Christmas was good to My Motorbike Obsessions!
Santa was good to me again this year. My dear, loving wife took the numerous hints I sent her way and got me all that I wanted for Christmas. She might have had a hard time avoiding the billboards I put up in my living room. Naturally as someone Motorbike Obsessed everything on my Christmas list was Motorbike related.
First up I needed race quality boots. Since I'm not sure what I like in a race boot, I wanted something that was inexpensive and that I could try on for fit. Cycle Gear provided all of that in the form of these Sedici Ultimo race boots. Sedici is another Cycle Gear house brand and is more upscale than their Bilt line of products. Like the Bilt stuff, they have a solid warranty, but the Sedici gear has a lifetime warranty. I'm not being paid by Cycle Gear to pimp their stuff. I just like that I can drive to the store and see, feel and try on all of the stuff they sell. If someone at Cycle Gear wants to sponsor my blog, please send me an email. I could use the extra cash.
These boots are simple and comfortable. They do not have heavy armor like some of the more expensive brands. For the price ($143.99 on sale, $179.99 regular), they have some good features that will protect me in case of a get off at race speeds. There are replaceable toe sliders and some bracing in the rear to limit the twist of your ankle. The zipper starts low and goes up about two thirds of the boot height. The velcro section is wide and allows for adjustment of the tightness around the ankle of your race leathers. I wore these for a quick ride yesterday and really like them. The soles are grippy when I was topped at a light and on my pegs. They are much stiffer than my Bilt Typhoon tour boots which took some getting used to. I missed a few shifts getting the hang of the stiffness. They will break in and I will get better at hitting my shifts. Until then I need to be more deliberate when getting on the gas.
Gloves suitable for racing were also on my list. I needed something with a full gauntlet. My daily gloves are a shorty Alpinestars SP-1 that is commonly used by stunt riders. I like them, but know that in case of a crash, I'll likely suffer some injury to my wrists. These are the Sedici Rapido gloves. They were $79.99 on sale ($99.99 regular) and have many of the features found in gloves costing twice as much.
The features that drew me to these gloves are the pinky bridge between my ring finger and pinky. I like that I now have less of a chance of breaking a pinky in an accident. There is armor on the knuckles with plenty of venting underneath. The thumbs are perforated and boy do they flow a lot of air! Yesterday's ride had temps in the fifties along the PCH and high forties in the Malibu canyons. By the time I got home I felt like I was going have frostbite on my thumb. You can see in the picture below that the thumb sits right in the air stream under the grip.
Other nice bits are the supple leather palm giving my lots of grip feel. There is a hard plastic palm heel piece that will protect the heel of my palm and the outer bone of my hand just above my wrist. The gauntlet also has a nice bit of armor to protect my outer carpal bones below my wrist joint. The gloves are secured with a small velcro band just under the heel of my thumb and the gauntlet itself has a two flap system that can be adjusted around the cuff of my leathers for a proper fit. These are a full feature glove at a price that anyone looking for gloves should consider.
The last bit of swag that was waiting for me under the Christmas tree was this Harbor Freight Motorcycle Stand/ Wheel Chock. I will be pulling the side and center stands from the race Ninja in order to shed weight and improve ground cornering clearance. I will use this in the pits so that I can pull straight into the stand and be able to get off my bike without help. I can also use this in a trailer as a tie down mount. It is adjustable to accomodate various sizes of bike tire.
I tested it with the V-Strom yesterday and was quite pleased. I have seen these types of stands for sale all over the net, usually for a price much greater than the $47.99 that my wife picked this one up for with a Harbor Freight coupon. It works as advertised and held the bike well once I adjusted it for the Strom's 19" front wheel. The Ninja will weigh over a hundred pounds less than the V-Strom once I shed all of the extraneous weight, so I don't think there will be any issues with the stand holding the race bike securely. The only concern I have is that the ninja uses a 16" wheel and even at the smallest setting the stand might be too big to hold the bike securely. I'll see after I bolt on the rear suspension to wheel the bike out of the shop for more degreasing.
The quality of the stand is great. Thick gauge steel, quality welds and a very smooth and even paint job. Under the front outriggers are rubber feet over an inch in diameter. They hold the stand in place as you drive up on it. You have to get the speed just right. If you go too slow, you'll just push the stand. Too fast and things can get hairy real quick. I'm very happy with it and am sure it will be a great addition to my shop tool stash.
