Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

........, roduct testing Gotonylon leathers By John Ulrich By Jody Weisel I I t had to happen sooner or later" that the people who have been bringing you the machines you ride would soon start importing riding wear. Goto nylon/leathers are the first m~jor Japanese thrust on the former American, Swed ish and Mexican domain. As in all things that the Japanese do , Goto leathers are a top quality item . By incorporating the best design features of the existing leather manufacturers these leathers mark an impressive first step 'on the market place. Goto leathers are the now standard heavy duty nylon for coolness and soft leather for protection. The lining is a spiffy striped lightweight twill nylon that will resist the tendency to tear that has been pre-dominant in most currently available leather. The cinching ha rd wa re is a three " style combination with a zipper on the front where a zipper needs to be, elastic stretch material on the waistband to keep your jersey neatly in place, and velcro loop and hook strips on the ankles. The leathers tighten with the regular buckle and leatherbelt stra p . Protection comes from the soft pliable leather and is enhanced by snap -in hi p pad's and slip-in plastic/foam knee and shi n guards . The colors are red , white and blue. Sizes are S, M, L and XL. Japanese labor is not as cheap as it once was, but even after paying an exorbitant import tax Goto Leathers are able to be sold in America considerably cheaper than other imported products. Retail price is $86 .95 . Information and ordering can be achieved by writing Goto Leathers , P.O . Box 2492, Anaheim , CA 92804 . Bell Helmet bag By John Ulrich othing quite like a Bell Helmet bag. O ne of the most popular carrying devices seen at racetracks, the Bell bag design has seen some hard use. Like the tim e a famous rider used one to carry an engine on board an airl iner. Or the time N IrvingJ. Berlitz stuffed his little brother, then 12, inside one to save the price of admission to a rock concert. Too bad they fall apart. Stuff them full, and the cloth sides of the zipper strip pull . out of the vinyl. Strap the broken bag together with some ' tiedowns and continuing using it, and the handles fall out. It is only fair to say, however, that the test bag was what J.J. described as an older model. It seems that th e bonding between the cotton the metal zipper is attached to. and the vinyl sides of the bag, isn't too 'reliable when put under stress. All non -helmet type accessories sold by Bell are subcontracted out to other manufacturers. Bell in structed th e errant bag maker to sha pe up. Now nylon zipper borders are used. said to bond better than the older cloth models . As for the handles, a little "backing plate" behind the rivets hold ing them on would cure that problem. Here's the deal. If you see a Bell bag with nylon cloth between zipper and bag, and reinforcing behi nd the handle rivets, buy it. If you see one without those features, don 't bu y it, because it'll fall apart. Retail price is $14.95 at dealers. But a good Bell bag? They're reall y handy to have . And you never know when you're gonna have to tak e a spare engine with you aboard an airliner . . • t used to be that the official Bell brand green sh ields for Bell Star helmets were very dark. Even on the brightest of days in the brightest setting' the shields provi ded enough protection so that a rider never squinted. But when the sun went down, seeing through the green shields was impossible, except on the best- lit freeways. Even then it wasn't exactly safe. Suddenly. Bell Star green shields were not as dark . More correctly, they were green , not smoke green, When caught out after sunset, a rider could see well enough to get home safely . Unfortunately, bright da ys and harsh sun reflecting off cars and pavement forced a rider to sq uint , even when using the shield. So, thought we, the people at Bell traded the ability to tum the most blinding desert int o a surreal, cool , moonlike landscape for better than marginal nighttime capability. But when we called the J.J. , Bell's resident speedway fan and people liason, we found this was not quite true..Yes, the sh ields were lighter. Yes, the int ent of the original darker shi elds was to protect on the brightest of days . But no , the change was not by design . "W e have to u se wha t's available," said J.J. "Sometimes in th e plastic s industry mate r ials j ust aren 't available. We get whatever we can get. "At times we've almost closed the en tire plant down because we couldn't get what we needed. The smoke green material is no longer being supplied ," But th e change had nothing to do with a decision in Bell 's R&D department. Rather . the plastics industry's cond it ion made the decision. Plastics are made from oil. Which is to say, "blam e it on the Arabs:' • 11

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