Choosing the Right Gear: Jackets and Pants for Adventure Riders
Adventure Rider Radio
Canoe West Media
4.9 • 915 Ratings
🗓️ 21 August 2025
⏱️ 92 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chris Birch - What Works, What Doesn’t, And How To Select The Moto Gear That’s Right For You
When it comes to adventure riding gear, the options are endless—mesh, laminated, vented, lightweight, heavy-duty. With so many choices, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. What matters in riding gear? How much protection is enough? And what trade-offs should you be aware of? To get clarity, we turned to Chris Birch. A lifelong motorcyclist who’s raced local dirt tracks in New Zealand, competed on the world stage in hard enduro, and now travels the globe on adventure bikes, Chris has seen it all. In this episode, he shares hard-earned insights on what works, what doesn’t, and how to choose the gear that’s right for you.When it comes to adventure riding gear, the options are endless—mesh, laminated, vented, lightweight, heavy-duty. With so many choices, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. What matters in riding gear? How much protection is enough? And what trade-offs should you be aware of? To get clarity, we turned to Chris Birch. A lifelong motorcyclist who’s raced local dirt tracks in New Zealand, competed on the world stage in hard enduro, and now travels the globe on adventure bikes, Chris has seen it all. In this episode, he shares hard-earned insights on what works, what doesn’t, and how to choose the gear that’s right for you.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I've been wearing a three-layer Gortex jacket and pants set for years now. They work great |
| 0:06.0 | walls on the West Coast where the weather is cool and wet. But after moving east, summer's |
| 0:11.0 | here are a different story. Hot, sometimes scorching, and often very dry. Suddenly that gear that |
| 0:17.2 | felt so good on the coast now feels heavy, sweaty, and somewhat exhausting to ride |
| 0:22.4 | in, particularly at lower speeds. So I went looking for something new. Now, as soon as you look |
| 0:27.9 | around on the market today, you realize just how lucky we are as riders. The options are almost |
| 0:33.4 | endless. Mesh, laminated, vented, lightweight, heavy duty. I mean, you name it, it's out there. |
| 0:40.3 | But here's the thing I quickly found. The more choices you have, the more questions that pop up. |
| 0:46.4 | Like, what features do I really need? What can I not do without? What's really required? And what |
| 0:52.1 | should I be paying attention to as far as safety portions |
| 0:55.6 | of that gear. And when it comes to adventure riding, I think it makes it even harder because we ask |
| 1:00.3 | our gear to do everything, like cover our long highway miles and then keep you cool and mobile |
| 1:05.2 | as you're riding a trail at slow speeds. The reality is no setup can be perfect for all of this. There's just too much variance in |
| 1:13.3 | between. So the question really becomes, where do you compromise and what's non-negotiable? |
| 1:18.8 | That's what brought me to Chris Birch. Now, Chris has made a life out of riding motorcycles, |
| 1:24.1 | from starting out doing local dirt tracks in New Zealand to competing on the world stage as |
| 1:28.6 | the top level hard endure champion and becoming a factory sponsored rider. |
| 1:33.2 | Now he spends much of his time riding adventure motorcycles all over the globe. |
| 1:37.6 | Through all of that, Chris has tested gear in just about every situation imaginable. |
| 1:42.9 | And with that experience, he's figured out what really matters |
| 1:46.1 | when it comes to choosing the right gear for the rider and the ride. |
| 1:50.9 | So if you've ever considered buying a new jacket or pants, |
... |
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