Universal : Riding Gear Thread

[Sunnyside_up!]

SOL = Spartans Pro Gear ? or Spartans pro gear is the dealer for SOL ?

SOL's after sales service is awesome...
Involve in the sense ?

SOL India = Spartan ProGear. The company is the sole authorised distributor for sales, spares and service in the country.

Prince, I'd keep it anonymous and it's pretty much what Abe said, and rightly defined by xBhp, of the biker, by the biker, for the biker. Spartan's very existence is to fill a void by a very biker himself. PERIOD.

Cheers!
VJ

I thank you for the sentiment and the courtesy.

well, i would like to differ, i don't like too many secrets, if its for good, why to keep it a secret. i mean if somebody opens a business, there's no harm in it, we get good riding gear and he gets money...anyway i just wanna know...

Its no secret at all. In fact I thought it was common knowledge since many have been in touch over the years but since you specifically asked, here goes.

I am a 43 year old Architect by profession, a biker for 28 years and one of the people behind the Spartan Project. Because of my design and materials background I am keenly involved with the product development process. There are a few others too involved, all of who are also lifetime bikers though not all members here who look after other aspects like imports, sales and distribution. I prefer my privacy and am a low profile person and that is what VJ was alluding to since we have met on a couple of rides. Many here know me either personally or through the forum or have met at actual rides, the last big one being at the Tri-state in Chikmagalur. Many others have also actively contributed to the design, development and product testing of different products over three years before the products were launched commercially last year. Bikers from clubs like the Mad Bulls, V40, RTMC Bangalore, and forums like xBhp and BCMT have all contributed in some way or the other. In fact, even the photographers and "models" who posed for photos and pics on the official website and FB page are all members from here or other bikers groups. The office in Chennai too has become a regular bikers haunt, with guys regularly dropping in to meet and pitch in whatever way they can.

My personal inspiration and drive for the project stems from the death of my own brother who was killed in a motorcycling accident 16 years ago because his crappy helmet failed him. The irony that he survived active combat as a serving officer in the Army along the LOC but was downed in his own base because his poor quality civilian gear was not up to the mark is a cruel joke. As passionate bikers ever since we were old enough to ride, his unnecessary and pointless death left a deep scar and I wanted to do something about it but did not have the means or resources then as a 27 year old fledgling architect. Over the years as more and more of our brethren fell to the cruelty of our roads, my resolve deepened and together with a small band of like minded bikers, we finally started the Spartan Project in 2009. Product development and testing took us three years to reach market in 2012.

I still ride about 30k Kms a year on highways and track, mostly with friends from here and other groups and clubs all over the country and they continue to be the inspiration that guides me while I hope to keep riding as long as God let's me. If you want anymore specific information, please PM me and we can talk offline.

[B7ACKTHORN]

....My personal inspiration and drive for the project stems from the death of my own brother who was killed in a motorcycling accident 16 years ago because his crappy helmet failed him. The irony that he survived active combat as a serving officer in the Army along the LOC but was downed in his own base because his poor quality civilian gear was not up to the mark is a cruel joke. As passionate bikers ever since we were old enough to ride, his unnecessary and pointless death left a deep scar and I wanted to do something about it but did not have the means or resources then as a 27 year old fledgling architect. Over the years as more and more of our brethren fell to the cruelty of our roads

I guess and it has been, every big things always have some emotions attached it, neither a loved or the brethren. All the best, and would really be glad to join hands in giving some thoughts on future products.

Cheers!
VJ

[chitta_moran]

Came across this while browsing. Can they be used as riding shoes. Looks tough though.

Thanks.

[Sunnyside_up!]

Came across this while browsing. Can they be used as riding shoes. Looks tough though.

Thanks.

Yes, but they're quite heavy and may be a little difficult to manage if you're small built. Have to watch out not to snag the laces too. But will last forever.

[B7ACKTHORN]

Came across this while browsing. Can they be used as riding shoes. Looks tough though.

Thanks.

Yes they can. Matter of fact, I too wear a similar boot with even more ankle cushioning. Offers real good flexibility, and being a boot as it is, for that price point, it's a blast. But being a pointed shoe, I don't think you can use them as a "riding boot" but hey, something is better than nothing.

Cheers!
VJ

[xtremevicky]

re: Universal : Riding Gear Thread

I heared that Olive planet office ran out of lease. It was on their FB page.

Sent from Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk

[chitta_moran]

I heared that Olive planet office ran out of lease. It was on their FB page.

Sent from Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk

I just saw that. Some guy is posting messages on their FB page about Olive Planet being shut down and owner is absconding. Apologies, I did not check their FB page before posting.

