Commuter Gear

I’m preparing for my first season as an official commuter by adding the appropriate gear for the different weather that Arizona faces. Lets make one thing very clear…I do not commute in the blazing AZ summer, not for any fuel cost savings! That said, a wide variety of gear is needed to cover the rest of the year, and I think I have it all except some riding/touring boots.

For nice weather down to about 50F and clear skies I have a Kevlar textile jacket. Its sport oriented, but breathes well when you open the vents and stays reasonable warm when they are closed. This jacket is WERA approved for roadracing and has armor throughout.

For nice weather but a little less ambient temp, I have a standard casual Vanson soft leather jacket. I’ve had this for many years and its very comfortable. It also has a removeable Thinsulate liner.

For the cold weather I just picked up a used 2-pc. suit from the German police. This suit is water proof and should be good to ride into the 30′s. Its made by Stadler and should go for around $800 Euros over there. The beauty of Ebay is that I got this suit for $115 shipped. It has a limited following though as it is bright green with enough reflective material on it to make the Aerostich guy jealous. All I need is some armor.

Oh yeah…it also has the word “POLIZEI” across the back in huge letters. I am pretty sure that as long as I am not pulling people over, I should be OK with the impersonation thing…

That brings me to gloves and boots. I have two pairs of gloves: one for fair-weather riding, and one for wet riding. My main gloves are several years old and I will likely replace them soon as they have been crash tested twice and been through many dry-wet-dry cycles. That is supposed to be terrible for the leather’s durability, so I have read.

As for boots, all I have is race-style boots. They are tight for the regular riding where comfort is key. I have a plate and nine screws in my left ankle from a dirt bike incident. The result is that the tighter race boots is not very comfortable.

I am looking for a mid-heighth boot I think. Something that I could actually walk around in without the major discomfort race boots have. Alpinestars likely has my soon to be acquisition with the Ridge waterproof boot for about $100.

And since I already have a set of one-piece race leathers, all of the above should complete the closet for gear. Heh – I wanted to start commuting to save some fuel costs, but now I’m alread a bunch of money in the hole just to get started! Now I have to ride to work at least until I break even…