QUICK KIT TESTS
Klim Latitude jacket £714.99 www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk or www.klim.com
DESIGNED IN THE USA, the impressive Klim Latitude jacket boasts almost every feature you could wish for in an adventure jacket – as it should for more than £700.
At first, the Gore-tex outer shell and mesh liner look... chilly. The lack of a quilted liner is alarming; I expected survivalist levels of downy warmth, so it’s worth adding the under-layers you’ll need when trying on for size. My 52 is snug; come the winter I’ll have to shed some plumage to squeeze a heated jacket underneath. Shoulda got a 54.
The outer shell feels lifetime durable. Stiff and unyielding at first, you just know as the miles and years accumulate it’ll give and become more compliant, like an old companion. And with judicious use of goatskin leather on the elbows, D3O armour on back, elbows and shoulders and reflective strips on the back, it’s as rugged as textiles get.
Pockets are a-plenty: no fewer than four zipped internal pockets and five waterproof zipped outer ones. Vents are comprehensive too: chest, arm and back.
But there are niggles: cuffs are Velcro-adjustable but too narrow; it’s almost impossible to fit them over winter gloves. As a dedicated glove-under-cuff wearer, that’s a deal-breaker. And the low collar leaks wind down my back too, even if I do up the adjuster until it’s throttling me. Both these — and questions over deep-winter performance (not a problem this summer) — would make me hesitate before shelling out on the otherwise-outstanding Latitude.
Klim Latitude trousers £549.99 www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk or www.klim.com
MATCHING THE LATITUDE jacket, the Latitude trousers are similarly constructed from tough, durable Gore-tex and a mesh liner and are also well-featured with side pockets, front pocket, D3O knee and hip armour, goat-leather inserts and two rear vents. And, like the jacket, they feel like they’ll deliver a lifetime’s waterproof durability.
But, also like the jacket, there are niggles. Fit is exact; the waist is tight with little scope for adjustment, while the legs are too long (and I’ve got long legs) so the knee armour sits below the knee. Thighs are wide relative to the waist and look like jodhpurs — even after i took the hip armour out.
And the Latitude combo includes my pet hate — a left-handed waist zip, which zips from right to left, and is infuriatingly hard to do up. Most go the other way.
A high quality, lifetime textile suit, with a few design flaws and needing careful fitment choice. SIMON HARGREAVES
Squire Samson £298.80 www.squirelocks.co.uk
THIS LOCK-AND-CHAIN COMBO is seriously heavy (11kg) as well as seriously expensive. There’s a cloth cover to protect the bike — the gold rivets holding it in place quickly failed but I replaced those with cable ties. The chain links are 16mm-thick hardened steel: big enough to beat bolt-croppers and hard for an anglegrinder to get through. A standard link passes through a double-length one, secured by the 12mm shackle on the massive Stronghold lock.
Really, it’s designed for home use: chaining your pride and joy to a ground anchor. It is pricey but it gives me confidence — and peace of mind is priceless. SIMON WEIR
Alpine Motosafe Pro earplugs £22.95 www.alpinehearingprotection.co.uk
EVEN THE QUIETEST helmets suffer with wind noise, so a decent set of earplugs is a must. This Motosafe Pro set includes two specifications – Tour (black) for road use, reducing noise by up to 19db and Race (red), for motorway or circuit use and reducing noise by up to 21.5db.
The advantage of these earplugs is they reduce noise yet still allow essential sounds – engine note, emergency services, other road users – to filter through.
The soft, non-silicone shape fits neatly in my ears and stays firmly in place. They are comfortable for my commute — an hour of motorway — and cut wind noise significantly. However, I struggle to differentiate between Tour and Race when it comes to noise reduction.
So I would go for a pair of Race for £12.95. You still get a handy carry case too. JIM BLACKSTOCK
Forcefield Sport Jacket 1 £124.99 www.forcefieldbodyarmour.com
THIS IS A clever — if expensive — garment. It justifies its price by being both well-specified (CE Level 2 back protector and Level 1 armour in shoulders and elbows) and superbly comfortable, especially in hot weather. The lightweight material is bodyhuggingly tight, but not sweaty. It can be worn under any outer layer — I’ve been using it with a mesh jacket (removing the original shoulder armour). It’s perhaps designed more for use off-road but I’ve found it ideal for keeping cool while still feeling superbly secure this summer. SW
Profi SE-CAT €58.00 www.profi-products.de
THIS GERMAN-MADE CHAIN alignment tool (the C-A-T in the name) is a neat idea. In short, it’s a small aluminium body housing a red laser. You turn it on, hold the device’s bottom edge flush to the rear sprocket, then point the laser down the chain run. If things are all aligned neatly and correctly, the laser line will clip the same spot on every link all the way down the chain. If the rear wheel is askew, the line creeps sideways from one link to the next. That’s all it does: it’s up to you to correct it with the chain adjusters. With postage this cost me £59.14 — not cheap for a tool you might only use once in a blue moon, but handy if you have a number of bikes, or want to share one between mates. It’s certainly shown me just how far out the chain adjuster marks on my Tracer 900GT test bike are. MARTIN FITZ-GIBBONS
Held Gore-tex Clip-in waterproofs £237.99 (jacket), £193.99 (trousers) www.held-uk.co.uk
I LIKE MY Held Hakuna suit… with one reservation: the waterproof liner is also the thermal one. That makes it too warm for hot but damp days. Plus, if you set off with the liner out and it starts raining, you have to do a roadside strip to fit it. Which is where these crazy expensive Gore-tex layers come in. They’re light, non-sweaty and designed to be either clipped inside the Hakuna suit as a liner or worn over the top of it. They’ll clip into any other Held suit, too. I’ve gone through heavy rain with them inside and used as an oversuit and they work. But boy are they expensive… SW
Spada Rigger jeans £139.99 www.spadaclothing.co.uk
THESE SPADA RIGGER jeans are perfect for protection and style. Cut (and so fitting) like regular jeans, they are Cordura with aramid reinforcement, have a micro-mesh lining, Ceapproved knee armour and Coolmax construction. This means they’re warm when it’s chilly but not sticky and nasty when it’s hot. The knee armour does have a slight tendency to rotate inwards but a quick tug and it’s sorted again.
The Riggers also use a Selvedge finish to the inner seams at the bottom of the legs, so they can be turned-up or left au naturel. The killer feature for me though is they are available in regular or short leg lengths – I always need the latter.
BC K900 Evo+ £80.99 www.jawsmotorcycles.co.uk
AS WELL AS regular lead-acid batteries this charger also works with lightweight lithium ones, plus those in bikes with Can-bus wiring (so you can connect it via a 12V power socket). It can’t detect the battery type though – you have to switch modes by joining the crocodile clips together, then turning the power off and on. Why not just fit a button?
Otherwise it does what a charger should, with all the usual multi-step de-sulphating, bulk charging and balancing steps, while the box includes a quick-fit harness, croc clips and a cigarette lighter / DIN plug. The price above is the RRP, though Jaws is discounting it to £60.74 - cheaper than other lithium or Can-bus options. MFG
Spada Wyatt gloves £29.99 www.spadaclothing.co.uk
£30 DOESN’T BUY much nowadays but it will get you a pair of Spada Wyatt urban gloves.
Formed in goatskin leather with a polyester lining, they’re perfect for a squirt across town or further, if it’s warm and dry. They have moulded polyurethane knuckle and finger cups with just suede on the palm.
A short design, they tuck under wrist cuffs and allow some air in and up the sleeves - nice when it’s hot. Fit and comfort are great, the fingers and thumbs wellproportioned and they needed almost no breaking-in. JB