Our Gear - Marisa's Gear - Notier's Frontiers

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HEAD

Marisa started with a Schuberth Modular Helmet and she loved it, even though she said it could get hot since the vents didn't do much. But it did block a great amount of the outside noise, and was comfortable. It's black, and when it was in the sun for a long time, Marisa swears it shrinks on her. Or maybe her head's swelling, who knows.

But for our latest adventures, Marisa is getting a Klim TK1200 Karbon Modular Helmet. It features a Transition visor which automatically adjusts to different light, and is lighter than her old Schuberth.

We both decided early on to go with modular helmets because we had heard from experienced motorcycle travelers that having a flip-up helmet can make you more approachable when asking people on the street for directions. And that has turned out to be exactly right. It's also great when talking to the gas station attendant who is pumping your gas (it's all full service outside of the developed world). There's no need to take your helmet off for basic things.

Like myself, she also wears a neck buff, but whereas I wear mine like a scarf to protect from the wind, she wears hers on her head under her helmet to keep her hair in place.

What's up with the numbers on the back of your helmet?

That's our license plate number, and we did this for Colombia. The law there is that in order to prevent motorcycle robberies, all riders must have their license plate number clearly marked on their helmet. Though this does not apply to foreigners, we didn't want to have to try explaining that to the Colombian officer who just pulled us over and is looking for a bribe. So we just got it done anyway.

If you're headed to Colombia, this is something to consider.

SHOULDERS

Marisa's old Spidi H2Out Motorcycle Jacket is good, but not perfect. It came with useless rain and thermal liners, but the outside layer still serves her well. It has all of the important features of a good motorcycle jacket - vent zippers, adjustability, and removable shoulder and elbow body amor. It's just the inner layers that have been the only problem, since it felt like a waste of money to have to throw them out.

There were several reasons why we discarded the liners.

First of all, as far as the rain layer went, we just didn't like the design of an inner impermeable layer. Instead, we found that having the rain layer on the outside of the jacket helps keep in the heat and cut through the wind, as opposed to having a heavy wet jacket sitting on an inside rain layer. Also, it was very difficult to snap in and out of the jacket. And for the thermal layer, we chose to go with a down jacket to wear underneath, one that we could also wear comfortably without the jacket.

But now Marisa is upgrading to the Klim Women's Artemis Adventure Jacket. It's the first Klim jacket for women that was designed by women, plus it's gore-tex and entirely waterproof. Marisa is super excited, and we'll keep you posted on what she thinks of it once she puts it to the test of our upcoming trip - Alaska.

KNEES

Since she was unsatisfied with the fit of her previous motorcycle pants, Marisa bought an Uglybro pair for our Africa trip, and she loved them!! They are form fitting, comfortable, and have removable protective pads on the knees and hips. She believes Uglybro has put a lot of research and thought into making women's riding pants, instead of just making a pink version of the men's pants that don't actually fit women.

Marisa used to wear a pair of way-too-big Joe Rocket motorcycle pants. They just simply did not fit her properly. Plus, the front buttons never stayed snapped. It's safe to say that she outright hated them.

Unfortunately, after two years of wear and tear throughout Africa, Marisa's Uglybro pants are ready for retirement. So now she is excited about having a pair of gore-tex (waterproof) Klim Women's Artemis Adventure Motorcycle Pants. They are a matching set to go with her new jacket, and are not only the excellent quality of Klim, but these pants were designed for women, by women. FWBW, if you will.

TOES

Marisa used to wear BMW Allround waterproof boots, and they served her for nearly four years. But like all boots over time, they stopped being waterproof, and the zippers started malfunctioning.

But most importantly, these were touring boots, and for the amount of times that we were going off road (and falling), she wanted something that was a bit more rugged and with more ankle support.

So recently Marisa purchased the Sidi Adventure 2 Boots, and she loves them. Sadly, they don't make them in women's, but she just bought the smallest size they make in men's and they fit her well with room enough for thick socks.

These boots are Goretex and are seriously waterproof. They are also pretty stiff, but that's what we wanted, something with ankle support on both sides. And she says they're still comfortable to walk in.

Not even a week after buying them, we had a pretty nasty spill on the Colorado BDR, and Marisa's left foot twisted all the way around under the pannier. But she was 100% fine, and we think it was due to these excellent boots!

The one problem is that they are squeaky. I can hear Marisa coming from a mile away.

For non-motorcycle shoes, Marisa has been wearing KEEN Whisper Sandals since we first left on our trip, and after wearing them literally every day for four years straight, they still held up! These shoes are remarkable!

Eventually, they got a little ratty, so we bought new ones of the exact same shoe!

FOR RAIN

In the beginning, Marisa and I decided not to invest in top-of-the-line gore-tex gear, and instead went with cheaper rain gear that we could layer on over our other garments. It's been a lot of trial and error since then, and maybe because we'd always gone with cheaper items, we were never truly satisfied with our rain setup.

For both the jacket and pants, Marisa used Columbia Gear which she says "worked". The jacket cut the wind well, but is only waterproof up to a point. In a torrential downpour, only the pants held up well.

Marisa and I previously had Ascend rain jackets and pants from Bass Pro Shops, but these were terrible. At first I thought these would be great replacements for the not-so-functional waterproof sections of the touring jacket and pants. But Marisa started complaining about getting wet with her Ascend jacket, and then she actually got pneumonia in Colombia. After that, in Ecuador, we got into such a horrible storm, that I was cold and wet for hours afterwards and seriously worried about getting pneumonia myself. We have both since ditched our Ascend rain gear.

But for our latest set of adventures, Marisa and I have finally reversed course on our no gore-tex decision, and are getting Klim gear that is both top-quality, and gore-tex!

Marisa is getting the Klim Women's Artemis Adventure Motorcycle Jacket and Pants, and she's extremely excited. She's hoping it will keep her dry throughout our next set of travels through Alaska to the Arctic Ocean.

FOR COLD

Marisa's Mountain Hardwear Down Jacket packs down small, is light, and most importantly, it's warm. Only problem is it's hard to wash because of the delicate down (and even harder to dry), and because she bought it in a light blue color, it gets visibly dirty very quickly.

Marisa gets cold easily, so although this down jacket is awesome, sometimes she needs a little bit more. So while in South America, she bought an alpaca wool sweater and she lived in that thing for months. Paired with the down jacket, even the wind and snow of Tierra del Fuego couldn't chill her.

PERSONAL ITEMS

People often ask us how many shirts we bring. Well, the answer is four each. And if you want to get into the nitty-gritty, Marisa brings two pairs of pants that aren't her motorcycle pants, two pairs of socks, and a bunch of bras underwear. She also is blind as a bat, so we carry two pairs of glasses for her, extra contacts, contact solution, her contact case... it's small stuff but it all starts to add up. And I'm not even going to get into all the toiletries she brings.

Hard Shampoo

One way that we conserve on weight and space is by purchasing bars of shampoo (Marisa bought hers from Lush, but other brands on Amazon sell them.). They’re light-weight, small, will never explode, and will last you for many more washes than a bottle. And yes, they really do lather and act like regular shampoo.

Feminine Products

Ok, Marisa here, and I'm only writing about this because other women interested in motorcycle travel have asked me what I do when it's my time of the month.

First, let me say that many female motorcycle travelers I've met have chosen to take birth control that stops them from menstruating, and it has worked well for them.

If birth control's not your thing (it's not my thing), then consider using the DivaCup, which is reusable, eco-friendly, and you don't have to keep buying things. Unfortunately, it was not a good option for me, so I go the old-fashioned way and carry lots of tampons with me, especially since I travel to countries where they are sometimes hard to find.