If the Glove Doesn't Fit you Must Acquit...

I was riding around a few weeks ago with my Motogp RPM gloves, which oddly enough I don't think I've reviewed yet, and got caught in a massive downpour. Wasn't the worst thing in the world, and it's not the first scuba trip these gloves have seen, but after two days of hanging them in front of a space heater and wearing them they still hadn't gotten dry. I had recently taken notice of a strange pain in my right palm while riding for extended periods of time and thought that maybe this new pain and recent damp state of my current gloves warranted seeking a replacement. I went straight from work one day all of two miles over to my resident Cycle Gear to investigate what they had in the way of leather gauntlets. All the familiar brands were there: Tourmaster, Dainese, Alpinestars, Frank Thomas. I tried on a pair of Dainese gloves that felt pretty good, but not $190 good. A pair or two of Alpinestars and a set of touring gloves from Tourmaster just for giggles. For the money the Alpinestars felt like a decent replacement. Yes, I base comfort on cost. I'm not going to pay $200 for jeans unless it feels like I'm not wearing pants. Likewise, I'm not going to pay $200 for gloves if they feel baggy or constrictive.

The Alpinestars SP-2 gloves that I picked up were size medium, my usual choice, and were just a wee bit on the tight side when holding on to an actual grip. I thought this would be best and decided to give the gloves a few weeks to break in before thinking about a write up. Sure enough they loosened right up and well, fit like a glove. Interesting phrase, 'fit like a glove,' because personally I don't really find that many gloves that fit well enough to warrant their own expression. Usually gloves have fingers lengths that don't match that of my actual fingers. They also detract from tactile sensation which can be a little hindering at times.

This was not the case with the SP-2 gloves. I immediately noticed an increase in tactile sensation in comparison to my Motogp RPM gloves. They're both made of cowhide, but I can only assume that the Alpinestars must use a slightly thinner grade. Even so, the SP-2s have good additional leather in all impact areas and the now typical carbon fiber knuckle protector. One feature that I wasn't sure if I was going to like but ended up really enjoying is the lack of a wrist closure. There's a large Velcro strap for setting the cuff around the width of your jacket, but you only really need to do it once. After that it's just a simple pull on, pull off operation. The cuffs are long enough to make up for the short sleeves on my RS Taichi jacket and have finally filled the gap and prevented air from rushing in under my sleeve. The gloves provide good comfort, perhaps after a break-in period, and great ease of use. For right around $100 they're a very nice glove and come in black, black/white, red and blue if your'e so inclined.

The Good

Very decent price for great Alpinestars gear. Carbon fiber knuckle guard. Reinforced palm area. Decently long cuffs with good adjustable for most jackets. Easy on-off operation.

The Bad

A little stronger elastic around the wrist wouldn't be frowned upon by me. Tags are placed at very end of cuffs and tend to hang out in the wind, not a big deal. Broken-in feel at purchase would have lent to a more confident purchase.

Sorry Shoei, I have a new love....(Arai RX-7 Corsair)

Dear Shoei RF-1000

I'm not quite sure how to start this letter. We've spent so much time with each other and we fit so well together. I feel really safe with you and you've always been really great to me, but lately I've gotten this strange feeling down in my gut. This feeling that maybe there's something more out there and I'll never know if I don't try something new. I know I left you before for that Suomy Spec1R, but it was just so pretty and expensive and I thought we'd be happy together. But it was only after long periods of time that I found the Suomy just wasn't for me. If I spent too much time with Suomy I would get a headache and it was just so loud sometimes. Suomy's still around, and we hang out every once in a while, but she's nothing like you. You're so versatile and comfortable. Good in the heat, and in the cold. But, not great in either. I might as well just say it. I'm leaving you for an Arai RX-7 Corsair. She may not look like much, but she's gorgeous to me and I'm way more comfortable than I've ever been before. Not to mention how well the Arai keeps me cool, or not, depending on what I want. So that's it. I'm sorry it had to be like this, but, you're a helmet, you don't have ears. Now that I think of it, you probably can't read either, let alone English. I promise we'll still hang out from time to time. I still think you're pretty, I've just found something better for me.

Sincerely,

Courtney's big dumb head

Wow, so that was awkward. Yes it's true; I bought an Arai. I had tried them on before when I was first looking at helmets, and they did feel nice, but their color patterns really didn't do anything for me. Recently though my buddy was helmet shopping, and it got me researching a little. I discovered that Arai's have different head shapes for their different model helmets. Intermediate oval, round oval, and long oval are the shapes I became aware of. I was under the impression that my head was very long front to back, like an Alien, and because of this the long oval sounded like the perfect shape. The Suomy that I own is a whole size larger than I normally wear and it still pinches my forehand noticeably after 45 minutes or so. After work one day I decided to go a couple places and try on some Arais and see what these head shapes were all about. I tried on a medium Quantum-II with the round oval shape, a large Profile with the long oval, and a medium RX-7 Corsair with the intermediate oval shape. Much to my surprise the Profile with its large oval shape felt tighter than the other two helmets and it was a whole size larger. I guess my head isn't as long as I thought it was. It was a toss up between the Quantum-II and the RX-7, but the dealership I tried to RX-7 on at already had it marked down plus an additional 40% off. Last one. Making way for the new Corsair that Arai has out which is somewhere to the tune of $900. A really nice guy at Soundbound Honda in Tacoma let me walk around the store for a good 15 minutes or so wearing the helmet to make sure it wasn't going to be uncomfortable. After debating inside my private helmet sanctuary I decided that it was now or never since last year's models would obviously be going fast, especially at these prices. It wasn't the color I really wanted, but it was too comfortable and affordable to let go. I scooped it up and a dark visor out the door for $430.

