Category: Gear Reviews

Reviews of motorcycle clothing, accessories, equipment and other gadgets.

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Gear Reviews

MotoRadds Flex Slim GoPro Helmet Chin Mount Review

A while ago I reviewed the MotoRadds motorcycle helmet mount GoPro, which has worked well. However, sticking anything to your helmet will add weight, not least a GoPro and mount. Recently MotoRadds got in touch and asked me to review their latest Flex Slim GoPro helmet chin mount. Promising to be a lighter-weight version, I was eager to see how it faired.

Upon opening the MotoRadds FLEX Slim GoPro motorcycle helmet mount, it is clearly a more cut-down offering. Most crucially it no longer has a standard GoPro slide-in mount, rather just the triple brackets to bolt the GoPro directly too. This negates the need for the GoPro slide-in bracket reducing size and weight. On the scales the Flex Slim weighs in at just 34g (including thumb bolt). Compared to the older MotoRadds mount, which weighs 25g, but then needs 23g of GoPro slide-in mount and thumb bolt.

GoPro motorcycle helmet mount chin review
Unboxing the MotoRadds Flex Slim GoPro motorcycle helmet mount

The next key difference is the older models’ hinged arms which allow it to fold around your helmet’s profile, have been replaced with flexible arms that you bend as needed. These provide more flexibility with moulding the mount around the contours of your helmet. You’re still going to need a fairly rounded helmet chin, my Shoei Neotec works fine, but a pointy helmet like some of the AGVs would not suit.

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Gear Reviews

Crash Test Dummy, Not Your Usual Motorcycle Gear Review

When we review motorcycle clothing for this blog, we usually only evaluate how well it’s made, how comfortable it is, how well it functions daily and stands up to the weather. However, we don our motorcycle gear for one primary reason – to protect ourselves if we crash. To gauge how well something will protect you in a crash we just rely on various certifications and tests manufacturers place their garments through. This requires lots of specialist equipment and avoids risking the health of a motorcycle blogger.

However, I recently had the occasion to put my gear to a real-world test. Not exactly planned and caused by some misjudgment on my part, but I found myself locking the front wheel at around 60 mph and sliding down a tarmac road for some distance. I began the slide on my front but later rolled over, thankfully, I didn’t come into contact with anything else and just slid to a halt. I couldn’t tell you exactly how long or far I was sliding, I forgot to count/measure in the heat of the moment…

Firstly, everything performed well, I was able to get straight back up and only had a slight ache in my knee and thumb for a couple of days later. No breaks, no grazes, no skin broken, not even any visible bruises in the days following.

Had I only been wearing shorts, t-shirt and bare hands, things would have been quite messy.

So, in that sense, everything here gets top marks. After a breather, I was able to jump back onto the bike and continue riding. But let us take a closer look and see how well all my gear held up.

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Gear Reviews

Shapeheart Motorbike Phone Mount – 2022 Edition Review

Shapeheart motorbike phone mountLast year I reviewed the Shapeheart mobile phone case for motorcycles, it was a good budget offering but had a few niggles I was less fond of. This year the good chaps at Shapeheart took heed of this critique and have released a new and improved version for 2022, which they were kind enough to send in for me to review. Let’s take a closer look at this new model and see how it compares.

Shapeheart is a small firm from France, kicked off by two clever entrepreneurs who started out making arm mounts for runners and then later branched out into solutions for cyclists, scooters and motorcycles.

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Gear Reviews

TCX Gore-Tex Motorcycle Boots Review – X-Five.4

Yuck! Piddling down with rain, leaking boots, wet, soggy socks – that time again. My old Alpinestars SMX-S boots finally wore out, the soles are worn through and no longer waterproof. But what boot to replace them with? I am usually a creature of habit and would have just ordered a similar pair of Alpinestars SMX boots again, or the Alpinestars Web Gore-Tex boots, however this time I was stuck. A lack of stock, long lead times, very little in a size 11 that were waterproof (note many of the SMX models come in waterproof ‘WP’ or ‘normal’ non-waterproof versions…), and those in stock were commanding silly prices of around £200+ Hmmm.

I needed an alternative to the Alpinestars Web Gore-Tex boots.

TCX Gore Tex Motorcycle Boots X.Five.4So, I had a hunt around and came across these Gore-Tex TCX X-Five.4 boots for the slightly more acceptable sum of £160. I’ve never had TCX boots before, but have heard a few good things about them. I figured £160 was a good price for Gore-Tex motorcycle boots since Gore-Tex always carries a premium for the Gore-Tex guarantee.

The TCX X-Five.4 boots are a fairly standard construction and have an understated design that doesn’t stand out. Black leather outer, a small reflective panel on the rear shin and textured rubber toe cover to protect against the gear lever. There’s some discreet TCX branding on the front shin in a grey and tiny Gore-Tex metal badge, but that’s it. Ideal if you don’t want anything to stand out to wear under your Kevlar jeans for work or a meet down the pub. Further to this, these TCX Gore-Tex boots are not as bulky as the SMXs, so fit a lot better under trousers or jeans.

