It’s on rainy, cold nights like this one that I’m glad I have a garage. Looking at your motorcycle parked outside as it’s pelted with rain, sleet, hail, mud and other unpleasantness can make you weep with impotent rage. Cover it? Motorcycle covers are a hassle to put on and remove. First, you have to wait until the bike cools to avoid melting the cover to the exhaust. Plus, they can blow off your bike, get shredded and messy-looking, and trap moisture underneath, which can cause rust and mold. Nasty!

Full Mesh Jacket. Like the FMJ, the REV’IT! Traction jacket features an abrasion-resistant outer to protect its softer inner (you). The Traction jacket from REV’IT! is a summer jacket entirely composed of breathable fabric to keep you cool during the summer while also providing a removable waterproof liner for those Spring showers. Not to mention, the jacket looks the business when you’re walking around the urban jungle off of the bike, too.

Since my conversion five years ago to dual-sport from pure dirt bikes, with the purchase of my 2013 KTM EXC 500, the question of tires has been an ongoing experiment. My tire requirement list covers a wide range of needs. My favorite riding spot is about 25 miles from the garage including a quick freeway trip, a country road, then a winding paved climb where I practice my supermoto skills. From there, the dirt is your typical California mountain fare: super loose silt, baby-head sized rocks, roots and everything in between. The goal has always been to find a tire that can endure the pavement abuse, corner like a street bike and then inspire that rare confidence in the dirt – hooking up like we actually have had some moisture in the last six months – while lasting a good long while.

Like me, you probably know Aerostich as the company making funky one-piece motorcycle oversuits that go over your regular clothing. Well, that suit is called the Roadcrafter, there are many derivations of it, and it’s basically the class uniform for veteran moto-journalists. However, many people don’t know Aerostich also makes much, much more. Like this, the Protekt jeans.

It’s not even Black Friday yet, and Revzilla has gone full bore into sales mode across their site. We’ve already reported on other holiday savings, but over the weekend they announced a 20% off sale on a selection of Bell Helmets. Of the 20+ offerings up for grabs, we’re pretty stoked about the graphics on the well-reviewed  Bell Qualifier DLX Devil May Care helmet, currently marked down to $199.99.

While some brands are just starting to ramp up their Black Friday activations, it looks like Revzilla decided to hit fast-forward, instead launching their new Holiday Gift guide featuring all things motorcycle accessories. Not everything is on sale just yet, but the extensive list does have some reasonable savings packed into the list on items that would make great holiday gifts, stocking stuffers, or even just gifts for yourself.

The closeouts continue to roll out at Revzilla, this time on motorcycle luggage and backpacks. Through the balance of the month (and possibly beyond), save anywhere between 15 and 70% on luggage from Givi, Icon, and countless others. All told over 150 items are a part of their closeout sale, and much like the ongoing gear closeout sale we also featured recently, there are some great savings to be had here.

Way back in January of 2015, Shoei introduced the Hornet X2 helmet, and our man, Tom Roderick, attended the event, coming back with a shiny new helmet for his efforts. Flash forward to this past August as I was preparing to take our somewhat annual adventure tour, and I noticed that my trusty Shoei Hornet had been manufactured in 2012, making it about a year older than we recommend wearing a helmet. So, I decided to see why Tom liked the Hornet X2 enough to say that it was his favorite ADV helmet.

This time last October, I was flying through serpentine roads in the foothills of the Sierra just south of Yosemite on board a Ural Gear Up (okay, I was hardly flying) to meet some of my closest friends for a camping trip prior to getting married the following weekend. The temps began to drop rapidly as we ascended in elevation, making me all the more happy to have chosen the REV’IT! Westport Overshirt as my jacket of choice for the ride.

You can find a cheap motorcycle phone mount all over the internet these days, but pricing versus quality don’t seem to run entirely linear. After a bit of digging the evidence is clear; yes you can spend $50-60 on a higher end mount that will be rock solid, but there are also a few great well-built buys out there that don’t break the bank. Enter the  Roam Universal Premium Bike Phone Mount for Motorcycles—a simple and sturdy mount currently on sale for $12.98 with free shipping via Amazon. with over 4,700 customer reviews and an average score of 4.4 out of 5, this mount is tough enough to do the trick on a budget. If you do a fair bit of off-road riding, even if just on bumpy logging roads, we’d suggest going the heavy duty route, but if you’re a commuter/highway cruiser there’s no sense breaking the bank here.

