"BARE ESSENTIALS?"
By Steve Aikens
On our 50CC ride, 7-10 Oct 2000, Rob Lentini and I had the pleasure of, and in a couple cases – not such a pleasure, testing under real world riding weather conditions (roughly 1,000 miles of heavy rains and high winds) some of motorcycling’s most notable products. They ranged from tires, to boots to clothing to lighting and accessories. Some worked great, some kinda worked and some, well, didn’t. Here’s the short version of our findings. [SA = Steve Aikens, RL = Rob Lentini]
Background: Bikes are both 1100 Oilheads. [SA] RSL [RL] RS. Both have Aeroflow screens, GS hand-guards, custom saddles [SA] Russell [RL] Mayer. Auxiliary lighting [SA] PIAA 1200’s & PIAA 85/85 H4 [RL] Motolights & 100/110 H4 with dual 30 Amp Bosch headlight relays, [SA] Hyper-lites [RL] SOS Priority Plus tail lights. [RL] Freeman Bar-backs (risers) and heated hand grips.
Both riders wearing one piece Aerostich Roadcrafters. Both using electrics, [SA] Gerbing's jacket liner, pant liner, new style waterproof gloves. [RL] BMW vest only.
Clothing List
[SA] 4 years old. Washed and treated with NikWax and Camp-dry 2 months before trip. Mostly worked. Stayed dry with the exception of some minor dampening in the crotch. Considering the amount of water we saw, this is outstanding performance.
[RL] 6 months old. Mostly worked. This is my first experience with synthetic riding suits. I’ll never go back to leather! Not having to don a rain suit when rain threatens is a Godsend, as is the convenience of street clothes underneath. Slight dampening at the crotch also. Suit was untreated and worn as delivered from Riderwearhouse.
Boots –
[SA] Alpinestar "Tech Road" – 1 ½ years old. Worked. Never a damp sock, including standing in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Temp’s reached high 40’s at night, feet never cool.
[RL] Alpinestar "Malcolm Smith" – 11 years old and re-soled twice. These are an older design that doesn’t work in continuous rain. Feet soaked and cold. Learned my lesson: Gore-Tex boots are the way to go!
Gloves –
[SA] Gerbing (new style, lightweight). Worked far too good. Unfortunately, the design of the Gerbing gloves requires the wearer to be smart enough to WEAR THEM AS DESIGNED! Water channeled over GS Hand-guards onto my sleeves. The first 400 miles of water and cold, the gloves worked great. Between Balmorhea and Ozona, TX, the water running down the sleeve finally penetrated between the gauntlet and the sleeve. Once it started getting in, there was no keeping the water out. These gloves are truly waterproof, the only way to get the water out was to take the glove off and pour it out. On the other hand, they warmed the water to a nice comfy temp until there was just too much water. Eventually it got too cold for the gloves to handle both the water and the cold. Not the fault of the glove. Without the GS Hand-guards, water would be blown away from the sleeve. With the GS hand-guards, putting the gloves on first, then having my sleeve over the gauntlet (it’s thin enough) should resolve the problem.
[RL] Adventure Motorcycle Gear "Orina" mid-weight gloves were worn while weather was dry and mild. These are soft, comfortable, breath well and have a long gauntlet. Changed to Tour Master winter gloves with waterproof Belstaff exterior liners in the rain. Hands stayed totally warm and dry. Heated handgrips helped tremendously in the cold "sauce."
Electric’s –
[SA] Gerbings jacket liner, pant liner (and gloves as noted above) using a Heat-Troller. Worked great. As the temperatures dropped, I simply turned up the heat. I think it’s especially important to keep your arms warm and would not consider upper body electric’s without sleeves. Pant liner is worth it's weight in gold in the junk we rode in.
[RL] My BMW electric vest kept my body core warm, but my shoulders and arms were cool, contributing to lessened control of the motorcycle and increased fatigue. Steve’s upper and lower Gerbing’s are the way to go in extreme conditions.
Helmets -
[SA] Shoei Duotech – kept cold out, did not leak in the rain. I also use an Iridium face shield in daylight, which stops UV and prevents squinting in harsh lighting like driving into the morning sun. Worked well.
[RL] Nolan N100 Trend – also kept cold out and did not leak. I use a clear shield only with dark prescription sunglasses during daylight. N100 is a tremendous value for it’s many features.
Accessories and Tires:
Lighting
[SA] PIAA SuperWhite 85/85W headlight. PIAA 1200’s. Dry conditions, worked great. Wet conditions, headlight was very poor. Without the 1200’s, I would not have been able to continue riding at night in the conditions we were subjected to. The 1200’s performed very well in all conditions, the only problem was having to leave them on in the face of on-coming traffic and in mirrors as we caught up with slower traffic. With just the headlight on, road spray and rain reflection both were excessive, low beam or high. I should point out that the conditions were extreme, but I was very disappointed in how much reflection I got from the SuperWhite. There seemed to be little difference in the amount of reflection between the low beam and high.
[RL] Standard H-4 with 100/110W Bosch bulb with dual 30 Amp Bosch headlight relays. Auxiliary Motolights with 75W MR-16 interior track lighting bulbs, spot pattern on left and wide angle on the right. My Motolights are wired to turn on when the main headlight is on high beam. The combination of a 110W high beam with the Motolights gives tremendous lighting, even at aggressive lean angles. The "warmer" color lighting on my RS seemed to work better side by side to the PIAA SuperWhite of Steve’s. See my Aug 99 Motolight article in the "Owner’s News".