TCX X.Five.4 Gore-Tex Motorcycle boots

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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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Gear Reviews Maintenance

Tru-Tension Leather Cleaner & Protect Conditioner Review

Motorcycle leathers don’t half get mucky, invariable covered in flies, splashed up crud, dust, split ice cream and other grime. And that’s just after one ride! Yet, we infrequently clean and maintain our protective motorcycle gear. So when Tru-Tension asked if I’d like to test out some of their best motorcycle leather cleaner and conditioner products, I was like ‘hell yeah, I need some of that, my motorcycle leathers are filthy!’

Leather Motorcycle Jacket Maintenance Time!

Tru-Tension cleaner & protect for leather motorcycle jacket maintenanceThe Tru-Tension leather cleaner and conditioner products come as a two-step set; first the cleaner to remove dirt and grime, then second the protector/conditioner to keep your leather supple, strong and water-resistant. Both come in 400ml bottles and typically sell for £10 each. Not the cheapest but let’s see how they perform, but then if you want your leathers to protect your skin, you should protect your leathers well.

To really test these Tru-Tension products, I dug out my black and white Alpinestars GP-Pro motorbike jacket, the white panels of which were looking pretty grimey and not that white anymore!

Have you been putting off your leather motorcycle jacket maintenance? Read on to see how the Tru-Tension products perform.

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Gear Reviews

Monimoto MM5 Motorcycle Tracker Review

Sadly these days, as a motorcycle owner you can’t afford to ignore the huge motorbike theft crime wave and thus the plethora of security devices that can help protect your pride and joy. If you’ve read my motorcycle security guide, you’ll know that using multiple security items in conjunction can offer the best overall protection. Physical locks can help prevent theft but are often easily beaten with a battery-powered angle grinder. This is where a tracker can come into play, by helping you recover your bike.

MoniMoto Tracker ReviewThieves will often hide a stolen bike in a quiet side alley for a day or two to see if it has a tracker and if someone comes to recover it. This is your window for recovery before it’s completely lost. Otherwise, a tracker can provide location info of a lockup you can relay to the Police to investigate. Whereupon they’ll often find many stolen bikes as well as yours and hopefully enough evidence to charge the culprits.

Monimoto manufactures a unique tracker that requires no wired connection to your motorbike, has a very attractive price and a low monthly subscription cost. So when I was sent a review sample of their Monimoto MM5 motorcycle tracker to test out, I was very intrigued to find out if it lives up to promises.

Watch my view review or read the detailed write-up below.

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Gear Reviews

Review of Shapeheart Phone Mount for Motorbike

There’s nothing quite like getting lost on a motorbike to clear your mind and find yourself. But other days you really just need to get from A to B without hassle or stress. Maybe you need to be somewhere for work, maybe you’re off to a social rendezvous or maybe you’re leading your crew on a ride. For this, you really need a satnav, but motorcycle satnav’s aren’t cheap. However, you’ve got a decent phone in your pocket with loads of GPS apps on hand, so why not use that? For this, you’ll need something like this Shapeheart phone mount for motorbike.

Shapeheart phone mount for motorbike

The folks behind the Shapeheart asked me to review their new motorcycle phone mount, which promises to be a good budget contender, but is it the best motorcycle phone mount for the money? Read on to find out more.

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Gear Reviews

MotoRadds Chin GoPro Motorcycle Helmet Mount Review

When I recently swapped to a GoPro Hero 9 camera after using Drift cameras for years I was pretty disappointed by the GoPro motorcycle helmet mount options. Out of the box, your only option is a sticky pad to plonk the camera on top of your helmet. Fine if you don’t mind looking like a telly tubby and having a huge air brake dragging your head back.

Alternatives either bolt the GoPro sticking out at the side of your helmet or near the chin. Both often use some convoluted sequence of brackets off a sticky pad on the side. All because the GoPro’s do not have a rotatable lens or a side mounting like the Drift cameras, so require mounting upright from a pad on the base. The problem with all these scaffolding brackets is a) you need to buy them separately b) they add extra weight to your lid and c) too many can introduce a source of wobble screwing up your footage. That’s when I came across the Motoradds GoPro Motorcycle Helmet Mount chin bracket which appeared to be a far better solution.

Motoradds GoPro Motorcycle Helmet Mount → Buy the MotoRadds GoPro helmet chin mount from Amazon

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Gear Reviews

Exotogg Review – Essential Cold Weather Motorcycle Gear or Hot Air?

The problem with reviewing cold-weather motorcycle gear is you actually need some cold weather. This Autumn it’s been strangely mild in the South East of England. I’m starting this review in mid-November, it’s blue skies, sunny and I have the conservatory doors wide open. I don’t know if this is climate change, but as beautiful a day as it is, it doesn’t make this Exotogg review very easy…

Exotogg body warmer reviewThe Exotogg body warmer is not your usual cold-weather layer, it’s essentially an inflatable gilet/vest that you don under your bike jacket, which you then inflate with three or four puffs of breath, whereupon it’ll form a nice layer of air that will keep you warm. If you get too hot, you simply open the valve and squeeze the air out. The idea being you inflate or deflate it as and when needed, easy-peasy.

Using a layer of air to insulate against the cold is however a tried and tested method to maintaining warmth. Materials like fleece, down and wool all trap a layer of air to keep your body warm. So, the science behind the Exotogg vest is sound, but what advantages down it have over traditional layers?

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