Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125834
New Products· Kevin Krostup relaxes from one of his arduous teaching sessions at the KK motocross school. Courtesy of EI Gringo Loco Probably about a million years ago or so. some exceptionally radical caveman figured out that the furry stuff making it hard for him to getto the meat on that mastodon might have another purpose besides being a damn nusiance to get off and almost impossible to chew and swallow. Chunks of that fur and hide, if wrapped around him would keep him warmer. If tied to his feet (as soon as they got around to inventing knots) that skin kept some of the smaller thorns and rocks from making holes in his soles. When you put a piece of the stuff that made it hard to get to the meat over your head, it smelled awful but absorbed some of the impact if a rock or branch fell on you. (It probably took several thousand more years to figure that one out.) Man had invented "clothes." matter. Animal skin is still the popular set-up for this. When they kill cows down in Texas, Cyco Manufacturing gets some of the hides and makes motocross leathers out of them. Unisex leathers, at that. They have padding sewn into the hips and good, long padding strips sewn into the knees since the cow didn't have any need for padding in those places. You can have a black pair or a black pair but you get your choice of stripes if that kind of thing's important to you. The guy that writes the ads for Cyco says their "MX Jeans" are "more economical and cooler than leather" and we won't argue with that since the leathers are $74, which is unfortunately a very competitive price these days, and the jeans are $19.95. The denims also have padding since the cotton boll didn't grow any extra lumps just for us humans, either. You pays your money and takes your choice at 3518K So. Cooper, Arlington, Texas 76015. If you're going to wear pants to ride or race in, most of the time you also wear something to cover and, hopefully protect the upper part of your body. Now your favorite T-shirt is probably too ratty and ventilated to do the job and your chick will probably not be impressed, anyway, so why not keep her (and anybody else who sees you) guessing and wear a swell shirt that makes you look like a Yurpeen soccer player. They cost less than a rugby shirt, have a button, a collar and mildly padded elbows. You go down to your Honda dealer and say "Give me one of them there shirts what makes me look like a Yurpeen soccer star." and he'll go "Huh?" and you'll have to explain the • '- :I ; .: : No, they aren't "Can't Bust 'Em" overalls but they do bring a touch of radical chic to off-f"oad riding. - Now these clothes got invented not because they made you look better or because it wasn't socially acceptable to run around naked - it was. Clothes got to be increasingly popular items as the Neanderthals gave way to Cro-Magnon who gave way to something like you and me because they provided protection. As man's personal covering got softer and less hairy, he borrowed harder (or 'hairier) skins off other critters. With the passing of the next 100,000 years (give or take a few thousand), man got to the point where clothes were worn for decoration, social distinction, to cover up the body because the human body was considered lewd and licentious. Everybody had different inputs as to why they were wearing, clothes but there weren't hardly any of them in ,today's so-called civilization would list "protection" as a primary reason for selecting the clothes they wore. Except motorcyclists. True to our racial heritage, like figuring out what the damn things were all about in the first place, bikers select. purchase and wear their clothing with protection being right up there in front of the reasons for using it. So now you have a bunch of guys on bikes and, in competition at least, wearing animal skins. However, Og and Grunk didn't have much choice as to what kind of animals skins they wore. Whatever didn't eat them and they could eat was prime candidate for having its hair removed from its carcass and used to adorn theirs, or one of their girlfriends as that kind of relationship got going. Those who buy clothes for protection today have a better deal. Everybody and his competitor is offering clothes that will make you safer, less injury-prone, go faster and (alasl) look spiffy. So the What are clothes for? cycle comes full swing again. But you've got to wear something to minimize the ouch when you fall or even when you bang your knee into the door of your transportation, for that rW~1 We defy you to guess which is which and who wears the pants in the family. whole thing to him. Still want to wear an old holey shirt? The same dealer has them, too. You can even wear your shoulder pads with this one. Even with all the holes in it, the shirt costs about the same as the ones with out holes. There are a fair selection of colors to choose from (Remember, this is about protection, though, not decoration!) in both the shirts that have been hit with a load of buckshot and the ones with pointy collars but they all have this mystical symbol: H-O-N-D-A written on them. Which is OK if you want people to think you like those American motorcycles. Call Scott