#1 Thread starter
Well, I'll be. I just recently purchased a pair of Olympia Pro Max pants and a Tour Master LRX jacket for my girlfriend. Of course, each one came with a zipper in the back to mate up with the other piece of gear. However, to my surprise, the zippers on each piece of clothing mated with the other without me having to do anything else. beer.gif I didn't need to take the clothing to the tailor and have 'em sew on one of the pieces. So... I guess Tour Master and Olympia gear use the same zipper.
On a side note, I am very impressed with the Tour Master jacket so far. Not only is it one of the few pieces of Tour Master clothing that actually looks good on a woman (i.e. cut correctly), but it seems to be high quality and functional. Oh... and it's AFFORDABLE! Anyway, I'll just write a quick review here and post pics later (if I remember). The jacket seems to have plenty of ventilation, though it hasn't been tested yet. On the back of the jacket, there is one long, horizontal vent near the top, and two shorter, vertical vents around the kidney area. (EDIT: Okay, I'm a doof. Apparently, this is actually a large "fanny pocket" that spans the lower back of the rider and can be opened from either side. I didn't even notice this at first, and have to think that it would be difficult to reach stuff in here, but I guess it would be good for holding a map or something.) On the front, there is a short vent along each bicep area and there is an "air scoop" on each shoulder. I guess they call it an "air scoop" because you can un-velcro it, then unzip it, and re-velcro it in such a way that it really opens the vent up instead of just leaving a slit. Neat idea. Anyway, the pockets can also be opened and used as vents since they are lined with a "mesh-like" material. The jacket comes with CE approved armor in the elbows, shoulders, and back, and the back armor actually seems a little more substantial than the stuff I'm used to seeing in these jackets. The jacket has the typical waist velcro cinch straps and has two "button-style" cinch straps on each arm. The jacket shell also has one, fairly large interior pocket. Of course, the jacket comes with a liner too. The liner zips into the shell, and buttons in two places around the torso, then two places at the end of each sleeve. The liner also has interior pockets if you need 'em. My girlfriend claims it feels very nice and comfortable, though a bit on the small side. However, in my opinion, the jacket is actually a tad big for her (and we got the XS which is a size 6-8)... she just doesn't know what MC gear is supposed to fit like!
I'll write a quick quip about the Olympia pants too because they have a couple neat features. First of all, these pants also seem very well made. In fact, I'm starting to think my girlfriend may fare better in a crash than me because these seem much more durable than my Firstgear HT Air Overpants. blink.gif Olympia claims these are "overpants", but I don't think you need to wear anything underneath these pants. Hmmm... read that however you want... I'm not sure I'd go commando, but you get my point. They're not a "baggy" fit, and it might actually be difficult to wear jeans or any type of thicker, long pants under these. They do come with a liner which is fairly easy to remove, but requires the snapping/unsnapping of a number of buttons around the waist and foot area. I'm not a big fan of this kind of "attachment system", but it seems to be what everybody uses. The pants have some stretch panels built in around the waist, so that you have a little big of room to play with if you're wearing them over top of other clothing. This is a good thing, because the waist closure is two buttons that snap in place. In other words, it's not adjustable like velcro or anything. There are two hip pockets, but they do not have zippers or velcro or any type of closure system. The pants have zippers on the outside of each leg that (if memory serves me correctly) run about 95% of the way to the top. Now, this is my only real beef with the pants. First of all, these zippers only zip one way (I need to check this again, but I'm pretty sure this is correct). In other words, there are not two zipper ends, so unlike my FG pants, you cannot unzip a little bit of the hip area to create a vent. Secondly, this stupid velcro closure runs all the way up the leg also... and the velcro is STRONG. As you can imagine, this makes it a royal PITA to unvelcro and unzip each leg. dry.gif It's quite tedious and very annoying. Now, the good: There are two features that I think are really neat with this pant. The first is the fact that the pant shell is "waterproof", but breathable. On my FG HT Air overpants, the liner is basically a plastic and it's the part that's waterproof. If I don't have the liner in, I get soaked. Yes, yes, I know, any "AIR" pant is going to be like that, but I'm pretty sure the normal overpants are like that too. Anyway, you don't need the liner in the Olympia pants for them to retain their waterproofness. Also, they are not coated with plastic on the inside like many other pants which is supposed to allow them to breathe well. I can't remember what the technology is called... it's not gore-tex, but if I remember, i'll post it later. Finally, the pants also have adjustable "core-comp" knee armor. By this, I mean you can adjust the height to suit the rider. Basically, the armor pocket is fairly large, but has velcro pockets that you can close off to position the armor up or down. My girlfriend has to position it higher than it was originally because the armor was protecting her shins!
