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We were talking about ADV Addicts new line of shirts that wick, provide spf and don't smell and merino wool was also mentioned. A few people mentioned Icebreaker but they contribute to groups that shut down riding areas. DigitallySane mentioned some other merino wool mfg's: Knox EDZ Layering Brynje of Norway Anyone have experience with merino wool under layers?

Man, this guy wasn't doing anything wrong and paid the price! We all love what we do, but need eyes in the back's or our heads (or more!). Be safe my brothers, life is precious! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuZVodb6auQ

Some new gear announced today from Alpinestars. Do you know what an alpine star is? Do you know how Alpinestars got their start in the world of motorcycles? Bonus points to whomever can answer those questions (I'll come up with something). Sweet video. Yes it's very dirt-bike-y but these are still items many of us big bike riders wear. BNS Tech Carbon Neck Support (suggested retail price – $349.95) Description: Engineered to help prevent neck injury and minimize the risk of collateral damage, the Bionic Neck Support (BNS) Tech Carbon is constructed from an advanced carbon polymer for optimized frame strength and lightweight performance. The BNS Tech Carbon functions when the rider’s helmet makes contact with the frame at the moment of a crash, thus providing a clean, solid surface which instantly channels damaging, compressive impact energy away from the neck and on to the BNS. Featuring a host of award-winning design innovations, such as a quick release locking system and a rear stabilizer offering critical protection to the spine, the BNS Tech affords a highly customizable, secure and comfortable fit for all forms of off-road riding. front rear And for the ladies... Stella Bionic Jacket (suggested retail price – $249.95) Description: Ultra-lightweight, highly ventilated and fully optimized for specific women’s fit the Stella Bionic Jacket features Alpinestars’ new innovative ‘grid’ protection technology that is CE certified for excellent resistance to impact and roost. Incorporating PU backing foam throughout, the Stella Bionic has a newly developed kidney belt for a safe and improved ergonomic fit. Front Rear Orbit Backpack 35 (suggested retail price – $199.95) Description: The Orbit is an extremely versatile backpack with large capacity storage options that is designed to withstand the toughest of touring conditions. Incorporating new innovations such as the advanced load carrying system, which evenly distributes weight across the back, or the free-moving anatomical shoulder straps, the Orbit features a waterproof chassis and a versatile roll-top closure system.

How cool are you going to look at Starbucks in this?! I saw Mike's KTM KLiM suit last summer and thought to myself "self, that's a great idea!" KLiM makes really good stuff. However, I hear BMW will have none of that. They think they already make the best suit Article from ADVPulse's Annette Peterson (read the whole thing) The jacket and pants are from KLiM's Latitude line. This link says "Africa Twin" but it doesn't look like they have current photos up yet.

ICON Raiden is out with a new line called "Raiden UX." At first glance it appears to perhaps be slightly lighter and more stretchy than their DKR line yet still water-proof. What I hear is that it's constructed of 4-way stretch fabric commonly seen in high end outdoor apparel. The UX jacket is more of a lightweight "shell," similar to those worn by competitors in the Dakar rally than it is a do-it-all ADV jacket such as the DKR line. There are enough pockets to hold your phone and wallet, a removable full quilted liner (nice!), and a few vents when you need them. Icon Raiden is again using their proprietary Hycor™ waterproof and breathable membrane. It comes in four color options for the jacket (Black, Orange, HiViz and Battlescar-tan) two for the pant (black and denim) and two for the gloves (orange and black)

My review of the Moto-Skiveez Tri-Fold Hat @ /reviews/product/767-moto-skiveez-tri-fold-hat/

Where I ride most of the time, it's sugar sand... everywhere! Not sure if this is a Triumph Tiger deal or no, but the sand that gets kicked off the front tire ends up in the vortex of wind coming up through the space where the forks run, channeling sand into my face. Now, I can close the face shield on my Aria XD4 helmet, but the sand still comes up through the opening at the bottom and swirles around/into my eyes. I really don't want to wear goggles, so I'm going to give these Bobber "Fat Boy" glasses a shot. Not only are the lenses light sensitive (photocromatic), I'm hoping that the foam around the eye sockets will enough to keep the vast majority of sand particles out of my helmet. Time will tell! I might have to fill in the small gaps in the foam though. Any other ideas outside of wearing goggles?

