Riding Gear & Clothing
Riding Jacket, Shirts & Trousers
Whilst riding, I always wear Icebreaker's merino wool products, which are extremely comfortable to wear in both hot and cold conditions. Apart from that, they also dry VERY quickly after washing, and (quite important for 'smelly bikers'): they don't smell. I mean they do of course – but the wool products can be worn much longer than any other 'quick dry' acrylics or microfibre shirts & fleeces.
Good riding jackets/trousers can cost a fortune, be it leather or good & abrasive resistent textile. I find textile to be a bit more comfortable to wear and was lucky to find a mint condition Hein Gericke "Tuareg Rallye" gore-tex jacket & trousers on eBay for a very good price.
The "Tuareg" clothing range is aimed at adventure motorcycling and has some neat little features: The jacket's air vents are very effective, and the waterproof gore-tex lining can be removed (good for hot countries where temperatures are higher than the body temperature & gore-tex doesn't work anymore). It offers space for a hydration-bladder in the back pocket, from where the hydration tube can be run on the inside of the jacket towards the mouth/helmet. Elbows, shoulders and knees are leather-reinforced (leather has extremely good abrasive qualities). Jacket and trouser have plenty of pockets (inlcuding 1x waterproof one each).
Trip-Update: As expected, the Icebreaker gear performed asolutely great in all conditions, even in extreme hot environments like Turkmenistan's desert areas with up to 50ºC. Jacket and trouser have been very comfortable & waterproof, but the goretex pockets didn't stay dry for longer than 1 hour when it rained.
Boots
I decided against full motocross boots and went for something more comfortable: Altberg "Hogg" boots are handmade in Yorkshire and very popular in the British overland motorcycling-community. They're waterproof (Sympatex) and offer good protection, yet they're comfortable to walk in and are also perfect for going trekking, i.e. in Tajikistan (Pamir Mountains) & Nepal (Himalaya). The only downside: they're fairly low and don't offer shin-protection.
Inside the boots I'm wearing woolen socks as they have a cooling effect in the hot.
Trip-Update: 100% waterproof, even when standing in a river for a few minutes. Despite the sympatex membrane, they're also comfortable in hot conditions (i.e 40-45°C in the Turkmenistan desert)
Helmet
I went back and forth between a flip-up helmet and a rallye-type helmet (like the Arai Tour-X). The Tour-X didn't fit me, and to cut a long story short: I stuck with my old Shoei Raid-II and just bought a tinted visor for it. (The spare visor goes inside the tankbag (between the bag and my DIY waterproof liner made from an old sleeping mat).
Gloves
2 pairs of gloves: one thin pair for off-roading/hot countries, and one pair of waterproof/gore-tex gloves for cold days.