[imotorcycleproductreviews]

Shark Race-R PRO Carbon helmet – 

Price £499.00 (Guintoli replica £549.99) – 

Info www.shark-helmets.com 

You’d expect World Superbike champion Sylvain Guintoli to wear a top helmet, ideally one made in France (or Leicester), so it’s no surprise to find this Guintoli Replica version of Shark’s range-topping Race-R PRO Carbon. It’s a seriously professional piece of kit in a carbon-fibre construction that helps keep weight very low. Even before you put it on the Race-R’s quality is evident from its lightness and the rich look of its paintwork, which is cut away to expose some of the carbon.

In use it’s just as good, being exceptionally comfortable, quiet and with some useful ventilation. Changing visors is quick and reliable too. Occasionally I’ve found the visor slightly difficult to raise because the thumb-catch can be hard to find, but you get used to that. I also find the magnetic strap retainer less reliable than a simple press-stud, but others seem to get on fine with it. Neither detail niggle would put me off a very classy helmet. Compared to an Aprilia RSV4 RF, it doesn’t even seem all that expensive.

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

Davida Jet helmet – 

Price £250-350 – 

Info www.davida.co.uk 

Open-face helmets seem more popular than ever thanks to the numbers of classic and custom bikes on the road. It’s easy to understand why when you wear one of Davida’s Jets, which are beautifully made and come in several styles plus a staggering variety of colours. With a decent pair of goggles fitted they’re comfortable even at speed, although obviously even a Bruce Anstey scale beard won’t match the protection of a full-face if you end up chinning the road.

The Merseyside firm does heaps of racer-replica schemes including Hailwood, Read and Ago, but the most spectacular are the relatively recent Cosmic Flake colours. Like all the firm’s helmets they’re made from glass-fibre with a leather lining, and you’ll need a well fancy Seventies style paint job on your bike to outdo the helmet’s metalflake finish. Prices vary depending on style. None is cheap for an open-face, but you do get what you pay for.  

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

Dainese Druids ST gloves – 

Price £154.99 – 

Info www.Dainese.com

Dainese say their Druids gloves are designed for “those who enjoy riding enthusiastically” and I reckon I qualify, having once crashed my Suzuki GSX1100 twice in the same day at the Brands Hatch bend of that name. I haven’t yet suffered a similar incident that would allow a full review of the Daineses but they certainly look up to the job, being a high-spec racing glove with a long list of features.

They’re made from a mix of cowhide on the back and goatskin on the palm, with a reinforced palm plus carbon inserts on the knuckles, back and base of the fingers. There’s a palm insert to combat blisters, and reinforcement around the little finger. Unlike some racing gloves these are also respectably long, with an easily used velcro closure. So far they’ve proved very comfortable and should do a good job if my enthusiasm exceeds my ability again, at Brands or anywhere else. 

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

TCX X-Rap WP boots – 

Price £129.99 – 

Info www.nevis.uk.com 

Ducati were so keen to position their Scrambler  as a novice-friendly lifestyle object that for the Californian launch they issued instructions on journalists’ riding gear, suggesting a jet rather than full-face helmet, no full leathers, and “casual shoes with protection”. Fortunately I just had time to grab a pair of X-Rap WPs, which are not only suitably non-threatening but Italian to boot.

The X-Raps certainly look the part, and are very light and comfortable although I was a bit surprised to find the removable insole rucking up slightly when I’d barely set foot outside LAX airport. That apart they did the job perfectly, and manage to conceal reinforced toe, heel and malleolus (ankle bone, to you and me) protection. They also have a waterproof membrane – hence the WP initials – that might have been useful if the untimely desert rain had got any heavier. They come in even more varieties than the Scrambler, including a Retro model and a Gore-Tex boot with extra weather-proofing. 

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

Draggin’  Jeans Next Generation – 

Price £199.99 – 

Info www.dragginjeans.net 

If you want a pair of jeans that look and feel like normal denim but have a serious level of crash resistance, Draggin’s Next Generation are the sort of thing to consider. They’re not as heavy-duty as some (and don’t have the CE Level 2 rating of jeans including Draggin’s own Holeshots) but still incorporate a lining made from super-tough Kevlar and Dyneema. They also have pockets for armour at hips and knees, though you’ll have to pay extra for that.

The Next Gens are sufficiently comfortable and unobtrusive that I’ve occasionally worn them all day without actually getting round to riding anywhere on a bike, and without feeling ridiculously overdressed. And although I haven’t given these or any other riding jeans the ultimate test, I’d much rather hit the deck in these than in normal denim. The knee armour is a slight faff to remove for washing, but the hip pads come out very quickly and add another useful degree of protection.  

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

Scott Distinct 2 GT gloves – 

Price £99.95 – 

Info www.scott-sports.com

These Scott gloves are sufficiently light and thin to seem quite basic, but in fact they have a good specification, including a Gore-Tex membrane to keep out rain and also Thinsulate insulation against the cold. And they work well enough that having worn them a couple of times on fairly mild days (before reading the product details, naturally), I’ve been surprised to find my hands actually feeling slightly too warm.

