RST Motorcycle Clothing vs YamYam

Hello all and apoligies for the complete lack of text since my last post.

I have been busy! So to make up for it, here’s a ridiculously long post for your viewing pleasure:

On Monday 24th March, I had a crap end to my day at work. I finished at around 5:30pm and got all my gear on, rucksack and got my helmet and gloves, but couldn’t find my key.

Then I found it after 30 minutes of faffing around in my winter gear in a hot office, so was in a bit of a state. Then I get out to my bike and as go to swing my leg over I hear a RRIIPPP…I take my right glove off and check the crotch as I knew exactly what had happened. Big rip where one material was stitched in to the other. Funny that! (see this post)

Here’s a wee quote from that post:

Here’s hoping the “Pro” range will last longer than 9 months or even 2 weeks!! We’ll see.

 Well I got them in September and it’s now the end of March…that is…..(where’s my calculator!HAHA!) 6 months. Now I was really angry, but after ripping the crotch, I didn’t have a melt down at all, actually I was pretty surprised at myself. I just got on the bike and said so what, Ill just take them back and the boys at Scott Murray will help me out. But I tell you what, by the time I got home it was a different story. It just so happened to be 1*c and the hole acted as an air-vent…=extreme freeze.

If you read that linked post, you’ll see that i have already had my fair share of RST stuff failing on me, and every time something failed I just took it back to SM and they either returned it, replaced it or refunded me. So usually I wouldn’t be too upset and go see the boys. But I had enough this time, and was so disappointed this time, with the Pro Series as well, that I wrote a letter to RST!

Now after my last attempt at a letter about my misfortunes, you would have thought I didn’t think a letter would do much good…and you’re right! But I didn’t know what else to do because I was so fed up with this RST problem that I needed to do something.

So I set about writing a letter, perhaps a few pages long and I wanted to achieve an overall feeling of disappointment with it. I tried to document exactly what my experience with RST has been like and show them where they are perhaps falling short of the mark.

2 hours and 4 pages later, I had finished. I never realised up until now just how much trouble I had had with the RST stuff! Well at least it was all in black and white now.

I let Blair proof read it and I saved it ready to be printed and posted first class recorded the next morning.

A wee excerpt for your viewing pleasure:

“…Since January 2007 I have had an Electric Jacket whose zip fell off, 2 pairs of Syncro Plus jeans that detached themselves from themselves, a Cruz Leather jacket which I sold because the collar bugged me, 2 pairs of SRT6-7 gloves which fell apart, 2 Pro Series Paragon Jackets one of which broke, a set of Pro Series Paragon jeans which have now burst and a pair of GP Pilot gloves, which are excellent by the way. I am 100% chuffed with them so far and they seem to be of great quality. If you total all that up, I have used around £500 of my hard earned money, with my girlfriend adding another £200 on to that, include another set of RST gloves for her and we are looking at around £700 of RST products that have either failed or are failing.”

So that was that!

I printed it out on nice paper, got a “Do Not Bend” envelope and posted that bad boy off to MotoDirect, the address of which I got off of the RST website under UK Distributor. I had no idea if this was even an office or anything, but there wasn’t anywhere else I could post it, so I marked it for Customer Services and off it went!

Saturday came and I headed to Scott Murray to let them know about my trousers. It was Blair and I, and I was looking forward to telling the boys I had sent a letter to RST.

As we entered the shop Ian immediately said “Mr Fraser!” He mentioned he got my email and I was like “What are you talking about?”

“The email that you sent to RST!” I didn’t send Ian a copy of it, so how the hell did he know about it!?

“Yeah, the letter you sent!”

“I didn’t send you it, did I?”

“I’ll be with you in 5 minutes I just have to see to this customer here.”

Fair enough I said and Billy was just coming off the phone. Good chat ensued and I showed him my trousers. He said that unfortunately RST have changed their returns policy and I would have to return them. Fair enough I said, but I needed a pair of trousers to get to work in. Billy showed me some leathers stuff, all nice but a bit out of my price bracket @ £260. I didn’t want to buy any more textile trousers as then I would have 2 sets when my broken ones returned.

Anyway we had a chat and Billy left to sort out the duff trousers. Then Ian came along and we started chatting about the whole RST letter deal.

It turns out that Ian was actually down at the RST HQ last week, and he was actually standing beside the manager when a girl from marketing/customer services handed him my letter. As he started to read it he noticed “Scott Murray Motorcycles, Dunfermline” in the second paragraph and said to Ian, “Here, you’re in this letter!?”

Ian had a look and immediately said “Ah Gordon! I know him!” then continued on reading the letter. Ian said that he agreed with everything and that the manager also read it and agreed with all of it as well! He said the manager was actually really pleased to have received a letter about his RST stuff!

