I am not a hateful guy, generally. I stay fairly happy, am ready to accommodate, and don’t go bat-shit crazy at small things. Sometimes I do flip out and write articles like this. This post, however, is not hateful. It is an honest, to-the-point writeup of my after-sales experience with Spartan ProGear. Spartan makes a lot of nice stuff, and they have a lot of satisfied customers. I, on the other hand, am not one of them. Please do not take this as an absolute judgement on Spartan, go through the post, ask other people, and make your own opinion.
Which Spartan product do I have a problem with?
Spartan Odysseus riding pant. I bought it in July 2013 for my upcoming Ladakh ride. Paid 6,000 bucks, and made the mistake of not taking it on a short ride before the big one, I was too happy, and too busy with other stuff to think that things could go this wrong.
What seems to be the problem?
Problem 1: Extremely uncomfortable around the knees
I wore the pant for the first time while going from Chandigarh to Manali. Just about an hour after the ride started, I could feel the discomfort in my knees. The area around the knee guards is just too damn tight, and the normal riding position of legs going backwards only compounds the problem. I rode in great pain for those 10 hours, didn’t have any other option as fixing the problem would have involved removing the pant to take out the knee guards, and I just couldn’t go butt-naked in the middle of nowhere.
Reached Manali, and took off the pant to find both my knees severely bruised, almost bleeding. For the rest of the trip, I had no option but to remove the knee guards, even though it fucked the whole point of wearing a riding pant in the first place. I also gave a thought to my body taking some time to get used to the pant, like a helmet or a glove does. After the Ladakh ride, I tried wearing the pant on many occasions, only to curse myself, the pant, and everyone around me.
Recently I tried to fix this problem by replacing the KNOX knee guards with ones from a DSG Triton jacket. The KNOX guards are too fat, the ones from the jacket are flatter, so I thought my knees will get more space and will probably not get that much damaged. It did help, but not much. I rode 1000 kms in 15 hours with this new setup, and the picture shows how my knees looked after that. It may not look like much, but trust me, that burns like a hot iron to your ears. Also, imagine how it looked like with the original KNOX guards, I had actual blood spots in there.
Problem 2: Not waterproof
Yes, Spartan doesn’t claim on its website that the pant is waterproof. What they do claim is that you can get “Removable thermal and rain-proof liners”. When I bought the pant, I got only a thermal liner. Till now I haven’t found the rain liner anywhere, physical shop or online. This is a major problem, because the pant is not waterproof from a very weird angle.
When I went to Ladakh, I was pretty confident of my gear as I thought everything was waterproof. We didn’t encounter much rain till Talang la pass, but when we reached there, all hell broke loose. There was heavy downpour, ice-cold, plus hail. I was still feeling relatively cozy, and we decided to carry on. Suddenly I felt a searing pain in my balls, like someone had jammed up an ice pack up my butt. The pant was leaking in water from the rear ass-patch, and that is not comfortable, at all. There was little I could have done about it.
Did you contact Spartan regarding these problems?
Yes I did. I didn’t contact them immediately, since I thought the pant was already ruined through the Ladakh ride for replacement. I kept riding without knee guards for quite a long time, as pointless as it may have been. Finally, last month I thought what the hell, let’s see what these people have to say about it. I wasn’t looking for a replacement at this point, I understood it was too late for that. All I wanted to find was:
- How these guys handle after-sales problems
- How will they fix such issues, if possible
- General attitude of these people
It was around this time that I was looking to buy riding boots as well, and Spartan had just come out with their new products. I Emailed the Spartan customer support, and the reply that these guys gave me made sure that I stayed away from their boots. Here’s how the communication went:
From: riderzone.cc@gmail.com
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2014 8:29 PM
To: contact@spartanprogear.com
Subject: Spartan ProGear
Hi, I bought the Spartan Odysseus riding pants in August 2013 for my Ladakh ride. Just 1 day into the ride I found that the knee guards were pretty useless, because they made the area around the knee very tight and I couldn’t ride more than an hour with them. So I had to go on the journey without any protection.
Then on the ride I got some rain near Pang and I found that the rough patch near the back of the pant wasn’t waterproof! I have still been using the pants since then, but recently was suggested that I should contact you guys to see of something could be done about these problems. Please let me know what you think.
Akhil Kalsh. riderzone.cc
On 13 May 2014 16:38, “Helpdesk @ SpartanProGear” <contact@spartanprogear.com> wrote:
Hi Akhil,
There are literally thousands of riders wearing the same pants with no such problem, so we have to assume that the knee-guards are too tight for you simply because you have bought the wrong size. Please also note that the pants are not advertised as water-proof but can be used in rain only with the rain liner.
