Ok, first off let me say that I believe in having good motorcycle equipment, and I am not the type to ride around on a bike in just a T-Shirt, or c**p gear. But I am also trying to be..ummm..."thrifty" in what I spend for my gear. I have found that, for whatever reason, motorcyclists seem to dump their gear--like they sold their bike and the jacket doesn't match the color on the new bike, they had a baby, bought a house, girlfriend/wife told them to stop riding, etc.--so I bought my gear second hand. But I still tried to get good quality gear. So I have a Joe Rocket "Blaster" leather armored jacket that I got for $65, a Joe Rocket Ballistic Mesh armored jacket for $40, AGV Kevlar armored gloves for $20, a pair of leather chaps for $17 off of Ebay and an Arai Signet helmet (which original sold for over $300) that I got for $10 off of craigslist. Keep in mind that all my gear is in good/excellent shape, not falling apart, and I would trust to take care of me in a crash. So don't trip on what I paid for it; if it wasn't in good shape I wouldn't buy it, and alot of people will get rid of good gear in good shape for cheap just because they don't need it.
Anyways my friend is getting into motorcycling, just got a cushy job, and asked me to go look for some gear with him. So we go looking, and we go to a fairly high end store. Now he's looking at either a $500 Alpinestar RC1 jacket or some Dainese (model I don't know) but it was $600. And he's gonna get one of these $500 Shoei helmets, and already bought a pair of $100 kevlar gloves and is thinking about the leather pants and all.
Well, this made me feel a little "insecure" on my gear, and whether I should be shelling out the dough like he is. My question is, is there added "safety" for the price when you buy an Alpinestars or Dainese jacket as opposed to when you buy a lessor priced Joe Rocket or Icon jacket? And same with the helmets? Is that Shoei gonna protect my head better than that Snell and Dot rated HJC? I am just wondering if I am being too cheap, and should really shell out for the 'top shelf' stuff, or whether the lesser brands provide adequate protection.
One more thing, I also am wondering if the leather chaps will provide enough protection in a crash or whether I should go for full on leather pants?
Opinions? Thanks.
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