Thanks.

[Divya Sharan]

Anybody has relatives coming from US?

Because, I find these very tasty!
Speed and Strength Moment of Truth SP Mesh Jacket :: MotorcycleGear.com
and
Speed and Strength My Motorcycle is My Weapon Mens Textile Jacket - Compacc.com

Within $100 as of now, with excellent features. They've a zipper for attaching riding pants to the jacket as well.

[princesirohi]

@ Sunnyside_up! : Sad to hear about your brother...

its good that you came out and revealed it yourself, i like people who are true and do not hide facts. i am happy and glad that you are a truthful person and so a person who can be trusted. thanks. i was not aware of the this fact about you. once again thanks.

i have some suggestions for riding gears-like for example jackets, there should be an option of adding chest armour to helios, also the long bones of upper torso needs to be protected, not only joints, so there should be armour to protect bones - from shoulder to elbow and elbow to wrist. these long bones needs to be protected against impact to prevent fractures.

a few years back, i had a life threatening accident in which i had 13 fractures (both wrists, both forearms -wrist to elbow, right upperarm- elbow to shoulder, right shin bone- both bones - knee to ankle, right knee cap, right thigh, hip bone, and a depressed fracture in forehead and was on complete bed rest for 3 months. i joined office back after 5 months on a pair of crutches. this is the reason i was looking for complete protection.

while choosing protection for my legs, i was in a big dilemma - as the general options available were riding shoes, knee guards or riding pants but these only protect your feet and knees, again i was looking for something that protects my long bones from knee to ankle and hip to knee along with some protection to hip bone. finally i purchased Dainese knee guards which protect complete shin area along with knees and go into my Rjays H2o riding boots and then i wear Alpinestar riding shorts which provide hard protection to my thigh bone and hip area. so now my complete legs are protected right from the tip of finger to hips.

Came across this while browsing. Can they be used as riding shoes. Looks tough though.

Thanks.

other similar option can be orazo riding boots.

[xtremevicky]

I just saw that. Some guy is posting messages on their FB page about Olive Planet being shut down and owner is absconding. Apologies, I did not check their FB page before posting.

Thanks.

No issues mate. Just make sure you dont lose money. Thats all.

[B7ACKTHORN]

No issues mate. Just make sure you dont lose money. Thats all.

Nice piece of info, regarding fradulent resellers. But let's make it 100% sure, because on a forum like this, even a small spoiled beans can travel a long way. I guess it is the true about the facts people have tabulated regarding Olive Planet.

Cheers!
VJ

[Sunnyside_up!]

.

i have some suggestions for riding gears-like for example jackets, there should be an option of adding chest armour to helios, also the long bones of upper torso needs to be protected, not only joints, so there should be armour to protect bones - from shoulder to elbow and elbow to wrist. these long bones needs to be protected against impact to prevent fractures.

a few years back, i had a life threatening accident in which i had 13 fractures (both wrists, both forearms -wrist to elbow, right upperarm- elbow to shoulder, right shin bone- both bones - knee to ankle, right knee cap, right thigh, hip bone, and a depressed fracture in forehead and was on complete bed rest for 3 months. i joined office back after 5 months on a pair of crutches. this is the reason i was looking for complete protection.

while choosing protection for my legs, i was in a big dilemma - as the general options available were riding shoes, knee guards or riding pants but these only protect your feet and knees, again i was looking for something that protects my long bones from knee to ankle and hip to knee along with some protection to hip bone. finally i purchased Dainese knee guards which protect complete shin area along with knees and go into my Rjays H2o riding boots and then i wear Alpinestar riding shorts which provide hard protection to my thigh bone and hip area. so now my complete legs are protected right from the tip of finger to hips.
.

While the thought is understandable, especially considering your accident, here's why it's not done;

The primary kind of impact injury that causes broken bones in a rider are severe impacts to the extremities, which transmit the shock to the adjacent bones and cause them to break. The most prone to fracture is the clavicle(collar bone), followed by fractured wrists, elbows and knees. Broken radius/ulna, tibia/fibula are the next most common and broken humerus and femur are the least common.

The clavicle is the most often broken bone in the body since it is in the human reflex to try to steady our body in a fall with our hands, and the clavicle simply cannot take the weight of a falling body. There is no way to protect from this kind of break since is a transmission injury or a fracture that happens because the bone is too weak to transmit the force impacting the outstretched hand. The next most common is wrist and elbows for the same reason. The force being transmitted by the falling body onto the outstretched hand is too much for the wrist to transmit and it simply crushes. If the force is even more, the elbow is next to go, followed by the bones in the forearm. If even more force is transmitted, the humerus or upper arm bone will break, but not before crushing the shoulder.

