Category: Gear Reviews

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

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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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Gear Reviews

EZ-Go Helmet Carry Strap Review

Picture the scene, there you are parked up in town to do a spot of shopping, juggling your helmet as you try to carry shopping and find your wallet to pay for stuff. If only you had a third hand or somewhere to put your helmet. You don’t fancy leaving a few hundred quids worth of lid hanging on the bike, especially with action cam and intercom gadgets attached and you may not have a huge top box to dump it in(or it may be full of other stuff). This is where the EZ-Go helmet strap comes in as an idea you can’t believe you didn’t think of.

In essence, the EZ-Go is a simple padded strap with helmet ratchet clips on each end. You just slot the two ends into the two halves of your helmet’s ratchet strap, then carry it over your shoulder. A two-second job, that frees up your hands whilst you’re out and about. Genius!

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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Hideout Leathers Hi Pro Trousers Trial Fitting

Confirming measurements in situ on bike

Last month I started the process of getting some bespoke made to measure Hi Pro textile trousers from Hideout Leathers. This week they were ready for a trial fitting, where I could try on an early first cut to test for size and see what further tweaks are required.

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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Dainese Clutch Evo D-Dry Unisex Gloves Review

Small hands? Check. Get pretty cold in the winter? Check. I would love to have heated gloves- but the pennies don’t stretch that far at the moment. So to keep the winter chill at bay I use these Dianese Clutch Evo D-Dry gloves in combination with heated grips.

I have had these gloves for about 18 months now- I purchased them in February 2016 at the Excel Bike Show. They have been through all the weather the sky can chuck at them- snow, gales, sun, heavy rain, drizzle, hail. They are a good quality short glove and are well insulated against the cold. For those of us who have shorter arms and struggle to find longer gloves to fit, these gloves fit well with jacket sleeves that tend to be longer than they should be. In the frost and snow my fingers can feel a bit cold but putting some Merino wool glove liners in can help and the heated grips keep off the chill.

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Gear Reviews

Comparison of Anti-Fog/Mist Solutions to Stop Glasses Fogging Up

As a glasses wearer, I’ve always struggled with my glasses fogging up/ steaming up on cold days. Whereas as my visor stays clear through the use of a Pinlock, there is no obvious solution for glasses, just a multitude of products to squirt on that claim to stop all misting up. But do they really work? In the name of science, I conducted a mini-experiment to compare some popular products to ascertain which were most effective. These best solutions here should also be equally useful to stop visor steaming up too.

The Experiment

I used a number of old pairs of glasses, which I first cleaned and then applied the various products as per their directions. As a control, one pair was left untreated. I then placed the glasses in the fridge to cool to 5℃, to mimic a ride on a cool winter’s day. First I took the glasses out into the kitchen with a humidity reading of 55%, to see how the lenses misted up (or not). Secondly, I repeated by taking the glasses from the fridge to the hot shower room with a humidity reading of 60% to test a more extreme scenario.

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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Richa Nomad Waterproof Unisex Boots Review

Being Wide of Calf, buying new boots that fit me is generally a pain in the arse. I am also very short so I usually have the added complication of longer boots impeding my knees. I had heard good things about the Richa Nomad boots and with winter approaching I needed some new waterproof boots to replace my Furygan boots. For £80, they are a good value boot and I decided to give them a go.

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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

EDZ Ladies Merino Wool Base Layers Review

EDZ Merino Wool Base Layers - Long Sleeve TopWhen a girl asks her partner for some underwear for Christmas, most would have in mind a nice bra, some matching knickers, or perhaps a negligee. Not for me, however. For Christmas, I want some more EDZ Merino wool base layers.

Last February at the Excel Bike Show I purchased an EDZ ladies’ merino wool base layer, a long-sleeved crew-necked top made out of 100% merino wool with some 100% merino wool base layer leggings. I have worn them pretty much constantly when out on my motorbike ever since.

EDZ Merino Wool Base Layers – Top & Leggins

At the Bike Show, the EDZ stand was offering a small discount, which was great as these items do retail for quite a lot when compared with other base layers. Especially those made from artificial fibres, but then merino wool is not a cheap material.

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