This motorcycle helmet sale over at Cycle Gear is a big one, including a ton of our favorite helmet brands including Arai, Bell, HJC, Shoei, and many more. Literally hundreds of offerings are up for grabs for discounts ranging from 15% to over 60% off, covering a healthy mix of styles from full-face street helmets to helmets for motocross and ATV/UTV riders as well. Solid colors, race replicas, and bold graphic helmets are all part of the equation as well, and a quick skim revealed that a number of HJC’s Marvel Comics series helmets ( Captain America, The Punisher, Iron Man, and others) are up for grabs for a reasonable 20% off. If you missed the info on the Revzilla End of Season Clearout sale we covered a few weeks back (it’s still on!), here’s another chance to save big on new gear.

What’s your helmet for? Primarily, it’s on your head to protect your head, and that technology hasn’t changed much since LBJ was yanking on the ears of his basset hounds. But it could do more, says Taiwan’s Jarvish Helmet. Much more.

It occurred to Shoei that there was a bit of a gaping hole in its line-up where a helmet for urban hip riders of Ducati Scramblers, Sportsters and things might fit, and so here it is, the new J-O. It’s available in five solids and six graphics (Sequel TC-5 in lead image). My newest open-face is a Bell Tracker from the ’90s (looks like they now assign that name to a bicycle helmet), which I still pull off the shelf now and then for short hops around town. But really, now that the modular helmet is here, to offer both open-face freedom/convenience and full-face function in one, for me there seemed to be very little need for an open-face. Then Shoei unveiled its new lid there at Deus ex Machina in LA, and suddenly I am into open-face again! Because style! Where do I get the tattoos?

Velomacchi has quickly made a name for itself in the motorcycle backpack and luggage biz. The company was founded by Kevin Murray, a design executive who has worked for The North Face as well as establishing his own design firm in the performance outdoor and tactical rescue markets. Murray has now set his sights on creating unique, elegant, timeless motorcycle luggage that performs just as well as it looks.

Adventure tourers who are looking for a boot that can handle the rigors of light off-road while still maintaining on-pavement comfort should take a hard look at the TCX Baja Gore-Tex Boot. These fully-waterproof puppies might be overkill for mere street touring, but the protection they offer should make riders who don’t stop when the pavement ends happy.

When it comes to motorcycle apparel, arguably no name is as widely known across the globe as Alpinestars. The company’s continuous and relentless pursuit of safety innovation for motorcyclists is the stuff of legend, and thankfully for the rest of us, the fruits of that labor are seen through the jackets, pants, gloves, boots, and other protective apparel we wear each time we ride.

Motorcyclists can be divided into two groups: those that love tank bags and those who don’t. Personally, I’ve had at least one tank bag for every bike I’ve owned. So, you don’t have to guess which camp I fall into. However, the trend towards tanks that slope sharply towards the rider has made using tank bags a challenge. Throw in the need to stand up on the pegs when riding an adventure bike in the dirt, and the sizing of a tank bag becomes even more difficult. Wolfman, a manufacturer long known among the adventure and off-road set, has come up with what I think is the optimum tank bag for the style of tank most commonly found on the current generation of adventure bikes. The Blackhawk tank bag offers a good compromise of carrying capacity and the need to move freely when standing.

“Smart” technology: it’s a buzzword that tells you a device is enhanced in some way, usually by connectivity to other devices. Odds are your helmet is dumb: it’s just a helmet. But in an era of smartphones, houses, appliances, cars and even eyeglasses, odds are you want your helmet to do more than just protect your melon from wind, weather, or bouncing off the ground. 

In this four-part series, we take a look at five easy bolt-on parts that will transform your ADV bike from a Starbucks-destined road queen, to a Dakar-ready desert blasting rally winner. Or something like that. This series is designed to show how much of a difference a few well-thought-out adventure bike upgrades can make to the off-road prowess of your big ADV bike.