Accessories List
Ear Plugs –
[SA] SuperHearos from DAP World. These disposable earplugs work very well, attenuating at 30 DB. They are comfortable, easy to use, cheap and readily available at any Wal-greens Drug.
[RL] Ditto. For less extended rides I use latex ribbed plugs available through Air Force supply. I always wear ear plugs for any trip over 10 miles or speeds greater than 60 MPH.
Radar Detection –
[SA] Valentine Research V-1 (without laser). The best available performed exactly as expected.
[RL] Valentine Research V-1 (with laser). Yes again. Note the "shot in the back" we received near El Centro California. The Valentine is the only detector with serious to-the-rear detection. I’ve received very few laser "hits" and probably most have been false alarms from the sun. All Valentine’s now come with laser.
Custom Saddles
[SA] Russell full leather. This saddle is custom made to fit my butt and normal riding crouch. I have never suffered discomfort, butt pain, back pain or upper shoulder pain with this saddle. It is not inexpensive but in the 180,000 miles I have ridden on it (on two R11RSL’s) it has easily paid for itself numerous times.
[RL] Mayer vinyl. Likewise, this saddle custom made to my butt and normal posture on the bike. It’s also very comfortable. I hardly noticed it on the 50CC. However, Bill Mayer recently passed away and the future of his product is currently unknown.
Navigation/GPS
[SA] Eagle AccuMap12 GPS. Obviously, "Hit I-10 and go East until you get wet" means navigation is a moot point. However, the ability to accurately regulate speed and follow your route on the moving map to track distance to the next fuel stop adds some comfort to venturing into unknown states.
Tank bags
[SA] BMW Multivario. Worked. I didn’t cover my tank bag in the wet. I did have some minor seepage in the lower compartment, I think coming in through the zipper. Easy to move to fuel and remained secure and upright in the heavy side-winds. Though it performed well, I am not completely satisfied with this tank bag because it is difficult to handle when removed from the bike. I have been using the Multivario on two R11’s over 180,000 miles. It has held up well, other than the map pocket transferring print to the point it’s useless, and never really been a problem but the difficult handling off the bike was an issue with me the day I got it and remains so today. I continue to search for a better solution.
[RL] BMW Multivario. Similar opinions. These bags tend to shift side to side in heavy crosswinds. A better front mounting with improved lateral support would help. To aid off-bike handling, I had a nylon carry strap stitched to the rear of the main case. Overall rating: poor value for the cost.
Travel Cases (saddlebags)
We both use BMW full-size travel cases with Kathy’s Cordura liners. Our belongings were kept neat and dry, even over the 1000 miles of inclement weather. [RL] I have the optional cushion protectors on the lids of my cases. These reduce scuffing of the shiny lid surfaces. Newer versions have the textured lids, which makes more sense from an appearance-maintenance standpoint.
Fastpack Tail Pack by Eclipse
[RL only] This is a handy add-on that stores much of what the R1100RT’s top case does. It hooks over the passenger seat and I used it on the 50CC for carrying lighter riding gear, accessories, and other paraphernalia. When mounted, does NOT allow for a passenger.
Tires
[SA] Battlax BT-50R, Dunlop D205F. Solid performance of the BT50R in all conditions. In the downpours we encountered, the sipe design worked perfectly, moving any amount of water it was asked to with no lightness felt at all. In dry riding, the BT50R warms quickly, making it a sure-footed performer. Wear is the BT50R’s only sore spot, needing replacement on my bikes always before the 6,000 mile mark. The Dunlop D205F performed well in dry, marginally/unacceptable in the wet. I normally run a BT50F but had to take what was available while on a trip. The Dunlop warms to operating temp quickly and it’s soft compound offers just a little under-steer making it a little slower than the BT50F, making the front end a little heavier. In dry conditions at higher speeds, the slightly heavier feel of the Dunlop is very desirable and handling at speeds is precise but slightly slower than what I‘m use to (more stable). In heavy wet conditions, I found the sipe design unacceptable for any speed over 60. Hydroplaning, even at lower speeds when the water was deeply puddled, and imprecise steering input in the wet make the Dunlop a scary tire to ride when the rains came. I am back on the BT50F.
[RL] I installed a fresh set of Bridgestone Battlax BT-020s prior to the 50CC. This is my first experience with the 020s and I’m impressed. Handling characteristics and mileage are marginal improvements over the BT-57s on the bike prior. I never had a rain-associated problem and handling in the twisties of California on the way to the start was neutral, light and with plenty of grip. One minor drawback of the 020s, at least on my RS, appears to be a rolling harmonic "humming" sound around 70 MPH. This seems to be associated with the unusual rear tread design and never happened with any other Bridgestone, Dunlop or Michelin tire on the 100,000+ miles I’ve put on this Oilhead.
GS Hand-Guards
[SA] Worked too well. Channeled air away from my hands and lower arms as designed. See comments on Gloves.
[RL] Similar evaluation. You can’t beat the protection this $35 accessory provides. Teamed with heated grips, a rider can use mid-weight gloves in moderate temps and light rain and still be warm and dry. Also protects your hands from rocks thrown by other vehicles (mine have the craters/scratches to prove that!)
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