Teizms review -- Navigator 2 piece

[rritterson]

First off, yes this is a review of a custom motorcycle suit by someone who just gave up riding. It takes 6 weeks to get the suit from the date you order, and, well, I had two accidents in that time.

Second, I know there is a gear review section (and mods move me if you must), but previous threads on this company have been largely negative and all in General, so I felt I should update and let you know what may have changed in the last 2-3 years.

Third, Teiz (teizms.com) used to advertise on BARF, but since they aren't listed in the sponsors page, I guess they no longer do.
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After I went sliding on the pavement in jeans and a leather jacket and was fortunate to come out unscraped, I decided I needed to get a pair of pants that really fit me well and that I'd wear every day instead of the short fat guy pants I kept buying and never wearing.

I am 6"3 and about 175, so skinny and narrow. This makes finding gear quite a problem as it is almost never long enough to fit me right. I have an XS waist and XL leg length, so it's always a compromise. At the time I decided i wanted something I could commute in every day but also take on dirt for long adventure rides. I looked around a bunch at all of my options and decided to go with teiz because of the number of favorable reviews they were piling up on ADVrider and because they do true custom sizing instead of the off-the-rack adjustments aerostitch does.

With aerostitch sizing always seemed to come down to a guessing game about whether I needed the extra leg length above the knee, below, or both. I also seemed like I needed more than 3 inches, so even the maximum length wouldn't fit me. Teiz offered a simple form where I put in a bunch of my measurements and they created a pattern and suit from it- truly bespoke. Many years ago I did the same with Helimot (though that time Helmut did the measuring himself) and was extremely pleased with the results that followed.

I decided to go with their top of the line suit as my experience has been that cheaper gear always has huge flaws that make you not want to wear it, and if you don't wear it, it's truly worthless. I also decided to go with a two-piece instead of a one piece suit because it was important to me to be able to remove the jacket when I'm inside or be able to remove the pants but keep the jacket on a cold evening and avoid having to pack a separate coat.

This suit uses a panoply of materials, all of them high end and trendy in the adventure suit market. If knowing all of them is important to you, check out the website and they list them all. I don't know much about them except that they give superior abrasion resistance compared to other materials. It still doesn't beat leather, but it comes much closer than it used to.

So now, my likes:

1. As you can see from the photos, the suit fits me very well. In the photos I'm wearing jeans and a thermal long sleeve shirt under the suit. It's hard for me to convey just how hard it is to get a fit anything like this in gear. They've done an excellent job cutting a suit that fits me fantastically and it pains me that I finally own one after riding so long and so recently after I quit.
2. Almost all of the zippers are those seam taped water resistant kind, and they all have an additional panel over the top covering them further.
3. The suit has legitimate vents, as you can see in the jacket (left breast) and pants (right thigh). A standard feature on many suits these days, but welcome nonetheless
4. I have tried on a great many pair of pants as well as jackets in my day, hoping to find one off the rack that truly fits. These have the same level of attention to detail in stitching and features like you'd find in, say, OEM BMW gear. It may not be the best in the world, but it is certainly top tier. I didn't notice a single loose thread end anywhere on the jacket, which means they are paying attention when they are sewing. Some of the details they have are a snap to hold the collar open and down, as you can see in the photos, or a number of adjustment loops and closures that are all placed in just the right position so I can get to them easily and adjust them quickly.

As I can't give you a review that includes me riding in the suit for quite a while, my list of dislikes is going to be comically short, so I won't even attempt the absurd. I will say I got into as much of a riding position as I could not on a bike and the suit was comfortable and all of the armor in the right place.

Some other notes:
The suit comes with a zip-in thermal liner that is both heftier and softer than most I've seen. it does not come with a waterproof layer and is not waterproof on the outside either. This is by design-- the company believes that an externally waterproof layer will either leak or not breath and an internal waterproof layer will result in a soaked outer layer that will be annoying to ride with when you end up on the other side of the storm. They believe an extra outer rain suit is the best solution. I agree with the analysis for adventure riding, but not for commuting. On the other hand, the suit is not sold for commuting.

The suit is not made in the USA-- they are made in pakistan. Not important to me, but I know it is to many.

If you have any questions, let me know and I'll take a stab at them. In the end I think that they still don't have the reputation of the established brands, and that they had a bit of a rocky start. But they are learning really quickly and if the recent reviews on other forums are a guide, they are catching up if not meeting the major brands on quality, but with a lower price.

[PorradaVFR]

I got one of their suits and have been QUITE happy with it. Smoking deal, it's that eye-burning neon yellow/green color so I feel more visible and it's about as ventilated as I could expect from a nylon suit so I'm still riding in it these days.

I recommend those guys, so long as you're not in a hurry.

[aszrael1266]

I've been looking at their stuff. As I commute more and more on my bike I have been leaning toward the idea of a one piece stitch like suit.

[liferider]

Originally Posted by aszrael1266

I've been looking at their stuff. As I commute more and more on my bike I have been leaning toward the idea of a one piece stitch like suit.

I recently started commuting in the one piece Teiz Power Shell suit, in "can u see me now" hiviz... It's a *really* great suit, well thought out and built, armored and comfortable.. Highly reccommended... Great customer service, from a small US company... priced well, and they just started offering crash replacement as well. It did take 6 weeks to get the suit, but man was it worth it.
Pic:

[mosquito]

Thanks for the review!

[Flying Pig]

Nice review. Bummer about your crashes.... although I'm curious if they happened in the Teiz suit or not and how they fared if they did.

I like my Teiz. I'm going to wear it one session when on my next trackday when I bring my R6 out to scrape the pucks for some posing cred
Couldn't get myself to scrape them with the V-strom