Helmets are a lot like shoes, and like a good pair of shoes, the right helmet can be incredibly versatile and can complement a variety of different outfits, or gear sets in this case, for an assortment of various riding disciplines. The Shoei VFX-Evo has been my number one go-to off-road helmet since the day I got it back in January, and I’ve been reaching for it almost exclusively anytime any sort of dirt riding is on the menu.

Adventure riding has no bounds. With a properly outfitted ADV bike, you can ride just about anywhere and everywhere so long as weather conditions and more importantly your riding ability allow for it. Speaking of weather conditions, you can find yourself riding in any number of them, and there are various gear options out there that will not only perform way better than your average dungarees and jacket, but will provide enhanced protection in the event of a mishap, too.

For a long time, I didn’t get the adventure boot thing. They’re not off-road boots, nor are they purely street/touring boots. Adventure boots are a combination of the two, though they tend to resemble their off-road counterparts. After putting more than 1,500 miles in the Sidi Adventure 2 adventure boots, I get it. They’re not trying to be motocross boots, and they can be more versatile in certain situations than street-biased footwear.

For this four-part series, we take a look at five easy bolt-on parts that will transform your ADV bike from a Starbucks-destined road queen, to a Dakar-ready desert blasting rally winner. Or something like that. This series is designed to show how much of a difference a few well-thought-out adventure bike upgrades can make to the off-road prowess of your big ADV bike.

For this four-part series, we take a look at five easy bolt-on parts that will transform your ADV bike from a Starbucks-destined road queen, to a Dakar-ready desert blasting rally winner. Or something like that. This series is designed to show how much of a difference a few well-thought-out adventure bike upgrades can make to the off-road prowess of your big ADV bike.

Every now and then a new riding gear manufacturer enters the competitive motorcycle apparel market. Some grow while others wither and fade away. What typically separates the rising newcomer from the soon-to-be also-rans is usually quickly apparent in the form of missing necessary features or comfort issues when riding. Motorcycle gear places a high emphasis on function, and often, that function also dictates the styling. What if you’re looking for function with a less flashy style? Reax Motorcycle Gear may be what you’ve been looking for.

The REV’IT! Ignition 3 Jacket and Pant is a 3-season offering from REV’IT! that combines leather and textile to create a hybrid of sorts. Cristina has used the garments on our 900-plus mile trip to the Quail Motorcycle Gathering as well as a few shorter rides. During our trip to Carmel Valley, we experienced scorching temperatures on our way through California’s central valley, cooler weather near Monterey, and even some dense hanging fog that was more comparable to light rain than merely a cool weather front. That trip alone gave Cristina the chance to use nearly every feature the jacket and pants offer which left us both thankful for the versatility of the Ignition 3 kit.

Behold and covet my brand new jacket, the aptly named Yaguara, as that’s the kind of jungle cat I feel like when I’m wearing it. Grrrrr… The reason it’s $650 is because it’s designed to work with the Alpinestars Tech-Air inflatable airbag vest, that’s right, the same one they use in their high-end roadracing suits. Well, not exactly the same one, as there are slightly different Street and Race vest systems. More info here, but basically there’s an optional vest that zips in, plugs in, and will inflate – in 25 milliseconds – via a pair of argon inflation cartridges to protect your torso and shoulders, when it determines you’re about to have a real adventure. That’s 1/40 of a second.

I love helmet communicators. Using them has changed the way I ride. In fact, when testing new helmets, one of the first things I do (once I become familiar with the noise levels in the helmet) is install a communicator. I ride so many places where I use turn-by-turn directions that I can’t imagine going back to the bad old days of taping directions on the gas tank. Until Sena released the 30K, the company’s 20S/20S EVO units were my go-to communicators. So, you can imagine my excitement when it came time to test the 30K which takes all the features of the 20S and adds the new, easy-to-use mesh communication technology to the mix. 

AGV set out to change the game with its new full-carbon modular helmet. The Italian company boasts that the Sportmodular is the world’s first modular helmet constructed entirely out of carbon fiber which makes it a modular that is lighter than plenty of other helmets on the market, not just other modulars.

