Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I.PRODUCT ~VA~UATION : I I Arai OS Helmet ' ve often asked myself that if I was forced to own just oll e type of motorcycle what w ould it be? My in ternal in stinct is always quick to respond by saying, "an MX bike," or " an off-road bike ." But th at would be impractical. How would I get to w ork? Ok ay, maybe a spo rt bik e. But then I couldn't rid e in the dirt anymore! So, if I had to choose ju st one bike, it w ould no d oubt be a dual spo rt bike - I could ride it to work and go tr ail riding o n it o n th e w ee kends. Th is all leads to m y next qu est ion . Wh at kind of h elmet w ould I bu y? A s tree t he lm et? After all , I'd sp end the ma jority of my tim e on the bik e at highw ay speeds while rid ing back and forth to w ork five days a week, o r from one d irt road to another. But street helmets don't cut it on the trail. Or , would I bu y an off-road helmet? But freeways (wind blast ) and visors simply don't mix . Plus, it' s no fun carrying goggles around all day. So, d oes this mean I'd have to buy two sepa rate helmets at approximately $300 (or more) each? No - not if I bought the new DS helmet from Arai. Simply put, the new DS lid is basically two helmets in one. Within about five m inute s, the DS can be transformed from a full-on off-road helmet to a fullon stree t helmet and vice versa. According to A ra i, the Ds helmet "h as been speci fically designed for dual sport rid ers operating in the ac ce p te d ratio of 80% roa d ridin g and 20% off-road rid ing." Fir st, th e d etails . Th e helmet itself features a fu ll-coverage shell that is fu lly ventilated and comes in a wild " fie ry" p aint scheme in a v arie ty of color combinations. If th e extravag an t paint jo b is a bit too flashy for y o u , plain white or gray versions ar e available as well. The DS helmet come s with an interchangeable face sh ie ld and peak (visor), including a removable breath deflector and two mouth ventilation duct plugs, which all should be used when the going gets wet and cold. In dual sport mode, four screws are used to attach the off-road Aerodyne peak which has two air outlets to help reduce air pressure lift-up while riding at speed. The eye po rt is big enough for a wide variety of goggles. The Smith Violators, one of the bigger goggles on the market, takes some maneuvering to put in place, but once in, all is well. On the trail, you'd never know that you weren't wearing a strictly off-road lid. However, some of our testers said the helmet got a little warm when muscling the bike around on a hot day, especially when the breath deflector was I ins ta lled . Otherwise, th e Ds h e lm e t makes a fine off-ro ad shell . A few m inu tes later, after removing the viso r and installing the flip-up face shiel d, th e DS helm et is ready for th e street. In my opi nio n, even if you ride o n nothing but pavement, the Ds is a viable option as a 100% street helmet; it is as comfortabl e as any strictly street lid o n th e market. I like th e lar ge r-th an usu al eye port, the fact that there is relatively little wi nd noise to con tend wit h, an d I li ke th e helmet' s overa ll s ty ling and the excellent quality and craftsmanship . The paint finish is ou tstand ing and fairly scratch resistant. Perhaps bes t of all, I liked the overa ll fit of th e DS helmet. It's very comfortabl e . But s o me of our s taffers co mpl ained that there was excess ive padd ing in the cheek area whi ch crea ted too mu ch side -to-side pressure; especially when the helmet w as new. Even my narrow face could feel a bit of a squeeze, but after about a week's worth of riding, th e padd in g broke in a n d fo rm ed around m y head and face like a w ell u sed g lo ve. Eve n th e other tester s o n our staff who really com plai ned abo ut th e ti gh t fit wi th 'th e ir DS h elm et s, ad mi tted th at after a few r ides, th ey di d n' t no tice the probl em anymore. My only com plaint, albeit a small one, was that my lon g beak barely rubbed agains t the ins ide of the face piece. No one else here had that pr ob lem . Th ere are so me other neat litt le featu res, like an end-stra p sna p that actually works, and a rota table intake / exhaus t duct locat ed at the top of the shell. The OS helmet is also both SNELL and DOT certifi ed. Overall, I think th e Ds helm et is a masterpiece. Lately, I've been commuting bac k and forth to work everyday on a Suzuki RF900 spo rt bik e we aring the DS h elm et and hav e no im me d ia te d esire o f going back to a "s ta nda rd" street helmet. The Ara i DS helmet is not cheap . The pa inted m odels will se t yo u back $499.15 (su ggested retail price), the single-tone versions $433.18. But no matter how yo u look at it, it' s ch ea pe r than bu ying tw o separate helmets. For more in format ion ca ll Arai H el m ets a t 904 / 253-5100. . Kit Palmer THOR Storm Stowaway vest 'II do almos t an ything not to wear an o.ff-.roa d jacket while I'm dual spo rt TIding . It n e ver see ms to fa il th at whenev er I feel that it's cold eno ugh to wea r an "end u ro " jac ket, th e su n w ill soo n pop out and the next thing I know - I'm swea ting like a dog and w ant to ditch my jacket som ewhere. Of course, when the weather is truly ugl y, a good, . full jacket is a must. But what I perhaps like best about enduro jackets are the pockets, usually they have lots of them. They're good for carrying you r wallet, ke ys, candy bars; etc., but when it' s warm out, who wants to wear a jacket? And without a jacket, you have no pockets. So rather than wear riding jackets, I like to wear vests, and one of th e be st vests I've found is the THOR Storm Stowaway dual sport vest. Malcolm Smith Products used to offer a pretty trick vest that featured two pockets and zippered sleeves, but they have long since discontinued that jacket/vest, The outside of the THOR vest is constructed of