The Icon Men's Accelerant leather jacket is simply a quality piece of riding apparel. Icon has a reputation for being a company that appeals to the young and trendy segment of the riding community. Some of their gear is, in my opinion, a little "over the top" ...

Mt. Kilimanjaro is an extreme mountain environment in Tanzania. The Firstgear Men's Kilimanjaro Waterproof Jacket is a jacket designed for extreme motorcycling conditions. If you spend much time around touring and adventure motorcyclists, certain jackets tend to come up in conversation. Premium and extremely pricey jackets like ...

Having lived in Arizona for over 4 decades, I know a little something about heat. Having been a motorcyclist for almost as long, I know a little something about hot weather gear. I don't know if Joe Rocket invented the armored mesh jacket, but they are at least ...

Leather is protective, heavy, and expensive. Cordura textile is versatile, waterproof, and relatively affordable. An increasing number of quality motorcycle jackets are mating these two materials with very positive results. By placing leather in the impact-prone zones of the jacket, like the forearms and shoulders, the ...

Personally, I'm not into the whole "fear and intimidation" aspect in a lot of today's motorcycling gear. I have never donned flames, bones, or skulls. However, I am a realist, and I know this is a marketable aspect of our sport.

Icon's Men's Skull Leather Motorcycle Jacket plays ...

Riding to work at this time of year has its appeals. You tough out the cold morning, the street still untouched by the warming massage of all those particles of light, and you receive your afternoon reward of a beautiful fall ride past fields and fauna. These are, at least, my circumstances.

Tour Master ...

Armored coats always make me feel like Ralphie's little brother in "A Christmas Story," wrapped head to toe for weather, holding my arms straight out at my sides, and only then realizing I have to go to the bathroom. But armored coats, once you get used to the feel ...

Snow is coming. You can smell it in the air. This morning I stepped out into my driveway to find a thin frost over everything. It feels sterile and unwelcoming. It is also a harbinger of much time to be spent in a car. Enough lamentation -- I'm not off the ...

As it is the most obvious drawback, I'm going to address the ugly first. Icon's Hooligan 2 gloves are not pretty. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but nothing coming through my retinas is being translated as stylish. I think it's the big, 1990s-style cartoon lettering on the knuckles ...

Top-of-the-line, $80 gloves are great if you get them as a gift from some rich uncle, but for most of us that's not going to happen. Don't get me wrong; high-end equipment is an investment and provides a lot of protection for motocross riders who need it. If you ride pro or ...

August went out with a heat wave here, but now that September has arrived, it's been cool. This is not the best weather for me to be thinking about a mesh textile jacket, but last month, stuck in traffic with the heat beating down on me, I gave some serious consideration ...

Like any sport, motocross riders develop their gear preferences over the lifetime of their career. Some decide they want more impact protection, some less. Some find stiffer retention systems to their liking, others prefer increased flexibility. It's a matter of riding style and comfort. Alpinestars refers to their Tech 3 as a boot ...

Anyone who knows me knows that I like versatility. I'm terrible at making the big decisions because I always want to make the "right" one. Any product that can assure me it will accommodate me during a sudden snowstorm in a desert has my vote. Maybe the AGV Sport Evolution/Rally ...

Racing suits are cool. They remind me of superhero suits. You just need a cape. But aside of the cool factor and the fact that you look like a space man ripping down the highway, racing suits offer a level of safety and comfort that is hard to ...

Alpinestars' riding boots are great, everyone knows that, but most of them are nothing I would ever buy. I don't ride motocross, and I don't race. I like to keep my gear at a reasonable level, but not to the extent of paranoia. I'm not alone in this perspective, and Alpinestars' ...

Alpinestars has a much greater reputation in motocross and sport riding than they do in the cruiser world. I am not suggesting in any way that their quality is not recognized, but long haul riders tend to be a suspicious and diverse lot. Having a look at the Ridge boots, I ...

My brother-in-law just bought his third riding jacket. Third. He has a leather, a textile, and now another textile that has "Kawasaki" written on it. Each of these serve a purpose to deal with specific riding conditions, including that riding condition where people are looking at you and wondering what brand ...

