Ooh ooh, just thought of another - Aldi/Lidl motorcycle gear.
Now I know that a helmet is a helmet, etc, but I just do not fancy the idea of trusting my head to something that cost £14.99 from a discount foodstore.

I do, however, have a pair of the waterproof pants, and they work a treat.
(Half of Stephen Fry's right buttock pissed on your dog on, Wed 9 Jan 2008, 10:58, 8 replies)

Aldi's hiking socks are fantastic, as are their running trousers and even their fleeces.
In fact the running trousers (which I don't use to run in...I climb and bike ride in them...I don't 'do' running unless it's after a man) have been mistaken for a flash pair of cycling trousers as the logo on them is very similar.

Sadly none of their gear has the effect of improving performance.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Wed 9 Jan 2008, 11:30, closed)

helmets
trust me a helmet isnt just a helmet, ive seen what happens to some of the cheaper helmets you can buy on impact, and ive also discovered 1st hand what a decent lid (top of the range shark foggy rep, rsr when they were the latest ones) comes down from a fairly good hight at about 50mph onto a road and curb, id have hated to be wearing a cheap helmet!

rule of thumb with m/cycle crash helmets, find one that fits and spend as much as you can on the best brand name you can get, (shoei, agv, arai, shark dianese etc) and then dont crash, its horrible having to fork out £400+ on a new one because you did something silly
(pogo_it, Wed 9 Jan 2008, 12:03, closed)

I'm with pogo_it on this.
spend the pennies on protective gear. if nothing else you ride that little bit more carefully to save destroying £££s worth of shiny kit :)
/Schuberth helmet, Dianese body-armour under-jacket thingy, Knox leg armour bits in the bike trousers, Hein-Gericke Tuareg boots. Yes, it takes a long time getting togged up every time I go out on the bike, but after a while it's as natural as putting on a seat-belt, and healing skin and bones takes longer than putting the kit on, I think.
None of this bought because of XX brand-name, but because of reviews/knowing people who have crashed in the stuff. If the Aldi 15 quid helmet came top of crash reviews and fitted, I'd most likely be wearing it. The "technically legal but..." angle is mostly aimed at 16-year-olds on scooters, I think. Darwin in action ;)
( evilstevie misses the Orange Place of late, Wed 9 Jan 2008, 12:37, closed)

Exactly
At the risk of sounding a tad Daily Mail, I don't see a problem combining 16 year old chavs, scooters and £15 helmets with all the protective properties of a blancmange.

You only have to have a few die messily for the rest to get the idea.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Wed 9 Jan 2008, 12:43, closed)

The poor will die...
... and the rich will live. This will make the UK appear to be a richer country. I think its a secret government coverup!
(Miggyman, Wed 9 Jan 2008, 12:49, closed)

The waterproof pants -
do they keep the water out, or in?
( Farmer Geddon - is on his way., Wed 9 Jan 2008, 12:57, closed)

I'd assume
either, Farmer Geddon.
Non-breathable waterproofs have a tendancy to make your sweat stay around longer than you'd hope, but you don't really sweat that much on a motorbike in the rain so it's not too big an issue. Most of the breathable stuff's so you can also wear it when it's not raining, or so you don't get as hot and sticky at either end of your bike ride.
/common-sense answer, sorry.
( evilstevie misses the Orange Place of late, Wed 9 Jan 2008, 13:45, closed)

Miggyman, it's not a coverup.
Youngsters on (generally uninsured) scooters and mopeds are a pain in the whatsits.
I know what I was like on a 125 at 19. I couldn't afford woohoo kit, I made do with the best I could buy at the time. Part of my reaction to that was a promise to myself that if I got anything capable of going over 60 (that 125 was a trailie - low gearing and zippy around town but nothing in the way of speed) then it'd be in safety gear as good as I could get. I bought the kit before the bike, so as to make sure I didn't spend it all on a bike and then only have 14.99 for a helmet.
At 16 you're invincible, and beer/cider/meths/fags/weed is a higher spending priority than decent kit.
When you see a rider on a sub-year-old 750 race-rep Suzuki wearing a cheap plastic plastic helmet (retailing at a whopping £35 at the local expensive bike kit emporium), trainers, shorts and a vest in the summer, you realise that not all of the 16 year old scooter kids grow out of it or crash enough to learn the value of protection. I can only hope that if the Suzi-pilot crashed it was at a near standstill in traffic. He was heading out towards the nice fast country lanes where you can easily hit the legal limits and then some if you don't mind the risk of hedges or oncoming traffic... Not seen him round recently, thinking about it :(
( evilstevie misses the Orange Place of late, Wed 9 Jan 2008, 13:54, closed)