There you have it folks, some nice gear recommendations for you to consider. It just goes to show that with some frugal shopping, great timing and some luck you too can get yourself race ready for just a small bit of cash. Thanks for visiting!
Blue
First up I needed race quality boots. Since I'm not sure what I like in a race boot, I wanted something that was inexpensive and that I could try on for fit. Cycle Gear provided all of that in the form of these Sedici Ultimo race boots. Sedici is another Cycle Gear house brand and is more upscale than their Bilt line of products. Like the Bilt stuff, they have a solid warranty, but the Sedici gear has a lifetime warranty. I'm not being paid by Cycle Gear to pimp their stuff. I just like that I can drive to the store and see, feel and try on all of the stuff they sell. If someone at Cycle Gear wants to sponsor my blog, please send me an email. I could use the extra cash.
These boots are simple and comfortable. They do not have heavy armor like some of the more expensive brands. For the price ($143.99 on sale, $179.99 regular), they have some good features that will protect me in case of a get off at race speeds. There are replaceable toe sliders and some bracing in the rear to limit the twist of your ankle. The zipper starts low and goes up about two thirds of the boot height. The velcro section is wide and allows for adjustment of the tightness around the ankle of your race leathers. I wore these for a quick ride yesterday and really like them. The soles are grippy when I was topped at a light and on my pegs. They are much stiffer than my Bilt Typhoon tour boots which took some getting used to. I missed a few shifts getting the hang of the stiffness. They will break in and I will get better at hitting my shifts. Until then I need to be more deliberate when getting on the gas.
Gloves suitable for racing were also on my list. I needed something with a full gauntlet. My daily gloves are a shorty Alpinestars SP-1 that is commonly used by stunt riders. I like them, but know that in case of a crash, I'll likely suffer some injury to my wrists. These are the Sedici Rapido gloves. They were $79.99 on sale ($99.99 regular) and have many of the features found in gloves costing twice as much.
The features that drew me to these gloves are the pinky bridge between my ring finger and pinky. I like that I now have less of a chance of breaking a pinky in an accident. There is armor on the knuckles with plenty of venting underneath. The thumbs are perforated and boy do they flow a lot of air! Yesterday's ride had temps in the fifties along the PCH and high forties in the Malibu canyons. By the time I got home I felt like I was going have frostbite on my thumb. You can see in the picture below that the thumb sits right in the air stream under the grip.
Other nice bits are the supple leather palm giving my lots of grip feel. There is a hard plastic palm heel piece that will protect the heel of my palm and the outer bone of my hand just above my wrist. The gauntlet also has a nice bit of armor to protect my outer carpal bones below my wrist joint. The gloves are secured with a small velcro band just under the heel of my thumb and the gauntlet itself has a two flap system that can be adjusted around the cuff of my leathers for a proper fit. These are a full feature glove at a price that anyone looking for gloves should consider.
The last bit of swag that was waiting for me under the Christmas tree was this Harbor Freight Motorcycle Stand/ Wheel Chock. I will be pulling the side and center stands from the race Ninja in order to shed weight and improve ground cornering clearance. I will use this in the pits so that I can pull straight into the stand and be able to get off my bike without help. I can also use this in a trailer as a tie down mount. It is adjustable to accomodate various sizes of bike tire.
I tested it with the V-Strom yesterday and was quite pleased. I have seen these types of stands for sale all over the net, usually for a price much greater than the $47.99 that my wife picked this one up for with a Harbor Freight coupon. It works as advertised and held the bike well once I adjusted it for the Strom's 19" front wheel. The Ninja will weigh over a hundred pounds less than the V-Strom once I shed all of the extraneous weight, so I don't think there will be any issues with the stand holding the race bike securely. The only concern I have is that the ninja uses a 16" wheel and even at the smallest setting the stand might be too big to hold the bike securely. I'll see after I bolt on the rear suspension to wheel the bike out of the shop for more degreasing.
The quality of the stand is great. Thick gauge steel, quality welds and a very smooth and even paint job. Under the front outriggers are rubber feet over an inch in diameter. They hold the stand in place as you drive up on it. You have to get the speed just right. If you go too slow, you'll just push the stand. Too fast and things can get hairy real quick. I'm very happy with it and am sure it will be a great addition to my shop tool stash.
There you have it folks, some nice gear recommendations for you to consider. It just goes to show that with some frugal shopping, great timing and some luck you too can get yourself race ready for just a small bit of cash. Thanks for visiting!
Blue
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