Having booked the CBT, I knew that by law I needed to have at least a helmet. In addition, it is a pretty stupid person who rides bikes without further protection, unless you really like broken bones and skin grafts. So I needed some biker gear and equipment – a guys dream – buying technical stuff for a hobby (sort of a guy equivalent to what clothes shopping is for women!).
As I didn’t know when or what sort of biking I might get into at this stage, I decided to buy multi-purpose low end stuff, I wasn’t going to splash out a fortune on leathers at this stage! So I spoke to Rob who was happy to come with me to Hein Gericke, a German motorbike chain fairly big in the UK who sell their own and other brands of gear. Their own stuff is well respected and they do various bits of kit that win ‘best of’ in independent evaluations for the biking magazines. I was keen to have someone along that could give real advice rather than rely on the sales guy.
So we met up at the local Hein Gericke. Fist stop, a helmet. I didn’t want to spend much at this stage and saw this only as a ‘learner helmet’. I decided on a full-face helmet and spotted a decent quality one that was last years model and somewhat garish, but it was heavily reduced, so tried it on. It was very tight by my estimation, but both Rob and the sales guy agreed it was a good fit (they are meant to be ‘firm’ and hold in place apparently, I said I would let them know when the feeling came back to my face!). OK, that’s the helmet, modest at £60
Now the jacket. I settled on a Hein Gericke own brand ‘Shelltex’ jacket – their version of Goretex. It was watherproof with a detachable inner quilt lining with built in elbow and shoulder armour. It fitted pretty well and a sensible price at £110. I go the matching trousers, also in Shelltex and with detachable quilting and built in armour, for a further £85.
Now all I need is gloves. I chose a lightweight leather pair for summer, not waterproof, but then I didn’t think that mattered. I decided not to bother with boots, but changed my mind quickly after I had a lesson where it rained solidly and my feet were soaked, so it was back to Hein Gericke for a pair of their Shelltex boots for £100.
I did feel a bit of a fraud, buying all this kit when I hadn’t even sat astride a motorbike yet, but I figured I should have it for the CBT and I was likely to crack on quite quickly with the training and hope to finish it this year before the winter.
Well that was me kitted up in sensible gear that was generally waterproof and with body armour in appropriate places. The gear would not pass the ‘cool’ test, but I couldn’t care less. I figured that once I had passed the test and decided what to do, I would be in a far better position to assess what I really wanted / needed and then buy that and treat this as disposable gear.