Helmet communication systems have moved beyond the upstart phase of their existence, and now the major manufacturers (primarily Cardo Systems and Sena) are working on ever-increasing refinement. Case in point is the Cardo Systems PackTalk Bold. The company’s Dynamic Mesh Communication (DMC) system has been around for a couple years and has grown quite popular with its increased flexibility compared to Bluetooth group communications. To this improved group chatting, the PackTalk Bold takes the company’s top-of-the-line communicator and adds next-generation voice control, allowing riders to keep their hands on the motorcycle’s grips where they belong instead of manipulating the controls of a helmet-mounted communicator. 

It was rough duty but somebody had to do it: Hang out at Laguna Seca’s World Superbike/MotoAmerica race all weekend so as to be there early Monday to ride around on Pirelli’s new supersporty street tire, the Diablo Rosso Corsa II. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this, since Pirelli has been the official tire of the WSBK since 2004 and will continue to be through at least 2020.

For this four-part series, we take a look at five easy bolt-on parts that will transform your ADV bike from a Starbucks-destined road queen, to a Dakar-ready desert blasting rally winner. Or something like that. This series is designed to show how much of a difference a few well-thought-out adventure bike upgrades can make to the off-road prowess of your big ADV bike. 

Reviews of things like motorcycle gear can be tough to do the right way, because it’s really the test of time that reveals how good something like a boot is – and fashion being what it is, by the time you figure out that, yes, this is a great boot and worth $350 – that boot’s been replaced by something snazzier. I don’t remember when I got these Sidi Canyons, but I’m pretty certain it was during the Clinton administration. Bumping around the Motonation website a couple weeks ago whilst picking its owner’s brain about Baja, imagine my surprise to see the Sidi Canyon still right there for sale. I guess it’s time to review them, then.

Photochromatic visors are the ultimate convenience when it comes to helmet visor technology.  They eliminate the need to carry extra visors or have complicated internal visor mechanics built in to a helmet to account for changing light conditions. Since their introduction, photochromatic visors have gotten progressively more versatile in their reactivity time and percentage of tinting that they provide. While still priced considerably more than regular visors, their utility makes them great items for daily riders. With the ProTint visor, Bell has become the first helmet manufacturer to develop its own photochromatic shield technology. 

I am an unabashed fan of modular helmets. Once I discovered the freedom they allowed while riding, I began using them for the majority of my street rides. The option to flip up the chin bar at stoplights or gas stations makes communicating much easier. Then there’s the relieved look that convenience store clerks have when they realize they can actually see your face as you walk into the store to buy a bottle of water. Bell Helmets recently hosted the moto-press on a ride to sample the company’s newest entry in the modular helmet market, the Bell SRT-M. While quick, reasonably accurate opinions can be made after just a few hundred miles in a new helmet, I was fortunate enough to be given advanced access to a SRT-M for several weeks before the event, allowing me to become quite familiar with the new lid.

Sometimes we take for granted the importance of brake pads. As long as we can stop within a respectable time or distance, we’re good, right? Well, yes, but what if there was something better? Something providing more bite and better feel compared to stock pads throughout its lifetime? Enter the SBS SP Evo Sinter brake pads.

When I picked up our Triumph Tiger 1200 for a 900-mile trip up to northern California’s Monterey Peninsula, I had really hoped Triumph would have outfitted the big adventure touring bike with the OE luggage. Alas, the big trumpet was devoid of storage, save for the impressively large underseat compartment and a not-so-impressive rear rack. Thankfully, Evans Brasstacks always has a backup plan. No sooner had I called Evans whining, he was on the horn with our friends at TwistedThrottle.com working out a solution. Enter the new DRYSPEC H35 waterproof cases.

There comes a point in every motorcyclist’s life when they reach a certain level and realize that tires aren’t all created equal. I’ve owned and ridden on just about every major manufacturer’s off-road offerings, but I never really gave too much thought to tire selection beyond condition type and price point. I always figured, if the knobbies still had a decent edge, I was getting about as much traction as I could get. I just chalked the faster guys up to being better, more skilled riders – which is true of course – but I didn’t realize how much of a difference a particular tire could make until one of my riding buddies, an ex-Factory Honda rider from the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, told me to check out the Dunlop Geomax MX3S.