You might notice that the weaker bones give way before the stronger bones, resulting in more fractures occurring in thinner bones and less in thicker bones. Of course, in the kind of accident you suffered, I would say that your right side took the brunt. Beyond a certain impact force survivability drops alarmingly because the human body is simply not designed to absorb that much impact energy. The second type of fracture is due to a lateral break, which means that force acting perpendicular to the bone cause it to break. This are much harder to protect against because side or lateral impact cannot be absorbed easily. These are often caused by the body slamming flat against some immovable objects. Even wearing a suit of steel armour like medieval knights cannot protect the body from being crushed inside the suit. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to determine with what force we will be slamming against the immovable objects because of too many variables like speed, mass of the object, inertia, and others. Wearing a steel suit will not protect from the impact of as fall from the third floor for example. Inertia will simply crush the body against the inside of the suit.

Hence rather than try to pad the rider like a cocoon , newer technologies are being worked on like air-suits made of inflatable airbags deployed during the impact. These airbag suits however cost more than some of our bikes. Considering that it is impossible to predict the forces in a lateral impact, designers work with what they can predict to an extent - the force experienced at some of the extremities due the the weight of a falling body - the most common type of fractures.

Chest armour is rare in jackets because the vital organs of the body are already quite well protected by the body's own rib-cage. A thin piece of plastic is hardly likely to absorb any more force than the ribs. At best it can prevent intrusion by a sharp object. Secondly chest injuries in a fall are rare because the body's natural tendency is to use our out-stretched hands to buffer the impact. Furthermore the ventilation in mesh jackets gets severely compromised with armour in front, hence it is hardly seen in mesh jackets. A jacket that is uncomfortable to use likely will not be worn, defeating the entire exercise, so designers tend to focus on wearability and comfort too.

[xtremevicky]

Nice piece of info, regarding fradulent resellers. But let's make it 100% sure, because on a forum like this, even a small spoiled beans can travel a long way. I guess it is the true about the facts people have tabulated regarding Olive Planet.

Cheers!
VJ

Well thats what I was saying just make sure they are in business before you make transactions.

I am just telling him to be careful. I just hope the rumor is not true but I felt it was necessary to tell people.

[princesirohi]

Since you are into this, it may be worthwhile to discuss with you..

While the thought is understandable, especially considering your accident, here's why it's not done;

The primary kind of impact injury that causes broken bones in a rider are severe impacts to the extremities, which transmit the shock to the adjacent bones and cause them to break. The most prone to fracture is the clavicle(collar bone), followed by fractured wrists, elbows and knees. Broken radius/ulna, tibia/fibula are the next most common and broken humerus and femur are the least common.

The clavicle is the most often broken bone in the body since it is in the human reflex to try to steady our body in a fall with our hands, and the clavicle simply cannot take the weight of a falling body. There is no way to protect from this kind of break since is a transmission injury or a fracture that happens because the bone is too weak to transmit the force impacting the outstretched hand. The next most common is wrist and elbows for the same reason. The force being transmitted by the falling body onto the outstretched hand is too much for the wrist to transmit and it simply crushes. If the force is even more, the elbow is next to go, followed by the bones in the forearm. If even more force is transmitted, the humerus or upper arm bone will break, but not before crushing the shoulder.

You might notice that the weaker bones give way before the stronger bones, resulting in more fractures occurring in thinner bones and less in thicker bones. Of course, in the kind of accident you suffered, I would say that your right side took the brunt. Beyond a certain impact force survivability drops alarmingly because the human body is simply not designed to absorb that much impact energy. The second type of fracture is due to a lateral break, which means that force acting perpendicular to the bone cause it to break. This are much harder to protect against because side or lateral impact cannot be absorbed easily. These are often caused by the body slamming flat against some immovable objects. Even wearing a suit of steel armour like medieval knights cannot protect the body from being crushed inside the suit. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to determine with what force we will be slamming against the immovable objects because of too many variables like speed, mass of the object, inertia, and others. Wearing a steel suit will not protect from the impact of as fall from the third floor for example. Inertia will simply crush the body against the inside of the suit.

Hence rather than try to pad the rider like a cocoon , newer technologies are being worked on like air-suits made of inflatable airbags deployed during the impact. These airbag suits however cost more than some of our bikes. Considering that it is impossible to predict the forces in a lateral impact, designers work with what they can predict to an extent - the force experienced at some of the extremities due the the weight of a falling body - the most common type of fractures.

