REVIEWED: Bering’s latest King Size Kit

Bering – King Size me or do I need to diet?

On a recent trip to the new forest, Minty and Dom paid a visit to our friends BikerHeadz for a kit update. 

The journey down was without incident, well, the first 90 miles were until Dom’s rear tyre decided to do an epic fart and expel all of its air due to a puncture that we just couldn’t find to plug. So, then we waited two hours for S.O.S Motorcycles to come out, locate the leak, and plug it. 

It was so bloody cold my hands went blue at one stage, and the temps dropped down to 3 degrees Celsius. Not the greatest start, especially as we were only ten minutes from our friends at Bikerheadz when this happened. 

However, delay aside, we arrived at Bikerheadz at around 12:30 to see Chris, and see what was new in the world of kit. 

The breakfast magician. That is he makes them disappear before the eyes…

For those of you who don’t know me, Minty, I’m not a small chap. Stocky, tall, broad-shouldered, and carry a bit of a pudge around the belly (breakfasts and burgers always seem to find me when I’m out on the bike), which means I often find it hard to find kit that fits me WELL. I also have the perfect face for radio 😊. 

I mentioned this issue to Bikerheadz, who then told me about some new Bering kit coming out. 

Bering listens to what bikers want…

Bering have listened to the biking community and have developed a range of “king sized” kit for us larger folks, rumour was that it would stop the damp belly from your jacket riding up while riding in the rain, would be fully adjustable to your own body, and would be comfortable and practical too boot. As you can imagine, I asked to try the kit on, expecting this not to be the case. After all, 26 years of riding bikes has taught me to not believe the hype. I can tell you now, I was in for a shock! 

Out came the trousers and jackets, in assorted sizes from XL up to 5XL. Once we’d worked out what size fitted me best, I tried on a King Size XL pair of trousers, and immediately said they were coming home with me. I didn’t ask, I told them this because they were bloody perfect! More info on the Corleo King Size trousers here.

Yes sir, I can boogie (in these trousers!)

Bearing in mind I usually buy trousers one size too big and suffer really tight pressure around my hips and lower belly whenever wearing them, I was shocked to find that these trousers did not feel tight, and the range of movement I had in them was second to none. So much so I could easily swing a leg over a bike without issue (you know, the issue where the crotch drops so far down that you feel like you can’t walk properly or get on or off a bike without issues or looking like you’ve messed your undercrackers!). All of this while the thermal liner was in AND with me wearing a pair of denim jeans under them! HALLELUJAH! 😊

I was truly speechless (editor’s note; ” I don’t belive for one minute that Minty was without words!) for a few moments as I marvelled in their glory!

Then came the jacket, and we had more fun finding the right size, but settled on the Bering Carlos King Size XL jacket and again, it was a breath of fresh air. I only had a t shirt and thin regatta walking jacket under my riding gear, but again I was blown away at how comfortable and well-fitting the jacket was, the arm length was spot on, the number of pockets was absolutely insane AND it didn’t restrict my movement in any way at all! More info on the jacket here.

The jacket fits like a, well, glove…

Again, all fully adjustable to my own body shape, it fitted like a glove, an amazingly versatile one. I made the same statement about this coming home with me and tore the labels off with glee whilst commenting how good it was for us larger folk to be listened to for a change.

So, the time came to (sadly) leave the glorious Bikerheadz showroom, and head out to the bikes for the 100-mile ride home. I toddled up to the BMW R1200RTP I was on, had a quick chuff on my vape, swung a leg over and feel relieved when I didn’t feel the usual pinches, tightness or restricted movement I’ve had to live with for all of my biking life. It felt like I was wearing loose fit clothing as it was so smooth and comfortable.

Off we headed, me going the wrong way, and turning round to go and find Dom for the quicker route home (TWAT!).

For once Minty didn’t suffer from the wind…

We rode 100 miles in about 3 hours, battling our way through local and motorway traffic, in twilight and into darkness, with fog, high wind, spray from the road and some absolute tools in cars seemingly hell-bent on knocking us off, but somehow, we made it back home to Sussex safe and well. I didn’t feel the wind once riding home, nor did I get cold at all. And I didn’t get any cramps or have to stand on the pegs to allow my trousers to ride up or down like I usually would.

In fact, when I got home, the first words out of my mouth after I’d cuddled my four-year-old daughter and my wife were “I cannot believe they finally did it, they made kit for fat bikers, finally, no more worrying or being embarrassed about being bigger than most”.

So there you have it, keep an eye on the Bikerheadz website for more information on when this kit will be available for purchase, and if you’re a larger rider, have faith that times could be a changing and that the odds may finally be turning to our favour in terms of well-fitting kit that doesn’t leave you out of breath, uncomfortable and feeling annoyed that you’ve wasted loads of money on kit that doesn’t fit properly!

I’ll be doing the usual 2000-mile test on this kit, as well as the lovely Scorpion ADX2 that I was given by Bikerheadz. They really are a bloody fantastic bunch of people there, and truly do their very best for bikers by liaising with manufacturers to feed back on the real-life issues we all face to improve kit for all!

So go on, have that breakfast, burger, chilli, or whatever other treat you’ve been holding back on and await the Bering kit to be released because initial thoughts are it won’t let you down at all!

The full range of Bering Clothing is available from Bikerheadz

» For more information on the Bering Carlos King Size jacket, click here