In this week’s Gear Guide, a stunning Wheels & Waves helmet by our friends at Davida, some terrific protective selvedge denim from Resurgence Gear, a fix for you denim addicts from Dumluck, a great goggle solution for full face lids from Baruffaldi, and bespoke ear plugs to stop you going deaf.
PRODUCT REVIEW RESURGENCE GEAR CAFE RACER PROTECTIVE JEANS
Resurgence Gear are a technical motorcycling company that pride themselves in creating top quality protective gear for the motorcyclist. In response to the burgeoning new wave custom scene and it’s prevailing style markers, they have released the Cafe Racer jean.
The Cafe Racer is made from shuttle loomed Selvedge denim, and is a relaxed cut to allow movement on the bike. It’s 60% lined with Pekev, and comes with adjustable flexiform CE EN1621-1 knee and hip armour from Knox.
Pekev is a fabric developed by Resurgence, “…the tensile strength of the overall fabric is unsurpassed among all contemporary protection layers. It has the highest impact strength of any thermoplastic presently made, it’s highly resistant to corrosive chemicals (with exception of oxidizing acids), has extremely low moisture absorption, a very low coefficient of friction, is self-lubricating and is highly resistant to abrasion – in some forms being 15 times more resistant to abrasion than carbon steel. It is highly resistant to water, moisture, most chemicals, UV radiation, and micro-organisms.”
In short Pekev is the stuff to protect you in the unfortunate event of a slide up the road on the tarmac.
“With a world beating abrasion resistance of 10.83 seconds, the results of our CE EN13595-1 level 2 testing, you are wearing the results of ten years of research every time you ride out.”
It has an inner comfort mesh lining to wick heat and moisture away from the skin, which gives the rider added comfort in hotter temperatures.
With a five pocket design, these are most like a Levi 501 fit. They are developing a slimmer version more in keeping with a Levi 511 fit. They come in raw and washed denim.
I’ve had my pair for a few weeks now and they’re bedding in really nicely. The denim (and I’m a denim geek) is very good quality and a lovely deep indigo colour. The mesh lining is comfortable against the skin from the outset and the fit is comfortable particularly in the knee and hip area. I’m looking forward to the skinnier fit as I like my jeans narrow. Having said that these are a great looking pair of jeans that work well on and off the bike.
PRODUCT REVIEW BARUFFULDI EASY RIDER GOGGLES
The problem with most of the retro styled full-face lids is that the aperture is too tight to fit goggles through. For those lids without visors, the only other option is sunglasses. Sunglasses are great at low speed, but a nightmare when you open it up – the wind circulates, your eyes stream and you can’t see a damn thing. Hardly ideal.
The Baruffaldi Easy riders are perfect, a kind of goggle/glasses hybrid. The arms fit inside the helmet and fit behind the ears like a normal pair of shades, but the eye pieces curve around the contours of the face and are padded, creating a comfortable seal against the elements, keeping the wind and grit at bay. They offer a wide field of vision, and are adjustable for a near perfect fit.
The frames are finished in chrome and the pads in leather. They have an adjustable nose bridge and an elastic strap. They are beautifully made by hand from the very best materials and the lenses are true optical quality.
Baruffaldi is one of the oldest and most prestigious makers of goggles and protective glasses in the world. The company opened its doors in 1932 and created goggles for racing drivers.
These are thoughtfully designed and extremely well made, and work equally well with open face lids.
PRODUCT REVIEW – DUMLUC DENIM JACKET
Dumluck are a small specialist Dutch denim company that recently launched on Kickstarter. Kenley Chittick, the founder of the brand, is the craftsman of every single garment. He make limited runs of extremely high quality denim wear. The attention to detail is impeccable, with small little twists that differentiate their gear from other manufacturers in an increasingly crowded market. He choses unusual stand-out denims, using distinctive colours and weaves. For denim geeks like me his stuff is top drawer.
“While mass production is taking over the world, we prefer to make smaller quantities for a smaller group of denim enthusiasts. Simple, raw and as pure as it gets.”
This jacket is made from a rare grey selvedge denim, and draws it’s influence from old Levi trucker jackets, bit given a modern contemporary slant. It’s cut slim, which I like, and it works well to be worn underneath a leather jacket or wax jacket for that extra layer of warmth.
One detail I really like is that even when done up at the top button, there’s ample room for a scarf. Little details that make the difference between a comfortable warm blast and a draughty trawl home. It’s also long without being too long, so when on the bike it doesn’t ride up.
This jacket works really well off the bike, and is slim enough cut to worn either as a jacket or over-shirt. As with all denim, this will just get better with age.
Kenley’s just launched his latest collection with a 40% discount on early bird orders. Check out his jeans, they’re terrific.
PROGUARD CUSTOM MOTORCYCLE EARPLUGS
Tinnitus is the bane of the motorcyclist, whether you’re a tattooed up death metal fan riding your Harley rat chopper flat out with open pipes, or a middle aged ad exec commuting on a BMW 1200S. It may just manifest itself as a faint murmur in the still dark of night deep in the silent countryside, or like a constant diesel generator ringing inside your skull obtrusive even on a busy city street. Either way, it’s only going to get worse if you don’t do something about it. I’ve even known friends giving up riding bikes because of it, half deaf from years of loud pipes and noisy lids.
ProGuard Custom Motorcycle Earplugs are an effective personalised solution for the noise damage caused by riding a motorcycle, they’re designed to be low profile, and to discretely fit neatly into your ear canal making them simple and easy to insert and remove. ProGuards will fit comfortably under most lids even the tightest fitting. They’re made from non-allergenic medical grade soft silicon and are durable, extremely hard wearing and comfortable to wear for long riding periods without causing any undue discomfort. They come in a choice of colours.
They’re designed to protect from high levels of wind noise without totally blocking your ears, and are supplied with a choice of two simple to fit acoustic filters – 24 and 33dB. They offer a VIP impressions service, where for a premium they will visit your home, office or any place of your choice and take impressions of your ears for use with their custom fit products. They then provide a guaranteed 5 day turn around of finished product once we receive the impressions in their lab. Alternatively, you can attend any number of their practitioners to have the impressions created.
This would be arguable the best £160 you’ll ever spend on motorcycling gear.
DAVIDA WHEELS AND WAVES COLLABORATION HELMET
It’s two weeks away, yippie!!!! Much fun and frolics in the Basque sunshine. The hordes will be descending upon the lovely seaside town of Biarritz for the forth year of Wheels & Waves.
As Vincent Pratt, the organiser of Wheels & Waves has been protecting his brain matter with a Davida for 20 years, it was perhaps inevitable that Davida would one day collaborate on a special helmet design for the event. That day has arrived and Davida have creates a truly classic design for Wheels and Waves, using all the traditional time honoured handcrafting skills Davida are so well known for.
Now in its fourth year, The Southsiders MC Wheels & Waves has grown massively, and has become arguably the premier date in the New Wave Custom scene. Davida have been involved in Wheels & Waves event pretty much from its inception, “…a real grass roots enterprise to bring like-minded souls together to ride has been something Davida has always clicked with.”
‘The Year of The Japanese‘ is the theme of the 2015 Wheels and Waves event and fittingly all the events artwork, including the logo for the special edition Davida helmet have been designed by Japanese Artist, Naoto Hinai of Nuts Artworks.
All Davida helmets are hand-painted in the UK using a fibreglass shell, lined with fully quilted leather and finished with a satin crown. Davida helmets have a unique ergonomically design to prevent lift and speed and give an exceptionally quiet ride.
You can purchase it in person at Wheels & Waves or at the Southsiders store from June 17th.
via The Bike Shed
