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" ...

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 ...

Big names in scooter boot manufacturing come largely from Italy, these days. Gaerne's made a good name for themselves in the mid-price range. I first heard of these back in the '90s from a friend who has enough money to buy whatever he likes, but chose a pair ...

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 ...

Four years ago, I would not risk buying inexpensive bags. Why take a chance at dissatisfaction when you can just drop another $50 and buy some confidence? Well, like I said, that was four years ago, and this old economy ain't what she used to be. Now, I look for every bargain, and I ...

Alpinestars' C-1 Windstopper gloves caught my eye for the very reason they shouldn't have. They are surprisingly humble, coming from their otherwise ostentatious Alpinestars roots. There's nothing showy or striking about the C-1. I dare say they look generic, but Alpinestars has not overlooked their function.

Constructed of thick Windstopper nylon for insulation, ...

Because I ride, I get a lot of questions about biker culture. It's as if people think there's some kind of handbook that comes with the bike about being a big bad biker babe. One of these questions was about vests and why they're so popular in the riding ...

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 ...

Oh wee little Icon riding gloves, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

Don't worry, I'm not about to whip out the ol' poetry on you, but I do have a soft spot for these gloves. They are much like my old, beaten-down riding standby pair. Leather on ...

I ride in a full face helmet, a leather jacket replete with armor, leather gloves, leather boots, and jeans. I keep saying that I'll buy chaps later, but I wouldn't ride until I got my coat. I obviously rank my legs lower than my arms in more than just the spacial ...

When a manufacturer says their leather is "distressed," they mean that it looks like you've put the miles on it when you haven't. To get that look on some modern leather, after it's been softened and treated, you have to buy it. The way old leather used to scuff was because ...

Ah, simplicity. So much in the riding world is about flash and flair, but I've always preferred that my apparel be straightforward, and there is nothing more straightforward than a pair of short black gloves.

Alpinestars SMX-2 gloves offer function over frills. More akin to a chopped-down pair of motocross gloves, these are ...

The streetbike community is overrun, drowning in a deluge of textile jackets. Don't get me wrong; there are companies, like Icon, that make some great leathers for the street rider. There is, however, a particular style to this kind of jacket, and manufacturers will charge you an arm and a leg ...

Sometimes you look at a product and you don't have to give two thoughts about its purpose. River Road's Basic leather motorcycle jacket is just that: a basic motorcycle jacket. You look at it and you know that it's cut and designed for riding because it looks like the jackets ...

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 ...

Finding a decent pair of gloves can be hard for me. I have small hands. Adult small gloves often have fingers that are still too long, and kids glove's fingers are too short. Caught between these worlds, I've found that the very thing more riders don't like about Alpinestars' SP-X gloves is my ...

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 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 ...

Alpinestars SP-1 gloves, if and when you own them, will never be your only pair of gloves. These are not made for a light ride down to your friend's barbeque. For that, you will have to look elsewhere. But these gloves are designed specifically to protect your hands in hazardous conditions.

Tightly-sewn leather ...

Racing boots have an entirely different set of hazards than motocross or street boots. There is, of course, an obvious necessity for all of them to resist abrasion, impact, and heat, but applying the right tool for the right job can give you an advantage on the track. Alpinestars Supertech R sport ...

Motocross riders who have been around the track know exactly what these are: these are Alpinestars' Tech 8 boots. Well known and well worn, many riders stick with these when it comes time to get a new pair of boots. There are numerous reasons why these have developed such a loyal following in ...

Leave your favorite jeans and your chaps laying around together too long with some Barry White playing, and you just might end up with something akin to River Road's 5-pocket pants. These combine the best features of chaps with the convenience and styling of jeans.

Designed for women riders, these pants ...

At Xelement they make a variety of leather apparel items as well as saddlebags. New for their lineup is the Cruiser Premium Vented jacket. It's called a vented jacket because the two upper zippers are actually vents, and there's a matching pair of zippered vents on the lower ...

I don't care what your opinion is about personal protection gear for the daily ride, but riding motocross is different. You're going to lose some skin when you're not wearing the right apparel. Never going down means you're not trying hard enough. It's an expected (and nearly required) hazard of the sport.

Some ...