After reading the letter the manager went down the list of stuff I had had from RST and he was like “Electric jacket, yep, agree with that, Syncro jeans, yep, agree with that…” Ian then told the guy, “This guy rides his bike 24/7, so he knows what he is talking about.”

WOW! I don’t think that one could imagine a better scenario when writing a letter of complaint. I mean, here’s the manager bloke of RST, having a meeting with the owner of my local shop, my letter comes in with the local shop owners name in it and they both read it and agree with everything! MEGA. Blair still can’t get his head around it.

Ian then mentioned that he went to the various departments within RST and they all had my letter and mentioned to Ian that he was in it! He was laughing saying he was fed up hearing about it by the time he was done! HA!

I was gobsmacked! How perfect could it get!? Well I tell you, Ian then said that all the various departments were all going to get together and putting their heads together to offer me up a solution and that they would definitely be getting a letter out to me asap!

I couldn’t believe it! We laughed about it for a bit and then me and Blair went to look at some gear. Billy came up and said that the trousers would get sent off Monday and that it should take around a week to process…then he stopped mid sentence and said “actually, I will put a note on it that these are your trousers and I’ll hand them to the UK rep who can get them pushed through quicker”

Brilliant!

Even now I am still amazed at the unbelievable chance that Ian was visiting RST on the day of my letter arriving. I mean he could have visited the day before and they would have known nothing more about it. But because Ian was there to say, I know this guy and he is telling the truth, it made the impact of my letter 1000% better! The universe aligned and it was like it was meant to be.

I joked with the boys that I had bigged their shop up and Ian said cheers for doing that, its great! Billy was even more chuffed as I gave him a special mention! Giving a tiny something back to the boys who have given me so much.

So there you go!!

Over the weekend, despite having food poisoning, I managed to purchase some Puma Desmo 800 GTX boots and some Hardas Elite Kevlar jeans. I will post some pictures up when they arrive!

Thanks for reading this ridiculously long post, but I appreciate it!

Ill keep you up to date on what happens with RST and what the outcome is!

Cheers
Gordon

Mod: LED Side Lights

Hello everyone.

Last week was a big week for visits, so thanks to all who came to see YamYam.

After surfing on the Street Scene forum, one of the boyos on there mentioned he got some LED side lights off of eBay, as well as a full HID rig. Being skint as usual, I passed up the HID which was £30, and got some of the LED side lights for £4 all in. I received them today, and promptly fitted them to a glorious uproar from the crowd….I mean me…

After seeing them on the forum, as the guy posted photos of them, I was actually quite surprised when I opened the package today for they are tiny!

Compared to a 50p, they are actually fecking tiny. But I wasn’t worried about power, these things are tiny but mighty.

After fiddling with them I went out to the garage equipped with nothing but child-like excitement.

To allow you (and me) to really appreciate the difference these babys make, I took before and after shots:

The lights before the change (the ones at the top) Note the distinct yellow glow.

Close up of the original bulb

Here we are then, a direct comparison with the original! How cool is that!

The LED is a lot “bluer” than the original, but the light it puts out is quite bright. Obviously not as bright as the main light, but enough to give a positive effect.

The demon…albeit with blue eyes.

Monster

On the GSR, if you hold in the starter button, the main beam goes off. You have to pull the clutch in to start the bike…

From afar, notice the cool light above the main now, superb!

Close up of the LED. Apparently that corrugated bit is a heatsink, but I am not sure LED’s get that hot anyway?

So there you go!! What a difference, mainly to the look of the bike, but an additional safety item, being seen easier! Next up is the HID kit!

It was really easy to do, I just removed the side covers, then removed the 4 bolts holding the clock/headlight assembly on, then it’s a case of unscrewing the sidelight plugs, removing the old bulbs and inserting the new LED’s in their place! That’s it!!

I am well chuffed, and for £4, you really can’t go wrong. However they were from Hong Kong, which usually I don’t do when on eBay, but after the guy on the forum had got them, I threw caution in to the wind! Voila!

So yeah, chuffed and the lights look well smart now!

Thanks for checking YamYam out, keep coming back!

Gordon

Review: Furygan Orona Jacket

Hello everyone.

Firstly I must thank y’all for visiting, yesterday (11th March) was my highest viewed day, with….actually I just went to check how many visits I had, and today is even better than yesterday!!! 123 people visited today! with 112 yesterday! So thanks again, it makes life worth living.

Anyway, as mentioned in the Scottish Motorcycle Show post I purchased a new jacket, one which I had wanted for ages. It is called the Furygan Orona.

