Hudson
Well-known member
Wayne from Motoport made a special visit to the PNW this past Friday at my request. I'm writing this up because it was really helpful to learn what we learned about what to look for in better riding gear.There is a ton of info and specs about helmets, boots, etc. but very little consumer information about riding gear. The presentation Friday was eye-opening. Wayne brought in actual examples of crashed gear, including Motoport stuff.
I invited Wayne to speak to the riders at Microsoft after getting a tour of his shop in San Marcos, CA a few months ago. We had about 30-35 Microsoft riders attend. Goals was to walk away with a better understanding of what separates good pants/jackets/gloves from the crap stuff. Wayne flew up to Seattle with four massive duffle bags of samples.
People tend to get pretty religious about their riding gear: leather vs. textile, Cordura vs. Kevlar. When you visit Motoport's site, they spend a lot of time discussing tear strength of various materials. Tear strength refers to how many pounds it takes to tear fabric apart. Jeans for example tear with about 4lbs, good quality Cordura is about 22-30lbs. The 1000 denier stuff takes 110 lbs, about the same as competition leathers. The Motorport Kevlar stuff is leagues stronger, 420-1260 lbs to tear (stretch vs. Mesh Kevlar).
However, what became pretty clear was that the stitching and assembly, and things like zippers and thread, were far more critical to how the gear would hold up in a real crash. All the examples of failed gear were where the stitching blew out on impact. Examining the stitching and materials used by Motorport was really impressive. They overlap their fabric, and then use double lock stitching on the outside, and 5 thread stitching on the inside. They have to train their seamstresses for a few months, so all gear is made in-house in San Marcos, because they can't get the quality by contracting this out, and working with the Kevlar fabric is difficult for an average seamstress.
One thing that sticks in my brain is the discussion about the economics of riding gear. Your average $250-$400 riding jacket is made in China for about $30-40 wholesale, consisting of: $10 in materials, $10 in labor, $20 for the contract manufacturers profit. The rest of the price covers profits paid to various parties to get the jacket to a dealer: The importer gets their 20-40%, the distributor another 7-10%, leaving the dealer with the chance to make 50-80% markup. Sure, each has to pay their costs, employees, marketing, return stock, etc. But the jacket is the cheapest part of that transaction.
Most of the Joe Rocket and Icon type stuff is made of pretty crappy poly materials. In addition to having very little abrasion resistance, this stuff can actually melt and embed itself into your skin. It tears easily, but not as easily as the thread used to stitch it together. They use thread spools that cost about sixty five cents, vs. the $30 a spool that Motoport uses. Motoport sources parts like zippers and Velcro that is similarly much beefier and way more expensive than the crap stuff..
The materials cost is pretty telling. Even good quality 500+denier Cordura runs less than $7 a yard vs. the $50-75 a yard for the Kevlar fabric, which is made in Switzerland. The armor material was equally impressive, and we walked through a few exercise that pretty easily demonstrated the difference between the "foam" used by most makers and the DuPont materials used by Motoport in their quad armor, which is super expensive, but where everyone at the presentation could feel the difference in the ability to spread out the impact pressure.
We sat around comparing the various jackets, and when you know what to look for, it makes you mad to see how crappy some of the stuff out there is made. Even brands that command $$$, like Revit, KLIM, BMW motorradd, Olympia, and (holds his breath) Aerostitch, have pretty significant compromises. When you compare these jackets side by side with the custom-tailored Motoport gear, at or near the same price, it is not clear to me why anyone would buy these other jackets.
In contrast, the Motoport gear crash samples looked almost unscathed. I've seen online posts and you can hardly tell the gear was crashed. Slight scuffs. Most impressive.
I asked Wayne about why he doesn't sell to dealers. His answer was unfortunate but true: at a 50% markup for the dealer, his already pricey gear would be unaffordable to almost all. Also, most people walk into a dealer and want to walk out with their gear. The American mindset is "off the rack" instant gratification, and custom tailored suit that takes 8-12 weeks to deliver impedes a lot of sales.
I had many folks email me afterward very impressed. Mind you, these are type-A propeller heads who question pretty much everything you tell them, but since they got to see it first hand and play with various materials and compare against their own gear, well.... Wayne didn't have to sell. It was already sold. (One guy said simply: "Shut up already and take my money")
I ordered a Stretch kevlar jacket, plus a pair of their newer winter gloves (which aren't made to order). I tested out the next day, and they were warm enough to turn off the heated grips. I already own the mesh Kevlar jacket, which Wayne says is a better choice for bikes with full fairings and large windscreen like the FJR. But I have three bikes with no fairings and small windscreens, and the stretch stuff is much more form fitting than the slightly bulkier Mesh Kevlar.