Schafer at American Honda if you can't find one. While not on the subject of jeans, we'd like to say a few words about them. Dynamite Denims, also from Texas (They do wear a lot of jeans down there so we hear.) makes a padded motysickle-type leggins', too. They have desert jeans, something similar called "MX Denims" and padded bib overalls, which show some radical chic, we think. They also have a denim chest protector but we've never seen anybody who had a denim chest so can't say what the demand would be for this kind of thing. All this processed cotton with padding, etc. comes from 1717 San Augustin, Laredo, Texas 78040. You should not carry detonators in the handy pocket! Kevin Kostrup has gone so far as to say that his MX Denims "feature great protection at a fraction of the cost of leather." He makes the padded jeans for little kids, probably with the idea that they are going to wear them when they're out blowing off magazine bike testers on their 70cc child-killers. However, a lot of concerned mothers will probably want to put their little critters in these padded denims (complete with red or yellow side stripe) when they send them out to play. Think of the savings on band-aids and antiseptic. The jeans with built-in lumps in them are washable and, they claim, colorfast. Which means you are automatically quicker no matter what color you are, right? They are also a very good way to spend more money on bicycle MX instead of buying that chromed titanium sprocket or a CZ chain for your Schwinn. Krostup (No, we don't believe that's his real name, either.) is enterprising inside P.O. Box 6818, Burbank, California 91510. Since it's pretty roomy in there, he'd like to have dealers, or probably anybody else, write letters to him there. Dick Knapp, one of the "good" enduro riders in Southero California (No snickering, you woods riders), got "First gear, it's all right. Second gear, lean right. Third gear, hang on tight." The Beach Boys, 1964. The Return of Killer Honda. together with Don Gillen of Backcountry Sports and built his dream riding jacket. The completely water and wind·proof jacket was built (naturally) with the enduro and serious trail rider in mind, but extensive staff testing has proven that it makes a superb street riding jacket as well. The most unusual thing about the 6.5 ounce nylon duck constructed jacket is the high quality of overall construction - the best we have ever seen in motorcycle jackets. The pockets are made of double layers of fabric for good wear, and close with Velcro. Velcro closures on the collar and cuffs allow adjustable ventilation, and ther'e are vents in each armpit to let the air blowout. You can work all the openings and closings with your gloves on. Each jacket is complete constructed by one worker in the Backcountry factory for better quality control. Backcountry specializes in custom features, too, since this is Southern Ca Iifornia. They will install club emblems while building jackets, so the emblem is an actual part of the jacket instead of a tack-on. A bunch of clubs have already ordered the jackets, available in royal blue, red, orange, saddle tan, and green in all sizes. Even 'road riders are getting turned on to it. Get them at Backcountry, Department Dry & Snug, 8272 Orangethorpe, Buena Park, California 90621 for $46.50. 213/941·3671 or 714/523-4852. All this clothing breeds still another requirement since wearing your sweaty, muddy, smelly and otherwise unappetizing protective clothing home after a competitive day (or even a trail ride) is not so pleasant. Even though wearing a helmet and goggles down the highway on the drive home is probably a good idea, not many people do. (Some folks don't care to wear tlleir nifty protective equipment until they actually get on a motorcycle. Then there are thoSe who wear it all the time, any time just to show off all their neat stuff.) Bo...a handy item to throw your duds, C(") .-< ... (1) ..D E (1) > o Z • To cover up the little things in life... boots, helmets (two heads?), goggles and other paraphernalia into is one of these Durable Duffle zip-up cordura nyron duffle bags. Besides, that's what all the European Motocross GP stars do and that's usually reason enough for anybody. (I looked all over Europe for one and couldn't find it. All them Yurpeens had bought 'em up no doubt, hedging against the dollar devaluation.) The thing comes in several sizes with prices to match from about $10 to about $20 which is not a bad bite once you dig on the quality and utility of these bags. They have double seams that won't rip out, are stronger than cotton duck, have nylon straps that won't tear off when its full of outsize and out land ish objects, plus lots of other features obviously too numerous to mention. The colors are right spiffy, too. It might even keep Larry Lightfingers, ScLim of the Pits, from wandering off with bits and pieces of your other protective clothing, if it's protected inside one of these. There are rou nd ones and square ones for those with an interest in' geometry. Durable Duffles come out of 8272 Orangethorpe, Buena Park, Cal. 90621, Dept. NeatandTidy. The telephone down there rings when you dial 213/941·3671 or 714/523-4852. Now how do they manage that? • . 35