- Jan 20, 2001
- 1,516
- 0
Ok I’ve been in need of some new gear, and have been wandering to vastness that is the web, and after riding in Reno with Gortex pants that were kinda like freestyle/enduro pants (where the pants go over the boot) and really liking the way they felt with tons of room to move around in. I don’t have any brand preferences; I have gear from MSR, Answer, AXO, Fox, Acerbis, and Thor all of them have good gear, but I couldn’t seem to find any pants that were over the boot, and not Gortex based from them so I decided to get Shift’s Squadron pants, Squadron 3/4 sleeve jerseys, and Assault gloves.
On line ordering was fast and easy. Pretty much the standard fair and a few days later a small box shows up in the mail. At first I thought it was not my gear, but once I opened it I found everything packed in there nice and neat.
Squadron pants: Right out to the box I noticed these things have friggen’ huge legs. They seem to be sized a bit on the large side but the have adjustable Velcro straps on each side to tighten them up a bit. I ordered a 32” waist and I could have gone with a 30” and still have been OK. These pants are long too. At 6’3 I’m not lookin’ like I’m waitin’ for a flood. Since the pants do not tuck into the boots there is not a lot of stretchy material. But for what little there is it’s in the right places (the crotch, and knees). The material use to make the pants looks like standard MX pant stuff and a Kevlar based material is used on the inside of the pant leg from the knee on down. The pant legs also zip open to make it much easer to put on, and can be cinched down to make the a little smaller. Two neat features of the pant are pockets and zip off legs. Pockets are great idea. No I have a place to store my keys for my dune trips. And the zip-off legs seem like a good ideal also, but I would like to have seen a stronger zipper used for it. On the down side the pants did not come with any hip padding, but the standard Velcro tabs are there for it.
Squadron 3/4 sleeve jerseys: Riding in the desert it’s great to have ventilated gear. And these take the cake there. The only thing that is not mesh is the upper part of the sleeves. The logos are stitched on the front and on the sleeves. The 3/4 look like they will be a good thing in the heat, and they come down far enough that they still cover most of the arm. I hate getting my cuff caught on my watch when I’m riding so that is a big plus for me.
Assault gloves: nothing special here. They are the typical dirt bike gloves.
I’ll see how well they fair after a few crashes…
:ride:
On line ordering was fast and easy. Pretty much the standard fair and a few days later a small box shows up in the mail. At first I thought it was not my gear, but once I opened it I found everything packed in there nice and neat.
Squadron pants: Right out to the box I noticed these things have friggen’ huge legs. They seem to be sized a bit on the large side but the have adjustable Velcro straps on each side to tighten them up a bit. I ordered a 32” waist and I could have gone with a 30” and still have been OK. These pants are long too. At 6’3 I’m not lookin’ like I’m waitin’ for a flood. Since the pants do not tuck into the boots there is not a lot of stretchy material. But for what little there is it’s in the right places (the crotch, and knees). The material use to make the pants looks like standard MX pant stuff and a Kevlar based material is used on the inside of the pant leg from the knee on down. The pant legs also zip open to make it much easer to put on, and can be cinched down to make the a little smaller. Two neat features of the pant are pockets and zip off legs. Pockets are great idea. No I have a place to store my keys for my dune trips. And the zip-off legs seem like a good ideal also, but I would like to have seen a stronger zipper used for it. On the down side the pants did not come with any hip padding, but the standard Velcro tabs are there for it.
Squadron 3/4 sleeve jerseys: Riding in the desert it’s great to have ventilated gear. And these take the cake there. The only thing that is not mesh is the upper part of the sleeves. The logos are stitched on the front and on the sleeves. The 3/4 look like they will be a good thing in the heat, and they come down far enough that they still cover most of the arm. I hate getting my cuff caught on my watch when I’m riding so that is a big plus for me.
Assault gloves: nothing special here. They are the typical dirt bike gloves.
I’ll see how well they fair after a few crashes…
:ride:
