Category: Gear Reviews

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

Forcefield Back Protectors Review, Armour Insert for Rukka Jackets

Post author By Arthur
Post date January 6, 2015
No Comments on Forcefield Back Protectors Review, Armour Insert for Rukka Jackets

Forcefield back protectors Rukka insert — Armour Inserts: Left, Forcefield 009; Right, Rukka RVP.

If like me, you have a Rukka jacket with a back armour insert that’s worse for wear, then you’ll be interested in this replacement from Forcefield. Well known for their quality armour products, Forcefield has a range of armour inserts in many different shapes for all manner of jackets. For Rukka back protector owners you need the 009 model, which as you can see above is a like-for-like replacement. Well, not completely, the 009 insert is slightly thicker than the original Rukka RVP insert and is CE Level 2 certified to afford greater protection.

Tags Armour

Gear Reviews

Oxford Aquatex Bike Rain Cover Mini Review

Post author By Arthur
Post date January 5, 2015
No Comments on Oxford Aquatex Bike Rain Cover Mini Review

If you’re not lucky enough to have a warm dry garage, then you have a choice of leaving your bike to face the elements or you use a cover like this. I managed to blag this Oxford Aquatex cover in a recent competition from Helmet City, but it’s readily available for about £20.

Tags Rain Covers

Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Alpinestars P1 Sport Touring Drystar Trousers Review

Post author By Arthur
Post date December 11, 2014
No Comments on Alpinestars P1 Sport Touring Drystar Trousers Review

As summer comes to a close and winter approaches, the prospect of wet riding days looms with a damp inevitability. I was fed up with my waterproof over-trousers that were no longer waterproof, and a hassle to put on, as well as causing me to slip around on the seat and more importantly, look pretty naff. Definitely time for some new textile gear. Being a cheapskate, I hit eBay and found these Alpinestars P1 Sport Touring Drystar trousers brand new for £100. They’re not current, but the Drystar range is still going strong and well regarded.

Tags Trousers, Waterproofing

Gear Reviews

Fitting a Fender Extender

Post author By Arthur
Post date November 15, 2014
No Comments on Fitting a Fender Extender

With the wet and miserable weather we’ve been having and the promise of more to come this winter, I decided to fit a fender extender onto my Fazer. That’s a front mudguard extension for you UK lot. The plan is to stop a whole pile of crud, muck and wet getting sprayed up into the radiators, downpipes and headers, which are already showing a bit of weather damage.

I picked this Fender Extender up from M&P and it’s made by Pyramid Plastics. Looks-wise, it’s not a lot to write home about, just a basic matt black piece of plastic, but fitting against the mudguard was decent enough. It was supplied with some self-tapping screws and some sticky back tape to hold it in place whilst drilling holes for screws.

Tags Winter

Gear Reviews

Triboseat The Rider Review

When the weather turns inclement I resort to waterproof over-trousers or textile trousers to stay dry. The biggest downside with these is the slipping around on the seat. Whether wet or dry, I kept finding myself sliding forward every time I brake or sharply cut the throttle. Being fairly tall, I sit a little way back from the tank on my Fazer to remain comfortable and stop my legs from getting too cramped up on the pegs. No matter how much I grip the tank with my legs when wearing textiles I just slide forward and down right up against the tank and then indistinctly grip the bars really tight. I feel unstable and my tense grip on the bars is detrimental to my riding, especially in the wet. Perched close against the tank, my legs feel squashed and uncomfortable on the rear brake and gears.

Meet the Triboseat, a super grippy cover for your bike seat. Triboseat predominantly sells bike-specific seat covers to help your pillion remain still, preventing them from sliding into the back of you. However, they also sell The Rider, a generically shaped cover to keep the rider planted on their seat. Sounds like exactly what I need.

Tags Seat

Gear Reviews

Honk Honk! Stebel Nautilus Compact Air Horn Installation and Review

Post author By Arthur
Post date September 30, 2014
1 Comment on Honk Honk! Stebel Nautilus Compact Air Horn Installation and Review

Stebel Nautilus Compact Air Horn - Bracket

In London, I use my horn a lot (ooh-err!) As such, I found my standard horn a bit inferior and decided to pimp it for a large and loud motorcycle air horn that everyone would make everyone sit up and take heed of (ooh-err!)