Now before I get in to the review, I must add that for the first time since getting a motorcycle, I have a motorcycle jacket that isn’t RST, and for that I am over the moon. My first jacket, the RST Elektric was ok, but now all the armour is 4 inches from where it’s meant to be, the leather has stretched, I had to get the zip fixed because it ripped off and it’s heavy, probably down to the 50-50 textile/leather mix.

I saw the Furygan Orona in an old MCN, and they said that it was widely available…my arse. I hunted high and low for the white with black bits Orona and was completely bummed when the only place that had them were shops in France. So as said before, you can imagine my utter joy when I spotted the white with black bits Orona hanging in clear view at the show. Blair was busy trying on the Icon stuff, which was nice, but I was b-lining it for the Fury stuff.

Then, imagine if you will a human heart. Then imagine a 12″ meat cleaver slicing through it. The white with black bits was a medium, and I am a large. PLEASE TELL ME YOU HAVE OTHER SIZES? This bloke came across as a guy who couldn’t really care what I was saying, and he said, no, but he does have a large in black…. I tried on the white with black bits just incase, but it was like a corset…well I imagine what a corset would feel like…I wouldn’t know….ANYWAY, it was pretty tight.

So then I tried on the black one and it was snug, but comfortable. I could move about enough and was amazing to look at. Then I asked how much, £125. Fecking let’s do it!!! My RST Pro Series “All Weather” jacket cost me £140, so you’re damn right I am buying this!

Chuffed to bits, I think I tried it on at least 4 times that same day, just to feel the quality. And now let me share this quality with you!

It’s a shorty style jacket and I will wear it with some jeans, i.e. Draggin or Hardas. Not the ones out of Next.

The jacket comes with a pretty decent back foam pad, but I will be upgrading to a solid state one shortly. Inside the jacket, with the warmth layer in, there are cut outs in the warmth layer for a back protector to feed through. On the jacket itself there are elastic bits to hold the back protector in! Brilliant attention to detail, but there is also a pocket for a stand alone protector if you dont have on of the strap to yourself ones.

The details on the Orona are what make it. The shoulder detail is nice, with the big round Furygan logo, and the overlapping shoulder joint. Lovely.

Batman. Some pads on the front of the jacket. On the white with black bits jacket, this middle section was black, but the rest of the jacket was white. I’ll post a pic up after these.

It’s all in the details, with the Furygan puma stitched on to a panel on the inside of the zip.

Again, details, with the Furygan zipper and the neck velcro with a small soft pad in the middle so it doesn’t rub your chin! Great

Like the shoulder joint, the elbow has an overlapping join as well, makes it look beefcake. When this jacket it on, it feels so snug everywhere, it’s great! Also the cuffs are tapered, so they go from thick to quite thin, this allows any sports gloves to go over the jacket with ease, instead of the usual RST stuff which is the same thickness all the way down, making the jacket bunch under the gloves leaving it uncomfortable. Great thinking Furygan!

Some sleeve adjustment to stop the jacket flapping around in the wind.

Waist adjustment, as standard on most jackets.

Inside there is a zip out waistcoat/layer, which has an aluminium layer in it!! I.e. mountain survival bag type. Looks smart, and it has the same pocket array as on the actual jacket. So I have double what you see here. Phone pocket, a zippy pocket and another 2 “pen” pockets. Nice.

The cool label, with skulls…interesting!

So there you go!

Unfortunately the weather has not been kind since the bike show, so I have not had a chance to try this out on the bike, but from wearing various bike jackets every day for a year, I think I can safely say this jacket is going to be the business!!

Anyway, it’s late, so I’m off!

Thanks again for looking folks! I appreciate it.

Gordon

MCN Scottish Motorcycle Show 2008

Well hello everyone,

Sunday saw myself, Em, Blair and Kirsty heading off to the bike show at Ingleston, Edinburgh. The weather was touch and go, and I managed to convince B that the car was a safer option. He didn’t need much convincing though and it seemed more like the other halves that were wanting to bike it rather than us!

Anyway, early start and we arrived at the bike show little after 9am. We had booked our tickets online so got them for £13 each instead of £15. We then trudged along the hilariously long footpath to the main show, passing the go-karts and globe riders as we went. We grabbed a quick tea/bacon roll at the Charge-What-We-Like burger van and headed in. As soon as I got inside the first set of doors I could see the orange glow of what would be KTM, and having talked with B excitedly about the RC8, I told him in about 10 seconds he would wet his pants. He didn’t quite wet his pants, but the RC8 looked gorgeous. It was great product placement from KTM as everyone immediately flocked to the RC8’s side.

