Riding to Nordkapp. What to wear

I think Covid did a lot of good for adventure biking.

Being locked up for all those months with nowhere to ride to but Sainsbury's to pick up the roll of toilet paper you forgot on your last visit eventually took its toll. All you could do was sit around the house, and dream about that bucket list you were going to attack in earnest once the world got back to normal.

And once the world opened up, for a lot of motorcyclists the North Coast 500 seemed to offer the ideal opportunity to get out and about. It was accessible, yet challenging in the way that a ride to Northern France, or even somewhere further south, sometimes isn't.

The North Coast 500 was enough to make you feel that you had achieved something. It took a lot of bikers out of their comfort zone, and presented the opportunity to undertake a trip that truly could be could be considered an adventure.

But increasingly we are seeing people wanting to take on even more challenging rides. Okay, for the lucky few for whom cost is not so much of an issue, there's always the Pan-American highway from Alaska to Ushuaia. For the rest of us, though, the financials and the timeframes demand something a bit closer to home.

And the ride up to Nordkapp seems to fit the bill perfectly. It's a 5,000 mile round trip, and even if you choose your timings with a view to optimising the conditions, the fact is that you're still probably going to experience a lot of weather. Temperatures up in the high twenties. Rain like we don't tend to see over here. The same might be said for the cold. The chance of coming across snow high up is also pretty likely.

This propensity to head north pre-empted Charley and Ewan's recent odyssey, but you can bet that, whatever people say about the pair, they will end up influencing a lot of people. And so we can see that, in the next few years, a ride to Nordkapp will become a kind of rights of passage for the individual who wants to be considered a proper 'adventure' rider.

Kitting yourself out

In recent months we seem to have seen a lot of people here in the shop who were undertaking this ride.

And I think some people's attitudes have surprised us. And in some instances we have felt that people were going to be woefully ill-equipped for the demands of the journey that lay ahead of them.

In particular, we saw a number of people who were going to be camping out as part of the Malle trip; and some it appeared to us seemed more concerned about making a good impression around the camp fire, as though it was a night out at the Bike Shed, than they were about preparing for what can be a seriously arduous undertaking.

Now I personally have never done this ride, but a lot of customers have done; and have lived to tell the tale. I too have ridden in enough inhospitable parts of the world to know what it's like to burn in the heat, to feel your extremities becoming blocks of ice, and to be so wet that you felt that if you got off the bike you would never have the will to get back on it.

And those, in our view, are the prospective challenges faced by those brave enough to ride several hundred miles inside the Arctic Circle.

Now let me be clear. There are those who are dismissive of the 'Long Way...' boys. We are not in that camp. I think that they have done a huge amount for adventure biking. And even though they don't set off with just a credit card, a Swiss Army knife and a spare tyre like Nick Sanders, I think their contribution is huge. And for Ewan, in particular, to take time away from his luxurious home overlooking the Hollywood Hills, to endure the relative discomforts of a ride like the most recent one, is I think truly inspiring. He doesn't need the fame. He doesn't need the money. The guy simply likes having adventures on motorcycles.

Yet, there is an underlying truth to the assertion that these guys don’t have to do it like the rest of us. On their recent trip they had a dedicated back-up truck. There will be dry kit, and there will be changes of outfit, as indeed we saw in the latest series.

Truth be told, I have often felt that the boys have ridden in slightly inappropriate gear. There have sometimes been sponsorship arrangements in play. And of course someone like Ewan is always going to be conscious of how he looks both on and off the bike.

But for most people the ability to change outfits on a journey like this will be limited, and if you want to get there and back safely and without incident the choice of kit is important. Hugely important, I would suggest.

I am going to start out by saying that much as we love drop-liner clothing, for a trip like this it's probably not the way to go. Yes, the membrane would, to a degree, protect you from the debilitating effects of the cold winds, although you're obviously going to need some decent thermal layers as well.

