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

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HEAD

Marisa has a Schuberth Modular Helmet and she loves it, even though she says it can get hot since the vents don't do much. But it does block a great amount of the outside noise, and is comfortable. It's black, and when it's in the sun for a long time, Marisa swears it shrinks on her. Or maybe her head's swelling, who knows.

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.

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.

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 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.

KNEES

Since she was unsatisfied with the fit of her previous motorcycle pants, Marisa now bought an Uglybro pair, and she loves 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, but now she's over the moon about her new Uglybro motorcycle pants.

TOES

Marisa has been wearing BMW Allround waterproof boots for over three years now, and she loves them. She can walk around in them all day and she says they're great in cold and wet weather.

Though they used to be 100% waterproof, if she walks into a river now she'll get some water coming in on her right boot, but that's expected after years of use.

After I twisted my ankle riding in the States, I wanted to be sure that Marisa and I both wore boots with good ankle support. These BMW Allround boots have that, and even when Marisa injured her foot during a fall in Peru, her foot had twisted all the way around, therefore tearing the muscle. But her ankle was unaffected, and we believe that if it wasn't for these boots, she may have broken her foot instead.

Before getting these, Marisa was not really a fan of her old boots (made by BILT) because she said they weren't waterproof and hurt the back of her ankles.

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 of the past three years, they're still holding up! These shoes are remarkable!

FOR RAIN

Marisa and I decided early on that we weren't going 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, but we've finally gotten to a setup we like.

For both the jacket and pants, Marisa is now using Columbia Gear which she says works wonders. It's waterproof and cuts the wind well. Her rain jacket has a hood that she tucks in while on the bike, but she can also use it when just walking around town.

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.

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 three 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.