reviews
Z1R Eclipse Helmet Review
Z1R Eclipse Helmet How time flies! It was just about one year ago since our Z1R ZRP-1 helmet review. We probably wouldn’t have reviewed it, except that Motorcyclist magazine ran a very interesting story on helmet safety and the ZRP-1 scored very highly in their non-standard testing, so we figured we’d have to give it a …
2008-2009 Winter Waterproof Motorcycle Gloves Review
2008-2009 Winter Waterproof Motorcycle Gloves Review webBikeWorld visitors frequently ask for comparison reviews of various products. But there are several logistical problems with this type of review. These are discussed in this section of the Site Info page and this 2008 winter glove review poses yet another issue. This was initially planned as a single review of …
Motorcycle Pet Trailer Carrier
Tow-Behind Pet Trailer? I remember a long time ago when the automobile manufacturers would give away toy models of their new car line each fall. My brother had dozens and he probably wishes he still had them packed away in the attic because I’m sure they’re valuable collector’s items by now. That marketing concept is …
Blue Away
Blue Away Review Blue Away “Motorcycle Exhaust Blue Remover Cream” didn’t work very well in this trial. The Counterman rang up my order and announced “That’ll be $41.63.” I remember thinking that it seemed like a lot of dosh for an oil filter, a small bottle of Blue Away (2.5 ounces, to be exact) and …
Joe Rocket GPX Gloves
Joe Rocket GPX 2.0 Men’s Professional Race Gloves We’ve been reporting on the evolution of Joe Rocket clothing for several years, watching the quality rise from mediocre to first-rate during that time. I remember not too long ago when buying a Joe Rocket jacket was nearly the social equivalent of buying a helmet at K-Mart. But …
Komodo Summer Mesh Motorcycle Gloves Review
Protective Mesh for Summer The first thing that caught my eye was the $54.95 list price for these Komodo mesh motorcycle gloves. I tried them on and then did a double- and triple-take at the price tag, which seemed about 30% lower than I expected. “Must be an End-of-Summer sale”, I thought. But it’s not — $54.95 …
Marlin’s Motorcycle Clocks & Thermometers
Marlin Motorcycle Clock and Motorcycle Thermometer Review It’s not easy to call our new Ducati GT1000 (blog) a hack bike because it simply looks too cool to serve as the webBikeWorld runner. Nevertheless, that’s what it is. Who knows how long it will stay in the garage? Rick’s already got his eye on a Multistrada 620 (blog) No …
KBC VR-2 Helmet Review
KBC VR-2 Motorcycle Helmet I guess I’ve become the de facto KBC reviewer. As soon as we posted our recent take on the KBC VR-3, the emails started pouring in, asking about the KBC VR-2 “Mirage”. We originally thought that the VR-2 was similar enough to the original VR-1 that it wouldn’t be worth the effort of …
Fieldsheer High-Temp Mesh Jacket and Pants
Fieldsheer High-Temp Jacket and Pants Review I was hoping to get this review out of the way several weeks ago, back when the weather was at its most sultry. Now that September has arrived with its promise of cooler temperatures, I figured we’d better get this done before it’s too late. If this Fieldsheer jacket …
BMW Motorcycles: The Evolution of Excellence
BMW Motorcycles: The Evolution of Excellence Hardcover: 174 pages Dimensions (in inches): 9.13 x 6.8 x 0.75 Publisher: Whitehorse Press; (September 2006) ISBN: 1884313574 List Price: $29.95 More: wBW Book Review Index | Book Reviews by Rating | Vintage, Classic, Antique Motorcycles Page | BMW Page | Motorcycle Repair and Maintenance Article Index Here we are in 2006 and I have to …
KBC VR-3 Review
KBC VR-3 Stealth Motorcycle Helmet It seems like ages ago since we posted a review of the KBC VR-1, the first of KBC’s “VR” series of motorcycle helmets. The VR-1 put KBC on the map as a motorcycle helmet manufacturer that offered high-end features at rock-bottom prices. Our conclusion was that the VR-1 offered “excellent value for …
Duke Wicking Shirt
Dri-Duke Moisture Transport Wicking Shirt Review Works under leathers or textile to wick away moisture. You’re looking at what must be the best kept secret in sports clothing. This shirt keeps the wearer cool with “moisture transport” technology. But try to find one! [UPDATE: See below for more information on availability.] We ordered this shirt …
Olympia AST Jacket
Olympia AST Jacket Review Do you find yourself browsing through the racks of gear at bike shops to check out the latest riding apparel? Maybe you’re like me, with a collection of riding jackets filling the closets throughout the house. Each one is designed to cope with a narrow range of weather conditions, but I never seem …
