I love you? Well, sure, that's nice, but I'm thinking: "Out For Delivery." Isn't tracking great? Joan has some kind of UPS tracking on her phone that tells her where the truck is, so we know when it's getting close. We're pretty much at the end of the UPS routing through our community, so we can see the truck go by us on the main roadl; twice before it actually gets to us.
What are you tracking? Thanks for asking. It's the one piece motorcycle suit I ordered last week. I have become more safety conscious the last couple years with gear while riding on the scoots. Better, safer helmets, armored jeans and pants, and been wearing decent armored jackets for years.
I'm anxious to try out this one piece suit - hopefully, it will be easy to get on and off. It is designed to be worn over street clothes, so shorts and a t-shirt when off the bike, full protection when on. I am thinking: James Bond stripping off a wetsuit, with a tux underneath. Hoping it won't be: giant baby onsie that is a pain to get on and off.
We'll see.
I do have a set of coveralls that I've used when crawling under an RV or bottom painting a boat. Functional, but not a lot of room from the crotchal area to the shoulders, so I need help peeling them off. It's gonna suck if I have to say, "Honey, can you help me get out of my motorcycle suit." ;-)
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Angry...
Me, because UPS hasn't delivered my scoot suit, yet? Nahh; it'll get here when it gets here. Joan said she'd like to get out of the house and suggested maybe going to Brownsville for a chicken sandwich. Before leaving our island, she said, "Or, we can go to the island, pick up something for lunch and take it to the beach."
I'm in. Going to the beach today would mean: just looking at the beach, 'cause it's cold and windy. I suggested we try a KFC chicken sandwich (I've seen the ads on TV) - we picked it up and made the short drive to the beach. The sandwich was good, the Gulf water looked angry...
The weasels were originally calling for clearing conditions, decreasing wind for the afternoon. Nope. But, it was good to get out of the house for a bit.
Assuming the new suit gets delivered today, and it fits, I will be anxious to give it a try. Tomorrow. When it is supposed to be sunny and less windy.
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The rest of the story...
If you said, "Paul Harvey's signature sign off," you get 20 bonus points. If you said, "Who's Paul Harvey?" - get off my lawn ya damn whippersnapper!
The Joe Rocket suit showed up just after 6:00 this evening. I had pulled something in my back earlier this afternoon, and I'm moving a bit slow. Joan brought the package in and opened the box; she handed me the suit, wrapped in plastic... it was heavier than I expected. I spread the suit out on the kitchen island; it is a bit stiff, but what I expected from a cordura type fabric. It feels good and looks really well-made. Opening the suit up... there is no thermal liner inside it. Yes, there is supposed to be a thermal liner.
I bought this from Amazon as a returned item, significantly discounted from the full price. There was no mention that anything was missing from the suit. They didn't have any new suits in stock in my size, nor did any supplier I checked. It has all the tags and the little bag in the pocket with spare items. There is no indication it has ever been tried on. Just no thermal liner.
Assuming I'd be sending it back, I thought I'd at least try it on to see if the size was right...
Fits me like it was made for me. I wore it for a bit to see if it was comfortable... yep. It feels like it is going to cut the wind, and is supposed to be waterproof. It has venting to allow air to flow through it when it is warmer. I walked around outside, where it was 60º and the wind was out of the west at about 15 mph. I opened the large front vent and could feel the cool air flowing through.
When I came back inside, Joan asked what I wanted to do - I said, "Let's call Customer Service (yes, a chill went through me when I said those words) and see if they will allow something off the price since it doesn't have the liner. Realistically, I can't imagine needing the liner, since we don't generally ride when it is cold and crappy, but I did pay for a suit that is supposed to have the liner. Right now, it feels plenty good without the liner."
She got put on hold for a short time, then spoke with a young lady who said, "Ma'am" at least once per session. She and Joan discussed options: send it back for a full refund or keep it with some allowance given for the missing liner. The young lady spoke with her supervisor and came back with an allowance offer... it wasn't as much as what I told Joan I'd accept. Joan counter-offered. Back to the supervisor, and when the young lady came back, we did the deal.
As warm as the suit felt outside in 60º weather, I would think it would be rare I'd use the liner. If needed, I have a zip out liner from one of my other jackets. I consider this a good resolution.
6 comments:
I'm not familiar with that suit, but we have been devoted advocates of Aerostich riding gear for 30 years. It is the only gear that we ever ride in. She has tried other mesh jackets at times, but always comes back to the Aerostich. Alice has a couple of different one-piece Roadcrafter suits which take about ten seconds to get on and off. I use the Darien jacket and pants which is more like an Army jacket and jeans (no Roadcrafters in my size). Both have large zippered vents that can let in a lot of air for cooling, have armor in the right places, and are waterproof Gore Tex / Cordura. Ours were torture tested in Alaska but also worked very well on hot rides in Arizona.
If that suit foes not work out for you, we should talk. Alice's two red Roadcrafter suits are hanging unused in the garage since we don't have bikes any longer.
Hi Earl. Yes, Aerostich is the gold standard for motorcycle wear. A bit rich for my blood. I compared this Joe Rocket to an R3 Light... the R3 was about 4 times what I paid for the JR Survivor. And likely the R3 is 4 times nicer. This was a good buy on a suit that had been returned to Amazon. So, we'll see how it plays out.
Our Aerostich stuff was expensive, certainly. But considering that I bought my Darien suit in 1994 and it is still fully usable after more than 75K riding miles, plus some boating use as foul weather gear, that seems like a pretty doggone good value. Alice likes her Roadcrafter suit too. She has two slightly different sizes, one customized (arm length) and the other stock bought used on Ebay. Good luck with the new suit!
One trick that I've used in really hot weather -- the large chest pockets are fully backed by Gore Tex. You can pack them with loose ice and as it melts, the water just drips out through the zipper. You don't get wet inside the suit at all. That beats the old trick of riding in Carhartt's and dousing the brown canvas duck with a gallon or two of water every hour or so for evaporative cooling. Of course, our Alaska experience involved wearing electric vests underneath far more often than being too hot. 55° was a decent cloudy day, with only a few sunny days per summer above 70°F. I did ride one afternoon in November at 14° but that was not much fun.
Hi Earl. We have used the neck wrap that you soak, snap, and put on - amazing how that cools underneath a jacket. The Joe Rocket suit arrived (see the edit on the post), with no thermal liner. We avoid riding in cold or wet, so I think this suit is going to work well for my use. I hear epic tales of Aerostich stuff lasting for decades. (Insert your favorite "I'm so old..." joke here)
If we were riding long distances like we used to, I could see making that investment. This was a good buy; with the allowance they gave me for the missing liner, even better.
Glad it all worked out, Jim. Lately I have been wearing the wind fleece liner that Alice custom made for me as a windbreaker jacket. We've had lots of afternoons in the 37°-45° range but with winds of 15G25. It is nice to have some warmth AND wind block when practicing tai chi in the park.
Hi Earl - I call that "just enough"... a rain jacket, a lightweight jacket that stops the wind, and a warm jacket. Don't want to live anywhere that requires more than that. Although, I have a lot more motorcycle gear/jackets that I've accumulated over the years. The "need" for this suit was probably less than the want.
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