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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Womens Motorcycle Clothing – Motogirl Irene Dungri Review

Womens Motorcycle Clothing - Motogirl DungriWhat is worse than riding your bike and feeling the telltale slide, the moment when your trousers slide down, your jacket rides up and your arse is left glinting like the moon above some clouds? The cool rush of air as you are riding along, just coming up to a lovely sweeping bend and you find yourself distracted trying to pull your trousers up and your jacket down. And now it has started raining too, great!

There are many solutions available on the market; braces that one attaches to the offending trousers, bib and brace leathers and winter textiles with a similar arrangement. Many of these lack the comfort of stretchy textiles for lighter and warmer weather. Biker braces, on the whole, tend to be made for tall men and not for short women, leading to painful chafing on the neck rubbing one raw where the metal adjustment clasp inevitably ends up. There are zip together two-piece suits, but unless you’re that ideal size for women’s motorcycle clothing, it can be tricky to find a matching top and bottom pair that fits well. One answer which is designed especially for women is the Motogirl Dungri’s (yes, that’s Dungri’s and not dungarees!)

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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Cherry Red Spada Pilgrim Grande Boots Review

If you are an old fart like me and hark after a simpler time where dressing to go for a ride didn’t take hours and you didn’t feel like your legs were encased in lead pipes then the Spada Pilgrim Grande Boots are for you. I still don’t like wearing full-length boots, even though I know that they give better protection. However, proper motorcycle ankle-length boots are a good compromise. In the event of an off, they will provide support and protection to your feet and ankles whilst not feeling as restrictive as full-length boots. They allow you to walk around and get lunch without feeling like you are walking up the hill to the cafe in moon boots. I have worn these Spada boots for a few months now and they are still comfortable and hard-wearing. They also work well as a chunky alternative boot off the bike too.

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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

HeatPerformance Maximum Heated Motorcycle Gloves Review

No one likes cold hands and fingers when riding a motorbike. Sure, some will pack their bikes away for the winter, but they can miss out on some beautiful sunny winter days. Some make do with heated grips, which do help but can still leave your fingers and back of your hands cold.  Some fit muffs on their handlebars, which although effective rarely fit on a faired bike. One of the best solutions is heated motorcycle gloves – decent protective gloves with an integrated electric heating mesh sewed inside.

Heated Motorcycle Gloves Tested

Loch Tay, Scotland, Winter Ride
Bit nippy in Scotland, definitely heated gloves weather

Dutch firm HeatPerformance produces many such heated gloves for a variety of sporting activities, skiing, hiking, outdoor work and of course heated gloves for motorcycles. HeatPerformance put forward their gloves for review, which now we are in Scotland we can most definitely test out.

HeatPerformance glovesThe HeatPerformance Maximum heated motorcycle gloves are powered from two 7.2V 2600mAh Li-Po batteries, which slot into the cuff of each glove. The gloves have 3 heat settings, which are quoted to give you between 2.5 and 8 hours of heat depending on setting and charge within 4 hours. The gloves retail for £150 which includes one pair of batteries and a charger. A spare/replacement set of batteries costs £40.

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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

JTS Biker Clothing Bella Evo Textile Womens Motorcycle Trousers

JTS plus size women's motorcycle gearJTS Biker Clothing is a British company based in Leicestershire with 30 years experience in the business. Their own brand JTS features a wide range of leg lengths and sizes in leather and textile for both men and women, making them a go-to brand for plus size women’s motorcycle gear. I purchased the Bello Evo textile women’s motorcycle trousers in an extra short length which is listed as suitable for 27-28 inches in length. The size range for these trousers is a versatile size 8-30, with leg lengths short, extra short and regular, so most women will find something to fit them. For the price of £129.99 (plus size extra), there are a lot of features which make these an excellent value pair of trousers. There are often special offers and sales on JTS motorcycle clothing, so you may be able to get these cheaper (Editor: at time of writing they’re reduced to £80 – bargain!)

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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Modeka Manda Women’s Motorcycle Jacket Review

Commuting in the winter makes for a miserable time on the bike if your gear is not up to scratch. Rain, coupled with frost and the odd bit of snow means that good warm and waterproof motorcycle gear is essential for winter commuting. As I work shifts, my commute is conducted early in the morning and late at night when it can be very cold.