Okay, this post turned out much longer than expected, but I always enjoy reading other people's reviews on gear and there is so little info on women's gear that I hope this can help somebody.
On a side note, I am very impressed with the Tour Master jacket so far. Not only is it one of the few pieces of Tour Master clothing that actually looks good on a woman (i.e. cut correctly), but it seems to be high quality and functional. Oh... and it's AFFORDABLE! Anyway, I'll just write a quick review here and post pics later (if I remember). The jacket seems to have plenty of ventilation, though it hasn't been tested yet. On the back of the jacket, there is one long, horizontal vent near the top, and two shorter, vertical vents around the kidney area. (EDIT: Okay, I'm a doof. Apparently, this is actually a large "fanny pocket" that spans the lower back of the rider and can be opened from either side. I didn't even notice this at first, and have to think that it would be difficult to reach stuff in here, but I guess it would be good for holding a map or something.) On the front, there is a short vent along each bicep area and there is an "air scoop" on each shoulder. I guess they call it an "air scoop" because you can un-velcro it, then unzip it, and re-velcro it in such a way that it really opens the vent up instead of just leaving a slit. Neat idea. Anyway, the pockets can also be opened and used as vents since they are lined with a "mesh-like" material. The jacket comes with CE approved armor in the elbows, shoulders, and back, and the back armor actually seems a little more substantial than the stuff I'm used to seeing in these jackets. The jacket has the typical waist velcro cinch straps and has two "button-style" cinch straps on each arm. The jacket shell also has one, fairly large interior pocket. Of course, the jacket comes with a liner too. The liner zips into the shell, and buttons in two places around the torso, then two places at the end of each sleeve. The liner also has interior pockets if you need 'em. My girlfriend claims it feels very nice and comfortable, though a bit on the small side. However, in my opinion, the jacket is actually a tad big for her (and we got the XS which is a size 6-8)... she just doesn't know what MC gear is supposed to fit like!
I'll write a quick quip about the Olympia pants too because they have a couple neat features. First of all, these pants also seem very well made. In fact, I'm starting to think my girlfriend may fare better in a crash than me because these seem much more durable than my Firstgear HT Air Overpants. blink.gif Olympia claims these are "overpants", but I don't think you need to wear anything underneath these pants. Hmmm... read that however you want... I'm not sure I'd go commando, but you get my point. They're not a "baggy" fit, and it might actually be difficult to wear jeans or any type of thicker, long pants under these. They do come with a liner which is fairly easy to remove, but requires the snapping/unsnapping of a number of buttons around the waist and foot area. I'm not a big fan of this kind of "attachment system", but it seems to be what everybody uses. The pants have some stretch panels built in around the waist, so that you have a little big of room to play with if you're wearing them over top of other clothing. This is a good thing, because the waist closure is two buttons that snap in place. In other words, it's not adjustable like velcro or anything. There are two hip pockets, but they do not have zippers or velcro or any type of closure system. The pants have zippers on the outside of each leg that (if memory serves me correctly) run about 95% of the way to the top. Now, this is my only real beef with the pants. First of all, these zippers only zip one way (I need to check this again, but I'm pretty sure this is correct). In other words, there are not two zipper ends, so unlike my FG pants, you cannot unzip a little bit of the hip area to create a vent. Secondly, this stupid velcro closure runs all the way up the leg also... and the velcro is STRONG. As you can imagine, this makes it a royal PITA to unvelcro and unzip each leg. dry.gif It's quite tedious and very annoying. Now, the good: There are two features that I think are really neat with this pant. The first is the fact that the pant shell is "waterproof", but breathable. On my FG HT Air overpants, the liner is basically a plastic and it's the part that's waterproof. If I don't have the liner in, I get soaked. Yes, yes, I know, any "AIR" pant is going to be like that, but I'm pretty sure the normal overpants are like that too. Anyway, you don't need the liner in the Olympia pants for them to retain their waterproofness. Also, they are not coated with plastic on the inside like many other pants which is supposed to allow them to breathe well. I can't remember what the technology is called... it's not gore-tex, but if I remember, i'll post it later. Finally, the pants also have adjustable "core-comp" knee armor. By this, I mean you can adjust the height to suit the rider. Basically, the armor pocket is fairly large, but has velcro pockets that you can close off to position the armor up or down. My girlfriend has to position it higher than it was originally because the armor was protecting her shins!
Okay, this post turned out much longer than expected, but I always enjoy reading other people's reviews on gear and there is so little info on women's gear that I hope this can help somebody.