Jacobsroodt
Grey Hound
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2010
- Messages
- 5,492
- Reaction score
- 668
- Location
- Blouberg, Cape Town
- Bike
- KTM 890 Adventure R
On my first Namibia trip I met Jan Rose who eventually rode with us to Zambia and back. He had just recovered from a nasty Namibian gravel road off on his R1150GS and wore a BMW Rallye suit. "BMW makes the best protective clothing, he said, and continued telling the story of how he stood up after an off in Johannesburg, sliding through an intersection, in BMW jacket and pants.
From then on I only wore BMW jackets and pants.
Last night I had the opportunity to evaluate the back protectors in three different jackets: BMW, KTM and Assault.
The size L Assault jacket has a 4mm foam pad as back protector and is the smallest of the lot with narrow hips.
The size XL KTM HQ Sympatex Adventure Jacket has a slightly thicker but softer foam pad with holes as back protector, with narrow hips.
The size XL BMW Touring jacket's back protector was a surprize. It comprizes of 4 layers of foam pad, glued together. The two inner pads are smaller than the outer pads for better fit, and all the pads have holes through for ventilation.
What struck me most was the hip protection (or lack of). Assault and KTM does not consider hip protection, where BMW has gone out of their way to provide proper hip and lower back protection. BMW does this on all their jackets. The only exception is on my old model BMW Airflow jacket, where there is just a plank type back protector along the spine.
The lack of protection in the Assault jacket I can understand - a budget jacket made 10 years ago. Maybe KTM know something we don't, but I find the back protection in a premium Powerparts jacket lacking.
Lets not talk about elbow, shoulder, hip and knee protectors, because here BMW is king once more, albeit with a smaller margin.
Choosing a jacket when hopping on the bike is not difficult for me. As long as it has a propeller on I am happy.
From then on I only wore BMW jackets and pants.
Last night I had the opportunity to evaluate the back protectors in three different jackets: BMW, KTM and Assault.
The size L Assault jacket has a 4mm foam pad as back protector and is the smallest of the lot with narrow hips.
The size XL KTM HQ Sympatex Adventure Jacket has a slightly thicker but softer foam pad with holes as back protector, with narrow hips.
The size XL BMW Touring jacket's back protector was a surprize. It comprizes of 4 layers of foam pad, glued together. The two inner pads are smaller than the outer pads for better fit, and all the pads have holes through for ventilation.
What struck me most was the hip protection (or lack of). Assault and KTM does not consider hip protection, where BMW has gone out of their way to provide proper hip and lower back protection. BMW does this on all their jackets. The only exception is on my old model BMW Airflow jacket, where there is just a plank type back protector along the spine.
The lack of protection in the Assault jacket I can understand - a budget jacket made 10 years ago. Maybe KTM know something we don't, but I find the back protection in a premium Powerparts jacket lacking.
Lets not talk about elbow, shoulder, hip and knee protectors, because here BMW is king once more, albeit with a smaller margin.
Choosing a jacket when hopping on the bike is not difficult for me. As long as it has a propeller on I am happy.