One of the first things you notice about this helmet, besides its subtle sex appeal, is that it is very light. This is a great feature when you have to wear it on your head, sometimes for hours at a time. Accomplishing this while still being DOT and Snell approved is an impressive feat in itself. Top that off with comfy ergonomics, 8 closable vents and a fog resistant visor and I'm in motorcycling heaven. If you remove the liner and all padding inside you can clearly see the 6 holes in the top of the helmet that allow air to move in and out. There are three forward facing vents on the top that have simple toggle rockers for opening and closing. There's two rear facing vents that require rotating a level for each to open or close. Then there's two vents built in to the top of the visor itself, and a three position mouth vent. The feature that really grabbed me was a small chin/wind guard that doesn't protrude very far under the chin. But, simply reach up with your hand, grab hold of the guard, and gently tug down, and it rotates down nearly an inch to block more wind from coming up in your helmet. At speed it's immediately noticeable whether this piece is up or down, and it's very effective.

Visor changes do not require any tools although they might require a little practice. Simply rotate the visor all the way up, exposing two levers under each side of the visor, and then remove the visor. Installation is basically just the opposite of this with some subtle nuances that get easier with practice. However, I've noticed that even though the outward appearance of Arai's dark visor is similar to that of my Shoei's dark smoke and Suomy's dark visor, the view from inside is actually much lighter. It used to be that if I started riding in to the hours of dusk visibility dropped almost exponentially and it was frequently easier for me to just open the visor and squint through the high winds. This is not the case with the Arai's dark visor, although your results may vary, this is just my observation.

The Arai interior padding is what I would call plush. Supportive, but very forgiving. Slightly more supportive feeling than my worn in Shoei while somehow still feeling like it has more 'give.' The shell size also seems to suit me as my mouth isn't dangerously close to the interior of the helmet, my ears have room to breathe, and my chin doesn't hang out the bottom. All the various holes for venting do add to the wind noise a bit, but I still don't find it to be as loud as my Shoei. I tried with and without ear plugs on several occasions and even without earplugs it's not awful.

The Good

Multiple vents that can be opened and closed with gloves. No-tools visor changes. Vast visor selection. Pull down chin/wind guard. Completely, and easily, removable liner that's machine washable. DOT and Snell approved. I got it for cheap!

The Bad

Normally quite an investment (but so is your brain). Not a huge selection of colors or patterns. Rear vents are pretty vague with gloves on. If I can find anything else I'll let you know.





And using MS paint I circled the chin/wind guard in the down position. When it's up it's flush with the bottom of the helmet.

Anticlimactic: Handlebars=Done

It was the beginning of last September when I was bitten by the nudist bug. Not the urge to live sans clothing but rather the idea of stripping some of the excess plastic off my bike and riding 'naked' as they say. Part of my original intention was to eventually convert the bike to using an actual handlebar rather than the very nice Cycle Cat clip ons I've been running. My idea was to buy a spare GSXR upper triple and drill it out to add mounts for a handlebar. I also figured I'd need longer throttle and clutch cables, and a nice long depressing Northwest winter would give me plenty of time to scavange for parts and take the bike apart. However, that's not the case. Instead I rode the bike all winter netting an impressive (to me) 3000 miles between October and April. Don't pat me on the back yet, I only rode when it was not raining out. Correction, I tried to only ride when it was not raining out. This was not always how it played out. Every time I rode I cursed myself for not having a balaclava, warmer gloves, or any kind of appropriate winter gear. I kept telling myself that the more I rode in the cold weather the more it would motivate me to purchase winter gear. Instead my funds went towards other winter hobbies and my body remained mostly exposed to the elements.

The last couple weeks of May I decided to get motivated on this whole 'naked' thing and get these handlebars on there. I ordered myself up a longer clutch cable, and with a little help from Peter Lombardi found myself a set of naked sv650 throttle cables. I ended up picking the Rizoma conical handlebar. 1). Because Rizoma is bling for your bike, and 2). because Flavor flaaavveeeee!!!!. But in reality, the rise and sweep of the bar fit my requirements. I wanted to convert to handlebars, but I didn't want to end up with ape hangers. Something with minimal rise and sweep was all I needed, and the Rizoma conical bars boast a thick-wall aluminum construction that would likely dampen vibrations. I picked up some ProTaper over sized bar mounts that, according to the specs, would work with the Rizoma conical bars. Back in the middle of winter I ended up finding a really cheap set of decent looking mirrors from Koso in China that I wanted to use, and I bookmarked them (smart thinking). Ordered those, and with all parts inbound I just needed a garage to work in, and access to more tools than my own. One of my co-workers who doesn't live that far away from me offered to let me use his garage and tools when the time came. Doing quite a bit of his own fabrication for various off-road vehicles, this seemed like a good choice for tool variety.

I won't give you the play by play of the whole process, but I will break down the numbers for you:
3- last minute parts
4- trips to Lowes
1- trip to Home Depot (closed)
4- bolts destroyed
3- Red Hook beers
1- cutting wheel disc worn out
2- holes drilled in the wrong spot
14- swears words used in a single sentence
12- hours spent

That just about covers it. I've been riding it with the new bars now for two weeks solid and I definitely love it. The seating position is more upright. The grip angle and width is very comfortable. Almost all vibrations that I used to feel in my hands are gone. The leverage over such a little bike around town is very fun. The only problem is, now I wish I had a bigger motor.

I was very tired when I took these pictures, but you get the idea:



And yes, I know I need to fix my brake resevoir.