abrasion resistance data for let's say $150 Cycle Gear leather jacket does it mean it's the same as Dainese D-skin leather?

If there was some kind of standard that manufacturers were obliged to publish for every garment it would be semi helpful. Even then there are questions regarding exact sport where it's tested. Reminds me of "Kangaroo" gloves that are actually cow hide with 1x1 Kangaroo panel somewhere.

Kinda like trying to compare bike weights, although it seems most manufacturers are getting a bit better at publishing semi reasonable ready to ride weights. Bought a Sand jacket three years ago, it's the only jacket I wear now, it's held up very well and completely happy with it. It's a textile jacket, I know if I crash it's going to be destroyed, but that's the point, it''l take the hit and hopefully allow me to walk away relatively unscathed. If you're THAT concerned about abrasion why are you even looking at textiles? For abrasion you know there is no replacement for leather, so just buy a leather jacket and go ride.