We’ve been stuffing around constantly going to and from bike shops all week, meeting some great salesmen all with great advice on their gear (of course!), so many it’s gotten to the point where I’m almost frozen with indecision about which kit to go with!
It’s a big decision and a lot of coin to part with when you’re looking for good gear, it’s such an important thing to keep warm, dry and safe and every thing claims it’s the best so it’s been an agonising choice.
Unfortunately we both need full kits. I thought I had some gear from my previous bike riding life but it has mysteriously gone the way of the Bermudan cricket team and disappeared back into the triangle 
I think I’m nearly sorted, in my mind anyway, about what items I’d like to get for me.
For the helmets, I’m pretty certain I will go with the BMW Sport Integral Pro Race helmet. It has just by far been the most comfortable lid I’ve tried on, and without being able to demo them all at pace that’s about all I have to go on. I guess I have a ‘bmw’ head, because it seems to fit better than the Shoei’s and Arais I have tried. I’m not a Nolan fan so even though they feel ok I’m not keen on one. The BMW is not as expensive as I thought it would be (hopefully Kent at BMW is going to give me a bit of a deal…) and it feels quality, light and just right. I don’t like the fact it only comes with racing stripes in red/blue/yellow, but I can live with a bit of “look at me” paint for the helmet’s comfort. Anyone want to do a professional black paint job on it 
? I went down to BMW to check out their bluetooth helmets, but they don’t sell ‘em anymore, so for fun we tried on quite a few pieces of their kit, and man I was impressed. They have a jacket in store (can’t remember the name), that is almost enough to get a mortgage on but wow, did it feel nice. Their gloves and pants also felt the business, and were on par with the top of the line gear at other stores in terms of price and comfort, so I am headed that way for a few items I think. From a boot perspective well believe it or not the Harley Davidson boots down at AMPS have been the best of the bunch from my personal opinion 
Myra so far has fallen in love with a lovely Spidi jacket, and a lovely Triumph brown leather jacket as well. We think we’ll get her both of them with the justification of leather for summer day rides and the Cordura for the touring.
We’re off to Motomail again tonight to talk to Chris (late night) and finally start laying some dosh across the counter. He’s promised to look after us and has been the nicest guy to deal with so far while we’ve been window shopping. He has the Spidi Myra likes as well, and said he’d have a new shipment of draggin jeans in which we are quite keen on trying on.
The other thing that has had me really scratching my head is to solve the comms setup we’re trying to achieve. We received our Zumo the other day, and this is a fantastic piece of gear. Really impressive, it’s worthy of it’s own post once we give it some more testing, so I won’t elaborate on it too much yet, but it relays your mobile phone and nav voice prompts (and music, but this is very crappy quality) to any bluetooth headset. I’d like to get a completely wireless helmet setup for both of us, with other feeds coming into the riders helmet, but so far I’ve struck blank faces or plain “no you can’ts” from everyone I’ve approached. I’ve fired off an email to Challenger Motors who deal with the Baehr gear here to see what he reckons, and the other option that’s made the shortlist is the Interphone Bluetooth System, which looks like it would *nearly* do everything, but you have to switch between intercom and phone mode manually, which isn’t that handy. Here’s the link if anyone else is interested (or if anyone has used one let me know what you think) http://www.myblueant.com/interphone-motorbike-intercom-specifications.htm.
Will update when we finally get some gear in our hands. It’s hard parting with the cash but in the long run it could save your life and you get what you pay for so I shall have to swallow the lump in my throat and part with it. No point having money left in the bank if you’re not alive!
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