We all love women riders, so it's nice to see Icon offering a pair of boots uniquely styled for the aggressive femininity of women of the road. Most of my riding boots have a distinctly masculine look because I buy them for comfort and safety. Icon's Bombshell boot embraces the ...

Most things are designed to last these days, and what doesn't last is so fragile that it wears out before it wears in. You hardly ever see a nicely worn leather jacket anymore. My riding partner has had his jacket for seven years and it still looks new. Yes, I ...

We've all heard the advice: "Keep it simple, stupid." The myriad features sewn into every piece of equipment are fun, but do you really need all that? Probably not. Dainese proves that all the flash and flare doesn't replace a well-made leather glove.

The Black Jack gloves are goatskin with reinforced ...

Tired of every ditz asking for a ride on your bike? Worse: Do you have a friend who actually wants you to drop them off places on your bike? You can dissuade passengers or make their ride extraordinarily uncomfortable, if not impossible, by ditching that pillion.

The molded base of the Harley-Davidson rear ...

Years ago, I was shopping for gloves and I found that women's gloves were often made dainty with the idea that women riders wanted to express their femininity. Unfortunately, that also meant the gloves were less protective. One good scrape and the fine leather was gone. It looks like manufacturers ...

I'm a wuss. Once the snow starts to fly I'm off the road, and my machine goes into a 3 to 4 month hibernation. Last winter I sat in my car in awe of the sight before me. An early '70s Honda was parked in a structure downtown in ...

A good pair of boots ought to last you a few seasons. If they're not made for riding, the heat and abuse will wear them out before the end of a single season, and you can bet that they won't keep your feet on your ankles in an accident. Fortunately, in ...

What's a riding boot that isn't a riding boot? The Icon Super Duty 3. The Super Duty 3 is a re-imagining of previous Icon boots, and they've made it their lightest high-performance street riding boot with a standard boot style.

The Super Duty has everything a street riding boot ought to ...

Plans that include you can be made without consulting you, so when you get a call from a friend who says the crew is heading out next week to ride the Great Lakes Loop, you have to drop everything. To say "no" would mean missing one of the most beautiful rides ...

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'm a record keeper. I like to keep a close eye on how my bike is performing from ride to ride. My usual procedure when I stop for gas is to open up my fork bag and dig through all the things I keep in there until I find my pen ...

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 ...

Three words used by Firstgear in the description of their Fargo gloves confused and amazed me: waterproof, breathable leather. Leather is not known for its breathability. If you oil it, you can usually expect some water resistance, but waterproof? Really? Apparently, yes.

As the name suggests, these are for the kind of ...

Joe Rocket's Meteor boots are some of the best looking, most understated riding boots I've seen in a while. These are full function street or cruiser boots with molded plastic side protection and a reinforced, padded shin panel.

Reflective patches on the heels will give upcoming motorists two more chances to ...

Joe Rocket has earned a name in motorcycle gear, and that name is now proudly paired with those of Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki. The officially licensed Yamaha Air Force gloves are one of the many products that bear the Yamaha logo, but rest assured you're getting more for your ...

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, ...

We all love to accessorize our rides. No matter the style, even if you're replacing your seat with an old tractor seat because you want to look haphazard, you're still going for a specific design that speaks to you as a rider. Last year I painted my tank with a spine and ...

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 ...

The symbol of the eagle is a notable part of motorcycle culture. The association of the beauty of a functional form is obvious between the bike and the bird, but the symbol also embraces the nature of the riders who exercise their liberty to travel the world, uninhibited and unrestrained. Freedom, grace, ...

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 ...

Anyone who's ever had a job climbing telephone poles knows what lineman's boots look like. For those of you who don't, they are a waterproof, leather boot that comes up to the knee, and the laces must pass through thirty-six eyes and hooks to properly secure these things. One of my ...

When you ride 500 miles north or south, you experience a lot of weather. When I set out on my current journey, I would sweat in my leathers every time I had to stop to fill up, but by the end I had closed my vents as I was still ...

Back when your horse wasn't made of iron, chaps were born. Leather was the material of choice, because that was the only choice, period. Leather makes a good wind-breaker, is durable, generally won't tear except under extreme duress, and can be made nearly waterproof. It has a nice ...

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 ...