When it comes to carrying things on a motorcycle sportbikes have gotten the short end of the stick for a long time. Cruisers are almost always seen packing around saddlebags, in fact it just seems natural for a Harley or similarly styled bike to have a luggage system of some sort. Cortech has come to the rescue of all of us sportbikers and put together an excellent saddlebag/tailbag system that would make even the most diehard cruiser rider jealous.

SHIFT is well known for producing great gloves, jackets and suits for racing or the street. What about all those women that want to rev their engines high and lean into the curves? SHIFT has got you covered with their great line of gear designed specifically for women. If you are a girl with motor oil running through her veins then read on to see how the SHIFT Empire glove holds up!

This review was written by Jen of Juror2.com - Exceptionally Curious T-Shirts. If you like to see funny stick figures in compromising situations then go to her website an d buy some shirts! Ahhh spring!

The time of year to sit back and reflect on how it’s time to upgrade your gear before the summer riding season revs up. I had a jacket, tried and true, but the logos were peeling and I’ll be the first to admit it made me look like a marshmallow. So it’s not hard to see how glancing at the new Shift Viper might be construed as love at first sight.

This is a review that has been a long time coming. I finally got the opportunity to test out Shoei's top of the line helmet: The X-Eleven. Are all the features worth the sticker price? Read on to find out!

For years Shift has been making motorcycle gear that is not only safe, but also fashionable on or off the bike. Their Hybrid Havoc pants are the perfect example of something that provides a high degree of safety with a look that won’t leave you embarrassed walking into the grocery store.

I love trying out new gear and this is the first time I have gotten the opportunity to test the Italian gear maker Dainese. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them and I was stoked to get a pair of the Dainese Drake pants to review.

It's pretty rare that I get a piece of equipment that I get the opportunity to crash test, mainly because I try and avoid crashes whenever possible! Unfortunately in early December 2008 I had a 30mph get-off on the freeway. I was fully geared up at the time, and one of the most crucial pieces of gear I was wearing that day was the Shift Bullet Gloves.

My first helmet was the Shoei TZ-R, which I ironically have not reviewed on this website until now. I'm not quite sure why, it's been a great helmet and the standard by which I measure other helmets that I test out. What spurned this review is that I had to retire my faithful friend recently that I have spent thousands of hours with, perhaps even tens of thousands. The TZ-R was my helmet for 3 solid years and it has since given its 'life' to protect my noggin. A couple weeks ago I was in a motorcycle accident, and that TZ-R saved my face and my brain, so I figured the LEAST I could do is give it a proper review/burial. Read on to hear my thoughts!

The following a a Motorcycle jacket review by the BBM user Budd.

Fall is upon us and those mesh gloves just aren’t cutting it in these cooler temperatures. I went out looking for gauntlet style glove that could offer me some warmth in these cooler fall months. The Joe Rocket Ballistic 5.0 gloves were on sale at KneeDraggers.com for $36, so I thought I would give them a try.

I recently got the opportunity to test Shift's Streetfighter jacket. It is a bit different than most jackets out in the market since it uses both textile material and leather to combine the best of both worlds.

Motorcycle boots are a key component of protection while riding. They protect you against the wind, rain, hot exhaust and the pavement if you are unfortunate enough to crash. I've heard horror stories of riders tennis shoes flying off in a crash and then the rider grinds their feet against the rough asphalt. I love my feet, they get me around quite well and I don't want anything to happen to them. I regularly ride with motorcycle racing boots so I was eager to see how these new Shift Street Shoes stacked up against them.

The following a a Motorcycle jacket review by the BBM user Sangria7.

I am very new to the motorcycle riding community, and as a new rider it is very important for me to have good riding gear. Unfortunately, I have found that a lot of reviews on storefront websites are not detailed enough for my taste. At the same time, I heavily rely on these same reviews on whether or not to purchase a particular item.

The summers in California can get pretty hot especially when you are riding a motorcycle. Some riders choose to ride around in shorts and a T-shirt instead of any protective motorcycle gear. Just a couple weeks ago a coworker of mine who regularly rides around in normal clothes crashed his motorcycle at around 40 mph. That medium speed crash has put him out of work for a month, broken a leg and given him some nasty road rash on his legs, chest and arms. To avoid a fate similar to his I always wear my gear even if it is hot out, and this SHIFT Airborne jacket has made that much more pleasant.

The great folks at www.RidersDiscount.com provided me with the FS-10 helmet by HJC to review. I have been dying to try this helmet ever since I saw it online. It has features that few other helmets have and the price is lower than even the most inexpensive Shoei helmet.

