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My 10 month review of solace Defender Plus jacket and Solace threshold Boots.
This is my first thread and review on Xbhp so I would like to apologize in prior for any mistakes.
Solace Defender Plus
The need
My jacket was nearing 4 years old. It was a spartan Icarus with basic CE level 1 armours.
So the hunt was on for an upgrade.
The spark
My brother lost his jacket while on a trip to ooty. So this was excuse enough to go out and search for a new jacket.
We had already decided to get a Textile jacket this time because we had already used mesh jackets and felt that a textile will be more safe. The only bugging issue was the uncomfortable nature of the jackets that come bundled with any textile jackets(read poor ventilation). That didn't mean we closed our eyes to other mesh jackets. We considered them too.
If one looks on a higher level there are many jackets from many manufacturers available in India but on a lower level these were my observations.
Cramster- Having heard bad reviews about it this brand was given less preference.
DSG Genesis and DSG Triton- These had met all the criteria and looked awesome but sadly with basic CE armours(as per their website ) these didnt tick off all the boxes.
TBG Knight- This was the jacket that came close to being bought. Its a very good jacket and has happy customers. This checked off all almost all the criteria. Though being almost 2000 bucks dearer than the defender plus this was still an option. It came with sas-tec armors that are far superior to than the basic CE armours that came with the DSG and Cramster ones.
Solace Defender Plus- One day while randomly browsing through my liked pages in my Facebook account i saw i had randomly liked a page called solace riding gears in 2014. I didn't hear from them or any user about their products after that so was doubtful if the company is operational at all or not. On visiting the page i found out that they are well functional and located close by. I also found out that they have a textile jacket called Defender plus which is a full Textile jacket and came with sas tec level 2 armours for shoulders and elbows and a Multi layer CE level 2 armour for the back. The jacket looked interesting so i contacted them via phone with the given contact number and got the exact details of the place .
I went to the place next week to check out the defender plus jacket. Sadly couldn't take pics of the purchase but putting a pic of the jacket form their website here for reference.
These were my initial observations of the jacket.
The jacket is full textile with 600D fabric(new ones are 750D).
The armors are Sas tec in the elbows and shoulders and are unlike any other armors i have seen till now.
It has an integrated rain liner with a detachable Thermal liner.
The build quality looked top notch with the stitches and stretch panels looking sturdy and seemed tough.
This was purchased after a long session of Q&A with Mr. Dalip Kumar who was patient enough to explain all the tiny bits in detail. The cost was 7100 INR back in October.
The jacket was used for short rides initially and finally on December i had to visit my native town bhubaneswar which is almost 1500 kms away from Bangalore.
It was during this ride that the actual quality of the liner came out. The armors didn't bite on long stretches which usually is the case with my old jacket.
The adjustment straps made sure the armors stayed in place and the inegrated rain liner was a boon as almost half of my ride was in rains.
The Thermal liner made sure i didnt freeze as it was winter time in Odisha and temperatures do go really low. The only gripe was it being a textile jacket you will heat up fast if you stop
for long with the main zipper zipped in shut. The trick is to loosen up the main zip and let the air flow in if you are down to a crawling speed. The ride was good and the jacket was fine on the return trip also.A few months afterwards my brother was using this jacket and had a very nasty crash on loose gravel. it was a pretty nasty crash as he was doing around 60-70kmph.
The jacket took the impact and thanks to the well designed retention straps the armors stayed in place and didnt move from their place thus preventing additional damage.
The jacket after the crash is shown below.
The best thing is even though the crash was a bit serious the jacket didnt even tear or give up its stitch in one single place.
it was just muddied and after one wash it was back to be used again. Had it been a mesh jacket the jacket would have been a write off and may be the mesh could have melted and casued additional damage.
The compromise with comfort that was decided prior to buying this jacket was proven correct.
Solace Threshold boots
While buying the jacket i saw that solace have a boot in their product list too. Its called Threshold and is supposed to be a track boot. It looked interesting and
ignited thought of getting a pair of proper riding boots but i preferred to delay the purchase as i needed time to research on what other options i had. The budget was 8-10k max.
So keeping this in mind i started searching for proper full length riding boots(safety shoes or ankle length boots were discarded completely from the list).
These are the options that i had while keeping the mentioned requirements in mind.
Falco liberty
Tarmac venom
Ryo Raptor 2
Solace Threshold
XDI
Alpinestars sidi TCX etc were discounted because of budget constraints.