A first year rally is really a magical thing. What to expect and what will the event organizers get right or wrong is part of the adventure you can only get at the inaugural year. Let’s face it, we’re talking about Touratech here; the German made, industry leading, technically superior, aftermarket accessory company. What could they get wrong? The first thing they did get right with the Touratech Rally East, located in Huntingdon, PA was the cost. At $90.67 a early bird ticket for a Thursday through Sunday event (August 13th-16th) this could be some comparatively inexpensive fun. Showing up on Thursday early was good on my part - after setting up camp in the segregated motorcycle area I was able to go hit the grass track that was burned in on the 220 acre farm property, then follow up the grass track with a loop of the big bike trails in another field. After 5 laps on the grass track with only one highside, I decided that if that was all the riding I was to do this whole trip it was already worth the money. Touratech didn’t let anyone down with riding choices. Their team brought a couple laptops with connection cords for all the gps hardware systems out there and they uploaded multiple routes for everyone to do self-guided rides. They also staffed guided tours of every option for those new to the game or those that were there solo. There were a staggering number of new to the adventure motorcycling community attendees at this event, which goes to show the reach and influence the mighty Germans at Touratech have within their community. Friday and Saturday’s rides were mainly large loops around and through Bald Eagle State Forest and Rothrock State Forest with varying degrees of difficulty depending on which route you chose. With the longer loops coming in at over 100 and 150 miles for Friday and Saturday respectively, and the shorter loops ranging as little at 7 miles for barbeque and 50 miles for a half day ride. Twisting tarmac and gravel made up the intermediate loops The long loop experienced routes delivered enough challenging parts with rocky unmaintained jeep trails to keep the ride interesting. It’s a shame the team putting the route together didn’t have access to all the trails - this area is under strict supervision by DCNR and permitting is tough. Hopefully next year they’ll go through the extra paperwork to make this ride truly special. For anyone on a single cylinder dirt bike these options would have been a little underwhelming, but on the large ADV bike that Touratech convinces everyone to bring off-road these trails were plenty challenging. The one truly challenging part of this rally was the food situation. Now Touratech gave fair warning that one or two food vendors would be available and that Saturday night’s barbecue dinner by Doan’s Bones (at an optional $20) would be the only catered meal. However, there was spotty coverage by vendors at the event, and many people who hadn’t packed full cooking gear on their bikes were left wondering if they would go hungry. For the number of caterers, fire houses, etc in the area willing to get paid to do a meal, it would have been well worth the organizers time to charge more for a fully catered event. Hungry riders with no room for camp stoves on their bikes shouldn’t live off of jet-boil food the whole weekend and have trouble leaving to get food after a post ride beer. In the end everyone survived, but next year we’re crossing our fingers for a catered event……....and showers. Friday’s and Saturday’s evening field games and slow races were great to watch. Everyone gathered around to watch the Friday night Quinn Cody uphill/downhill “tight turns” challenge course. Saturday nights slow race was epically good with one on one eliminations. Making Touratech feel a bit more home grown they allowed their staff to grab a bike and compete in these events which makes for some good laughs and lets you know that these guys and girls are human just like the rest of us. On Saturday as a closer to the event raffle tickets were passed out and prizes given away. While everyone drank beer from their Touratech Rally mugs the numbers were called out. Most of the prizes were Main Line Overland or Overland journal, but a good amount were from Icon Raiden like riding jerseys, gloves and the always cool Raiden trucker hat. Going into work Monday with co workers asking “how was your adventure weekend?” I find that our stories don’t translate well with the uninformed. You spent 3 nights camping in a field with no showers, swam in a lake for a bath, rode your 20 thousand dollar motorcycle off-road and now it’s all dirty and scratched cause you dropped it? Well yes. Yes we did and it was a blast!