I don't know if it's coincidence or just luck, but Honda always seems to know what I like: simple, strong, and easy on the eye. The Honda CBR textile jacket is all of these. It is even sold in my colors: black and white.

The cut is a traditional taper, which complements ...

Great companies like Alpinestars and Fox manufacture a stunning array of jackets, boots, gloves, and apparel, but TCX only makes boots. They've devoted themselves to the perfection of a single product. TCX, an Italian company, has a new line of high-tech racing boots for the 2009 U.S. market. The Competizione S ...

Motorcycle protective gear continues to evolve in some very good ways. Perhaps it's even revolutionary, and certainly to every off-road rider's benefit -- that is assuming you actually wear the safety gear.

Since 1985, EVS Sports has been developing armor for humans. They provide mid-to-high range protective equipment to cover you ...

I'll start this off by saying I am not a doctor and I don't even play one on TV. If you have a serious injury and you are looking at a motorcycle product review website for advice before talking to your doctor, then you ought to have your head checked as ...

Here's something for the ladies: A textile riding jacket that is soft yet rugged and replete with CE-approved armor in the elbows and shoulders. Tour Master's Trinity Series jacket offers the rider more flexibility than leather, and nearly as much protection. No textile jacket is going to give the abrasion resistance ...

Sometimes, you have to see something to believe it. If someone described the Power Trip Stiletto jacket with the zebra design, all I would think would be, "Yeah, that will catch some attention, a zebra on fire!" Power Trip seems to have pulled off the design better than I could ...

Your spirit may be indomitable, but you're body is still made of tearable flesh and breakable bones. The corporeal form is never going to be as tough as your mind, but you can help it to withstand the hazards of track, trail and road with SixSixOne's Assault pressure suit.

Although it has ...

If you're keen on Icon quality, but not so keen on Icon prices, they feel your pain. Icon makes a great jacket and they're worth the cost, but they're not so despotic as to leave those of us with light wallets light on protection.

Icon's Merc women's textile is one of their cheapest riding jackets. ...

The Tour Master Saber Series 2 jacket is prepared for anything. The design makes this a great riding jacket for rain, shine, cold, hot, day, or night riding. My first response to any textile is to balk at the thought of replacing my leather, but I've had to spend time under ...

Last week, I noticed something disconcerting. The seams on my riding jacket are beginning to fray. I'm sure I can stitch it back together, but I will not put my money on dime store thread when it does battle with pavement. It might be time to look for some more robust ...

The similar appearance of chest protectors and insect exoskeletons is far from accidental. Bugs can survive a lot of abuse. Their hard shells have allowed them to endure more damage than you'll ever see on the motocross circuit, so take a page from their book.

The Vega motocross chest protector, made by Jafrum, ...

Even with all the advances in textile riding gear, even if they were just as abrasion resistant, I believe there would still be riders who wear leather. The only event that could stop them would be the extinction of the cow. This is why companies like Scorpion Sports are still ...

I've always worn a leather jacket with armor, but it isn't the most comfortable item in my closet. If everyone around you is ranting and raving about the leathers, but you're just not interested in cow hide, Tourmaster offers their Range denim jacket made for bikers.

In appearance the Range looks ...

Although I wouldn't recommend it, lots of folks like to ride without shirts, but nobody wants to ride without pants -- and no one wants to see that anyway. Now that we've established a baseline for PPE, let's take the next step to the Tour Master Quest motorcycle pants.

These Quest pants ...

Despite the vast selection we have for riding jackets, I always come back to the basics: simple, black leather. The leather jacket has been around since the dawn of motorcycles, and it will persist despite advancements in textiles. No one ever buries their face in their new textile jacket to breath ...

Icon's Tarmac gloves are not unlike today's nimble street bikes. They are small and they are complicated. I mean complicated in the best way possible -- complicated the way a watch is complicated, complicated because they pack everything you need into a small package.

The outer construction of these gloves is nylon and ...

Unfortunately, most of the products on the market that call themselves "retro" are purchased as a sad attempt to recapture an experience the buyer never had. For example: high school kids in 1996 wearing reproduction clothing to emulate the original Woodstock look.

