What local shops are good? And which should be avoided?

It's time to start trying on gear so I'm ready to ride when Spring arrives (and Xmas is just around the corner).

I'll need everything - jacket, pants, boots, gloves, and helmet.

For this area, I'm guessing I'd want a perforated leather jacket (or well vented solid)?
And textile pants (will be worn over work pants)?

Do all (most?) jackets and pants attach? Do all the brands use the same zipper, so will I have to match pants and jacket? Or should I even worry about it?

Any suggestions for reasonable priced gear that won't get me killed (yes, I know, don't skimp of safety, blah blah, but no point overspending). I'll be commuting, won't be stunting or other squidy behavior, and don't have much free time for weekend jaunts, so pimpy riding leathers can wait.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Coach Crack Monkey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What local shops are good? And which should be avoided?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

personally the only shop that I would have do work on my bike is Fairfax Cycles - behind the subaru dealship near the harley davidson. They are the cheapest, and on top of that - they enjoy explaining everything to you. I was inquiring about getting my stock sprocket put back on, and he went into an explanation of why it was changed when i should change it again how the teeth worked, etc. etc. I was getting tired of listening. to them at FFX Cycle


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Coach Crack Monkey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
It's time to start trying on gear so I'm ready to ride when Spring arrives (and Xmas is just around the corner).

I'll need everything - jacket, pants, boots, gloves, and helmet.

For this area, I'm guessing I'd want a perforated leather jacket (or well vented solid)?
And textile pants (will be worn over work pants)?

Do all (most?) jackets and pants attach? Do all the brands use the same zipper, so will I have to match pants and jacket? Or should I even worry about it?

Any suggestions for reasonable priced gear that won't get me killed (yes, I know, don't skimp of safety, blah blah, but no point overspending). I'll be commuting, won't be stunting or other squidy behavior, and don't have much free time for weekend jaunts, so pimpy riding leathers can wait.</TD></TR></TABLE>

as far as gear is concerned - personally I like to match just for the sake of knowing everything flows and will zip together, I like Alpinestar - and believe them to be the best lookin IMHO. What I'd do is goto coleman's in woodbridge and try on the jackets and so forth and so forth to get an idea of what you want. Look at the over priced prices, and get online and order it. you'll find it a lot cheaper.

For jackets pants and helmets- look at alpinestar.com joerocket.com etc. etc. - and like i said get to colemans - they have a big variety of everything at you can try it on, figure which you like and what size is needed.

the gloves they have there are reasonably priced - I picked mine up from there, but if you plan on ordering everything all at once it may be best/cheaper to just get it from the same place. Also don't hesitate calling the ppl you're ordering from and seeing if they can give you a better price if you'r ebuying all the peices at once.

 

Does the Coleman's in Falls Church have the same selection as the Hoodbridge location? Falls Church is fairly close, Hoodbridge isn't.

Is Fast Lane in Chantilly any good? (pretty close to my office in Fair Lakes)

 

You should decide what you want based on reviews (newenough.com has honest reviews) then find a place to try it on and then order it online. I'd call around to ask if the shop has specifically what you're looking for before you drive anywhere. Most shops don't have everything in stock that you'll find online so you might save yourself some driving if you know you want a specific brand/model.

I think you have to buy the same brands to ensure that your pants and jacket will zip together. I'm not certain but I don't think that it's as easy to match up a leather jacket with textile pants. You may want to consider going with a matching textile jacket if you're really dead set on zipping together. Some people swear by leather and for the most part it's better, but textile is not as weak as some people would lead you to believe.

If you're going leather jacket you're really going to need two if you want the best options. Doing 65 mph when it's 55° (windchill of 33°) in a perforated leather jacket might be a bit cold but you're not going to want to ride regular leather in the summer. You could considering wearing something under perforated leather but this isn't ideal for a working stiff. Again, consider a covertible textile jacket if you want something that will adapt to the weather.

My only service experience is with Loudoun Motorsports in Leesburg. They're certified Suzuki, seem knowledgable and don't uber-rip me off so they meet my only real requirements. There's probably a hole in the wall shop that's cheaper but they do what I ask and it's 2 miles from my house so I go there.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Apocalypse &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm not certain but I don't think that it's as easy to match up a leather jacket with textile pants. You may want to consider going with a matching textile jacket if you're really dead set on zipping together.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It looks like the JoeRocket street leather jackets will zip to their textile pants.

I was thinking Alter Ego pants and Sonic 2 perforated jacket. But if it really doesn't provide that much less protection, I'll get a Meteor 5 and save enought to cover my gloves.

http://www.newenough.com/joe_r...e.htm
http://www.newenough.com/joe_r...e.htm

Right now I'm more concerned with spring and summer riding, as I won't have a bike or MSF course complete until spring. If I want heavy gear for next winter, I'll get it in '07 sometime.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Coach Crack Monkey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was thinking Alter Ego pants and Sonic 2 perforated jacket. But if it really doesn't provide that much less protection, I'll get a Meteor 5 and save enought to cover my gloves.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It would figure this question would come up because I just deleted a bookmark I had explaining the safety differences between leather and textile. If you do a search here I'm sure you could find the link to tests that show the top textile jackets are better than like 80% of leather ones. The bottom line was construction was far more important than material.

I have the Alter Ego jacket and would own the pants if they had the proper inseam. Slide the temperature range of the Meteor up about 10° on the lower and higher side and you have the range of the Alter Ego (more mesh panels and non-insulated liner). Ross had/has the Alter Ego and I think Home Skillet had/has the Meteor so you may want to point them here since they ride in this area. One thing about pants is that you can't just settle for them being a little long like you might a pair of jeans because then the (knee) armor falls in the wrong spots.

 

Coleman's is somewhat pricey but if you engage the salespeople positively, you can do all right there.

Alter Ego is a great jacket, no complaints. I have two jackets but the other one is just to have leather lying around. It's a little silly-looking with all the Joe Rocket phallic symbols, but it's really functional.

I paid 250 but thats MSRP. You might be able to find it cheaper online, or haggle them down a bit.

 

It's $215 on newenough.

Here's the link to the prices page so you don't have to go thru the "e-mail me prices" crap they have.

http://www.newenough.com/produ...e.htm

 

I really don't like Coleman's, just too rich for my blood. Chris and I went to a shop near his house (I think it was Loudon Motorsports?) and they had pretty good prices. Also check out http://www.motorcyclegearreview.com/ to get "e"pinions. Also I'll sell my Black/Grey Joe Rocket Meteor 4.0 for $50, I forgot the size (might be a L) but I only wore it for 6 months.

 

what size do you wear? I'm in NOVA and i have some used gear for sale if you're interested. I have a spare Joe Rocket Leather jacket and spare KBC helmet for sale, also a Shoei (more expensive though.) LMK

 

I'm usually between M and L for jackets, 34/30 for pants, helmet - don't recall.

 

Would you be interested in some of my gear? I don't have pix, but we can meet up so you can take a look at them. Im usually Medium (helmet) and medium jacket. I have large size gloves too.