The piece of gear I received for testing was the Mens Safety Green Airglide 2 Jacket. The first things I noticed when I took it out of the box were, "Wow this seems like a good quality jacket," quickly followed by, "Wow, this is... bright!"
The jacket is made out of Cordura and covered in 3M Scotchlight reflective material. I already have a bright green Kawasaki motorcycle, but when you place this jacket next to it, my bike appears to be a deep shade of forest green. To be honest I was a little apprehensive about wearing something so bright since I normally ride in a black helmet, black leather jacket, black overpants, black gloves, and black motorcycle boots (notice a theme?). After a little debate I figured that I should give it a shot, besides whats the worst that could happen?

Shoei is a name synonymous with quality helmets and for good reason: they make some of the best helmets out there; used by professional racers and everyday commuters alike. My first (and current) helmet was a Shoei TZ-R and it has served me well throughout my years of riding. When the opportunity arose to test out the new Shoei RF-1000 I was very excited to see what improvements were made over my TZ-R.

Many first time motorcyclists are stunned by the amount of gear they should be wearing if they want to protect against the variety of potential injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. The pavement is not very forgiving, and one of the most common traumas motorcyclists receive is road rash. Road rash happens when the rough pavement grinds off layers of skin, muscle, and if you skid fast and far enough, bone. Even with the threat of road rash, a lot of new riders do not want to wear leather pants or textile overpants when riding.

Although I love my Chrome Messenger Bag, I found that sometimes I just don’t want something on my back when I am riding my motorcycle, especially if I am carrying something heavy or something that needs to be transported horizontally (like food!). I looked around for an inexpensive but good quality solution and came across the Cortech Tailbag.

For a long time my only riding jacket was a First Gear Mesh jacket, and it held up pretty well in all weather conditions. After trying on my friends leather jacket and seeing how much more protection it offered, I decided I needed to get some leather of my own. There are a lot of brands out there to decide from: Alpinestars, Joe Rocket, Icon, Vanson, Teknic and dozens of others. While surfing various motorcycle forums I heard some really good things about Shift Racing jackets so I decided to check them out.

I really love my Shoei helmet, it is comfortable, has a removable liner, and I can switch out the face shields easily. The one thing that it gets a C grade on is vents! For some reason my helmet fogs up more than my friends helmets, even if they spent less money on theirs. Since winter is coming it has been getting colder in the mornings when I ride to work. At these cold temps I have noticed that my helmet even fogs up when I am going 20mph or so in traffic! I finally decided to do something about it, and Fog City is definitely something I would recommend.

I haven't owned a car in over a year, so my motorcycle is my only mode of transportation unless I feel like walking or riding my bicycle. That means I ride to work, to the movies, and to the grocery store. The last location provided me quite a bit of a problem at first, it's kind of hard to fit a 12 pack of coke and bread in a backpack! I looked around for a bunch of different solutions and I eventually decided on a Chrome Messenger bag, specifically the Metropolis size which is a step down from their largest size, the Kremlin.

When I first got into riding it was summertime in California, and like most Californian summers it was VERY HOT! I couldn't picture being couped up in a leather jacket for the next few months, the thought just seemed way too suffocating. My riding mentor at the time recommended getting some sort of mesh type of motorcycle gear, and the Firstgear Mesh Tex jacket is what I settled on.

These Joe Rocket gloves are constructed of 1.0mm thick cowhide with extra leather and double stitching on the palm. In addition to that they have high density plastic positioned along the knuckles so if you crash you won't be missing too much skin on the top of your hand. They also look pretty intimidating if you were to get into a fight while wearing them!

When I first started riding I knew I definitely wanted a jacket, helmet, and some gloves, but I didn't really think about pants or boots. Luckily I had an older, wiser friend recommend that I get some pants and boots as soon as possible. His rational was if you crash you are most likely going to be sliding on your ass instead of your elbows. He was nice enough to go with me to the store where I ended up getting a pair of First Gears Textile Overpants, and I'm very glad I did so.

No Helmet: Some states require you to wear a DOT approved helmet by law, others do not. If you happen to be in one of the states where it isn't required then you have a big decision to make. If you choose not to wear one then you should wear some sort of eye protection to keep large insects from flying into your retina at 30 miles per hour. Thankfully I've never had that happen to me, but I have had my fair share of bugs splat on my helmet visor, it's very very gross, but better than in my eye. Also without a helmet your head is not protected in a crash which has lead some people to call motorcycles, "Donor-cycles", because riders receive head injuries that make them brain dead while the rest of their body is relatively uninjured. This makes them ideal organ donors.