Author, regular Overland Magazine contributor and unstoppable traveller Helen Lloyd, has set off once again on her trusty Yamaha Serow 225.
Having ridden up Africa, across Europe, and more recently spent 3 months riding all over Iceland, she has just departed for Australia. Her little Serow was near the end of its natural life when it appeared in the bike show at The Overland Event last summer, but with some love and attention and the acknowledgement that it is light, economical, simple to repair and easy to use, she decided it would be up for the trip.
However, Helen being Helen, she won’t be taking any kind of direct route and this will be no 6 month blast. She will probably only be arriving in the Caucasus as winter draws in, but she is certainly no stranger to travelling through cold weather. One of her earlier books – A Siberian Winter’s Tail – recounts her cycling journey across Siberia in the depths of winter!
During this trip to Australia Helen will encounter all kinds of climatic variation so has chosen some of the newest female clothing on the market. Coming from Italy, the T.ur brand is the a separate side of the Tucano Urbano company, but it has already proven itself on the Dakar Rally with British rider Simon Hewitt.
Helen has chosen the ‘J-ONE’ jacket which is a layered product but which incorporates loads of new technology. The brochure says that the outer CORDURA® layer can guarantee high resistance to abrasion, tough tear resistance and is water repellent. Behind that T.ur has adopted HYDROSCUD®, an exclusive patented system which combines coated fabrics with taped seams and waterproof flaps and which ensures 100% waterproofing and breathability.
For warmth the jacket uses Thermore® which traps an extremely high quantity of air, thanks to its very fine fibre structure. Apparently it’s non-allergic, non-toxic, highly breathable and the fibres stay compact and stable ensuring consistent thermal efficiency. What’s particularly interesting though, is that 50% of the padding is made with fibre recycled from PET bottles; every jacket allows the recovery of 5 bottles, so you can feel just a little bit righteous.
Information on swing tags if fine of course, but Helen has agreed to regularly report how she is getting on and whether this new kit is really up to the job, because that’s what we like to do at Overland – really test a product, not just ride around the block.
Click here for more information on T.ur