Icon has not bought into that concept of purchasing ...

Leather: it's for your senses -- even "sense-ual," as it were. Even the word "leather" has a nice feel and sound to it. And with this thick-skinned and slightly oversized Alpinestars jacket, you'll get a nice feel as well as the creaking sound of good, finished leather. Gotta love that smell, ...

I've always said that the key to cutting edge fashion is to wear something ugly as sin and still look good. I'm not saying that Honda's Repsol textile jacket is ugly; it's just not a modern style. This is the kind of jacket you pull out of your closet after ...

Being a cruiser rider, I'm a fan of leather due to the abrasion protection and the classic cruiser styling. I'm also a fan of Icon apparel, but they focus on the street bike crowd so most of their pants are textile. The Automag is the only mens leather pant made by ...

Personal protection equipment has its limits where the cumbersome nature begins to reduce its effectiveness. I have short legs, and every layer you add to those stems makes me that much less mobile. Armored pants don't do you much good if the restriction of them is what causes you to go down, ...

By the nature of a competitive market, there is a wide selection of leather jackets available, so Icon had to understand the specific needs of the rider to make their Motorhead leather worth the coin they're asking. Fortunately, Icon does their homework.

Icon's Motorhead leather is constructed of durable cowhide with excellent ...

Suzuki and Joe Rocket have brought women riders a jacket that has gone the extra mile in fit and function. I've got to give them kudos on the physical structure of the Superstock jacket. A waist that narrows and then flares out at the hip provides a perfect fit for the ...

We all knew it would happen: the fashions of the '70s are back. I'm not talking about pants that are way too tight or wall hair, but the simple, multilayered striping. Regardless of its status as a fashion zombie, the Xelement armored jacket gives a lot of bang for the buck.

A ...

Some folks like to show off the armor they're wearing as a way of saying, "Yes, I do dangerous things." If you're proud of the fact that you need molded thermoplastic rubber shoulders and elbows, then show them off with Joe Rocket's RASP textile jacket.

In addition to the cushioning ...

Icon calls this bit of footwear their Accelerant boot. It is hardly a boot. I know short boots are all the rage, but this is almost more of a shoe. The Accelerant is, however, one heck of a rocking shoe.

The exterior is constructed of durable leather and nylon. This provides excellent abrasion ...

It is difficult to decide between textile and leather. Both have their advantages, but riders shouldn't have to compromise between comfort and protection. Icon's ARC mesh jacket brings together the best of both worlds.

The body of the ARC is constructed of durable fighter mesh nylon that provides comfortable flexibility and airflow ...

I am a big fan of Icon's leather gear. They have impeccable stitching and ergonomic architecture, so it should be no surprise that I would recommend the Pursuit gloves to just about any rider. Comprised of perforated sheepskin, your hands will stay cool and the gloves themselves are oh-so-soft. Don't ...

Whether you are putting it all on the line stunt-riding, or you just like to ride your sport bike fast, there is nothing wrong with a little extra protection. Often times though, that extra protection is bulky, uncomfortable, and just doesn't look very cool. Icon aimed to change that with its ...

While the road riding community argues, whines, and moans about personal protective equipment, the motocross folks have been developing it. I'm not insulting the people who ride cruisers. I'm in that lot myself. But it seems that we're always talking about the level of protection a rider should have. It ranges from those ...

The symbol of the skull has always been linked with motorcycles. Some riders try to separate themselves from the "bad" biker image and consider the skull to be passe at best. It would not surprise me if some see the Icon Regulator vest as tacky, but there is a ...

If you ride hard, chances are you will eventually fall hard. The key to making a bad fall a little less sucky is quality protection. Although you should take care of your entire body, there are certain key areas that you really should not skimp on when it comes ...

Serious riders demand serious protection. The Cortech GX Air Series 2 jacket is a high-end jacket that combines a bit of flashy style with top notch materials and protection.

The GX Air Series 2 uses a combination of natural and synthetic materials. The back, shoulder and elbow panels are all decked out ...