Falco liberty(7700 INR approx)- Tried it the build is good and top notch very good pricing too.
Tarmac venom(10000 INR)- The costliest of the bunch and looks the part of a track boot too. Sadly it had too many screws plastic panels and
joints and the retention mechanism was complex. It would be a good choice if you are a trackday nut but if you want the best of both worlds then probably these are not for you.
Ryo Raptor 2(8000 INR)- Looks good and awesome but sadly the feel is flimsy and the leather didn't seem that good. Didn't bother giving it a second thought.
XDI(8500 INR)-No place in Bangalore to try and buy so these boots were dropped off the list.
Solace Threshold(7200 INR)- These boots were tried in the last and luckily they had a newer variant for it. The new variant came in with a foldable curtain kind of thing between your leg and the zipper in the boots. These are there to prevent extra folding of the boots when you try to wear them and in a way prevent water from seeping in through the zipper too.
As again Mr. kumar was grilled for an hour with my constant and sometimes even non sensical questions to which he explained everything politely and correctly.
The boots were tested thoroughly on my ride to Odisha where most of the ride was done in rains.
I have completed almost 10k kms with the boots and they are still strong.
IN a nut shell both of the peoducts are good at what they claim to do but i would like to put in a few positives and negatives of both.
Solace Defender Plus
Pros-
Awesome level of protection thanks to the heavy duty cordura and Sas- Tec armours
Option of customization according to your size and to an extent color too. Infact this is the only Indian Manufacturer i have heard till now to do so.
Good rain protection
Bang for buck
Cons-
It can be a microwave in certain situations
Main Zipper was flimsy in my model but the newer models have better zippers.
Threshold Boots
Pros-
Build quality and material used is top notch.
Zippers and velcor work as expected.
Good quality ankle toe and shin protection.
Water proof if you ride in rains without submerging yourself till knees.
Again like the jacket Kick ass pricing.
Cons-
Well only one i can think of the inside part of the heel tends to be in contact with the heel plates in the bike and get scored.
Verdict for both-
Definitely recommended or at least worth a try before dismissing the brand as another unknown entity.
P.S. More pics of the present state of both the products will be added when i access my personal computer.
CHEERS
This is my first thread and review on Xbhp so I would like to apologize in prior for any mistakes.
Solace Defender Plus
The need
My jacket was nearing 4 years old. It was a spartan Icarus with basic CE level 1 armours.
So the hunt was on for an upgrade.
The spark
My brother lost his jacket while on a trip to ooty. So this was excuse enough to go out and search for a new jacket.
We had already decided to get a Textile jacket this time because we had already used mesh jackets and felt that a textile will be more safe. The only bugging issue was the uncomfortable nature of the jackets that come bundled with any textile jackets(read poor ventilation). That didn't mean we closed our eyes to other mesh jackets. We considered them too.
If one looks on a higher level there are many jackets from many manufacturers available in India but on a lower level these were my observations.
Cramster- Having heard bad reviews about it this brand was given less preference.
DSG Genesis and DSG Triton- These had met all the criteria and looked awesome but sadly with basic CE armours(as per their website ) these didnt tick off all the boxes.
TBG Knight- This was the jacket that came close to being bought. Its a very good jacket and has happy customers. This checked off all almost all the criteria. Though being almost 2000 bucks dearer than the defender plus this was still an option. It came with sas-tec armors that are far superior to than the basic CE armours that came with the DSG and Cramster ones.
Solace Defender Plus- One day while randomly browsing through my liked pages in my Facebook account i saw i had randomly liked a page called solace riding gears in 2014. I didn't hear from them or any user about their products after that so was doubtful if the company is operational at all or not. On visiting the page i found out that they are well functional and located close by. I also found out that they have a textile jacket called Defender plus which is a full Textile jacket and came with sas tec level 2 armours for shoulders and elbows and a Multi layer CE level 2 armour for the back. The jacket looked interesting so i contacted them via phone with the given contact number and got the exact details of the place .
I went to the place next week to check out the defender plus jacket. Sadly couldn't take pics of the purchase but putting a pic of the jacket form their website here for reference.
These were my initial observations of the jacket.
The jacket is full textile with 600D fabric(new ones are 750D).
The armors are Sas tec in the elbows and shoulders and are unlike any other armors i have seen till now.
It has an integrated rain liner with a detachable Thermal liner.