(Blairs Picture)

One thing that I was hoping with the bike show would be that the joe public could sit on the bikes and I wasn’t dissappointed. However the RC8 was so popular we started at the other KTM’s, in particular the bloody gorgous KTM Super Duke 990. I am in love:

This is B on the Duke. I have always liked the look of the Duke, but was worried that the ironing board looking seat would be dodgy, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was really comfy and the bars were quite wide, offering a more aggressive riding position which I love. The whole bike felt superb and I can see myself perhaps looking down the KTM SD road when I get my stuff in order. Stunning. Blair was even more captured with the Super Duke 990R, which again, was amazing:

We then proceeded around all the stands, drooling over all the shiny metal on show. We had a wee pore over the HP2 beemer, but didn’t really spend all that much time there; BMW’s are a bit overpriced and adventury for what we are in to. The HP2 is gorgous though:

Heading down the middle of the place I saw the HD-Buell sign and knew that I would soon be on a downer, all the Buell’s were there including the new 1125R. I made a concious effort to sit on the XB12Ss and it was amazing how at home I felt again. After stroking the Buell a few more times we moved on, Blair noting the XB9Sx Street Cross as a favourite.

Ducati, with the 1098R on no-touchy display was a draw for the crowd, and I had a wee seat on the 848, which was beautiful but you could tell it was unforgiving due to the instant race tuck riding position.

Suzuki was next, and along with the 2008 GSR 600 in god-awful red and gunmetal, the B-King was the main attraction for me. Having a sit on the GSR first though, I noticed the ABS logo on the clocks. Perhaps a standard feature on the 2008 model, but not really needed. Blair checked out the wheels, which reportedly show up the dodgy manufacturing of them, but B didn’t seem to worried about it.

Emma had a seat on the “bike with a built in kitchen table.” AKA the B-King. The tank on this thing is laughably wide, but even still, the bike instantly feels comfortable, and with Emma taking a wee seat on the pillion pad, she even commented that it was quite comfy. I doubt Em would share that sentiment after an hour of riding, but it was more comfortable than first thoughts.

There were a few custom choppers dotted around the show, with the highlight for me being the AC Cobra tribute chopper at the Carol Nash stall.

We had a look at the rest of the stalls, Yamaha failing to show the MT range at all, which was pretty disappointing, and Honda failing to show the absolutely breath-taking CBR1000R, but did have a poster…which was nice.

K was checking out all the 125cc bikes as she is thinking about doing her CBT. The Honda was her favourite, offering up a nicer riding position and the seat height ideal for her size, allowing her to put both feet flat on the floor. The Yamaha 125R was nice, but very heavy on the wrists. B and I joked about the wheel sizes, with the Honda 125cc having a thinner rear tyre than our GSR’s front.

The Triumph was a nice stall, but set in another hall, not really allowing the majority of people to instantly see them. But the Speed Triple was devestatingly beautiful, single sided swing and glossy black paint. Lovely.

The Aprilia was ok and I had a seat on the Shiver 750. Very similar to the KTM Super Duke but not quite as nice.

We had another go around the manufacturers, then around all the wee stalls. There was a stall that was selling hand drawn Valentino Rossi pencil canvas things, and they were fecking amazing. But £200 seemed to be a bit much, even though they were limited edition (I think out of 95). Blair took the guys card and I think he might end up getting one. Whilst he was checking out a bike stall I went and sat on the Ducati 848, and then got a call from Blair. He said he was at a stall that had Furygan and Icon stuff. Me and Em headed round and there it was. The Furygan Orona. I had wanted this jacket since I first laid eyes on it in an old MCN, but for love nor money couldn’t source one. So you can imagine my dissappointment when they only had the white one in Medium….but they did have a L Black one, so I tried that on and I liked it a lot. £125 and it was mine. I’ll post pics up later tonight.

We were all pretty hungry and didn’t want to waste £40 on 2 sandwiches, so after checking out how much the karts costed (£10 for 10 minutes), we decided to leave it and head home to prepare ourselves for the MotoGP Race 1.

All in all it was a great day, and I loved seeing all the bikes on show, and even more so the ability to get on it and get your feet up. It allowed a greater impression of what it would be like, instead of the showroom scenario of not really knowing how it will feel with both feet up.

Anyway, I am going now and will post up some pictures later of my jacket (which has an aluminium layer in it, like the mountain survival bags for heat preservation…cool or what!)

Thanks for looking folks!

Gordon

HID and seek

Hello

I have been pretty disappointed with the GSR light situation, but it is nothing compared to the Buell. I could hardly see 10ft in front of me with the Buell’s lights, but anyway, I fancied doing something to alter the situation.

I thought about LED’s and having a row of them somewhere at the front of the bike, but then a guy on the GSR forum showed me this and I just about wet myself.

Pretty amazing.

I’ll have to investigate further, but it seems to be the solution I am looking for.