Safe riding equipment can also be stylish
Latest offerings from Triumph, Racer and Daytona provide form and function
Safe motorcycling means being protected from head to toe. Comfortable riding requires motorcycle gear that is not only protective, but multi-tasking, useful in the varying climates that is a Canadian riding season. And if you can throw stylish in there, well, it never pays to show up at the office looking like Marlon Brando in The Wild One.
Stylish certainly describes Triumph’s AW16 leather jacket. Manufactured by world-renowned Barbour, it may be the most versatile motorcycle jacket I have owned. A full-leather threequarters-length cut, the AW16 is perfectly appropriate for work, wedding or nightclub — indeed, strip out the armour and you’ll be stylin’ with the Harry Rosen crowd. Zip in its quilted liner and you’ve got a fashion-forward four-season overcoat that could pass muster in any boardroom. As if that’s not versatile enough, there’s a GoreTex liner built into the leather outer layer so you’ll also be singing in the rain.
Of course, those same qualities make the AW16 an extremely versatile riding jacket — sans liner, appropriate for warm summer days; with liner, able to ward off the chill of even a late fall ride.
Just as important — at least to the safety conscious biker — is that the AW16 is supplied with world-class armour protection in the back, shoulder and elbows. Standard equipment are CE Level 1 D30 viscoelastic inserts, but the pockets inside the jacket are cut so that you can upgrade to D30’s Level 2 armour if you’d like.
Other than a neck closure strap that can be finicky to close, the AW16 is an amazingly versatile jacket that’s become my go-to inner-city riding wear, especially if my assignation is even remotely formal or the weather is forecast to turn nasty. And, the best part, all of this versatility only costs $635.
The first line of defence in a motor cycle crash — besides a helmet — should be a set or heavy duty gloves. Think about it: What’s the first thing you do when you fall? Try to break your fall with your arms. If that fall happens to be off a motorcycle and onto hard and abrasive tarmac, you really want good protection for your hands.
And Racer’s High Racers — other than the somewhat awkward name — are the best gloves I have worn.
First off, let’s start with the look, just purposeful enough to say I’m serious about this sportbike thing, not so jangled with add-on metallic plates that one feels you’re auditioning for the new two-wheeled Power Ranger. Then there’s the comfort, which, in a word, is nothing short of amazing.
Racer USA claims these are “the best-fitting motorcycle gloves you can buy,” a heady statement, to be sure, but in my opinion, a marketing slogan wholly justified. Part of the reason is the soft, luxurious cowhide used in the glove’s uppers. Even softer, more luxurious and incredibly pliant is the kangaroo leather used in the palm. Yes, I know, other high-end glove manufacturers incorporate Australia’s favourite marsupial into their construction, but Racer must weave some magic that its competitors have failed to grasp because its hide is softer, um, more luxurious — that’s me running out of superlatives already! — than anything my hands have had the pleasure to fit in. They even break in quickly.
Having crashed once in them, I cannot be more unequivocal about the fact that they seem safe, individual fingers sporting small carbon-fibre protectors while the knuckle area’s carbon-fibre protector is sufficiently robust to make brass knuckles unnecessary if you happen to be in a dust-up (this is, of course, backed by some soft foam to soak up any blows, accidental or pre-meditated). There’s more carbon fibre over the back of the hand, a little dot covering the pisiform bone and even two more little slidey bits on the outside of the thumb.
All in all, there are 12 bits of carbon fibre on each High Racer. Comfortable, stylish and protective, that’s the winning combination when it comes to biking gear.
Indeed, my only complaint is that the Racers no longer have a distributor in Canada, Matt Dynes, CEO of the former outlet Motorcycle Innovations, noting that “Canadian dealers were a little resistant to what is, after all, a niche Austrian brand.” In other words, you just can’t walk into your local dealer and order up a pair of High Racers. So if you do want the best gloves in biking, you’ll have to order them online through Racer Gloves USA (by the way, the sizing chart is extremely accurate) at www.racerglovesusa.com. They’re worth the trouble. Like I said: Best. Gloves. Ever.
The last bit of biking kit I consider indispensable are my Daytona EVO Sports GTX boots. I’ve mentioned these before, but they’re the only boots I’ll ride in, so they’re worth mentioning again.
Like gloves, protective boots should be a must for any bike ride, no matter how short. After your hands, the next thing that usually hits the ground is your feet. And the protection the Daytonas offer is incredible. Unlike most biking boots that have lots of garish outer protection, the EVO Sports use a dual-chamber construction with its outer leather layer completely separate from a protective inner boot, which is actually two rather comprehensive plastic bits, a large upper portion protecting the calf area, while the almost-as-large lower safeguards the foot and heel.
Connecting the two is a hinge that allows the articulation at the ankle required when you’re shifting gears or walking. So protective is this inner layer that many motorcycle racers buy Daytonas rather than accept lesser boots for free as part of a sponsorship deal. And making the EVO Sports more versatile, you can opt for a rainproof Gore-Tex liner.
Which brings me to the Daytona’s only downside. Adding the $146 Gore-Tex liner to the $885 base price brings the total for the last pair I bought to $1,031. That’s a serious investment for a pair of boots. But, then, what price the best foot protection money can buy?