For those interested in a future of ADV riding as well as gear with serious protection ( non track related of course.. there are race leathers for that) i believe i have found the solution. We all recognize that Yermo and his toxic suit are well suited, but for those of us who don't like to loose gallons of sweat a day yet maintain a serious level of protection and waterproofness here ya go.


Its seriously not cheap, but honestly, im done buying the budget gear and wishing in had something else. Im not about to pull the trigger on this suit this fall ( mostly because my wallet wont let me) but as someone who is serious about wanting to do some ADV riding in the future i think this may be the way to go. 

http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/klim-badlands-pro-ja...

Watch the video... 

Michael Milner has one of these. I also looked at it in great detail when I was looking at ADV gear. Because of the extreme heat involved, I just didn't think it vented enough.

So I opted for the Alpenstar Capetown Air Jacket and upgraded it's armor:


Then I picked up a pair of Olympia Air Glide Three pants, and again upgraded the armor:


The Capetown is not a great jacket, too much velcro and the pockets leave a lot to be desired, but it's entirely serviceable and has wicked venting. Tjhe upgraded armor you can get for it is also vented and quite serious.  To get it to zip to the pants I bought required some engineering but thanks to AGrip that was done quickly.

The pants are also extremely well vented. I switched the hip pads out for real armor. I may upgrade it to Aerostich TF armor at some point. 

I also picked up Alpenstar Scout WP ADV boots:



They are extremely solid and offer the right protection for off road.


I also got the Arai XD4


 
Which is the most expensive piece of ADV gear I have but it rocks.


While I had intended to use this setup on the cross country TAT trip figuring that it was going to be /crazy/ hot, I ended up wearing on the ill-fated Seattle trip which was /CRAZY/ hot. Interestingly with the cycle gear heat out underneath:
 


I was able to handle temperatures around 105 without complaint. 

The Klim gear is very good, very solid and offers better protection that this setup at much greater expense and with significantly less venting which was the real show stopper for me.

And, inadvertently, I've answered a question that buffalo asked in another thread about his impending DR purchase.

My biggest issue with all of the motorcycle gear ive used and read about is the waterproof liner. I want the outermost layer to be gortex and waterproof which is why the KLIM is so appealing.

Yea, but it's wicked hot, just like the Toxic Suit.

I've loved my Firstgear Kathmandu jacket and pants, totally waterproof, armored, and tough as nails. Not good for 100 degrees, but fine under 80.