Need New Pants

My zipper broke on my riding pants, and can't repair it. I now need new pants. My idea is: summer, winter, hot and cold, water-proof, full length zippers. Something I can wear everyday.
Anybody have anything that works good for them?
It's hard to find something so multi-purpose.

Olympia Air-Glide

I wear these year-round. When the low temps go down to 60°, I put in the liners, which I did this week. I have the Air-Glide 2, they might be superseded by version 3. I found the 2 series on closeout and bought a second pair because I love these pants and haven't seen anything better. Even though I only have 3 years on the originals and probably a couple more to go, it was worth it to stock up. I wear 35" waist, 34" inseam in my slacks, bought these in size 36. They fit well over my street clothes, a little snug with the liners (3 pairs of pants), but that's not a bad thing in the cold weather.

Full-length zipper rules!

The best 4 season pants I've yet had were my Olympia Airglide2's. Mesh for summer, insulated waterproof liner for winter, the only time they didn't work great was when it was wet AND hot since the liner was insulated... but thats been fixed with the airglide3 (no insulation on the liner). Only reason I sold mine is I lost weight and wanted pants that fit.

The next size down was too tight, so I ordered a pair of FirstGear HT Air's that were on clearance at NewEnough (and still might be). Same basic construction and idea, but fit better. Came with crappy foam armor in hips and knees, but I had both pieces from a pair of destroyed rev'it pants that I substituted.

I also had a pair of Dariens for a few weeks, bought used, but they were too short. Very comfortable on the bike I found, and very well built feeling.

what did you have before? thats a big mix of requirements ..

how about the new klim traverse pant? http://www.klimusa.com/product/Traverse-Pant,304,47.htm

i have the mojave and dakar pants .. both are excellent

Some no name brand. They were OK, but not waterproof.

I love my klim pants. They're not the expensive ones with the full leg zipper, but they have the vents. Frog toggs make em waterproof and warm.

Captain Midnight wrote:

My zipper broke on my riding pants, and can't repair it. I now need new pants. My idea is: summer, winter, hot and cold, water-proof, full length zippers. Something I can wear everyday.
Anybody have anything that works good for them?
It's hard to find something so multi-purpose.

Zippers, venting, and waterproof are mutually exclusive.
I'll give the Olympia Air Glides credit for being reasonably water resistant with the liners in, but I only put the liners in when the temps fall below 60°. Summertime rain is not resisted even a little bit by the mesh panels. For that, I have to put a pair of non-breathable rain pants over. My locale provides precious little wet weather, so it's hardly a concern for me. If there was one pant, jacket, or boot that did it all, everyone would buy them. Pick your priority and compromise on the rest.

I just ordered a pair of Klim Chinook pants for dual-sport riding when I wear my MX boots and knee braces. They have 18" zippered vents to give a little more venting control than the Air Glides offer. These also tuck into the boot, which the overpants don't do very gracefully. However, these pants won't work as overpants for my daily commute.

There is nothing wrong with having more than one set of gear to best suit the purpose. Sure it cost more money initially, but the life of each is extended by not being misused/overused, so the long run value is there.

Whatever you buy, if it's Goretex, maintain it well.
Nikwax makes TechWash for laundering water repellent Goretex fabric and WashIn for additional water repellency treating of said garments. Since you live in the wet zone, do yourself a favor and clean and treat your gear with the right products. That will improve their life and performance.

I don't like the one pant (or jacket) fits all approach. Seperate specialized layers are DEFINITLY the way to go:

1) Mid and base layers belong close to you're body, not pulled away by the outer - less conforming - shell. It's called thermal efficiency and is a widely accepted concept by hikers/hunters/ skiers etc.
2) Chances are you'll want to take off/on during the same ride. Seperate layers are easier than zipping in/out. You don't need to fuss with zippers/hooks/buttons etc.
3) Layers are more specialized at what they do. I'll take a top notch hiking/hunting base layer over some cheaply made (but expensive anyway because it zips in) "insulated liner" afterthought to a motorcycle jacket/pant. Same for mid-layers and shells.
4) Seperate specialized layers are more adaptable to a wider range of conditions.
5) Chances are you have most of the necessary items already and don't have to waste money just to come to the conclusions above.

