bnuk, ever consider a pair of toasty long johns for yourself? I imagine that would be very warm, you could leave them all day if you wanted or take a backpack to work and change out of them in the bathroom!

 

good call and cheap!

as for looking like a terrorist, you take the mask off when you take your helmet off :slap:
the pants are just over pants so you could also take those off when you get to work. added benefit, you dont smell like motorcycle all day

 

Olympia makes good quality gear. I have a pair of Olympia overpants that are real solid, and have a removable waterproof/thermal liner that lets me wear them in the cold or the heat. Olympia is really popular among the touring crowd (particularly BMW folk), so I wouldn't hesitate to purchase Olympia gear.

Also, if you get a balaclava (aka terrorist mask) make sure you don't get an all-fleece or all-cotton one. Fleece doesn't block wind very well, and cotton will just get soaked in the wet. Neoprene (at least for the neck area) is the way to go.

 

when i ride and its cold i wear two sets of pants.

i wear pajama pants under thick jeans.

i wear my Cold Gear under armor. a beater, a long sleeve shirt , thick t shirt, and then leathers.

for my hands i wear my snow boarding gloves cuz they have a pocket for hand warmers. <- hand savers!

i wear a bandanna thief style around my mouth but under my nose.

 

old navy performance fleece pullover under my jacket was perfect for me. they also make performance fleece pants to wear under your jeans. these items work great cause as it warms up, thet breath real nice so you don't smother...till it gets warm enough to take em off

also look into gettin a blacava from REI or somewhere. put it on under your helmet & then tuck it in your jacket & zip it up tight around your neck.....you'd be amazed how much keeping your exposed neck area warm has to do w/ making cold weather riding bearable

 

which jacket did you pick up??

 

tour master flex, I've been very happy with it. it was on sale so it was 150 after tax. It has two inner removable liners, one water proof, one quilted, so with everything in it is pretty toasty. the outer shell also completely removes so if you wanted you could get it down to just a mesh jacket, but it wasn't warm enough for that. I think I would be perfectly warm down to the low 30s with it. It has pretty large shoulder and upper arm hard armor+pads, elbow and forearm armor+pads, and a back pads that covers the upper spine and the whole lower back. very comfy though.

The gloves I got look like the jacket but i don't like them as much, the fingers are pretty stiff, especially pinky so you have to either let it stick out or it will cramp up after a little while. They are warm though and maybe they just need breaking in.

so with that stuff the only thing still cold is my legs, but when everything else is toasty warm its easy to ignore that. I still may look into some over-pants though.

 

bnuk, your gloves probably just have to break in. My left pinky was like that too whenever I first had my JR gloves. Now they are perfect.

 

good to know.

 

does anyone have those gloves thats extra long and goes over the jacket sleeve?