- Joined
- May 31, 2012
- Messages
- 5,510
- Location
- South Florida
Lets start here. i have been riding motorcycles since 2007 and have gone through many products brands and things of that nature. I live in nyc and the weekend had a high of 60 F and had some cool winds. It was my first ride of the season and as many of you know my Pani has had some upgrades and i got a lot of new gear. I will give my assessment of everything in a moment.
1 this may be a long post but i hope many find it helpful.
2 i am not going to review upgrades to my bike such as reservoirs frame plugs or carbon as that is visual.
3 this is my opinion and i have no affiliation with any of the companies mentioned and yes just cause i bought it if it sucked i would say it sucked.
The first major non visual thing i had done to my bike was the addition of the Termi slip ons and most recent up map. Its not the 41t upmap but the one before that. I went with termi one cause it comes with the tunes the ecu its made for the bike and i dont want to mess around with fueling a tuner and all other types of stuff. Plus i didnt want to spend 4-5 grand on a full system of another company. I was impressed with them but i wasnt wowed. I hadnt ridden my bike since the end of october so it seemed a little better in the lower rev ranges where "they say" there is a dip in power but i couldnt tell you for sure. above 7k sounded better then stock. Verdict its done i am not thrilled but not disappointed. they look better then the stock cans and lighter. I am sure when i add the sprocket and chain kit (which i have just not on yet.) there will be a huge difference.
Helmet. this debate can go on forever and i am telling MY opinion its an opinion so it cant be wrong just different. I have owned every major brand of helmet basically. the one i wore this weekend was my new bell star carbon. I am sure the regular star is the same i just like the way this one looked and wanted to test it out. The helmet fits great. second only to my suomy extreme. I can say this about the star and in caps cause this i feel is important. THE AIRFLOW IN THIS HELMET IS INSANE. I had to close all the vents because i was getting cold. If it fit as good as my suomy i would say its the best helmet i have ever owned. Its just slightly off. not to say its bad but i like the suomy a little better. the transition shield and easy of taking the shield on and off is a home run. verdict Very happy THIS WILL BE MY HIGHER TEMP HELMET FOR SURE. the suomy just fit my head a little better so i like it a little more however with the way you change the suomy shield if i had to chose between the 2 i would take the bell but i think suomy changed this this year. again very happy. and it was 330 for a 700 helmet.
Gloves. The gloves i am reviewing are the KNOX Handroid gloves. First these gloves look like you are the terminator after the skin is removed really really cool but more importantly these gloves are fantastic right out of the box. soft broken in and TONS OF PROTECTION. Best gloves out there right now by far. at a price point of 250 there isnt a reason in the world to get another pair of gloves ever unless you want a non gauntlet glove for the summer. these are easy on easy off tons of sliders tons of protection. Blows my a* gp plus out of the water. I know its not the top a* glove but this knox with the kangaroo palm tons of protection is my choice. verdict wont ever buy another pair of gloves but these or some form of these.
Rearsets. where to start here. I have the ducabike rear sets. highly adjustable and the pegs are almost too good where my boot was sticking to it. This could be my imagination because the stock pegs suck but these are great. i could have had oil on my boots and the pegs would have stuck. they also go great with the bike and intergreat motogp shift in them without needing another part (that part 250 through ducati by the way.) I am very pleased with these however i have never had rearsets other than what was stock on any bike i had.
Boots. i have the forma velocity boot. its a 3/4 riding boot not a race boot. for my race boot i have the forma ice flow which i think are fantastic. i have big calves and the other boots dont fit me right. since the ice flow were so good (rsr racer back me up here on the ice flow) i bought the street boot velocity. the fit is fantastic and as the guy from revzilla told me the low boots are a marketing thing the best protection isnt really that good. I am more then happy with this boot at the price point i paid ( they were shipped from australia as they were discontinued in the states for lack of interest) They compare with the sidi street burner and the dainese dyno. IMO the dainese dyno for this type of boot would have been the way to go however with almost the same protection i went with forma because it was 50 bucks cheaper and that was with the shipping included or they would have been 70 bucks cheaper then the dainese (dainese ship free so that didn't matter)
Headset. i recently purchased a sena smh10r. this headset did the trick. bluetooth for my phone music and everything else. very small on the helmet you barely notice it. i like it a lot. i never had a headset and i didnt want a big bulky contraption so i went with this after seeing it on a friends helmet. i liked it better then my custome headphones cause i couldnt control things with just the headphones. if you are just listening to music or to talk to your buddies on intercom or even take a call this headset works. is it the best i dont know but i liked it a lot because its streamlined. if it were the smh 10 i would not have gotten it.
Pants I wear sliders kevlar jeans. i use to wear just jeans for casual riding but for 79.99 there is no reason not to have a pair of these. i compared these to other kevlar jeans (draggin jeans and others by top brands) and these are the best. why you ask cause they are the cheapest with the most kevlar to cover you in. You can also add knee pads to them if you want. draggin jeans are like 120 and have less kevlar. google sliders and see you wont be disappointed.
Cleaner - of course i like to keep my bike clean as do most of you and I use to swear by Honda bright (pro honda cleaner and polish its called now). Let me tell you this stuff is no where near as good as it use to be. I was told the only difference is the chemical that makes it come out of the can. .......... there is no way this is the same formula. It works but not anywhere close to the old way. Gunny has the good stuff. its called original bike spirits. this is the same original honda stuff. (honda never actually made it and if you want the whole story its to long to type) original bike spirits is what you want. dont get the honda stuff thinking it was what it was from like 2007.
I hope this review helps out. i am just a rider and not pushing anything. take what i say as you wish. If you have any questions on the gear that i have or more thoughts shoot me a email or ask here i will be glad to help. Finally price was important in making some of the decisions ex boots the dainese ones are probably better but they arent 50 better. if i didnt get a deal on the boots i would have went with the dainese but i did so forma was my choice.