Bottom line is you end up paying for zip in/out instead of good materials and proper design when zip in/out isn't even a good idea.

The FirstGear HT Air's (and assuming its similar with the Olympia Airglide3 as the Airglide2 I had was close minus being too warm for summer with the liner) work as a summer pant with the liner out, are waterproof in my experience with the liner in, and are warm down to the low 40's over jeans with the liner in. The Airglide2's were actually good below freezing with the liner in since it was insulated. The liners actually work very well with the pant and are not afterthoughts. The exterior shell does block the majority of spray and direct driving rain from the liners, though getting soaked in the process but I find they dry acceptably quickly. They really are do it all pants if you wanted/needed to have one pair of pants every day.

I know because I've done it and tried a bunch: Rev'it Rotor mesh, Aerostich Dariens, Fieldsheer mercury overpants and the precursor to the current FS slip-on pants, none worked as well over the broad range of temps i see as the Airglides and HT Air's. The only thing I like to have in addition to my 4-season overpants now are a pair of riding jeans (Teiz Mattole's at the moment, leather in the knees and seat with hip and knee armor) for when I'm going out to the mall or something I don't want to walk around looking like a storm trooper/won't have a place to stash my pants and dirt pants (Klim Baja's right now, probably to be replaced with Chinooks next time) for dirt and dual sport rides.

I currently have two jackets, a mesh Rev'It air without liners and a Alpinestars Sigma drystar thats waterproof and comes with a thermal liner, but I think I'd be able to replace both with an Airglide3 jacket now that I have electrics...

Thank you for the tips. Very insightfull.

klim has a new line called Traverse.


These pants and coats are high quality and efficient options.

I purchased the Air Glide (series 2) Mesh Jacket (Neon Yellow) by Olympia Motorsports back in May (2010) when I purchased my WRR; approximately a month later I went back and purchased the Air Glide Mesh Pants. I have been very happy with the quality of the materials and construction, and the performance of both items was excellent this summer. I wore the Air Glide Mesh Jacket all summer, and I wore the pants 'most' of the time, I was still hot when sitting still, but there was plenty of ventilation while moving to keep me cool, even at low speeds through town. Overall I think it was a good purchase.

Actually, as of lately I have been looking at one-piece suites, it has starting to get pretty cold and I would like to continue riding through the winter. I have been looking at a number of one-piece suits and I am seriously considering the Phantom One-Piece by Olympia Motorsports; the Air Glide Pants and Jacket w/ liners work well down to about 50'ish, after that you really need multiple layers underneath to stay warm. Since the Air Glide series shells are mostly a mesh construction they do little to block the cold wind, the liners are really the only thing stopping the wind and water. And when it rains the Air Glide shell gets completely soaked, if you were to combine that with cold weather you'd surely freeze. With the Phantom suit, the suit should block the wind and any water and hopefully allow the insulating layer to do its job a little better and I wont need to wear as many layers to stay warm.

Last weekend at about 0700 I departed on a two hour ride home in 35'ish degree weather, I was wearing a merino wool base layer with a synthetic shirt and pants over it, and then an additional mid-layer (fleece or Under Armour Cold Weather) on top of that, and then my Air Glide liners and shells. Overall I was pretty warm but my fingers were absolutely frozen about an hour into the ride, I stopped and had breakfast and tried to warm up a bit, the next hour still sucked because my fingers were already cold. I'm looking for new winter gloves as well now.


...v

If your broken pants worked for you simply go to a tailor (at most dry-cleaning places) and have the zipper replaced.

You're looking at $20-$30 dollars.

Now if you broke the pants (zipper) and perhaps need a bigger size that's different. Either way for the $25 it's worth fixing the ones you had simply to have another pair.

I recently got a pair of these and had to have them altered (i wear pads and for the waist to fit they were 7" too long, but altered still had adequate zipper for boot access).



I also bought a pair of these which are more weatherproof, but they fit as nice. Venting is acceptable. Not great. I don't really care for non-zippered pockets so I added zippers and belt loops to them.



I never could find one pant that does it all. I've got four different pair.

Edit: As far as cold weather is concerned, I simply add thermals underneath. Reference is to So. Cal climate (FWIW) and if it is THAT cold and WET, I'm going to hang-out by the fire ( or go home to the jacuzzi).