With warm regards from
The Support Team @ www.spartanprogear.com
On 14 May 2014 01:25, “Rider Zone” <riderzone.cc@gmail.com> wrote:
Hey,
I got the XS, and it fits at the waist with some velcro adjustment. The length is fine too, so is the overall fitting. I don’t really understand how I could’ve got the wrong size if everything fits well 🙂 I tried the S, M and L too, and they were all too big at the waist and thighs.
I wasn’t aware that rain liner was an add-on feature. I thought only the thermal liner provided was the removable one and rain liner was already built into the pants. I can’t really see the option to buy the rain liner anywhere either, can you please guide me to that?
On 16 May 2014 13:41, “Rider Zone” <riderzone.cc@gmail.com> wrote:
Still waiting for a response.
From: “Rider Zone” <riderzone.cc@gmail.com>
Date: 4 Jun 2014 17:38
Subject: RE: Spartan ProGear
To: “Helpdesk @ SpartanProGear” <contact@spartanprogear.com>
Wow, great customer support guys. If it wasn’t already blatantly obvious, let me say it now, I am not looking for a return or an exchange. My only intention was to check if this obvious manufacturing defect could be fixed in any way.
I would like to know the name of the person I am speaking to, (or in this case who is NOT speaking to me) if that’s not too much trouble for you people.
So, if anything goes wrong with your Spartan riding gear, they are just going to ASSUME that you are a fucking imbecile, and then stop replying to your emails like you are some guy’s crazy girlfriend who he is trying to ignore. This is the part that irked me the most, the part because of which I am writing this 1500 word article.
I’ve clearly mentioned in the Email that I am not looking for any replacement, all I am looking for is some use for my investment. Whoever was replying to this Email doesn’t have the courtesy, or the brains to even reply! Can you imagine how frustrating this is? You go to a company with a genuine concern about their product, they label you an asshole and then ignore you completely.
I haven’t heard from them still. I put a status on my Facebook, and the owner of Spartan was tagged in there, still no reply. Again, I will ask you to verify the details yourself, ask other people, and make your own opinion. As for me, I am staying away from Spartan products forever, and if someone asks me for a recommendation, Spartan ProGear will never appear in my list.
I would encourage you to inform Spartan people about this article. I am not looking for anything from them now, just wanted to let others know. I’ll most probably throw the pant into the dumpster soon, but I hope these guys read this and learn a fucks worth of courtesy.
I wish I could have read this review before buying odysseus pants from Spartan. I got it some 8 months ago and was riding to 900 km journey very next day after getting that pants. On the way I encountered heavy rain. I was in assumption that it’s fully waterproof. On contrary to that same thing happened what author has mentioned in above article when water seeped-in through that crotch area patch and it was weirdly uncomfortable for me to ride with water soaked underwear :D… I wear XL. Built-in knee pads were big discomfort too, but later I found a way to how to adjust them and fix them with those Velcro straps provided there. I bought that pants for 7000 INR. I wouldn’t recommend this pants to anyone.
What do you say friends for RE gears,,!?
I have also purchase a Scimitar Razor Jacket from one of the Dealers of Spartan Progear in Delhi (Karol Bagh). But due to the poor quality of fabric used the Jacket started deteriorating after 1st month after purchase. Reporting the problem to the Spartan Pro with all the necessary details(Pics and Invoice), they asked the Jacket to be sent to Chennai office for the claim inspite of replacing the same through the dealer.
If the company is not confident on the Quality of material and Dealers, they should be selling the product in Chennai only. But the company is thinking about selling the product and not on the after sale support.
As someone who has worked in a company that sold riding accessories, I understand why Spartan wanted you to send the defective jacket back. You need to look at the product properly to understand what is wrong, and then communicate that to the manufacturer. In some cases, the manufacturer might ask Spartan to send the defective jacket to him for further tests.
I get that you don’t want to spend any money sending the jacket back to them for no reason, and logically Spartan should reimburse you for that, but it is still important to do that in any case.
I bought Aspida Proteus riding pants in Nov 2014 From “Let’s Gear Up” in Bangalore. After a few rides I found that the material is just “giving way”, I mean that some parts of the material are just stretching apart. I was quite shocked and when I spoke to LGU they were least bothered, “take it up with the manufacturer” they said. Now, protective gear is supposed to be strong and rugged, but here was a riding gear stretching out without any trauma. Email to the manufactures resulted in a “send it to us we’ll see” . So I lumped it, took it to a local tailor, and ran machine stitches up and down the stretched parts. This worked good for a few months, but now the whole garment has patches of material which are stretched out. Shudder to think what will happen in case of a crash. OTOH I have been using a Spartan Jacket also since 2014 and it is really doing great, no such issues. So this is my contribution to this discussion…. One great product and one absolutely shitty one, both from the same house.
