Im starting to feel naked these days, naked wearing my regular blue jeans, that is, when riding my motorcycle. As I add up more time and miles my desire to ride while wearing armored gear from head to toe is becoming stronger. I think it has something to do with feeling our mortality more as we age.
APPAREL REVIEW: Shift Riding Jeans Leather Jacket
I use to wear armored gloves just when riding a sportbike and more casual non-armored ones, like deerskins, when riding a cruiser, like my own. These days, Im find myself wearing more protection riding my cruiser and that means looking to the sport market for armored gloves.
GEAR REVIEW: Armored Gloves Gearbag
What a nifty gadget — plastic containers to protect your fruit from getting smooshed in your saddlebags. Check them out plus a whole lot more including a motorcycle seat that gets you down low, T-shirts that show off your biker attitude, and jackets for all kinds of riding. These are just some of the new items available now we think youll just love, or at least want to know about.
New Products: Items For Your Motorcycle You
Stunt rider Leah Petersen needs the best protection possible when doing wheelies and other stunts on her Kawasaki Ninja 636. She recently purchased Draykos Slix jeans, a feminine, leather-like jean that is actually denim lined with Kevlar and another abrasion-resistant material. Being safe and wearing protective gear is a requirement for Leah in her work of stunt riding. Check out her video review.
READER PRODUCT REVIEW: Slix Kevlar-Lined Riding Jeans
The Womens Riding School will host an event on July 23 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., to educate women on how to become better, safer and more confident street riders. As a sponsor of the event, Rider Insurance is giving away four spots to WRN readers.
Win A Spot At Womens Riding School Event
Looking cool, being seen, wearing the attitude we all know the types that cruise the boulevards on chopped, custom motorcycles that seem to wear more style than steel. Now Harley-Davidson has made entering that club of cool easy with one of its latest Sportster models, the XL1200X Forty-Eight.
MOTORCYCLE REVIEW: 2010 Harley-Davidson Sportster Forty-Eight
The average female in the United States is about 5-foot-4—the average male, about 5-foot-10. The average sportbike rider is (overwhelmingly) male. You can see where I’m going with this. If you’re an average American female, go out and find a stock sportbike you can reach the ground on. Go ahead… I dare ya.
READER PRODUCT REVIEW: ICON Bombshell Boots
Two years ago I bought the new Firstgear TPG Monarch jacket. Here are some things that real women riders need to know about the jacket. I am not a fair weather rider. I ride a BMW K 1200 GT and ride between 10,000 to 15,000 miles a year (wish I could ride more). I’m not a big women, but I am no skinny minny size 2 model either.
READER PRODUCT REVIEW: Firstgear TPG Monarch Jacket
A note from editor Genevieve Schmitt: One of the most common questions I’m asked is if changing out the stock suspension on one’s motorcycle to lower seat height will compromise ride quality. I’m answering the question here based on my experience riding 20 years and owning five motorcycles, followed by a more in-depth explanation by an expert of why and how this done by.
Changing Your Motorcycles Shocks to Get Lower
One of my great finds walking among the vendors at Arizona Bike Week in Scottsdale in April was Lycaon Custom Leathers. The high fashion stylish nature of the leather jackets hanging on the rack catches my eye. These are no ordinary riding jackets. I learn that each jacket is tanned with hydrology tanning technology, which has revolutionized the leather tanning process. This allows the leather to be cleaned by putting it in the washing machine.
A New Kind of Leather Motorcycle Jacket