Reviews of motorcycle clothing, accessories, equipment and other gadgets.
After some false starts, summer has finally hit us and boy has it now gone hot. As tempting as it is, I’m not fond of the idea of riding in shorts and t-shirt having seen too many photos of others with nasty gravel rash following a spill in such attire. So the issue is then how to stay protected and stay cool in this weather – often with no easy solution and fraught with compromises. If only there was some kind of motorcycle air conditioning or jacket refrigerator… cue the Rev’it Cooling Vest.
Hi-vis always seems to polarise opinions in the motorcycle community; those that can’t stand them and don’t believe they make any difference; and those that wear them all the time to stand out. There are arguments and counter-arguments as to when hi-vis would or wouldn’t help get you seen, but nonetheless, we can probably agree there are certainly some times when hi-vis could help get you noticed, even if not in all scenarios. As a year-round, daily London commuter, I’m riding into the city in all conditions, day, dusk, night, rain or shine and dealing with far too many less than-attentive drivers. As such, I’ll take whatever I can that might help get me seen and save my bacon. It’s also worth noting that it’s now a legal requirement to have a hi-vis vest with you when travelling in France, and hefty fines for not wearing should you break down.
So, when was the last time you gave the inside of your motorcycle helmet a clean? Sure, I bet you keep the visor clean of bugs, but what about all that padding on the inside that’s soaked up months or years of sweat and grime? It’s probably a bit stinky by now, but you still keep shoving your head in it without a second thought – yuck! Here’s where Muc-off comes to the rescue, well known for bike care products, they also have a number of solutions for your helmet too. I recently spotted this Helmet Care Kit box in one of the Halfords sale bins, half price at £15 – bargain! Even better, upon checking the receipt later the kit had rung through the till at £5 – super bargain! But how does the kit stack up in practice? Read on to see if it managed to de-skank my lid.
Edit: This kit is currently heavily discounted over at Demon-Tweeks
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.
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…
The 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.
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.
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.
It’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.
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.
No 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 here today I have a pair of Oxford Commuter Hot Grips up for review. Intended to replace an old set of failed heated grips on Mary’s Honda, we picked these up as a freebie gift with a Ride magazine subscription last year. Annoyingly they took ages to turn up leaving Mary with cold hands for the first half of the winter, but finally, I fitted these last January and they’ve been tested thoroughly since.
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.