By definition, designing a motorcycle tire is an exercise in compromise. The perfect tire would have ultimate grip in every scenario and would never wear. Whoever can invent this unicorn tire capable of setting lap records and transcontinental travel simultaneously will cash in handsomely. Until then, however, we all have to live with compromise. Here in the real world, tire companies constantly battle with the challenge of balancing grip for longevity, and when it comes to track-worthy – and street legal – tires, the challenge becomes even greater; the tire should definitely provide enough grip to confidently hustle a motorcycle around a track but should also be robust enough to survive the everyday grind.

Sena has ventured into the competitive world of helmet manufacturing with its new Bluetooth integrated full-face helmet line-up. The Korean company has already established itself as a, if not the, leader in Bluetooth communication technology when it comes to the powersports and outdoor markets. The company is now producing four helmets integrated with Bluetooth: Momentum Lite, Momentum, Momentum INC, and Momentum Pro. After having spent some time testing the Momentum, let’s take a look at how the new Bluetooth integrated helmet functions.

Building a new motorcycle tire is not easy. As the only two contact points your motorcycle has to the ground, there’s a lot of responsibility involved. In the case of a racing tire, the demands become that much greater; not only does the tire need to remain consistent throughout its life, but it also needs to be better than its predecessor. Sure, this can be said about practically any motorcycle tire, but with racing tires there’s an actual gauge to measure old and new: the stopwatch.

Look good, feel good, ride good. From the moment I first saw it, I knew I needed to have it. The Alpinestars Brera leather jacket is quite possibly one of the best looking, most stylish motorcycle jackets on the market. Throw built-in, slim-fitting CE certified Bio Armor on your elbows and shoulders, and you’ve pretty much got yourself the total package.

Bridgestone has just introduced two new tire families to their lineup – the Battlax Adventure A41 and the Battlax Sport Touring T31. The driving goal behind these two new models was to improve on their outgoing predecessors’ overall performance by focusing on and upgrading wet grip and handling with an emphasis in low temperatures. On top of that, Bridgestone set out to increase feedback and contact feel across all lean angles, all while maintaining stability and no sacrifice on wear life. Sounds easy enough, right? Well…

Bell Helmets is a name I have known and thought fondly of since I was but a wee child, riding my bicycle from dawn to dusk every day. I’m not saying that I ever wore a Bell bicycle helmet as child but I remember seeing them in different shops. Later in life, when I became interested in motorcycles, I would start seeing the brand popping up more often.

The Alpinestars Oscar Charlie combines truly classic motorcycle jacket lines with solid construction, and if it stopped there, it would be a nice jacket. However, its ability to interface with the new Tech-Air Race System puts it well above your average motorcycle gear.

Sidi’s mid-level Roarr street & track boots feature many of the same protective elements and materials sewn and screwed into them as the Italian footwear manufacturer’s race-focused offerings costing $200 more. The $295 Roarrs are positioned near the middle of Sidi’s selection of 24 motofootwear choices, which range from $100 to $500.

When we consider sport-touring motorcycle tires, we typically envision clipping an endless series of apexes as we take a day’s ride (or two) through scenic countryside – perhaps with some soft luggage and a passenger on the back. Well, sport-touring tires have morphed over the years into something of a jack-of-all-trades tire made for the active motorcyclist who uses their bike every day. The sport-touring tire’s job description now includes frequent commuter duty plus the weekend fun runs to the local twisties in addition to more traditional sport-touring adventures. Michelin says the new Road 5 tire is up for the challenge.

The relationship between motorcycles and safety has forever been a troubled one. Riders are unencumbered by protective cages, exposing them to impact danger in ways car drivers aren’t. Autos are equipped with doors, bumpers, crumple zones, and airbags. Wait, airbags, you say?

Way back in 2015, we tested the Spot Gen3 satellite tracking device on our Ultimate Sport-Touring Adventure, and we came away impressed with its ease of use. Although we never had to initiate any of the emergency functions, we were happy to know that if things did go sideways, we’d have a way to summon help to our location – even if we were out of cell phone range. So, as I hatched my plan to ride the 2018 Honda Gold Wing Tour from Austin, TX home to Los Angeles, CA, my ever tolerant (and long-suffering) wife asked if there would be any way to track me when I was in the remote areas of my trip in case something went wrong. I told her I had just the thing.