The build quality looked top notch with the stitches and stretch panels looking sturdy and seemed tough.
This was purchased after a long session of Q&A with Mr. Dalip Kumar who was patient enough to explain all the tiny bits in detail. The cost was 7100 INR back in October.
The jacket was used for short rides initially and finally on December i had to visit my native town bhubaneswar which is almost 1500 kms away from Bangalore.
It was during this ride that the actual quality of the liner came out. The armors didn't bite on long stretches which usually is the case with my old jacket.
The adjustment straps made sure the armors stayed in place and the inegrated rain liner was a boon as almost half of my ride was in rains.
The Thermal liner made sure i didnt freeze as it was winter time in Odisha and temperatures do go really low. The only gripe was it being a textile jacket you will heat up fast if you stop
for long with the main zipper zipped in shut. The trick is to loosen up the main zip and let the air flow in if you are down to a crawling speed. The ride was good and the jacket was fine on the return trip also.A few months afterwards my brother was using this jacket and had a very nasty crash on loose gravel. it was a pretty nasty crash as he was doing around 60-70kmph.
The jacket took the impact and thanks to the well designed retention straps the armors stayed in place and didnt move from their place thus preventing additional damage.
The jacket after the crash is shown below.
The best thing is even though the crash was a bit serious the jacket didnt even tear or give up its stitch in one single place.
it was just muddied and after one wash it was back to be used again. Had it been a mesh jacket the jacket would have been a write off and may be the mesh could have melted and casued additional damage.
The compromise with comfort that was decided prior to buying this jacket was proven correct.
Solace Threshold boots
While buying the jacket i saw that solace have a boot in their product list too. Its called Threshold and is supposed to be a track boot. It looked interesting and
ignited thought of getting a pair of proper riding boots but i preferred to delay the purchase as i needed time to research on what other options i had. The budget was 8-10k max.
So keeping this in mind i started searching for proper full length riding boots(safety shoes or ankle length boots were discarded completely from the list).
These are the options that i had while keeping the mentioned requirements in mind.
Falco liberty
Tarmac venom
Ryo Raptor 2
Solace Threshold
XDI
Alpinestars sidi TCX etc were discounted because of budget constraints.
Falco liberty(7700 INR approx)- Tried it the build is good and top notch very good pricing too.
Tarmac venom(10000 INR)- The costliest of the bunch and looks the part of a track boot too. Sadly it had too many screws plastic panels and
joints and the retention mechanism was complex. It would be a good choice if you are a trackday nut but if you want the best of both worlds then probably these are not for you.
Ryo Raptor 2(8000 INR)- Looks good and awesome but sadly the feel is flimsy and the leather didn't seem that good. Didn't bother giving it a second thought.
XDI(8500 INR)-No place in Bangalore to try and buy so these boots were dropped off the list.
Solace Threshold(7200 INR)- These boots were tried in the last and luckily they had a newer variant for it. The new variant came in with a foldable curtain kind of thing between your leg and the zipper in the boots. These are there to prevent extra folding of the boots when you try to wear them and in a way prevent water from seeping in through the zipper too.
As again Mr. kumar was grilled for an hour with my constant and sometimes even non sensical questions to which he explained everything politely and correctly.
The boots were tested thoroughly on my ride to Odisha where most of the ride was done in rains.
I have completed almost 10k kms with the boots and they are still strong.
IN a nut shell both of the peoducts are good at what they claim to do but i would like to put in a few positives and negatives of both.
Solace Defender Plus
Pros-
Awesome level of protection thanks to the heavy duty cordura and Sas- Tec armours
Option of customization according to your size and to an extent color too. Infact this is the only Indian Manufacturer i have heard till now to do so.
Good rain protection
Bang for buck
Cons-
It can be a microwave in certain situations
Main Zipper was flimsy in my model but the newer models have better zippers.
Threshold Boots
Pros-
Build quality and material used is top notch.
Zippers and velcor work as expected.
Good quality ankle toe and shin protection.
Water proof if you ride in rains without submerging yourself till knees.
Again like the jacket Kick ass pricing.
Cons-
Well only one i can think of the inside part of the heel tends to be in contact with the heel plates in the bike and get scored.
Verdict for both-
Definitely recommended or at least worth a try before dismissing the brand as another unknown entity.
P.S. More pics of the present state of both the products will be added when i access my personal computer.
CHEERS
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