New goodies (beware Dial-Up – Long Post with Pics)

[bigguybbr]

I was just reading eon’s post about things he’s rearing to get for his bike specifically fender extenders (I actually had no idea those existed) which made me decide to make a post about my off season purchases of goodies. I worked a ton of overtime at my job before around the holidays, and then received a promotion shortly after so i decided to reward myself with some new goodies, and here they are:

1) Targa Fender Eliminator

I just added a rear fender eliminator to my bike . I still have to go out and get a few red reflective licence plate bolts to strictly meet regulations in CT of having a rear reflector. I might mount them up with and elbow bracket so i can have them on the rear and then at a 90 degree angle to the sides of the license plate. Just have to be careful as if you hit a speed bump going to fast, the compression on the rear shock can be great enough that the wheel can contact the plate, and fold it right over. I’m also adding reflective wheel stripes to help the side visibility a bit. The good part other than it looking a whole lot better to me is that it shaves about 7lbs off the bike. An amazing amount of that old fender was thick steel.

2) Yamaha Clear Raised Bubble Windscreen

I also added this week a new raised bubble windscreen. It’s about an inch higher than stock to help divert some of the wind and make it more comfortable on long trips. Unfortunately these pics remind me how dirty my bike is sitting in the garage all winter.

3) Scala Rider Q2 Multiset

Off of motorcyclegear.com (the old newenough.com) I just picked up a Scala Rider Q2 helmet to helmet intercom set. It’s a complete steal for the pair at $169.99 on clearance, cheaper than a single chatter box headset. This should save the fiancée and me from yelling and making hand gestures at stop lights to try and get our point across.

4) Boots

Cyclegear was having some awesome new years day deals and I picked that time to pick up a bunch of new riding gear for the season. First up was a set of Frank Thomas Urban Stunt Boots

I wanted a set of boots that provide good protection, but are also comfortable to walk around in if I know I’m going somewhere where i’m going to be off the bike for a while. The price was awesome too, only $29.99 on close out.

5) Pants

Next I bought myself my first pair of motorcycle pants, Frank Thomas XTI II mesh pants. I’m really excited for these in the upcoming riding season. They zip nicely into the back of my jacket to keep my stop my jacket from riding up and keep whole back well protected. The only part that is really mesh on these pants are on the inside of the legs, the rest is something like cordura nylon.

These were also an absolute steal at only $34.99 on clearance on new years day.

6) Gloves

For the beginning of riding season I picked up some antifreeze glove liners ($29.99 from motorcyclegear.com).They are designed to help block the wind and keep some heat inside your hands while out in the cold. I got these for when I start to ride into work and it’s in the 30’s (Fahrenheit, or 0 for any of you Canadians). These are super thin and fit nicely inside of my Cortech Injector gloves that I picked up at the end of last season. The injector gloves seem to run a little small, so if you find them be sure to order a size larger.

7) Helmet

As for a new lid, I picked up a scorpion exo-400 ($49.99 all over the web for the scar and tsunami graphics)
These also seem to run a bit small (or my head just runs a bit fat), or at the very least smaller than my old HJC CL-SP helmet. The good part is if you find the helmet to be too tight, you can order a new liner in a different size for about $30 or cheek pads to help refine the fit. This helmet gets excellent protection ratings on http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/

For $19.99, I also decided to get a tinted visor. The bronze color goes well with the matte black and gold-ish helmet, and the visor is lightly smoked which will make it a please to not have to wear sunglasses under my helmet. I found out on my 6 hour ride to Lake George that it can give you an amazing head ache having them pinch for a long time. The visor also boasts a “a thermally bonded anti-fog coating” which will be a welcome addition.

Jacket

At the end of last season I happened upon probably my best bargain to date. I was wandering around one of the dealerships in the area and happened upon a brand new RevIt! Phoenix Jacket for only $200 (MSRP is generally around $400!). I can’t say enough good about this jacket. It is amazing. It’s very form fitting with elastic along the entire length of the arms and torso completely eliminating any buffeting from your jacket flapping in the wind at highway speed. It is vented heavy duty mesh on the chest and perforated leather and CE armor at the shoulders, back, and elbows.

The only short fall of the Phoenix jacket is that the flimsy armor in the back. It was very soft and made more for flow through than for protection. I fixed this with Teknic TP2 back armor for $26.99 from motorcycle-superstore

So I have been doing a lot of shopping (as you can see) getting ready for this upcoming riding season. What has everyone else gotten to get ready for this year?

[eternal05]

“A lot of shopping.” Cute. You’re WELL within “healthy” for a motorcycle fan. If you want to see a lot of shopping, you should check out what somebody with a bad track habit has done during the off-season. Count yourself lucky that you haven’t gotten that bug yet

Looks like you got a lot of good stuff! Congrats! Glad to see you added pants to your inventory. I hate seeing people constantly posting up pictures of their legs after crashes.