A textile jacket and trousers can be the ideal purchase for the winter commute and those with removable thermal liners are more flexible for daily use. For cold wet days, liners and waterproof material protect the rider from the worst of the elements. During warmer weather, thermal liners can be removed to make jackets and trousers a bit cooler. In addition, some jackets come with ventilation zips that can be opened to make them cooler.

As women riders, we can sometimes struggle to find motorcycle gear that fits our shape. Things have improved massively since I started riding in the mid-1990s when I used to wear a cut-down man’s leather jacket and denim jeans. But as a short plus-sized woman, today I struggle a bit to find good fitting plus-size women’s motorcycle gear. In the end, I opted for the Modeka Manda jacket and JTS waterproof trousers (see here for a review of the JTS trousers). The matching Manda trousers were far too long for my 27.5 inch inside leg (yep you read that correctly!)

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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Bull-it SR6 Motorcycle Jeans Review

Bull-It SR6 motorcycle jeansAs great as leathers are, once the hot summer arrives they get awfully toasty and sweaty. In days gone by a good pair of Levis was considered perfectly adequate for a casual summer ride, but you really don’t want to come off your bike just wearing a pair of fashion jeans. I also doubt today’s Levis are as robust as pairs made in days gone by. Today we have on the market many motorbike jeans with Kevlar or other branded variants of this super strong abrasion-resistant aramid fabric, like the Covec used on these Bull-It SR6 jeans I picked up last summer.

The Bull-It SR6 set me back £60 in a sale, which included both knee and hip armour inserts (they’re sometimes optional extras) – bargain. But are they actually any good? Read on to find out more.

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Clothing/Protection

A Guide to Motorcycle Gear and Staying Safe

Staying safe when you’re riding a motorcycle is paramount. Motorcyclists are 27 times more likely to be involved in a collision than other road users (according to research from the Insurance Information Institute).

That means it’s important to invest in quality gear. What you wear when on two wheels will help to protect you against the cold, sun, wind and rain, as well as absorb some of the impact should you be involved in a collision.

The human body doesn’t do so well when it’s thrown from a motorcycle at any speed, but if you’re going over 30mph then it’s even more important to be protected.

Think back to when you were a kid and you fell off your bicycle – with the cuts and bruises to your hands and knees. If you come off your motorcycle at speed then that experience will be amplified.

Let’s see how you can stay safe when on two wheels.

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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Soxsmith Comodo Motorcycle Sock Review

How much for a pair of sock?! Socks are socks, aren’t they? As a self-confessed cheapskate frugal shopper, I purchase almost all of my socks and underwear from budget supermarkets opting for whatever socks seem sturdy enough to last a while. So when Soxsmith asked me to review some technical motorcycle socks, I was very interested to see how they stacked up and if they’re really worth the extra outlay. Yep, I must be getting old to appreciate being given socks…

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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Cheap Chinese Heated Vest Review – eBay Bargain or Junk?

When it comes to staying warm on a motorbike, the traditional option is to layer up, loads of jumpers and thermals, but you inevitably end up feeling like a Michelin man with restricted movement issues. These days, however, there’s loads of great electrically heated cold weather motorcycle gear on the market, from gloves and socks to vests and pants. All nice thin layers that will keep you toasty without the bulkiness. The only problem is, much of this serious gear comes at a serious price.

best heated vest? read on to find outIt’s at this point you may have noticed there’s a lot of very cheap heated clothing on eBay from China. It can’t all be that bad, can it? So, in the name of research, we picked up a heated vest for the princely sum of £20 (delivered). A far cry from big-name brands costing £100-150 or more. Read on to see if we wasted our money or found a little far Eastern gem.

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Clothing/Protection

Tips on Choosing Motorcycle Helmets & Buying Online

How To Choose Motorcycle HelmetWhether you already own a motorcycle or you’re about to buy one when you ride you will need to wear a motorcycle helmet for your protection. Let’s face it when it comes to protection – a motorcycle helmet is the most important part of your motorcycle gear. Maybe you have just bought your first bike, and now you’re looking for a new helmet – or you just need to replace your old helmet and you simply want to refresh your memory. There are many different brands and types of motorcycle helmets, which is great as there is always something for everyone. The downside, however, is that it is not an easy task to find the right motorcycle helmet for you – one doesn’t just ‘buy’ a helmet. When buying a motorcycle helmet online it is not a straight forward decision – so how do you choose the right helmet?

This article has been made in cooperation with FortaMoto.com