Setup Motorcycle Boots
Setup Pegaso Air Vented Boots In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll have to admit right up front that when it comes to vented motorcycle boots, I’m biased. The truth is, I love my Oxtar TCS Sport boots. They’re comfy and they flow lots of cooling air over my tired ol’ dogs. OK, so they squeak …
SCHUBERTH J1 Review
Unique SCHUBERTH Open-Face Helmet Helmet With Chin Bar The SCHUBERTH J1 gave me one of the biggest slap-the-forehead “why didn’t I think of that” moments in my life. The J1 is basically an open-face motorcycle helmet with a snap-in hoop, designed to protect the rider’s chin. Leave it to SCHUBERTH to think of something like …
Nady Motorcycle Intercoms Review
The Nady MRC-11X and Nady PMC-3x The folks at Nady Systems have produced a trio of small, lightweight motorcycle communication systems, the PMC-2X intercom, the PMC-3X intercom with FM radio and a bike-to-bike communications system called the MRC-11X. The PMC-3X intercom with FM radio is powered by three AAA batteries or the motorcycle’s electrical system …
No-Mar Motorcycle Tire Changer
No-Mar Motorcycle Tire Changer Many of us do a lot of our own motorcycle maintenance and repair. The motivations for this are varied, but cost savings is probably the number one reason. I know it is for me! I’ve been an Automotive Technician for more years than I wish to remember, and it pains me …
Bell Apex Helmet Review
Bell Apex Helmet Review The Bell Apex is made with very high quality, it has a comfortable liner, good air flow on the chin but weak up top. The helmet also meets the U.S. DOT standard and it is Snell certified. Like the proverbial Phoenix, Bell Helmets rose from the ashes a few years ago. …
Performance Riding Techniques
Performance Riding Techniques wBW Book Review Performance Riding Techniques is a fantastic new book. It also shows a new direction for Haynes Publishing. Haynes is most familiar to U.S. motorcycle owners as the publishers of motorcycle repair manuals and guides. Haynes books have been around virtually forever, guiding owners with repair and restoration info on obscure …
Velocity Gear Elite Motorcycle Gloves Review
Velocity Gear F9 and S1 Gloves Review Nice gloves, loaded with features. Based on our examples, they fit 1/2 to 1 size wider than normal. We get many tips about interesting new motorcycle products and accessories from our visitors. Some of them are dead-ends, and others are golden. The tips, that is, not the visitors! …
Shoei Hornet Review
Shoei Hornet Japanese Version Our review of the Arai XD was way more popular than we anticipated. And that tells me that there’s a huge market for what we’re calling “dual sport” motorcycle helmets! I’m not sure if it’s the enormous popularity of the BMW R1200GS or the maybe-it’ll-be-here-someday Supermoto fad that drives the interest in this …
Suomy Vandal Review
Suomy Vandal Helmet Review Well, there goes another theory out the window. Did I once say that fewer helmet appendages would mean lower noise levels? I hereby disavow ever making that statement! Read on and you’ll learn why. Based on the intelligence I gathered at the 2006 Dealer Powersports Expo in Indianapolis back in February, …
Princeton Tec Pulsar Review
A Mini LED Keychain Light Things have been a little slow around here lately, mostly due to the intolerable weather that has us watching MotoGP video reruns instead of riding. The entire planet seems to be on fire, and the way it’s going, we’ll all have to find a new pastime sooner rather than later. …
Shoei TZ-R Review
The “Beginner” Shoei? Self-doubt. It’s a terrible thing. I can feel it around here lately because we’re beginning to wonder just what really does make one helmet better than another. For example, just when we thought we had the helmet noise issue all figured out, the Suomy Vandal (review) blew our theories went right down the tubes. The Vandal …
Barbour International Jacket
Barbour International Jacket Review It doesn’t get more classic or retro than this, folks. You’re looking at the Barbour International, which has been in production just as you see it here since — get this — 1936! And since what’s old is new again in our Retro is Golden age, the International is now red hot. The Barbour …
HJC AC-12 Carbon Fiber Helmet
HJC AC-12 Carbon Helmet Our HJC AC-12 Carbon fiber helmet finally arrived! We first reported on this helmet during our live webcast from the 2006 Powersports Dealer Expo in Indianapolis, held in February. We had a nice conversation with George Hong, the President of HJC America, Inc. at the Indy show. The helmet was just …