But the downside of a drop-liner jacket or pant is the ever-present prospect of 'wetting out'. When riding around the UK this might not be seen as such a great inconvenience, but heavy rain for days in on end in the middle of Sweden could mean getting very cold, as we lose body heat much faster through a wet environment. That could ruin your day; and even the day after could be very uncomfortable, because drop-liner gear takes a long time to dry out.

Going for a laminated suit is perhaps more sensible than going for a drop-liner one. You won't suffer from wetting out, but a laminated suit won't necessarily be the nicest thing to ride in. And one of the main reasons is that if you do get temperatures in the upper twenties you will start to boil. And being too hot if you're going to be spending all day in the saddle is just as uncomfortable as being too cold. In fact, it can be more dangerous because we don't always recognise the dangers of dehydration, and the effects it can have on our ability to concentrate.

And so even though we think a well-vented, laminated outfit of the type produced by people like Klim would certainly pass muster, we still don't think it's the best option. You would stay dry, and with the right layers you would stay warm, but that's just two of the three climactic scenarios we would look to be comfortable riding in.

Which is why, for us, the best outfit would be one with a removable membrane; what is often colloquially referred to as an 'adventure' suit.

By removing the waterproof membrane you have a jacket, and trouser potentially, that can breathe much better. Open the vents and a lot of air will flow directly through to the body. And so on the warmest of days you will stay cool.

With the membrane in place inside the jacket you will be protected from the wind and what I suppose one might call lighter rain.

But there is one thing to remember. With the membrane on the inside, the jacket/pant won't 'wet out' in heavy rain like a drop-liner garment. And that's because the rain doesn't get trapped between the outer layer and the membrane. It just runs down the outside of the membrane into the ether. Yes, the outer chassis will still get wet, but it won't hold on to lots of water. And so the jacket/pant will dry out fairly swiftly.

But most 'adventure' suits, as we might term them, and certainly the better ones, have waterproofs liners that can be worn on the outside. And the beauty of doing this is that you will then enjoy a level of waterproofing that, in many ways, is superior to that of a laminated outfit.

The only issue in terms of staying dry is that you have to stop and put your waterproofs on. And yes that can be a pain, but it's the price you have to pay to be comfortable in every conceivable climatic condition.

Obviously on a trip like this there's also going to be a need to stay warm but the fact is that, in this respect, there's not a whole heap of difference between any of the three different forms of construction.

Now there are lots of suits with removable waterproof liners on the market; dozens of them. We alone do such them from the likes of Richa, Spidi, Held, Halvarssons and Rukka.

But what I am going to do now is tell you which particular suit we'd go for and why.

The Rukka Trek-R

Now today's exercise is not about finding the most cost-effective or best-value way of riding to the Arctic Circle, it's about coming up with the best way. And so we are going to dive right in with what we consider to be the best removable-liner suit on the market: the Rukka Trek-R.

The Trek-R is almost certainly the most expensive such suit out there, but that's not the reason we have chosen it. We merely think it’s better than the rest.

It's a comfortable suit. It's quite generously proportioned, and therefore somewhat baggier and looser fitting than a Rukka road suit. In comfort terms, it's in a different league to any of the Finnish brand's laminated outfits. In the leg it's wide enough to go over even the largest off-road boot. And certainly for a trip like this we would be recommending a pretty sturdy, adventure-style boot of some description.

It is extremely well furnished with vents. There are mesh-style jackets that might potentially flow more air, but you're not going to be experiencing temperatures in the forties on a trip like this, so we take the view that the Trek-R is going to flow as much as you are going to ever need.

But there are two things that set the Trek-R apart from most similarly constructed suits. The first is protection. The second is the quality and construction of its waterproof components.

The jacket is rated AA for abrasion resistance. That's what you would want. Frankly, for a trip like this, anything with an AAA rating would probably constitute an unacceptable trade off in terms of comfort and breathability.

