I bought these for a trip to Morocco and believe that I definitely made the right choice and they were the envy of a few other riders while we were there.

The huge thigh vents work brilliantly and kept me cool (or at least bearable) through 40+ Celsius heat.

They are extremely comfortable while riding, with ribbed stretch panels and soft mesh areas front and back of the knee, with leather panels in the seat and inside, lower leg. A highly breathable panel around the groin also helps things a lot.

The zip, fly poppers, leg velcro and velcro waist adjusters are all very high quality and the clip loops, big pockets and key clip are all great little details - as is the lip in the pockets, so coins don't just fall out. These are cut to go outside MX boots, but I wore them both inside and out as the adjusters go right around the back of the calf, Klim also make a cut for inside boot only I believe.

I rated reliability high since I rode 6000 miles and put them through a fair amount of distress and there are no signs of anything failing, only time will tell how durable they are.

I did find that I missed waist level pockets, but that was just a case of adjusting my habits.

Without additional armour, their protection is somewhat limited, but the foam padding is comfortable to walk in and offers some protection. They are good for light showers and even brief, heavier showers, but obviously will need a waterproof layer in anything heavier or more sustained.

Would definitely recommend for comfortable hot weather riding and would definitely consider buying again.

Bought them from Desert Rose Racing (via Adventure Spec) - recommended.

http://www.desertroseracing.com/store/index.php

Bought this as my first bike lid and assumed it was an example of cheap and cheerful until I wore my two subsequent helmets and realised that the V2R actually did things really quite well.

The vents are useful and stay open/closed as desired, visor fogging can be an issue, but is a lot better than both the Held and Arai lids I've worn.

The flip down sun visor I used more than I thought I would, handy both for Sun glare and just protecting eyes while riding with the visor open, although I did feel concious of looking like a Darth Vader wannabe.

Safety I've put at 9 since the government tests gave it a 5 star rating in their safety tests and I can't think of a reason to disagree.

The wind noise is possibly the worst feature, with a gap in the padding right by the ear that channels wind and bugs.

Good budget lid, especially if you always have the visor down.

Route in Google maps: http://tinyurl.com/mandpcornwall2010

This was our mini-tour of Cornwall, the objective of which was to: test some new bits of kit, figure out what else we need and to generally consume as many pasties, ice creams and pints of Cornish Rattler as possible.
We are experienced campers, explorers and bikers, but are currently rookies at combining them all, so this was a simple potter around the south coast, part holiday, part bike tour, part experiment with a view to doing a long tour of Morocco in 2011.
We took the scenic route through Somerset countryside southward, wild camped on Dartmoor (within stumbling distance of The Warren House Inn), then along the coast from Plymouth down, crossing Torpoint ferry (30p) and Fowey ferry (£1.50!) into Kernow.
Camped at The Lizard for a couple of days, then round to Treen Farm Campsite (which I highly recommend) via Marazion, Newlyn (crappest pasties in Cornwall we reckon), Mousehole and Lands End (£1 entry for bikes).
Stopped off on the north coast near Padstow for a couple of nights to refuel on more pasties and fish & chips before riding back along the A39, through Lynmouth (down the gorge), across Exmoor and back home.
Plenty of great views, great roads and rather luckily, great weather.
P's F650GS seemed to not bother using petrol, just seemed to sniff the fumes and only took about £20-odd to do the whole trip.
As for our kit test.. we decided we need to invest in a decent tent and some form of additional seat padding! We only did 600 miles all round, but averaging 40-50mph, that's still plenty of time for numb arse syndrome to kick in ...

Bought my Transalp XL650 2000 at the start of the year with only 11k miles on the clock and have notched up just over 2 thousand miles via commuting and occasional trips to the coast and around the local area. It's my first adventure touring style bike and coming to this from a race bike I have to say I love riding it. The riding position, handling and the smoothness of the engine make it a pleasure to ride around the back roads of Wiltshire. Definitely more suited to the Ted Simon school of touring though, with the gearing and delivery nice and smooth up to 50mph, but above which you will find your foot checking for a 6th gear. Motorway travel and this bike are not happy partners, at least for me, it just felt like I was revving the nuts off it by 80.

I've not used it much off road yet, but even pottering around a local forest path I bottomed it out, so it's clear that ground clearance is not a strong point. I do however like the balance of the bike and the way you can yank it back into shape when the world starts tilting over in a hurry, something I'm not sure would be capable on the heavier chunks of adventure touring bikes around today.

For reliability I have scored a 10, I am sure it is not perfect, but from my experience so far I have had zero problems and nothing looks to need any work anytime soon.

Overall the engine is good, the tried and trusted Honda V-twin I think is a reasonable balance between weight, size, economy, power and reliability. I've scored it down on the lack of a cruising gear and the in-accessibility of some of the engine parts, for which many of the Haynes instructions starting with the line "remove the fairing, dashboard and fuel tank".

Value for money I scored high too, since I bought mine in great condition with 11k on the clock (verified), with FSH and Givi luggage for less than £2k.

For me, with price, fuel economy and reliability high on my check-list during these hard times, this bike has been everything I wanted. Would I keep it if I won the lottery this weekend though? .. no chance.