Adventure Suit Recommendations Please

Or until you fall off?

 

Have to say this has been my option in the past. I worked it on the basis that had I commuted every single day to work and over some distance then you would be foolish not to buy the quality kit such as rukka etc. As I only bike commuted in the summer and occasional winter days. I could not in my head justify the super stuff.

I tended to get 2 season stuff of a good quality then the best oversuit I could. Used a richa typhoon one piece before and been happy with that. Also a oxford rainseal two piece oversuit has given good results, plenty others are available

 

Interesting article on this topic in the November Motolegends catalogue which just arrived. It questions whether one really needs a top of the range laminated suit and suggests that for 95% of riders who do less than 10,000 miles/year a good quality drop liner and waterproof outer shell will be more than suitable and save a whole load of money.

 

I’m not sure I agree with that. If you’re cold and wet because your gear isn’t up to it, then you’re cold and wet whether you do 10,000 miles or 1,000.

Tbh, I stopped using the bike for work journeys in the winter because I was sick of arriving cold and/or with damp patches on my clothes and only started again a couple of years ago when I could afford Rukka gear and since then (including this sunny but cold morning) I've been toasty and dry even in torrential downpours.

 

Which suit do you have? What's it like in summer? Most of their suits seem to have fairly minimal venting, or have it in the sides, where I wouldn't have thought it'd be that effective.

 

I have a Rukka Cosmic jacket. I can’t recall the name of the trousers and I just looked but it isn’t on the label.

Tbh I don’t wear them year round, as I have other gear for summer and I have only started wearing them again in the past few weeks since we had all that rain at the beginning of the month. Hence, I can’t say whether they’re ok in the summer but given the weight of the jacket, I would say not (Rukka gear is very heavy and kind of bulky tbh which is where Stadler may have them beat).

IME there’s no such thing as 4 season gear as it’s either too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter. I feel the cold pretty badly so I tend to have gear which is good for winter, autumn and spring and then a set of summer gear.

 

Can’t fault my Klim Badlands top&bottoms. Rode through horrendous weather system last week from Hinkley Point in Somerset via Cotswold’s and Luton to Norwich. Bone dry and my suit is over 4 years old. Excellent vents compared to the crap ones on my friends Rukka top do da suit.
No liners so you wear what YOU find works/warms best. 10 year warranty I think(maybe).

 

That's where Stadler's non-drop liner suits are so good. The summer suit has all the armour in it and is cool even in 35deg heat and then you have a Goretex pro-shell jacket and trousers (without armour) which goes over the top for 100% waterproofness and warmth. And you can wear the jacket as a 'normal' jacket off the bike.

 

Small note; Mr Stradler doesn't recommend his suits for winter. My current & previous Rukkas have been fine although I do wear long-johns aka dianese thermo undergarments.


Video is from motolegends discussing the stradler kit

 

Whatever you get, make sure it has zips like the top photo (my Rukka Cosmic) rather than the bottom photo (the girlf’s leather jacket*)

Good quality winter gear tends to be fitted with waterproof zips that seal out the rain.

However, budget/medium quality jackets tend to have “standard” toothed zips which even when covered with the Velcro storm flap, still let in water (remember, when riding in heavy rain it’s basically like being blasted with a jet wash lance).

I recently bought and returned a Spada Stelvio all in one which looked amazing (kind of like an astronaut), you could step into it wearing a business suit and then just zip it up and be fully jacketed and trousered in less than 30 seconds, but unfortunately it was badly let down by one thing only and that was the cheap zip, which leaked (you had one job, Mr Designer!). The suit was only £300 but it’s not a big seller, though I reckon if they specced decent zips and sold it for £400 they’d fly off the shelves.



* For the reasons given I don’t own any winter textile gear with standard zips.

 

Yeah. And the solution according to the video? Add a Rukka liner!

From watching the video it seems that Stadler gear is 3 season spring-summer-autumn, but isn’t insulated well enough for winter. While Rukka is 3 season autumn-winter-spring, but is not vented well enough for summer.

 

Two more two penn’orths - only get genuine Gore-Tex stuff. Many other manufacturers use material which is supposedly equivalent but it never is as good. Unless there’s some compelling reason to get non-Gore-Tex winter gear, then don’t. Why reinvent the wheel?

For gloves....

Rukka R Star, 2 in 1 twin chamber gloves are fantastic autumn-winter-spring gloves

Held Quattrotempi, which have the same 2 in 1 design are great spring-summer-autumn gloves. They’re not as warm as the Rukka, probably because they’re vented on the top side and perforated on the palm.

 

That's not Mr Stadler, though. That's Motolegends and they only sell the cheapest of Mr Stadler's suits (the one with the drop liner). Have a look at the 'proper' Stadler suits.

 

That's just the one cheap Stadler suit that Motolegends sell. It's like comparing it to a Rukka summer suit.

 

Take a look:

https://daneclothing.uk/

I have used the Sealand Gore-tex Pro and Lyngby Gore-text Pro for three years in all weather and have never got wet. The shell and inner is sufficient for all but the coldest weather when an extra layer can be worn if needed. It looks understated and well made, proper waterproof zipz and it fits well to. Had (still have) Rukka previously but it always looked and felt bulky - but worked well also.

 

Chris said he'd spoken to Mr Stadler & I simply quoted it from part of the video. Please fire a link form where someone can see the range in the uk.

 

Had to click on this thread as I wasn't quite sure what an 'adventure suit' was. Every day's a school day.

Only thing that caught my eye was @Zhed46's Sub. Went for the Sea Dweller myself.... I digress....

 

“Adventure suits” and “subs”?

Isn’t that the sort of thing @AirCon is up to in Florida at the moment?