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I continue replacing my riding gear stolen by Australia post and came to choose Resurgence gear cargo’s for my new summer rider pants.
I lost three pairs of rider pants, My Macna Fulcrum pants with a two liner system – well suited to cool and wet weather in Japan. My BMW City 2 pants, made of cordura type material with CE armor and no liners but a great 3 season pant. And my peak summer only 56 Design – Edwin rider jeans that I used under jeans knee D30 armor with.
I cannot afford to replace all three pants (and matching jackets) so I thought long and hard as to what gear will work the best for me for 3 seasons ignoring winter since I am not planning to ride Japan or other cold/wet destinations for a few years.
I tried on ADV touring outfits. Everything now seems to be about ADV. Nylon gear from Dryrider and other brands similar to my Macna suit. However I kept coming back to the fact that for me nylon gear only works well in cool weather. My BMW City 2 pants were the most versatile item I had and this influenced my choice.
BMW do not make the City pants anymore and while there are many Kevlar pants being sold I wanted something a level up which is what Resurgence Gear were advertising.
My first impression was the pants were much lighter than I expected and I was a little disappointed.
These pants have a Pekev lining which has received a CE AAA Abrasion rating. That’s claimed to be 200% stronger than other liners. The pants are suprisingly soft, softer than say a regular pair of Wrangler traditional denim jeans and nothing like canvas as the highly misleading review on Web bike world said. They have a smooth inner mesh wicking layer and are comfortable compared to Kevlar jeans I have owned.
They have D30 knee and hip armor. This is thin and very flexible thus the pants remain comfortable. The knee armor can be adjusted not only up/down but also left/right. That means I can place it so the pants do not twist sideways when my legs bend on bike – an issue on every pair of pants with armor I have used in the past.
The hip armor is same thin D30 and you don’t even know you are wearing it. The pants have dual layer cross stitching and the Pekev liner does not suffer any loss of strength when washed, which depending on who you read is a problem for Kevlar pants over time.
There is no thermal liner or rain liner which is similar to the BMW pants that I used rain pants with as needed but being so thin makes them different to the BMW pants and not really good in cool temperatures. They are much more just a summer pant not a 3 season pant as I had hoped.
I found in the New England highlands on my recent Kaputa tour when the temps dropped to 10 degrees they do a fair job but not as flexible as my BMW pants were and they like to ride up my boots being such a light weight cloth which doesn’t help in cooler weather.
I have had one of the ankle velcro straps stitching come loose already after just a few days use and that is disappointing. I tend to (perhaps incorrectly) feel slightly under protected wearing these as they are so light and soft. However they are rated a higher level of protection than any pants I have previously owned.
My other issue with them being so light is they flap about a bit in the wind and ride up. They seem long enough but perhaps could benefit from having a side zip at the lower section to expand that a little over the boots and perhaps add a little weight down low with a inner heat shield section or something.
I had this same problem with my Alpinestar Andes pants which were so bad at riding up my boots I stitched elastic stirrups to them to hold them down. Eventually they did mold to shape and stayed in place and that may be the case with the Resurgence cargo’s too but I suspect these might be relegated to summer ride pants.
Some thing worth mentioning is these pants are easy to wash. The liner is not affected by washing and the soft material and less heavy nature of the pants made it easy to just use gentle cycle and regular washing powder in my top loader machine. That is great feature when on tour I can get these washed and further makes them suit a summer pant for riding SE Asia
I have only toured 10 days in them so more time will definitely reveal more good or bad points and that will be added to this review. At the moment I feel they are decent pants – but not as good as my BMW City 2 pants and perhaps not exactly what I was after.
Update: I have now purchased the Merlin Mahala Explorer Pro pants which are a level up from the Resurgence Gear pants.
I will continue to update my experiences with these pants which I feel have a place for my SE Asia rides but not for the majority of my riding.