I was heading back from IDBDR and thought I'd stop by Klim's headquarters in Rigby, ID. I ended up getting quite the tour! I had a stuck zipper on my Overland suit I wanted fixed as well as a new bladder formula hydration pack and some suspenders. Mark Kincart greeted me and I got an amazing tour of their offices. Got to see returns and exchanges, repair, stock room and some of their motorized toys. The coolest part though was seeing a new promotional product, their Adventure Blend coffee! No more Starbucks! Thanks Brad Barker for calling ahead on my behalf. I take back what I said about you not posting up at turns

I purchased a BILT Explorer Adventure suit from my local Cycle Gear in early 2014. This was my first rally style riding suit purchase. I made it based on price, comfort and convenience, in that order. In hindsight, I didn't look at build quality, armor and proper fitment. This is a lesson learned. I destroyed this suit in June of 2014, in Seattle, on the I-5, in rush hour traffic. A car swerved left into my lane, hit me square on the aluminum pannier and vaulted me forward. I had two hard impacts and tumbled as far as you can go at 55 MPH. The Explorer suit had to be cut off of me because they feared trauma and other injuries. I was very lucky to avoid anything terrible happening to me. But this is about riding gear, so let's get to it. First, let's talk about seams. The basics are PLAIN, FRENCH and FLAT. I wont bore you here with the details, search them on your favorite wiki for more information. To sum it up, PLAIN is what you will find on your t-shirts. Usually a single stitch with a fold. FRENCH is where you overlap the fabric and double stitch the seam. FLAT is where you fold two pieces apart then join them with a stitch. FRENCH is going to be the most durable and have the most chances of saving your flesh. Second is construction. Here is what Cycle Gear has on their product page: Features and Benefits 600 denier outer material 1200 denier abrasion resistant sections on shoulders and elbows 2-layer construction: Full waterproof/breathable/windproof fixed liner, Quilted detachable satin liner Reflective details for increased visibility Airflow inner lining to main shell Hip pockets with rubber tab pullers Long zip entry vents on front thighs with multi position airflow control Elastic waist with pull through adjusters and rubber grip strip Zip entry lower leg with hook-and-loop tab adjustment Short and all-around connection zippers CE approved armor at knees Let me mention the material. The 600-1200 denier fabric is what is referred to as ballistic nylon. The number refers to the weight of the nylon thread and the weave. It does not correlate to the strength of the fabric. This stuff is not kevlar so do not be fooled into thinking it won’t melt under a tumbling situation. The pictures show that the seams on the BILT product held together very well. It is chock full of PLAIN seams and even though I didn't find many FRENCH seams, I also didn't have anything part/rip or tear away at a seam. What did happen was the nylon fabric of the shell started to melt during the road abrasion part of the accident. It literally folded in on itself and ‘wear burned’ into small strips. 1 The padding and armor worked but, had a few setbacks that I would want to avoid in the future (as if I plan these things). The elbow armor and knee armor is nothing more than a foam vinyl or nylon pad. The knee wells and elbow wells for the pads had a lot of wiggle room and when tested, this proved to provide no protection at all. The pads stayed in place for the initial impact. Once the prolonged contact with the asphalt and subsequent tumbling began, the pads moved. One moved inside and the other outside of my knees. This left my kneecaps to be protected only by the nylon shell, which promptly burned away under abrasion. 2 The elbow pads pushed up and outwards, but the edges stayed in place to give some protection. 3 Since gloves and a helmet came with the suit, I am going to mention them here. My hands got some friction transfer from the initial impact. I got a bruise, some outer palm abrasion and a broken metacarpal. The gloves showed minimal damage and were still in good condition. The helmet spent some time on one side grinding on the I-5 and looked fairly effed up. It did its job and I am glad it didn’t fall apart. 4 That last line sums up the entire BILT Explorer Adventure Suit. It did it’s job and I am glad it did not fall apart. Would I buy another? No. Would I recommend this to someone? Yes, if you were on a budget, because it is a lot better than jeans and a textile jacket in an accident. When I went looking for my next suit, I looked at two brands. BMW Rally and KLIM Badlands. The build quality of these two brands are fantastic. The armor is superior and the fit of the suit is incredible… for a 6 foot 2 inch tall, 225 pound galoot. This last photo shows the rear of the jacket. You can see where I tumbled and slid briefly. Very minimal damage here. 5 I hope this gives someone a bit of insight if they are in the process of deciding “Do I want a $300 off the rack, foam armor, four size choice for a riding suit.” or “Do I want an $1100, fitted riding suit with quality fabrics, abrasion zones, impact armor and a warranty.” In this case, you get exactly what you pay for. Loren.

Just wondering what socks you guys use? Was thinking about getting some klim socks but figured i would see what else is out there