Enough of the double entendre’s, let’s get down to business with this Stebel Nautilus Compact air horn. Hailing from Italy, Stebel has a well-established reputation for producing quality horns that make a lot of noise. Their Nautilus horn has been around for a number of years and is popular for its convenient size and noise, but even better, they have this Compact version which is perfect for motorbikes.

I purchased my Stebel Nautilus Compact off eBay a few months ago from a seller in the Netherlands who supplied it as a kit with all the necessary wiring, connectors, relay etc. I paid just under £40 including postage – bargain!

Tags Gadgets

Gear Reviews

Bell Racing M3R Helmet Review

Post author By Arthur
Post date August 10, 2014
No Comments on Bell Racing M3R Helmet Review

After wearing this helmet almost every day for the last month, I think it’s about time I stuck a review of it on here. I initially bought this helmet as a cheap stop-gap measure, after dropping my old AGV and putting a nice crack in the outer shell – doh! Amazon was running an 80% off discount on many end of range lines and although I’d rather buy a helmet in a store where I can try it on, the price was so good I decided to take a gamble.

The Bell M3R is fairly mid-range and generally sold for around £200-250. Amazon price was £44 + VAT. Hold on one minute, why is there VAT on a helmet?! Personal safety gear is exempt in the UK. I ordered anyway and raised the issue with Amazon customer service, who after a couple of weeks refunded me the VAT.

Tags Helmets

Gear Reviews

AGV K4 Helmet Review

AGV-K4-Helmet After recently picking up a new helmet, it dawned on me I hadn’t posted any review of my current helmet, an AGV K4. So here we go. Of course I don’t have the expertise to give this helmet a proper safety test, so I’m merely going to cover how it performed day to day, with regards to comfort, noise and durability. To gauge safety, I always check the SHARP rating, for which the K4 scored 4 stars (out of 5).

Tags Helmets

Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

URAD Mr JoJo Waterproofing Wax Review

Post author By Arthur
Post date April 25, 2014
No Comments on URAD Mr JoJo Waterproofing Wax Review

There’s very little question about it, when it comes to protection on a motorcycle, leather is where it’s at. Which is all well and good, until it rains, and that happens an awful lot here in the UK. Leather just isn’t very waterproof and soon becomes water logged, heavy, cold and pretty miserable to ride in. This is where this little tub of wax named Mr JoJo comes in.

I picked up this Mr JoJo wax up at the MCN show a couple of months ago, cost me a tenner for a 200g tub, with a few sponges thrown in. The sales chap demonstrated it on our boots with a spray can of water. Seemed worth a punt. It’s name, Mr JoJo, doesn’t seem to have any relation to a certain Madame JoJo’s of Soho fame, but is a leather waterproofing and conditioning wax from URAD, which contains Jojoba oil. This oil comes from the little Jojoba shrubbery that grows around Mexico, Arizona and California, and is a popular alternative to Whale oil. The wax is white in colour and has a distinctive sweet smell.

Tags Waterproofing

Gear Reviews Hardware

RoadHawk RIDE Video Camera Review

Post author By Arthur
Post date February 3, 2014
3 Comments on RoadHawk RIDE Video Camera Review

It seems every biker wants to be a video blogger these days, strapping a camera to their helmet/bike and recording their rides for all and sundry to watch on YouTube. And why not, decent HD camera are now very affordable and the evidence they gather can be invaluable if some idiot pulls out on you. Which, as we all know, happens far too often these days.

So back last autumn, I spotted this Roadhawk Ride camera on special offer in Halfords and decided to join the vblogging band wagon. With the insurance claim from my incident in September turning sour as the third party falsified a witness, I only wish I had purchased a camera sooner. You will probably have seen some of the footage from this camera on my YouTube channel already, but after a few months of use, here is my proper write up. The Roadhawk RIDE is a dinky little cylindrical camera, just 80mm long and 25mm in diameter, that comes with a plethora of brackets for mounting it pretty much anywhere you like. The rear of the camera unscrews to reveal the memory card and USB socket.

Tags Camera, Gadgets