New Ideas In Clothing

New Ideas in Clothing

MAGNUM 2 TOURING SUIT

THE WORST PART comes first. The man in the picture looks foolish and he knows it. He’s wearing a Magnum 2 Toursuit, a two-piece system for keeping warm and dry under extreme riding conditions. It’s a complicated system and when inside the Magnum 2, a thin man looks fat and a thicker man looks like the Michelin trademark. Walk in the Magnum 2 and everybody compares the wearer to a refugee from a science fiction movie, or a flight deck technician, or a man on his way to an oil well fire.

That’s the worst part. What onlookers can’t tell and the touring rider can tell and will welcome is simply that . . .

The Magnum 2 works. It will keep you warm and dry and comfortable while all about you, other riders have retreated to their cars or stayed home or are resigned to spending part of each riding day at the coin laundry, thawing out.

How this happens begins with the makers. The Magnum suit is the product of Calafia Industries, a motorcycle aftermarket company specializing in touring equipment. They produce and market fairings, seats, saddlebags, trailers, racks and such. Just as vital to this subject, the men who design and sell the equipment are also themselves touring and commuting motorcyclists. They know firsthand that riding in the cold and wet can be damned unpleasant and they were in a perfect position to design and test a touring suit to make bad weather liveable, maybe even fun.

The suit is made of an abrasion-resistant fabric (guaranteed for one year in normal use) coated with water and stain repellen Inside the outer layer is another, a polyfoam lining. Inside that is nylon, so the suit won’t cling or ride up. The outside layer is silver and reflective, both to keep the wearer cool under the sun and for safety at night; the rider is visible in normal headlights for one city block, the makers say. Scotchlite reflective trim also helps the rider to be seen.

The entire outer layer is water-resistant, and portions of the inside are waterproof. The distinction is done because truly wa-

terproof fabric is also airtight and gets hot very quickly.

All this good stuff is carefully designed. One reason the suit looks odd when held up is that it is cut and tailored for sitting on a motorcycle. The seat and knees don’t ride up and the back doesn’t flap or balloon.

There are no drafts. The suit is a system. In effect the two-piece suit has three belts, six zippers and 10 Velcro fasteners or straps. Climbing in and out is awkward, but once installed, the Magnum 2 allows all the normal riding motions with no tugging or binding.

How well the suit works is difficult to assess. Some parts of the country are colder and wetter than other parts are, and each person has an individual tolerance for cold.

We can establish a relative comfort factor. For our evaluation, the Magnum 2 was used for 50 miles a day, half in early morning fog, half in post-sunset chill. Ambient temperature at the beginning of the morning run was usually close to 50 degrees F. The rider reported no chill at all. Inside the suit, he was warm as toast; no drafts, no cold spots.

At the same time, he reported cold feet and hands and neck. The Magnum 2 could cope with a chill factor that street shoes, standard thermal gloves and a full face shield couldn’t handle. Safe to say, then, that no matter what the temperature or personal preference, the Magnum 2 insulates well enough to work in cold that will require additional protection elsewhere.

Rain? Showers are no problem. A steady downpour will work its way through in the ventilation portions of the suit. Again, though, the rain which does that also soaks into the rider’s shoes and around his helmet.

As an added attraction, the Magnum 2 has two large and zippered pockets in the jacket front for glasses, cigarettes and so forth, and the left leg has two smaller pockets, down toward the cuff. True, one can’t reach one’s inside pockets while inside the Magnum, but the outside storage space makes up for that.

An option for the suit is a flexible suitcase, made of the same fabric. It’s like a helmet bag, with room for the Magnum 2 and/or other small bits of luggage.

The price is $147. That’s a bunch more than the standard rain suit or enduro suit or whatever. Judging by our experience, we’d say the Magnum 2 is worth the money.