Thanks for reading and happy safe ridding.
1 this may be a long post but i hope many find it helpful.
2 i am not going to review upgrades to my bike such as reservoirs frame plugs or carbon as that is visual.
3 this is my opinion and i have no affiliation with any of the companies mentioned and yes just cause i bought it if it sucked i would say it sucked.
The first major non visual thing i had done to my bike was the addition of the Termi slip ons and most recent up map. Its not the 41t upmap but the one before that. I went with termi one cause it comes with the tunes the ecu its made for the bike and i dont want to mess around with fueling a tuner and all other types of stuff. Plus i didnt want to spend 4-5 grand on a full system of another company. I was impressed with them but i wasnt wowed. I hadnt ridden my bike since the end of october so it seemed a little better in the lower rev ranges where "they say" there is a dip in power but i couldnt tell you for sure. above 7k sounded better then stock. Verdict its done i am not thrilled but not disappointed. they look better then the stock cans and lighter. I am sure when i add the sprocket and chain kit (which i have just not on yet.) there will be a huge difference.
Helmet. this debate can go on forever and i am telling MY opinion its an opinion so it cant be wrong just different. I have owned every major brand of helmet basically. the one i wore this weekend was my new bell star carbon. I am sure the regular star is the same i just like the way this one looked and wanted to test it out. The helmet fits great. second only to my suomy extreme. I can say this about the star and in caps cause this i feel is important. THE AIRFLOW IN THIS HELMET IS INSANE. I had to close all the vents because i was getting cold. If it fit as good as my suomy i would say its the best helmet i have ever owned. Its just slightly off. not to say its bad but i like the suomy a little better. the transition shield and easy of taking the shield on and off is a home run. verdict Very happy THIS WILL BE MY HIGHER TEMP HELMET FOR SURE. the suomy just fit my head a little better so i like it a little more however with the way you change the suomy shield if i had to chose between the 2 i would take the bell but i think suomy changed this this year. again very happy. and it was 330 for a 700 helmet.
Gloves. The gloves i am reviewing are the KNOX Handroid gloves. First these gloves look like you are the terminator after the skin is removed really really cool but more importantly these gloves are fantastic right out of the box. soft broken in and TONS OF PROTECTION. Best gloves out there right now by far. at a price point of 250 there isnt a reason in the world to get another pair of gloves ever unless you want a non gauntlet glove for the summer. these are easy on easy off tons of sliders tons of protection. Blows my a* gp plus out of the water. I know its not the top a* glove but this knox with the kangaroo palm tons of protection is my choice. verdict wont ever buy another pair of gloves but these or some form of these.
Rearsets. where to start here. I have the ducabike rear sets. highly adjustable and the pegs are almost too good where my boot was sticking to it. This could be my imagination because the stock pegs suck but these are great. i could have had oil on my boots and the pegs would have stuck. they also go great with the bike and intergreat motogp shift in them without needing another part (that part 250 through ducati by the way.) I am very pleased with these however i have never had rearsets other than what was stock on any bike i had.
Boots. i have the forma velocity boot. its a 3/4 riding boot not a race boot. for my race boot i have the forma ice flow which i think are fantastic. i have big calves and the other boots dont fit me right. since the ice flow were so good (rsr racer back me up here on the ice flow) i bought the street boot velocity. the fit is fantastic and as the guy from revzilla told me the low boots are a marketing thing the best protection isnt really that good. I am more then happy with this boot at the price point i paid ( they were shipped from australia as they were discontinued in the states for lack of interest) They compare with the sidi street burner and the dainese dyno. IMO the dainese dyno for this type of boot would have been the way to go however with almost the same protection i went with forma because it was 50 bucks cheaper and that was with the shipping included or they would have been 70 bucks cheaper then the dainese (dainese ship free so that didn't matter)
Headset. i recently purchased a sena smh10r. this headset did the trick. bluetooth for my phone music and everything else. very small on the helmet you barely notice it. i like it a lot. i never had a headset and i didnt want a big bulky contraption so i went with this after seeing it on a friends helmet. i liked it better then my custome headphones cause i couldnt control things with just the headphones. if you are just listening to music or to talk to your buddies on intercom or even take a call this headset works. is it the best i dont know but i liked it a lot because its streamlined. if it were the smh 10 i would not have gotten it.
Pants I wear sliders kevlar jeans. i use to wear just jeans for casual riding but for 79.99 there is no reason not to have a pair of these. i compared these to other kevlar jeans (draggin jeans and others by top brands) and these are the best. why you ask cause they are the cheapest with the most kevlar to cover you in. You can also add knee pads to them if you want. draggin jeans are like 120 and have less kevlar. google sliders and see you wont be disappointed.
Cleaner - of course i like to keep my bike clean as do most of you and I use to swear by Honda bright (pro honda cleaner and polish its called now). Let me tell you this stuff is no where near as good as it use to be. I was told the only difference is the chemical that makes it come out of the can. .......... there is no way this is the same formula. It works but not anywhere close to the old way. Gunny has the good stuff. its called original bike spirits. this is the same original honda stuff. (honda never actually made it and if you want the whole story its to long to type) original bike spirits is what you want. dont get the honda stuff thinking it was what it was from like 2007.
I hope this review helps out. i am just a rider and not pushing anything. take what i say as you wish. If you have any questions on the gear that i have or more thoughts shoot me a email or ask here i will be glad to help. Finally price was important in making some of the decisions ex boots the dainese ones are probably better but they arent 50 better. if i didnt get a deal on the boots i would have went with the dainese but i did so forma was my choice.
Thanks for reading and happy safe ridding.
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