Vega Summit II
Vega Summit II Flip-up No doubt about it: the original Vega Summit has been the most popular motorcycle helmet of webBikeWorld visitors. Logs show more people visiting our Vega Summit XPV review article than any other helmet review posted on the site. We haven’t spent much more time analyzing the data, but it’s obvious that motorcycle riders are looking …
British Motorcycle Gear BMG Mercury Jacket Review
Belstaff “Mercury” Jacket Much has been written on this and many other sites about “The Quest for the Holy…..” err, sorry…. the “Perfect Jacket” — the one that does everything well, all the time. While we’d hate to pre-empt anything that Monty Python may come up with on this subject, we may have an answer to …
Alpinestars T-Stunt 2 Jacket Review
Alpinestars T-Stunt 2 Jacket It must be summer in the Northern Hemisphere. How can we tell? The volume of email requesting reviews of mesh jackets and other hot-weather riding apparel has been on the rise. Just for the record, we’ve reviewed tons of hot weather motorcycle riding apparel over the years. So if you’re looking to stay …
Rain-Off Waterproof Motorcycle Gloves
Rain-Off Waterproof Gloves Review Waterproof over-gloves that can be a bit fussy to wear. You’d think the word “waterproof” would mean, uh…waterproof? As in no water gets through, never? I mean, how many definitions of the word “waterproof” do we need? Seems like there shouldn’t be much controversy over its definition… But in Motorcycle World, …
Racer Gloves
Racer “High End” Gloves Review Very nice gloves, loaded with features that really make a difference. Well worth the money and actually surprisingly inexpensive compared to others we’ve seen. It’s interesting to watch how the popularity of different motorcycle clothing items waxes and wanes over time. We recently featured several articles on back protectors and visitors kept …
Motorcycle Magazines
Our Favorite Motorcycle Magazines Labels and stereotypes; for good or for evil, they put people and things into little boxes with closed lids. Labels tend to shut off debate and prevent people from dealing with real issues. But labels are a reality, so we just have to learn to live with. If you can’t beat …
BMW Back Protector 2 Review
BMW Back Protector 2 The BMW Back Protector 2 is thin enough to fit under most motorcycle jackets. It also covers a large area of the back. The lining is comfortable (relatively speaking) and the Back Protector 2 seems to be more flexible than other back protectors. It’s also a lightweight at only 1.75 lbs. …
REV’IT! Ultra Gloves Review
REV’IT! Ultra Gloves REV’IT! designs and manufactures a substantial line of motorcycle jackets, pants and gloves in both leather and textiles. We were impressed with the REV’IT! R-Tech jacket and X-Vent pants, and the REV’IT! Ultra Gloves are a good match either with or without the complete REV’IT! ensemble. The Ultra gloves have been designed to fill a …
Schott Leather Jacket Review
Schott Horsehide Café Racer Jacket Model 6141H Schott has a place in motorcycle heritage. It has been built upon years of greatly respected American-made products, the most storied of all being the Perfecto jacket. There have been many styles of Perfectos over the years, but one of the most popular jackets in their current line …
Autocom Active-PLUS Motorcycle Intercom – Motorcycle Installation
The Autocom Active-PLUS Editor’s Note: This is a two-part article on installing an Autocom Active-PLUS motorcycle intercom system. Part I: Motorcycle Helmet Installation Part II: Installing the Autocom Active-PLUS on a 2006 Yamaha Road Star Silverado (This page) After a few days of scooting around fine-tuning the headsets it was time to hook the unit to bike power. …
Mack’s Silicone Ear Plugs Review
A Selection of Mack’s Ear Plugs Mack’s Earplugs have been around virtually forever in motorcycle time. The Mack’s brand is manufactured by McKeon Products, Inc. It is a family owned and operated business which operates the Mack’s manufacturing plant in Warren, Michigan. The Mack’s product line can be found in virtually every pharmacy or Supermarket …
Held Ninja Gloves Review
Held “Ninja” Gloves Riding a motorcycling is a fantastic sensory experience that never ceases to amaze. We rely on our eyes and ears, the seat of our pants and the feel of the air pressing against our bodies, but our hands serve as the primary interface to the motorcycle. Motorcycle gloves act as a barrier to the …