That would make them a decent choice for typical UK spring or autumn riding, especially as they’re very comfortable and seem nicely made. The waterproofing did its job on a few damp rides, too. And although they don’t incorporate hard protection they’re usefully tough. When I crashed at about 70mph and went straight down on my left hand, the GT’s palm went through one layer but stayed intact and I slid to a halt without a scratch. Can’t ask for much more than that. 

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

Dainese Airfast Pelle Estivo jacket – 

Price £319.99 

Info www.dainese.com 

To non-motorcyclists a sports jacket is a slightly less formal alternative to a suit jacket; designed to  be worn with non-matching trousers but still quite posh. Dainese had a similar idea in creating the Airfast Pelle Estivo which, with its crew neck, mainly white colour and sieve-like ventilation holes, looks much like the top half of a racy two-piece.

It’s a neat looking and nicely made jacket, with armour at shoulders and elbows. Those tea-bag like perforations mean it’s definitely designed for summer. Star turn is the lightweight bubble-effect lining, which does a good job of keeping cooling air between rider and leather. There’s a small internal breast pocket, and a zipped pocket for a back-protector, but perhaps surprisingly no zip to attach it to leather trousers if you decide you really want a two-piece suit after all. 

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

XCP Professional protective sprays – 

Price from £6.50 –

Info www.xcp-protection.com 

Unfortunately the box of XCP sprays arrived a bit too late for my Street Triple R: just at the end of winter after the poor bike had been chucked in the garage and ignored following too many salty-road rides. A coating of Rust Blocker would doubtless have helped prevent the near mink-like levels of fur now coating its aluminium. The blurb on the can certainly suggests XCP have lots of expertise, and have produced sprays to compete with the “market leader”, unfortunately missing the opportunity to improve on the design of the traditional fiddly straw through which the stuff squirts.

The range includes four main sprays. Alongside the specialised Rust Blocker is the slightly more general-purpose Lubricate & Protect, which is pretty self-explanatory. XCP’s One is a general multi-purpose spray designed to compete with yer basic WD40; the Green One does a similar job but is made from 99 per cent bio-based ingredients so is kinder to the environment, and inevitably slightly more expensive. It’s impossible to be sure whether XCP’s claims of superior performance stack up, but the sprays do seem to work and the prices are competitive too. 

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

Richa Touareg jacket – 

Price £269.99 – 

Info www.nevis.uk.com 

The Touareg people come from the Sahara region of Africa, which gives Richa’s adventure jacket a suitably intrepid name even if one of its main attributes is an impressive ability to keep out rain. The polymid/polyester Touareg copes pretty well with desert-style extremes of temperature, too, having vents for hot days plus a thick and efficient, but easily removable, lining for cold nights. (It also has a bewildering number of pockets, one of which might still hold my missing door keys.)

I’d planned to wear it over a leather jacket but the size came up too small for that. On a couple of launches the Touareg did a decent job on its own, keeping out the chill and also providing protection with a useful built-in back protector as well as armour at shoulders and elbows. A textile jacket like this won’t give the crash resistance of leather if you’re caning a 160bhp-plus adventure bike like Ducati’s Multistrada  or BMW’s S1000XR, but at sensible speeds it’s an excellent all-rounder that also seems attractively priced.

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

Tucano Urbano Diluvio overtrousers – 

Price £47.99 – 

Info www.tucanourbano.com 

Waterproof overtrousers can be among the most annoying motorcycling accessories ever invented. We’ve all been there, hopping about on a soggy pavement trying to fix an ankle-zip that’s jammed simply due to poor design or construction. Thankfully these Tucano Urbanos are nothing like that, despite having a generously long zip, which is why they’ve been my favourite overtrousers in recent months. The other key overtrouser attribute is obviously an ability to keep out rain. The Tucanos have earned maximum marks in that respect too, although I’d qualify that by adding that I don’t recall using them in a real downpour. When that happens I don’t expect them to let me down. The lined polyester fabric is relatively thick (also useful on cold, dry days), there’s a flap behind the zip, and ankle straps to keep them in place. There are plenty of cheaper overtrousers, but few that are less annoying. 

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

HJC R-PHA ST helmet – 

Price £300 – 

Info www.oxprod.com 

The clue’s in the last two digits with HJC’s lid for Sports-Touring riders (though I’ve no idea what R-PHA stands for). The ST is a more distance-friendly device than the firm’s big-selling R-PHA 10 range-topper. It’s built to similar quality and is slightly bigger to incorporate the useful addition of a flip-down sun visor.

The ST seems well made, and I’ve found it comfortable and easy to use. It has plenty of vents, the central visor clip works well, and visors are easy to replace. It’s a physically big helmet, mainly due to the sun visor, but it’s respectably light as well as quiet in use. A high-quality all-rounder at a decent price. 

