Product Evaluations

AEROSTICH Roadcrafter II (2 piece suit)

• Date of purchase: May 1992

• Level of satisfaction: very high with a few exceptions.

• Changes I would make to the next suit that I order:
  1. I would increase the length of the collar tab by about 2 inches. When wearing my Widder Ventura electric vest with collar, the additional bulk of the electric vest's collar makes it impossible to fasten the collar tab of my Aerostich suit.

  2. After a few years, the Velcro loop strips on the front flap started to fray. This was caused by the stitching being too close to the edges of the Velcro strips, furthermore, as the strips are cut into 3 inch sections there is an even greater chance of fraying to take place along the cut sections. I would ask to have a continuous section of Velcro to be sewn in and to have the stitching placed at least 1/8 of an inch from the edges.

COLORTUNE Carburetor Tuning Aid ... BEWARE!!!

• This device is basically a spark plug with a transparent insulator. This enables one to view the color of the combustion so that mixture adjustments can be made.
• The product was used as per the instructions that were supplied with the product.
• My particular Colortune was almost impossible to remove from the cylinder head. After much patience, I managed to remove the Colortune with a minimal of damage to the spark plug thread.
• Although threaded in by hand, I should have clued in that the fit was tight. I did not experience the usual amount of play normally  found in threaded devices.
• Upon inspection of the Colortune, aluminium deposits were found within the threads.
• The Colortune was measured using a calibrated micrometer and found to be oversize. The Colortune was 0.006 inch and 0.008 inch greater in "major" diameter than a Bosch and NGK spark plug respectively. In fact, MY COLORTUNE DID NOT MEET SAE OR REVISED BRITISH SPECIFICATIONS  FOR SPARK PLUG DIMENSIONING as outlined in the Machinery Handbook - 23rd revised edition.
• The vendor in the U.S. did offer me a refund, but I couldn't believe the lack of responsibility accepted by the British manufacturer. The manufacturer was dumb enough to send me a letter stating that the measurement that I provided them with fell within the standard. Well maybe their standard from the turn of the century, but not the standard used by today's reputable manufacturers. Makes you wonder what happened to the British motorcycle industry.

WIDDER Electric Vest

• Date of Purchase: May 1992
• Level of Satisfaction: very high with one exception.
• Changes I made to my vest:
  1. Shortly after I started using my vest, I broke the BMW accessory plug while dismounting the motorcycle with the vest still plugged in. The solid cord as provided by Widder obviously has no give. I installed a Belden coiled cord in place of the original cord between the adjustable thermostat and the BMW accessory plug. This heavy duty coiled cord provides the rider with a warning tug to let them know that they are still connected. I haven't broken a BMW accessory plug since. (Belden part number 8601, 18/2 conductor) 
  2. I would also consider purchasing an electronic thermostat instead of the bulky and outdated bi-metallic thermostat. You can also construct an electronic thermostat by building a variable duty cycle, 1 minute period timer (555) to drive a FET that is heat sinked. Simple and elegant.