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Cycleport Ultra II Kevlar riding pantsJan 29 '06 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Sport and Outdoor
The Bottom Line In the market for custom synthetic motorcycle gear? Look no further than Cycleport. Ace products, ace service... but at a premium price.
I just received my Ultra II Kevlar Pants from Cycleport [www.motoport.com] this week and had a chance to do a couple hundred miles this weekend. Luckily, I didn’t actually have to “test” the pants in a crash, but I do have some impressions I’d like to share. :: A Brief History :: Since about June 2005, I was in the serious hunt for some new riding gear: more specifically, pants. Most all of my riding kit had been assembled over the last couple of years [boots, gloves, several leather + synthetic jackets, helmet, etc.], but the pant thing had eluded me. I had been riding around in Draggin’ Jeans for a while, but I knew they were barely a step up from regular denim. I eschewed traditional boy-racer leathers simply because I’m not a track rider [yet], nor were they very practical for my kind of riding [mostly commuting, weekend strafing, overnight trips, etc.]. After several months of research, I decided to give myself the gift of Aerostich for my birthday. Proudly making the commitment, I promptly went to their website and set upon ordering my long-delayed pants. Aerostich claims that their garments can fit 90% of people that order their gear. Well, guess what? I’m in that 10% that they can’t fit [short, round, with really short legs]. I went through the website: no dice. I called customer service: zip. Aerostich, while having an established solution to synthetic riding apparel, is somewhat limited in their sizing. While they have a decent size range for all of those “average” body types out there and they offer various “custom tailoring” options on their gear, they are still more or less an off-the-rack kind of joint. If you are a non-typical size, you’re out of luck. Aerostich is a company that does their thing and does it well, but there isn’t much room to deviate from their established criteria. This is not a dig at Aerostich; their gear is high speed. They were simply unable fulfill my particular needs. :: The Vegan Motorcyclist :: So in my disappointment, I instituted a furious full frontal assault web search, looking for anyone that could turn out synthetic riding pants for me. And I came across a most intriguing website: http://www.waterjets.org/vegan_motorcyclist.html. The Vegan Motorcyclist? Not something that would ever occur to me, but whatever. If anyone needs a source for non-leather riding gear, this is a good one. I’m not vegan nor do I plan to be anytime soon, but it was a really good resource for me. Thusly, I come upon Cycleport. And was I glad that I did. :: Cycleport :: Cycleport products are made in California and they specialize in Cordura and Kevlar riding apparel. It doesn’t get any more synthetic than that + they have a great selection. Cycleport also has the distinction of having the first Kevlar suit to be approved for F.I.M. World Championship Racing. Pretty credible, I say. After cruising their site, I decided that I wanted to go with their Ultra II Kevlar pants. Since I already had enough jackets, I thought just going with pants was enough. It turns out that because my measurements were so wack, they had to do a full-house custom job for me. Wayne Boyer [their president] contacted me personally and confirmed my measurements to be sure that they were correct. After that, the waiting game began. I placed my order on 26 September; the pants showed up on 23 January– in basic black, of course. :: Ultra II Kevlar :: The pants arrived and once I figured out how to put them on, they were a perfect fit. Since it was a custom job to my specs, I was thrilled [but not surprised] that the fit was so great; for the price I paid, it’s supposed to be perfect. However, Wayne also assured me that the custom fee would also cover any costs for fitment adjustments. Wayne suggested suspenders as well as a belt just to keep things on in the event of a get-off [since I was only ordering pants and not an accompanying jacket]. He also added the zipper for a jacket in case I decide to order one from them. I also chose the optional hip pads to be installed as well. The Ultra II Kevlar pant is more of a touring-type pant [very similar to the concept of the Aerostich Roadcrafter]. The fit was relaxed and it slips easily on over street clothes. The configuration of the ingress/egress zippers [full-length on the right leg, ¾ length on the left leg] in conjunction with the suspenders made putting on the pants a 10-second affair [I’ll get faster with practice]. I should also note that one doesn’t need to remove boots before ingress or egress from the pants; definitely a plus. Additionally, these pants can be worn over regular street clothes [even shorts] because the material has not been coated with any kind of polyurethane. This is nice because in the event of a get-off, the excessive heat that may be generated [by sliding on the pavement] will not cause