Helmets:
We both have Arai Tour-X
Helmets. They are fitted with Autocom intercom headsets (see below). The
helmets offer excellent visibility. They are light and comfortable, with
no problem wearing them all day. Removable liners mean the helmet inners can be
kept relatively clean & fresh. Out only criticism is that they are noisy and
proved useless with the Duocom earphones (see below).
Communications (AUTOCOM):
We have an Autocom
bike-to-bike intercom and, once we got over the initial frustrations of setting
it up, it proved to be an invaluable piece of kit. Consisting of a control unit
and a walkie-talkie for the bike-to-bike comms, it lived in our tank bags where
it plugs into the bike for power and the leads reach easily up to our helmets.
We opted for the hands-free kit, which employs voice-activated mikes so once
plugged in all you do is talk to make it work with no fiddly thumb switches etc
to worry about.
The Autocom intercom is very
expensive and we nearly didn’t bother with it for that reason, but we now rate
it as one of the best and most essential bits of kit that we have with us on our
trip. The advantages of riding with the intercom are that you can ride up to
several km apart and still stay in contact with each other. This avoids getting
separated in traffic and you can point out potential dangers on the road. More
practically, you can request stops for wee’s & munchies, point out
photo-opportunities and say ‘OOH AAH’ together at all the lovely scenery!
Finally, you can also enjoy music plumbed into your helmet - useful for
relieving some of the tedium of long journeys on big straight roads
(interstates, deserts etc).
Hearing Protection (Duocom
Earplugs):
To be honest this wasn’t something we gave a lot of thought to
pre-trip until we spent 4 days in Northern Mexico and into Texas riding across
flat boring terrain at 60mph with a vicious buffeting side-wind. After this our
hearing was seriously impaired – both of us. On returning to the UK we invested
in some customised ear protection from Advanced Communications Solutions
(through Bike Stop in Stevenage – see links &
www.hearingprotection.co.uk). We opted for hand made Duocom ear sets with
built in speakers that plug in to the Autocom kit instead of the helmet fitted
speakers and planned to use these on the 2006 leg of the trip. They were an
expensive disaster. We eventually found after a lot of experimenting and
investigation that the peaks on our Arai helmets were thrumming in the wind;
unnoticeable under normal circumstances, but now the Duocoms were picking this
up and amplifying it giving us worse earache than we had before. They remain
the most expensive set of MP3 headphones we ever bought!
Clothing:
Selection of what to wear whilst riding the bike was one of the
biggest and most important choices in preparing for the trip. Given that you
can expect to encounter all ranges of climate, even in one day, whatever you
wear has to be comfortable, durable whilst offering adequate protection against
the elements.
Maggie:
Hein Gericke Maxwell Gore-Tex 2-piece riding suit with detachable thermal
liners. The jacket has leather shoulder and elbow pads fitted with Hiprotec
armour inserts. It has some ventilation zippers and is fully waterproof. Most
importantly it comes in ladies cut & small sizes, so it fits well and is very
comfortable to wear in moderate and cool climates. It is an excellent suit, but
the trousers are too warm for most of the Latin climates so most of the time I
wear a pair of Moto-X jeans. When it gets really hot (in deserts and in the
humidity of Central America) the jacket is discarded for a set of Thor Moto-X
body armour. After my spill in Argentina I always wear elbow & knee
protectors. Had I had these on at the time I may well have avoided the broken
elbow.
Norman:
Hein Gericke Tuareg jacket with a detachable waterproof / thermal liner.
Another excellent piece of riding gear from HG, being extremely comfortable to
wear with loads of ventilation zippers for the hot climates. The jacket has
leather shoulder and elbow pads fitted with Hiprotec armour inserts. For 2005 I
used a lightweight Hein Gericke Mesh jacket for hot conditions (you can cook in
the Tuareg when it gets really hot). It was lovely in the heat of Northern
Mexico & Texas but useless if the temperature dipped even slightly & was too
awkward to carry so it was left at home for 2006. For trousers I mostly wore a
pair of Dainese Gore-Tex enduro pants, swapping these for Moto-X jeans in very
hot climates (HG do a Tuareg trouser but it only comes in a standard leg length,
which is much too long and cannot easily be altered). The Dainese enduro pants
were only good for temperate climates so in 2006, anticipating colder climes in
Alaska, I exchanged these for some Arlen Ness Gore-Tex pants that came with a
zip in fleece lining. These proved to be reasonably waterproof and very good in
cold weather with the fleece liner in.
Footwear:
Maggie has a
pair of BMW Savanna boots and Norman has a pair of Hein Gericke Tuareg boots.
Both have been superb throughout the first year of our trip - comfortable to
wear and remaining waterproof in spite of the abuse they have taken. The BMW
boots are a little more expensive than the Tuaregs. Both are made in Italy to a
similar standard (they actually have the same rubber soles) and in the end,
choice came down to individual fit & comfort.
Waterproofs:
Although our
riding-suits are Gore-Tex and therefore supposedly waterproof we never quite
trusted textiles for motorcycling applications, especially on a trip like this
of such long duration. Given that the waterproof layer is in the linings of
these suits, the clothing material itself gets soaked and that can make you very
cold. For this reason we both carried one-piece nylon oversuits that we used on
all our previous trips. These are light, small to pack and relatively easy to
put on & take off and make an excellent wind/thermal barrier if it suddenly gets
cold and you don’t want to pull the bike apart to get at a thermal liner that
you haven’t worn for weeks and is buried somewhere in the deep recesses of a
pannier. To be really honest we could have done without them in North America
as the Gore-Tex gear worked well enough on its own. We did on occasion feel a
little damp but none of the gear leaked badly.
Probably the worst climate we
encountered was the rainy season in Central America where it was very warm,
sticky and humid. We were soaked to the skin with perspiration within seconds
of donning our wetsuits and it was extremely uncomfortable. We did try once in
Panama to ride in heavy rain with no waterproofs but you would not believe how
cold it got once we were wet. Not recommended!
Gloves:
We both mostly wear
lightweight leather gloves using the BMW heated handlebar grips on the 650’s
when it gets a little cool. Nothing special here – Norms are Reusch touring
gloves picked up in Germany and Mags are BMF cheapies. We both have Hein
Gericke ‘Pathan’ lobster claw waterproof / thermal mitts for bad / cold weather;
they were superb in Alaska.
Thermals:
We both had BMW heated
vests and Maggie insisted on some Clansman heated socks after reading a rave
magazine review (she suffers from cold tootsies). We carried all of this kit
right up into Canada never once using it. Then on the Icefields Parkway, the
temperature plummeted from 25ºC
to 8ºC
in the space of an hour. The heated vests were extracted from the depths of the
pannier where they were stored all that time and within seconds of plugging them
in we were toasty hot! We wore them for the next 2 months all the way through
Northern Canada and Alaska. We don’t believe we would have survived the Dalton
Highway up into the Arctic Circle without them. The heated socks were less
successful. They have wires that run inside your trousers and over the waist to
plug into a socket on the bike. The wires have connectors at the top of the
socks and once you get everything on, they unplug the first time you bend your
knees. OK – easily fixed with insulating tape but then the socks had no thermal
controller – just an on/off switch - and they were uncomfortably hot so you had
to fiddle about switching them on & off to thermally cycle your feet. Mags
persevered with hers as they did keep her feet from being ice-cold but I got fed
up with them and they’ll end up on E-Bay.