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Spidi Carbo Track gloves – 

Price £219.99 – 

Info www.spidisport.com 

The Carbo Tracks are Spidi’s top-of-the-range racing glove, and come with a suitably long list of features. The 0.8mm thick leather has reinforcement from something called Clarimo on the palm, as well as generous amounts of carbon on the knuckles plus panels of tough plastic squares built into key points including wrists and little fingers.

The Carbo Tracks were impressively comfortable, and they proved their worth when I crashed Honda’s Fireblade SP at Losail, shrugging off a second-gear lowside with impressive ease. The left palm took the impact on its plastic bobbles and extra padding, tearing the stitching of the reinforced area but leaving the glove’s main leather area almost undamaged. The carbon on a couple of knuckles was similarly effective. All in all, just what you’d hope for from a quality glove that left me without a scratch and could have coped with a much faster crash. 

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

Resurgence Voyager jeans – 

Price £240 – 

Info www.resurgencegear.net 

If you weren’t familiar with the way protective jeans have advanced in recent years you’d get a shock on simply picking up the Voyagers: at 2.4kg they’re not quite as heavy as the Kawasaki of the same name but weigh several times as much as a normal pair of jeans, and more than some leather trousers. But that’s because they also offer a level of protection that would have been unthinkable from denim not long ago, being CE Level 2 certified.

The Voyagers get their strength by being made from three layers: an outer one of 13oz denim, a protective lining made from a substance called Pekev, and an inner mesh lining with pockets for the armour. For something so tough they look remarkably normal, with an excellent fit and finish. With so many layers they’ll inevitably be warm on a hot day, and a pair like this isn’t exactly everyday wear. But for style, comfort and protection they’re excellent, and at £240 including Knox knee- and hip-pads they’re good value. 

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

Dainese T Crono P Estiva one-piece –

Price £694.99 –

Info www.dainese.com 

If Dainese’s gear is good enough for Valentino it should be okay for the rest of us. And although not all the Italian firm’s suits are made to the spec of Rossi’s, they do know plenty about blending style and safety. At just under £700 this Crono P Estiva (estiva is Italian for summer, so means ventilated) one-piece is among the cheapest in the line, and comes in only white or black, but it still looks good and well made.

The Crono has been comfortable to wear, too, and after a few track launches still looks almost like new. It also smells tolerably fresh thanks to the removable lining, which is easy to unzip but would benefit from an internal pocket for ear-plugs etc. How it would fare in a crash is obviously hard to say but my last two track prangs wearing Dainese suits, one at close to 100mph, ended with rider unscratched. If you’re looking for track-ready Italian style on a budget you could do a lot worse. 

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

Tucano Urbano El’met –

Price £129.99 –

Info www.tucanourbano.com

You’ve surely got to smile at an Italian helmet called the El’met, and the first few times I wore Tucano Urbano’s lightweight open-face I really liked it. The style and turquoise colour were great (alternatives range from pink to matt black), and the visor worked well. The lid is fairly light but seemed reasonably well made, and was ideal for riding a few scooters round town.

Then on the Yamaha Tricity launch we had a long day on the bike, and by the end of it I was getting a bit of an ache in the forehead. To be fair, that might just have been because my head shape didn’t suit the lid, though the padding is a bit basic. If you’re not going to wear it for more than a couple of hours at time the El’met would doubtless be fine, and at £129.99 it’s decently priced. 

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

Pirelli Angel GT –

Price £245 per pair –

Info  www.pirelli.com  

When I bought my Triumph Street Triple R a few years ago, I had visions of treating it to track days and sunny-morning scratching with the tyres sticky to the sidewalls. The reality has been too many miles slogging along a motorway to an airport, with the poor bike weighed down with a huge kit-bag on the way to a launch. So when I came to replace the rubber, Pirelli’s Angel GT all-rounders made more sense than the sticky but easily squared Rosso Corsas that the bike came with.

A couple of thousand miles later I’m glad I went for the more practical option. Pirelli reckon the GTs are grippier than their Angel ST predecessors while giving 30 per cent more mileage. They’ve certainly worn well while being sticky enough for some fun when I’ve had the chance to throw off the big bag and give the Triumph some grief on a twisty road. 

[imotorcycleproductreviews]

Davida Shorty glove –

Price £45 –

Info www.davida.co.uk 

Davida’s Shorty is unashamedly minimalist: just a thin, traditionally styled pair of leather gloves designed for warm days and fairly gentle riding. There’s no modern style extra protection here, though you do get Kevlar stitching to hold the cowhide panels in place, and the quality detailing includes a fleece lining and press-stud wrist closure to help keep them in place.

Of course if you want maximum protection you’ll look elsewhere, but for simple retro style the Shorty is hard to beat. On a few warm days I’ve enjoyed bimbling round on my Bonneville in them, though for longer journeys I’d always choose something more substantial. At £45 the price is easy on the pocket, and talking of that they’re small enough to roll up and store inside your jacket too.