the garment to melt to your skin. This occurrence is not mentioned in the marketing schemes of most of the big motorcycle apparel manufacturers; it’s kind of a dirty little secret [that I myself never really thought of], but it makes sense: you can’t beat the laws of physics. A good explanation can be found on the Cycleport website. The Ultra II Kevlar pants have two generous thigh pockets on either leg + zippered [and rain flapped] access pockets on the hips, presumably to get to your regular pants pockets. A nice touch, but not exactly easy to get to a front pocket on a pair of jeans underneath. A Velcro rain flap covers the main zippers on both legs and there are also Velcro “cinches” on the calves to make them snug against your legs, preventing flapping at higher speeds. From the knee to the ankle [on both sides], there are two 1.5” Scotchlite retro-reflective stripes to aid in conspicuity. The suspenders and belt are constructed of heavy-duty 2” nylon webbing and the pants also have a wide elastic band on the waist, which makes it easier to put on over your street clothes. There is also a nylon flap on the front [which secures with rubber-covered snaps] that covers the Delrin belt buckle, protecting your paint job. The pants themselves are constructed of a stretch Kevlar material [similar to Schoeller Keprotec]. The inside is lined with a soft mesh material, which will probably be comfortable on those hot days. Also, the knee/shin and hip armor were all perfectly situated and were made of a closed-cell EVA foam called Tri-Armor, developed in Germany. It is lightweight and has vent holes to facilitate better breathing in warmer climates. It also surpasses CE standards and Cycleport claims that it is some of the best available. More on Tri-Armor can be found on their website. Personally, I like the fact that it is very lightweight and has generous coverage. Cycleport claims that they use only the best materials in the construction of their apparel, and I can believe it. The seams were neat and beefy. The zippers were all heavy-duty YKK brand and even the Velcro enclosures were very “aggressive”. In other words, if I were going to purposely crash my bike, these are the only pants I’d want to be wearing [short of full custom leathers]. :: Downsides :: No product is perfect, but please understand that the following points are minor niggles. These don’t change the fact that Cycleport was able to provide for me something that no other apparel manufacturer could supply to me: premium quality riding pants that fit. Since I ordered the pants as a custom deal, the wait time was very long. Initially, I was promised a delivery time of 4-8 weeks. That actually turned into more like 16 weeks when all was said and done. So if you are in a hurry, you may want to try some off-the-rack shopping. Since everything is done on a per-order basis, you are basically getting a custom-made piece of apparel and that requires time. If you want a pair of these made for you, you’d better have some patience. These pants were not inexpensive. Compared to comparable products, the Ultra II Kevlars are a premium piece of kit. The base price is $300.00. Since I had the full-on custom fit, that added another $150.00. The hip armor was a $50.00 option and the suspenders were another $69.00. This brought my total to $567.00 [plus shipping]. Pricey? Definitely. Overpriced? Absolutely not. Also, were I able to actually fit in a pair of Aerostich Roadcrafters and went with similar options, I would have ended up spending about the same, if not more. As stated before, the exterior access to your street clothes is not exactly easy; the placement of those access zippers make it difficult to fish a pair of keys or any coins from your pants pockets. Definitely not a deal breaker, but worth mentioning. Also, as much as I like the Velcro cinching around the calves, I wish the strips were a bit wider. It’s a little awkward trying to affix ¼” wide Velcro straps snugly around your calves. It’s pretty much impossible while wearing gloves, so get your bottoms sorted before you put on the rest of your gear. As I expected, there isn’t exactly a rainbow of color options from which to choose. Your options are black, grey, red/black, blue/black and yellow/black. Frankly, I don’t mind so much because basic black goes with pretty much anything; I’d stick with that. In the end, I would highly recommend the Cycleport Ultra II Kevlar pants. For touring, commuting and spirited street riding, they are a great all-purpose piece of kit. Not only was the fitment spot-on, but the crew at Cycleport really know their business and it shows with a stellar product. If you have the cash, the patience and are really hard to fit, give them a call and order a pair for yourself. If you’re in a hurry, on a tight budget or are of the “average” body type [whatever that is], you may have good luck with other motorcycle apparel manufacturers. Frankly, I think $600 isn’t a whole lot of money for first-rate safety gear; and it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than a skin graft.  |
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