Lets start off with the jacket first. I was tossing between the Frontier Goretex and the Alpinestar's Durban Goretex initially. But the large intake and exhausts in the jacket sold me towards the Frontier more. The Durban has the new Sas Tec armour, which are supposedly better than the CE approved bionic.
I wanted the jacket to be comfortable so that I can wear it every time am on the bike. I know I hate wearing the jacket during the summer mornings when its hot and humid outside. So breathability ranked 1 for me.
The Frontier Goretex is brilliant in terms of breathability. I wore it on a 30+ morning with 80% humidity for a two hour ride (45mins through city traffic) and didn't even sweat once.
I have only gone through some light to medium rain and it has kept me completely dry. Need to test it out in some seriously wet conditions
The armour looks good. These are the new soft bionic armour. I even picked up the chest and back armour upgrades.
The only thing I hate about this jacket are the zippers. Seriously!! WTF was the product designer thinking? Yes you get used to the zips eventually, but the outer shell's two way zipper is a pain in the ass to attach, especially when you are running late
The gloves look solid. It has a very comfy inner lining which feels like rabbit fur. They are a bit tight initially, and you will feel that your thumb movement is restricted; but like any leather, it opens up eventually.
They are supposedly Gore Tex, so should have a breathable membrane, but on that 2hour long ride, I did feel my palms getting a bit sweaty. Will give it another test on a long trip. The gloves have a long gauntlet- inside cuff fittings.
Again, have used them in Light-Medium rain, and they have kept me all dry. Need to try it out in heavy rain.
If you can overlook the zippers, the Frontier Goretex jacket is brilliant. Gives you good protection while being breathable; a very good and much needed combination for most of us here in Australia.
The gloves are very comfy and feel solid in terms of protection, but I can only judge them after a long trip. Because all the good features fade out if the gloves get all sweaty on a long ride and you spend 15mins trying to figure out which finger goes where inside the sticky sweaty gloves at every stop.
Last but not the least, Riders Discount service was brilliant. Got the products free shipped within two weeks of placing the order.
Let me know if you guys have any questions about these two products and I'd be happy to answer.