The market for motorcycle helmets is saturated with choices, but there are surprisingly few options for street (not off-road) helmets that fit the smaller head sizes of children. So, when I was trying to outfit my daughter with decent motorcycle gear so I could take her on street rides with me, I found few options.

Why not? This vinyl-covered steel cable makes it easy to hang two helmets from a single lock, and if it makes you feel more secure, the 18-inch version lets you loop it through the chin bars instead of just the D-rings. On the GSX-S1000 we played with the Snake on, you could just as easily use the other helmet lock under the other side of the passenger seat to hang two helmets, but the Helmet Snake makes things a bit more convenient and secure. And if your bike has any kind of luggage that makes the helmet lock hard to get to, the Snake is your answer.

Racer’s newest short-cuff glove is the Racer Sprint, a well-ventilated summer glove that should offer plenty of protection to keep your digits comfortable and safe. We received the Sprint glove mid-September of this year, and they have been my go-to hand protection ever since. Being that California has relatively warm temperatures, I have had no issue using these gloves during press launches, shootouts, and personal rides.

Klim has long been known in the adventure and snow segments as premium technical riding gear, and it has been the choice of moto-adventurers the world over. For 2018 it’s great to see Klim continuing to advance the functionality and technicality of its garments. Klim’s flagship model, the Badlands jacket and pant, has now been revised and revamped with even more real-world usability, upgraded armor developed with D3O, and higher-strength materials. Also, new going into 2018 is the women’s Artemis jacket which has been purpose-built with women in mind.

The unofficial MO motto is “More is more.” So, naturally we were happy to learn at the International Motorcycle Shows Long Beach media day last week that Indian has released the Thunder Stroke 116-Cubic-Inch Stage 3 Big Bore Kit. What’s that, you say? Well, how does a claimed 15% increase in torque and a 20% bump in horsepower strike you? Yeah, us, too. So, if your Thunder Stroke 111 has started to feel a little anemic after reading this paragraph, moto-salvation is at hand.

The new Star MIPS is Bell’s latest attempt to improve protection for our brains, introducing the Swedish-engineered Multi-directional Impact Protection System to its popular street helmet.

Leather is nice. Leather chairs, leather interior, leather underpants (some chafing may occur). You name it, it’s good in leather, especially riding jackets. They’re classic, classy, and typically a high-quality piece of equipment that will keep the skin on your back.

When we last saw an Innovv camera on MO, we were reviewing the dual camera Innovv K1 Motorcycle System, and we found it to be a convenient and functional motorcycle “dash-cam” with only one major issue: The DVR unit wasn’t waterproof. We also thought the recorded colors could have been a bit brighter, but it was a minor concern for a dash-cam. Here we are 18 months later, and Innovv has released an updated, more rugged kit for motorcycles, the Innovv C5 Motorcycle Camera System. The C5 is both more and less than the older K1 system.

B-b-b-b-baaad, bad to the bone. George Thorogood & The Destroyers’ 1982 hit song is what I hear when Black Brand motorcycle clothing company comes to mind. They say they are “a group that is not for everyone,” and go on to elaborate, “You need to be the wolf, not the sheep to ride in Black Brand.” With its rebellious, nonconformist attitude, it’s without question that Black Brand’s bold tagline is directly aimed at the V-Twin/Cruiser market, where the brand believes there is a void in riding apparel options.

Way back in March of 2015 I reviewed the Sena 20S Motorcycle Bluetooth Communication System and found it to be my favorite of all the systems I’d ever sampled. I liked it so much that I bought a an extra mounting kit for it so that I could use it on my two favorite helmets, and when I wore something other than those two lids, I usually switched one of the mounts. In those two-plus years since the review, I’ve used the 20S on almost every single one of my motorcycle rides. It is an essential part of my motorcycle kit. That’s how much I’ve grown to love the Sena 20S. So, you can imagine how stoked I was when I received a pair of the upgraded Sena 20S EVO communicators.

When you’re the editor at a motorcycle magazine, new helmets are a dime a dozen. Actually, they don’t usually cost us even a dime. So, we’re blessed with the luxury of strapping on premium lids at nearly every opportunity.