A lack of gear talk around here.

Coming from an LS2 and going to a Shoei RF-1400 was a larger improvement than I thought. Same for my wife going from a Sedici to an Arai in the same ~$600 range as my Shoei. Comfort, quietness, fidelity of external audio

I like to carry this little helmet lock that I keep tied to my handle bars. My other gear is rather plain and entry level. I have a nice Kriga tail bag, but my new MC does not have good mount points for it :(
- I'm worried about leaving my helmet on my bike after hearing about randos messing with them :(
  
  Serious, I never leave my helmet on my bike unattended, gives me major anxiety.
- What bike and tail bag?
  
  Kriga 30L and currently on XSR900

Not exactly gear, but oxford heated grips are the best money you could ever spend.
- Heated grips are awesome! Mine is original from Moto 🤌Guzzi🤌, use them even when it's not that cold, just because it's pleasant🙂

I use a Dainese touring jacket in most weather and it has held up well.
Both Five and Dainese gloves are excellent for quality and last.
As for helmets the Shark helmets have fit me best, and one did a great job in a 100km/h crash. The integrated sun visor keeps me from jumping to Arai.
Boots are a real struggle and Im due a new pair… and a new leather race suit.

Looking at my accident history. What would have saved me from a crash would have been ABS. That's not gear per say.
Most impressed with a Stars smx boots but I haven't really tested those hard in my crash.
Dainese jacket, dainese pants, helite turtle 2 air bag and arai regent x helmet did great in crash. Did not break my collar bone or hip. No injuries. I guess astars gauntlet leather gloves got tested slightly also.
I wear a pretty obscene amount of gear.

My O'Neil Element(?) Boots have been fantastic. Saved my legs a bunch of times.

I've been looking at getting an intercom system, probably looking at a Cardo Spirit but I know Scorpion have the ExoCom that is designed to work with their helmets (I have a Scorpion helmet). However I think I prefer the Cardo so that I have something that is helmet agnostic and should work with any helmet I get in the future.
The rest of my gear is pretty entry level, I've only been riding since September 2024 so I haven't felt the need to upgrade my gear, first thing is to upgrade the bike once I get my full licence
- I've been thinking similar, but more for basic music listening as I ride alone and don't have anyone to talk to (but i do like it that way)
- I can chime in and say the cardo spirit is great, I've used mine on two helmets which I have some tips for. When you use the sticky base, assume you're never getting it off, cause I couldn't haha. The helmet clip although seems flimsy at first holds up really well too, but it's difficult to install.
  You may have noticed already that putting on your helmet already folds your ears pretty bad. The extra speaker width makes it 2x worse and a lot harder to unfold your ear. I recommend a ski mask always.
  Lastly these systems work well with ear protection, or at least cardo does, but as you could imagine the speakers are almost screaming at you at full blast. Although it sounds like a moderate volume to you, when you walk around it's blasting music and sounds to everyone else. I remember accidentally forgetting this and taking my helmet off walking into a petrol station with hearing protection still in, I only found out when I pulled one ear out to talk to the attendant when I was already in line for a minute, felt like a total douche haha
  Overall though, the spirit is great, music is great, calls are great, speakers are great, battery, volume, durability, water resistance, all great.
  
  Some pretty good information here thanks, I never really have a folding ear issue but I do wear a mask 90% of the time.
  Interesting I never even thought about, could definitely see myself making the same mistake walking in somewhere blasting music from my helmet haha

I just bought the Leatt ADV rally 5.5. Only tested it on one ride so far, but the initial impression is great. I really feel in touch with the seat (I come from riding with some BMW jeans). The clothes feel light and barely there. Can't wait to test them out properly off-road
- Sorry, BWM jeans?
  
  Yeah. Some riding jeans from BMW. Like these

I want that Kriega R25 backpack pretty bad, but damn is it expensive. Fits very nice though and well made.
- They are well made and the price tag does reflect that.
- Kreiga backpacks are amazing! Highly recommend even just for the chest buckle/clip

Working on trying out the Beeline moto. Hasn't arrived yet though.
- I used to have it. I was very happy with it. For some reason I'm getting the impression internet doesn't like it
  
  Seems like people are a bit annoyed about the subscription for traffic and other relatively basic features. I lane split, police be damned, so... Nbd for me.
  Why'd you get rid of yours?

Bought a set of Halvarsson Flon gloves for this season. Really happy with them! Perfect for most temperatures, apart from really cold(like 1-7C). Comfortable, and the positioning of the mesh between the fingers means I can angle my hands a bit depending on if I want air passing through or not! https://halvarssonsmc.com/product/flon/