But what makes the Trek-R so different from other such suits is the quality and size of its armour. It's all Level 2, it's highly breathable, and being D3O it softens with heat becoming more comfortable as the day goes on.

But most importantly the armour is absolutely huge. Nobody else's armour gets close. And huge armour means two things. It increase the surface area of the jacket/pant that can absorb the energy of an impact if you come into contact with something hard. But secondly, large Level 2 armour will endow both the jacket and pants with much enhanced levels of abrasion resistance. The most important Zone 1 areas tested to the highest level on a jackets under EN17092 are the elbows and shoulders. And the chances of sliding down the road long enough or far enough to wear through the Trek-R’s elbow or shoulder armour are probably less than winning Euromillions.

The second thing that sets the Trek-R apart from most similar outfits is its stretchy, Gore-Tex waterproof liners. Obviously Gore makes the best membranes. They tend to have the highest waterproofing and breathability scores. And of course they are guaranteed to remain waterproof for life. But the trick here is that that the waterproof inners that come with the Trek-R contain oodles of stretch, making them so easy to wear, whether they are on the inside or the outside of the protective layer.

Now this isn't the time and place to go into every last detail about the suit and its features, but we have done video and written reviews about it, and if you want to access them click here.

What else would we recommend?

You are going to get cold on this trip, so you will need good layers.

Base layers should be 100% Merino. That's a given. For good measure, we'd take something lightweight in, say 150g, and something mid-weight in 200-250g. One of the benefits of Merino is that you could get away with wearing one set for the whole trip. Merino wool doesn't hold on to stinky body odour like synthetic layers!

For warmth we'd go for a down jacket. Both Rukka and Klim do 100% genuine down ones. We’d also buy the Rukka Down-X pant.

Provided that we weren't going on old bikes like Ewan and Charley's, we would go electric. If it's really cold there's nothing like a heated jacket if there's a chance that you're going to be in the saddle for, say, eight hours. And if going electric, we'd go Warm&Safe obviously. It's lighter and nicer to wear than the offerings from Gerbing and Keis. And it generates considerably more heat.

Boot wise, we don't have anything in particular in mind, but this is a long and hazardous trip, and although I'm sure there are some good hospitals along the route, we'd want the extra security offered by a stiffer, more protective off-road style boot.

Gloves? Well, space will always be at a premium. But I'd go for a Gore-grip laminated glove. I'd want something more wintry for the colder days, although I wouldn't be leaving home without heated grips. You could also go for a summer glove, but you'd probably get away with a standard, summer-waterproof glove even on warmer days.

In terms of a helmet, we'd go for a flip. Charley's initial decision to wear an open-face on his recent trip was kind of crazy in our view. There are going to be enough ways of hurting yourself without adding your face to the list of vulnerable body parts.

A flip will be brilliant when it's really hot, and you just need to get a blast of fresh air on to your face. A flip, let’s face it, is also going to be easier on your ears. We simply wouldn't countenance anything else.

In summary

I would love to ride to Nordkapp. Whether it will ever happen depends on many things, but it's probably not going to happen any time soon. If I did get the opportunity, though, I most certainly would not underestimate the physical challenges.

Those who know us well will recognise our obsession, if one wants to call it that, with passive safety. And passive safety is all about being as comfortable on the bike as you can be. Not too cold. Not too wet. And not too hot.

And on a trip like this that is going to be a challenge, for you really could find yourself experiencing all four seasons in a day.

Not that we have skimped on more traditional, protection. And that's why for us it's got to be Rukka. Whatever the CE rating, if you're going to hit the road in a physical sense, it's Rukka's huge Level 2 armour that could keep you out of hospital.

Clearly, you can undertake this trip dressed very differently; and sometimes you might get lucky. But we are believers in the Roman dictum 'Si vis pacem, para bellum'. And if you want to be prepared for the worst, what we have suggested certainly represents the way we would go.