I may have Wayne visit next year, maybe at a Tech day. I think it takes like 10-12 orders to make the trip worthwhile, but if Friday was any example, this should be pretty easy.
I invited Wayne to speak to the riders at Microsoft after getting a tour of his shop in San Marcos, CA a few months ago. We had about 30-35 Microsoft riders attend. Goals was to walk away with a better understanding of what separates good pants/jackets/gloves from the crap stuff. Wayne flew up to Seattle with four massive duffle bags of samples.
People tend to get pretty religious about their riding gear: leather vs. textile, Cordura vs. Kevlar. When you visit Motoport's site, they spend a lot of time discussing tear strength of various materials. Tear strength refers to how many pounds it takes to tear fabric apart. Jeans for example tear with about 4lbs, good quality Cordura is about 22-30lbs. The 1000 denier stuff takes 110 lbs, about the same as competition leathers. The Motorport Kevlar stuff is leagues stronger, 420-1260 lbs to tear (stretch vs. Mesh Kevlar).
However, what became pretty clear was that the stitching and assembly, and things like zippers and thread, were far more critical to how the gear would hold up in a real crash. All the examples of failed gear were where the stitching blew out on impact. Examining the stitching and materials used by Motorport was really impressive. They overlap their fabric, and then use double lock stitching on the outside, and 5 thread stitching on the inside. They have to train their seamstresses for a few months, so all gear is made in-house in San Marcos, because they can't get the quality by contracting this out, and working with the Kevlar fabric is difficult for an average seamstress.
One thing that sticks in my brain is the discussion about the economics of riding gear. Your average $250-$400 riding jacket is made in China for about $30-40 wholesale, consisting of: $10 in materials, $10 in labor, $20 for the contract manufacturers profit. The rest of the price covers profits paid to various parties to get the jacket to a dealer: The importer gets their 20-40%, the distributor another 7-10%, leaving the dealer with the chance to make 50-80% markup. Sure, each has to pay their costs, employees, marketing, return stock, etc. But the jacket is the cheapest part of that transaction.
Most of the Joe Rocket and Icon type stuff is made of pretty crappy poly materials. In addition to having very little abrasion resistance, this stuff can actually melt and embed itself into your skin. It tears easily, but not as easily as the thread used to stitch it together. They use thread spools that cost about sixty five cents, vs. the $30 a spool that Motoport uses. Motoport sources parts like zippers and Velcro that is similarly much beefier and way more expensive than the crap stuff..
The materials cost is pretty telling. Even good quality 500+denier Cordura runs less than $7 a yard vs. the $50-75 a yard for the Kevlar fabric, which is made in Switzerland. The armor material was equally impressive, and we walked through a few exercise that pretty easily demonstrated the difference between the "foam" used by most makers and the DuPont materials used by Motoport in their quad armor, which is super expensive, but where everyone at the presentation could feel the difference in the ability to spread out the impact pressure.
We sat around comparing the various jackets, and when you know what to look for, it makes you mad to see how crappy some of the stuff out there is made. Even brands that command $$$, like Revit, KLIM, BMW motorradd, Olympia, and (holds his breath) Aerostitch, have pretty significant compromises. When you compare these jackets side by side with the custom-tailored Motoport gear, at or near the same price, it is not clear to me why anyone would buy these other jackets.
In contrast, the Motoport gear crash samples looked almost unscathed. I've seen online posts and you can hardly tell the gear was crashed. Slight scuffs. Most impressive.
I asked Wayne about why he doesn't sell to dealers. His answer was unfortunate but true: at a 50% markup for the dealer, his already pricey gear would be unaffordable to almost all. Also, most people walk into a dealer and want to walk out with their gear. The American mindset is "off the rack" instant gratification, and custom tailored suit that takes 8-12 weeks to deliver impedes a lot of sales.
I had many folks email me afterward very impressed. Mind you, these are type-A propeller heads who question pretty much everything you tell them, but since they got to see it first hand and play with various materials and compare against their own gear, well.... Wayne didn't have to sell. It was already sold. (One guy said simply: "Shut up already and take my money")
I ordered a Stretch kevlar jacket, plus a pair of their newer winter gloves (which aren't made to order). I tested out the next day, and they were warm enough to turn off the heated grips. I already own the mesh Kevlar jacket, which Wayne says is a better choice for bikes with full fairings and large windscreen like the FJR. But I have three bikes with no fairings and small windscreens, and the stretch stuff is much more form fitting than the slightly bulkier Mesh Kevlar.
I may have Wayne visit next year, maybe at a Tech day. I think it takes like 10-12 orders to make the trip worthwhile, but if Friday was any example, this should be pretty easy.
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