Category: Gear Reviews

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

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Gear Reviews

Alpinestars SP-2 V2 Gloves Review

Apparently, summer is now upon us, biking season has begun (did it ever stop?!) and I find myself hanging up my textiles and digging out my leather summer gear. Well, on some days when it’s not pissing down with rain, got to love the great British summer. Nonetheless, I found my old Alpinestars GP-Plus gloves were looking a bit worse for wear and in dire need of replacement. Whereas the GP-Plus and GP-Pro ranges are very race orientated, this time I was after a more general summer glove that didn’t break the bank. I’ve always been a fan of the Alpinestars brand, having always found them good quality, robust and have protected me well in previous offs. Their SP-2 V2 gloves appeared to fit the bill well and actually graced my own credit card, no review freebies this time. Read on to hear my verdict.

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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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Gear Reviews

Rev’it Sand 3 Jacket Review & Test

Rev'It Sand 3 jacket reviewThe lowly motorbike jacket is an underrated garment we all take for granted, yet it has a tough role to perform. A good jacket must first and foremost keep you well protected from impacts, slides down the road and whatever the weather throws at you. On rough days, it should keep you warm and dry, and on hot days keep you cool. Finally, it needs to be comfortable to wear and crucially, look good. No one is going to enjoy a jacket that’s badly fitting or looks a bit naff. Some of you may splash out on a jacket for each season, but others starting out on two wheels will likely be on a tighter budget and will be after a single all-weather jacket. Similarly, if you’re planning a long tour or just commuting at the mercy of the British weather, then you really need one jacket that can cover you from all eventualities.

Rev’It! Sand 3 Jacket Review

The Rev’It! Sand 3 jacket aims to tick all the boxes and provide an all-seasons jacket in the mid-price bracket for around £360. Provided for review by Fortamoto.com (the well regarded Amsterdam based motorcycle store), I’ve put it through its paces over the last few wintery weeks in London. Read on to see if it lives up to promises.

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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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Gear Reviews

Ring Analogue Air Compressor Pump Long Term Review

Keeping your motorcycle tyre pressures correct is crucial to keeping your bike handling well. When down on pressure and you can really notice the handling go down hill, with cornering suddenly feeling unnatural and tyres squaring off faster. As such every biker needs a good pump they can rely on to keep tyre pressures on spec at all times. About a year ago I picked up this Ring analogue air pump from Screwfix for just under £20 quid and has since been put to good use in that time. Read more to find out my final verdict after a year of use.

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Gear Reviews

Oxford Heated Grips Review – Hot Grips For Commuters

Oxford Heated Grips - HotGrips for CommutersNo one likes cold fingers on a motorcycle. It’s uncomfortable, distracting, hinders fine control and can get painful. It’s also all too easy to underestimate the wind chill factor when travelling fast on a bike. It may be a bearable 5°C outside, but on a 60 mph blast, the wind will chill you down to cool -3°C, which will inevitably give you numb fingers after a short while, even with thick gloves.

I’ve written about a number of approaches to tackle the cold hands on a motorbike issue in the past, but today I have a pair of Oxford Commuter Hot Grips up for review. Intended to replace an old set of failed heated grips on the Honda CBF500, we picked these up as a freebie gift with a Ride magazine subscription last year. Annoyingly, they took ages to turn up leaving us with cold hands for the first half of the winter, but finally, I fitted these last January and they’ve been tested thoroughly since.

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Gear Reviews

Lomo Waterproof Tank Bag Review

Lomo’s waterproof tank bag is an impressive bit of kit for a company relatively new to this market. It has been designed as a fully waterproof bag utilising a very different approach to construction. Lomo recently entered the motorcycle luggage market; their main business lies in producing wetsuits, drysuits and dry bags for kayaks and canoes. It is this expertise in waterproofing and hardy construction which sees them making a big impact within the motorcycle luggage market.

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Gear Reviews

Viking Bags Sports Bike Tail Pack Review

Back in the good old days of biking we used to have plenty of space under seats to store bits and bobs. Back then, we also never used to care about riding around with pockets stuffed with keys, tools or other sharp things and we never had mobile phones permanently attached to us and neither did we need to lug around enough security to lock down Fort Knox. These days bikes barely have room for a packet of chewing gum under the seat, yet we find ourselves wanting to take more and more stuff with us, phone, keys, wallet, drink, waterproofs, visors, locks, chains, work cloths, sarnies etc, etc.

top boxes on a sports bike just look a bit naff

You can shove all your gubbins in a rucksack, but that can be uncomfortably bulky and will become even more uncomfortable if you come off. You can fit some expensive hard luggage, however big panniers make filtering tricky, and top boxes on a sports bike just look a bit naff and can cause some front end instability. This is where a tail pack comes in, a little bag that clips onto your pillion seat behind you. Exactly what Californian firm Viking Bags have provided for review here, their sport bike tail bag in contrast to their usual luggage aimed at cruiser bikes.

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Gear Reviews

Alpinestars SMX S vs S-MX 6 Waterproof Boots Compared

Alpinestars SMX-S

For a number of years, I have stuck with the Alpinestars SMX range of boots, starting with the 4’s, then 5’s, then 6’s, the race-orientated Plus version and now I’m onto the SMX S waterproof boots. With so many slight variations, it’s tough to work out how they differ and when shopping around who indeed is selling which cheapest. Here I’m going to go through the key differences between the current S-MX 6 and SMX S boots.

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Gear Reviews

Hideout Leathers Hi-Pro Textile Trousers Review

After almost 3 months of waiting, my custom made Hideout Leathers Hi-Pro trousers were ready for pickup. Since the summer heatwave came to an abrupt end with many recent bouts of heavy showers, I’ve been eagerly awaiting them.

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