By the way, if you really want to be sunglass-free, you’re probably going to want a dark smoke visor. The Scorpion dark smokes aren’t THAT dark, so you can even get away with using them at night (only if you get caught with your proverbial pants down; definitely avoid it if you can) so long as you’re in an area with lots of street lights. Light smoke is just not going to be enough if the sun is directly in yours eyes.

…and double-bubbles are great!

[eon]

Have to laugh at you removing your fender and I want to add one!
Some nice looking gear you have there. $50 for an EXO400? Wow, that’s a good deal. That was my first helmet and I was very happy with it till I stupildy tried on an Arai Profile. Suddenly I realized what I had been missing when it comes to finding a helmet that REALLY fits well.
I will post up some pics and prices of my latest shopping spree later on.

Note: I edited your original post to resize the pictures as they were overlapping the edge of the screen. I replaced the HEIGHT=”50%” with WIDTH=660 as that is the perfect size for these forum pages.

[bigguybbr]

Arai and Shoei make some awesome helmets, just unfortunately out of my price range for the time being. Maybe someday…

[Jeff in Kentucky]

I have similar nylon pants, and put these knee and shin armor pads under the pants (The link needs to be copy and pasted into a search engine like Google):

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/6/10/8506/ITEM/Shift

[TrialsRider]

width=”400″ />

this one’s 1200 grams

[bigguybbr]

this what you are talking about?

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/6/10/8506/ITEM/Shift-Racing-Enforcer-Knee-Shin-Guards.aspx

[bigguybbr]

At $600 though, sounds like it probably lightened your wallet by at least 1200 grams

[gitchy42]

You have some really nice gear that you got. That fender eliminator looks great, and the double bubble should help cut the wind down a ton. I saw that Scorpion helmet on sale at a local bike shop, too bad it doesn’t fit my head right cause it looks great and the screens are super easy to change.

One word of caution though, go over those Frank Thomas boots with a magnifying glass, finish and quality control is lacking in that brand. I have bought 2 different pairs of Frank Thomas gloves, I had already decided to take one pair back because I didn’t like how they fit, then noticed that the left and the right weren’t mirror images of each other, someone was asleep at the sewing machine. They usually make nice stuff, but there are a lot of flaws that seem to creep through.

I snapped a few tabs are am going to have to replace the rear plastics on my bike, when I do I’m thinking of replacing the rear brake light with a Clear Alternatives integrated brake/turn signal module, and removing the indicators from the rear of the bike to clean it up a little more. I thought they were a little goofy, but I saw them on a bike and they’re pretty neat, at least I think so.

http://stores.motolume.com/StoreFront.bok

[eternal05]

…but you gotta snipe them on clearance. You can get REAL nice helmets for scorpion/HJC prices.

[TrialsRider]

how much is your head worth.

Works out cheap for me considering how long I keep my street helmets, I’m replacing a Shoei RF-200
…try finding a visor for one of those puppies!:o

[bigguybbr]

Isn’t the RF-200 over a decade old????? Keep it on a shelf if you like it but by no means should you be wearing that for protection! It’s way past it’s usable lifespan.

Most manufacturers recommend replacing your helmet every two to four years, so that is still $150 to $300 a year for your (incredibly sweet) helmet…

But you are 100% right, your noggin is the most important thing you have to protect, I just saying I don’t have $600 to spend on a helmet every 2-4 years.

Here’s a good read for anyone about helmets

http://www.msf-usa.org/downloads/helmet_CSi.pdf

[bigguybbr]

I noticed the picture of the integrated tail light has a Mass plate on it. One thing you have to be careful of are the specific signal marker laws in your state. I know as a matter of fact that Mass requires your markers to be at least 12″ apart, which rules out going to just an integrated tail light. I had a buddy that ended up having to get some stalks to put on his fender eliminator after striping down to just the integrated tail light. Also with LED’s you sometimes have to replace out the blinker relay, or the lights will blink too fast when signaling, and you can get a ticket.

My only issue with going to just an integrated tail light without any additional signals is that it does make your bike harder to see, and for some drivers (like the crazy ones that don’t wear glasses while driving), it makes it harder to to determine what direction you are signaling. I do want an integrated tail light, but in addition to my signals, just to draw more attention to myself.

BTW, I am super jealous of your SV650. Wish I had one. Post some pics if you got em.

[TrialsRider]

my street helmet spends too much time in a helmet bag on the top shelf of the cupboard but in less time I wore out 3 Trials helmets. …that’s why i want the MV F3 in 2012, so I can wear my street helmets out faster

The RF fiber shell still looks perfect but the liner is toast. Good thing about an old helmet in good condition is you never needed it so it must have been adequate for the application:) Bad thing, now she’s landfill or target practice:(

[Jeff in Kentucky]

Yes, I wear the Shift Racing Enforcer Knee/Shin Guards for $13 plus shipping (I got mine at a motorcycle shop for about $20).

I wear mine year round, under my nylon pants.

One review- “I wear these under jeans when the weather is hot. I was using a set of shin/knee guards from Fly Racing, but they were not vented. These allow air to pass through, making them much more comfortable.”

[Author]

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