heavy-duty 100 % poliammide and ~OO% polyester, and the inside liner is made of 100% soft cotton, and there are no zippered sleeves. There are no less than six pockets or I sto rage areas; all but tw o of them u se z ip pe rs, th e o ther two are sealed b y Velco flaps . A neat feature is a lar ge pou ch on the back th at co n ta ins an easy-access polia mmide / p oliure tan -constru ct ed rain ja cket which fit s over the entire vest. Plus, the fro nt of the vest feat u re 3M Scotch lite reflective stripes, and the back featu res a ve nta lation strip. The vest works w ell fo r du al s po rt rid in g. Th ere are pl enty of pl aces to ca rry all kinds of "s tu ff," but in reall y we t we athe r, w at er can sne ak int o the pockets through th e zip pers. We used the jacket in a dual sport ride in Kau ai, where the wea ther was wa rm, but rai ny . The vest was a li fe s aver. Du e to the wa rm and hum id clim ate, a regul ar end uro jacket would've bee n far to hot, bu t yo u still needed p rotect ion from the rain . The THO R vest was light and coo l eno ug h for Kauai's tropical clim ate, and the pull-out rain jacke t came in handy for th e many, ye t bri ef, downpours. The rain jacke t w on 't keep yo u enti rely dry, but it d oes k eep yo u comfortabl e, nonetheless. Th e Storm Stowaway vest carries a suggeste d retail price of $168.95 an d comes in black and silve r, and black and purple color schemes. Sizes ran ge from medium to XX large. . For more information call THOR at 619/ 463-3400. Kit Palmer Moose XCR enduro jacket o t very often d oes a product come alo ng that I can actu ally ge t exci ted about - es pecially when it comes to rid ing gea r. For the most part, apparel is something tha t I like to forget. If I pay it any m in d, it 's u su all y because so meth ing is wron g. Rar ely d oes a pi ece of gea r w ork so weIl th at I actually notice it, but s uch is t he case w it h Moose Offroad 's new XCR enduro jack et. Touted as th e "nex t ste p" in end uro jacket technology, the XCR is unique in its design. A qu ick glance at the front will reveal the lack of a stan dard zipper, as the ja cke t uses a pull -over syste m ins tead. This may sound a bit stran ge at first , but the idea actually works quite well. A large head hole makes getting it ov er your helmet a breeze, and pair of two-way zippe rs also extend down from under each armpit, all the way down the jacket's sides. To put the jacket on, just pull the side zipper tabs up from the waist line, don the jacket and pull the ~i ppers ~ack down. Yes, it is probably a ~lttle easter to pull on a fron t-zippered Jacket, but the pull-over design is much more comfortable once the jacket is on . The waist features an elastic drawstring, which keeps everthing comfortably in place, even at high speeds. The multitude of zippers takes a while to learn how to work, but don't make the mistake of ignoring them to avoid the hassle; they're worth it. Comfort is another of the XCR's strong points. The jacket is constructed N w ith a roomy cut, big eno ug h to fit easily over a Chest protector - even big ones like the Acerbis Zoom and the HRP. Our jacke t was a prototype, and the sleeves we re a bit sn ug for elbow pads. Moose clai ms tha t the fina l ve rsion will not h ave this prob lem ."A soft colla r lin ing prev en ts Chafing around the neck. Yet ano the r nice touch is the jacket's ve n ting syste m, which is th e only one I' ve come across that ac tua lly w orks. Th e sa me side z ip pers th at zi p up to mak e donning the jac ke t a breeze, also zip dow lI to allow a refres hi ng br eeze in under the arms. The ches t features two pockets, which un zip to allo w air vent ing in the fron t. In ad di tion, each sleeve ha s a zi ppered vent in the forea rm area, m ak in g for a virtual tornado of w ind entering the jacket. Of co urse all of this air must h ave som ewhere to go, so Moose has incorporated two zippered "exh aust vents" in the back, which keep the XCR from ballooning up at high speed, makin g th e rider look like the hunchback of Notre Dame. With all of the zippers open, the jacket is nearly as cool as wearing a jer se y. lf it's still too hot, the jacket can be folded into its own rear pocket, and worn like a fanny pack. O f course, stay ing coo l isn 't exactly w ha t jac ke ts a re for, and wi th all the zip pers closed, th e XC R d oes a pret ty goo d jo b o f keeping the rid er w arm . m ay Yes, there are cond itio ns where it not be quite eno ugh , but this can be rectifi ed by a dd ing a few la yers und ern eath . And in ra in , th e jacket sh ed s water like a du ck's feather s, th anks to its A cti -Vent linin g . A cti -V ent is a new inven tion fro m W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc., makers of the world famous Gore Tex. Th e th in new lin in g is ex tre me ly w ater resistant, but is even more bre atha ble than Gore-Tex - the previ ou s standard by whi ch all o ther w ater-pro of tr eatments w ere measured . 1 used th e XCR in Colorado ra in s to rms, and was barely even damp under the jacket, To sum things up, the XCR is the best jacket I've ever worn, beating its com petitors in literally every department. One would almost think that it was designed by someone who's ridden motorcycles - maybe even a decent rider. One would be correct. Much of the design work - as well as the product testing - was done by eight-time National Enduro Champion Dick Burleson, who also happens to hold a degree in Engineering . Not only that, but at $199.95, the price is not at all out of line; heck, I figured Moose spent that much in zippers alone. The XCR is available in sizes M, L, XL and XXL, with possible color combinations of blue/purple, purple/teal, red / purple and - for the USFS ranger wanta-bes - burgundy / forest green. For more information, call Moose at BOO/MOOSE-IT. Chris Jonnum

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