It’s sad to hear such stories, but yes they happen quite often. These products are made in Pakistan, and sometimes the manufacturer, in an attempt to make the brand pay more, send in low-quality stuff, telling him that if you want better, you gotta pay more. This fucks the customer in the end.
Having said that, you should have sent the pant to Spartan, that’s how they find out what the issue is. Think from their point of view as well.
Thank you for the review, I was about to buy stuff from Spartan Pro Gear, but after reading your experience I have decided not to buy any stuff from them.
My shopping list included their Gloves (Macna rapier), Pants (Odysseus), And Helios Jacket. I am not buying any of that now, preferably will look for Rynox Advento Pants, Rynox Tornado Pro Jacket/ Biking Brotherhood stuff.
Thanks for this informative post.
Don’t buy anything from Biking Brotherhood.
Are they very bad ?
Yes, both in craftsmanship and the quality of armor.
This pretty much sums it up. No point purchasing a Spartan product. They will probably soon have to shut down now.
True, but not much options for us Indians. I doubt they’ll shut down though.
Similar experience with their products in less than 3 months and they ‘ASSUMED’ yet again. All I can say is..FUCKED UP products..FUCKED UP after-sales and a FUCKED UP brand ! I have stopped referring it as a brand any more (Coz brands at least own up the problems, if not fix them).
These people seem to have made their money by cheating people. STAY FUCKING AWAY FROM ANY SPARTAN/ASPIDA Product.
Really the service by these people is pathetic and useless. I never recommend to buy any product of Spartan PRO Gear. These people cheat customers.
What happened?
I had a similar experience with their helios jacket. The right side sleeve zipper handle/puller fell apart and I asked them to send me a new zipper and I would fix it. No responses on email. But I called them then as the jacket was brand new and I had used it for about a week only. They promised me a replacement of the zipper and asked me to email my address. nothing happened. I called a few more times and then dropped the matter.
Never buying a spartan product again.
Same here Amarpreet, they don’t seem to give a fuck.
I also have the same riding pants. From my knowledge( please correct me if I am wrong) these are worn over regular pants. The thermal liner also functions as the rain liner.
I have the S size and not wearing it over regular pants for rides as it will be unbearable hot. The rear position of the foot pegs coupled with riding boots causes the material to wrinkle behind the knee and in turn causes discomfort on rides > 200 km. I regularly stop and have to adjust the pants into my boots. Sadly this is the only solution I can think off. 🙁
Everything else I am quite happy. Haven’t tested it in the rain though also the pants have only been used for a couple of rides of approx 500 km.
Spartan Odysseus are not overpants Christofer, they are normal riding pants that you wear on your undies.
The thermal liner doesn’t really help in rain, Spartan says rain liner is extra, but no place to buy one.
I also have that rear knee discomfort problem, but the knee guards cause so much pain that I forget about other things!
Since I have a 32″ waist and the S size pants were correct I assumed that they were over pants. Although I haven’t experienced the knee pain till now.
Okk .. Yes i believe in tyng stuff and then buying it too.. Dsg nero also has some quality issues as i checkd some online forums.. My budget is between 6k to 8k saw agv sport solare got mixed reviews abt it .. Its for 6k planin to buy that 1 let me noe if u hve any reviews abt agv sport from some1 around.. Thanks
Yes its available only there .. Ok lets c ill try my luck … 🙂
AGV sport solare also has mixed reviews, and that it is not meant for small guys, the sizes are too big. Give it a try, I believe it is only available at Performance Racing Store, Tardeo.
Any other riding pant you suggest wich ur frnds use and has good reviews ? Planin to buy 1 soon
Would depend on your budget Amit. My friends swear by the Joe Rocket Alter Ego pant, and it looks comfy for sure. At 12,500 rupees, it is not cheap, and looks like a cargo pant rather than a riding pant.
DSG Nero is a nice pant for the money, although it is now not available on the PlanetDSG site. You can still find it at dealers around you, and it is great value for money.
Alpinestars Stricket pants look cool for sure, but I’ve heard many negative reviews about its build quality. Take a look if you can find it around you, and buy if you like it.
As I always say, never buy riding gear online. Wear it before you buy it. Cheers!
I have the exact same problem about the knee area being a bit too tight. Was a nightmare during few rides. I had to stop and remove the Knox armour before I could continue. Nowadays, I just wear the pants without the armour.
But that is useless Venkatesh! A friend of mine had a low speed tumble recently without a riding pant, and his ACL got detached. A riding pant without knee guards will provide abrasion protection, but not impact.
Thats fucked up man… We can deal if it was a mistake… But if the companies attitude towards problem resolution is so pathetic. Then it is a major screw up
It sure is, and it ruined their image for me forever. I was quite keen on going for their Hyperion jacket and Hercules boots, no more. Their loss!