Chest armour is rare in jackets because the vital organs of the body are already quite well protected by the body's own rib-cage. A thin piece of plastic is hardly likely to absorb any more force than the ribs. At best it can prevent intrusion by a sharp object. Secondly chest injuries in a fall are rare because the body's natural tendency is to use our out-stretched hands to buffer the impact. Furthermore the ventilation in mesh jackets gets severely compromised with armour in front, hence it is hardly seen in mesh jackets. A jacket that is uncomfortable to use likely will not be worn, defeating the entire exercise, so designers tend to focus on wearability and comfort too.

your knowledge may be correct since you might have done some research and since you are into this field, i agree transmition of shock fractures wrists and other joints, but we are not trying to protect our body by wearing protection from transmission force, this way there is no use of even any protection, still we provide armour at joints knee, elbows, shoulder etc...because we are trying to build impact resistance.

transmission of impact force is just one cause of injury, abrasion is another and impact is third. in fact impact is major according to me.

long bones just by virtue of more available area of impact and length is more probable to receive a direct blow. also an impact in which the force is perpendicular to the length of bone is equally likely to break a bone. this is more likely to happen in a serious crash and not in minor skid or low side kind of crashes, so we should be prepared for a worst case scenario. and i think we can provide a decent level of protection from such injuries.

what we need is a hard protector combined with soft energy absorbing material as a cushion. in the case of an impact perpendicular to the length of bone - a hard protector should distribute the energy to the entire length of protection and its surface area so when the impact which is like a point application of load/force - its energy is distributed and then it should be absorbed by soft cushion material further reducing its impact. there is no need of a steel armour, but scientifically designed armour is required.

this is my thinking and i think it is pretty much valid, only thing is how much it would cost.

chest armour is very rare, you are right, but most serious protection does include a chest armour of some kind, yes a thin plate of plastic can at best only prevent any sharp object from hurting you, even then it is good, as you are protected from that pointed object. however, i am not talking about a thin plate of plastic. i was talking about a hard protection combined with soft material cushion similar to what i said above, and these kind of armours are available, though a bit rare and costly. and it is good to protect you chest region, as some of the most critical organ are there, if bones are broken they can be fixed, but imagine a fractured rib puncturing your lungs or something like that. and less chances of injury because your hands will reach out first -- this argument does not hold good, otherwise you may not need even a helmet in that case, coz your hands will also reach out first to save your head too, but that is not how it works all the time and we need helmets, similarly your hands may not be able to sometimes protect your chest.

and most of the armour now a days are vented, chest armours come in vented variety too, my dainese knee guards, alpinestar riding shorts are vented too, so they may reduce the overall ventilation to half but will not completely block it, and you will have the option of removing it should you choose ventilation and comfort over protection.

these are just my thoughts, ofcourse many may disagree, since i like protection over comfort. you never know when you will need the ultimate protection but when you do, you will thank yourself for choosing protection over comfort. infact i had that accident not on any ride or trip but when going to office which was barely 5 kms from my room.

it strikes when you least expect it.

huff... pretty long post...but it was nice discussing with you.

[chotu_r]

i've been following this thread for a long time, but usually stay offline. very exciting to see the members posting so much info here!

thanks to this thread i've been able to make informed and hopefully accurate decisions while buying my riding gear piecemeal. They took a long time for me to acquire, but it was worth it!
My gear: LS2 FF350 helmet
DSG Revive gloves
cramster turtle tankbag
Helios mesh jacket with Knox protectors (managed to snap this up while enroute to Hyd. Wish i had known about the thermal liner while purchasing jacket, wouldn't have had to experience some really freezing early morning rides!!)


wearing gloves to office, leave alone jacket is making me look like an oddball and butt target of many jokes. slowly getting used to them and my determination to wear riding gear got stronger when i witnessed an accident yesterday when a bike rider was knocked down by a car. his helmet came off and nearly went under the wheel of the bike i was on as pillion rider. i was not wearing even a helmet at that time as my friend who was driving had zero gear on him and it was a question of looking odd as well as some sort of guilt also. thankfully, we managed to escape unscathed.

i am now on the lookout for knee protectors, although the crash guard of my bike has already saved my legs once. would prefer to get something which might go under jeans. Most of the protectors i found are fakes on ebay or mx type ones. Forcefield Armadillo knee guard seems to be good and also slightly affordable, but it might be difficult to select proper size. Please give some suggestions on proper knee guards which might preferably be available in india.