Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

For ~holTI. the Bell? s a kid in the late '70s and earlv ' 80s, Bell 's Mot o helm ets represen ted th e ep itome of trickness to me. When my XR75 was replaced by a full -size bik e, it was tim e to upgrade m y purple me tal-flak e, foo tba ll- fac eguarded Kmart special with a real helmet, and th e r e was n ever e ve n a n y deliberation as to wh ich lid I would bu y: Fo r me, it wa s a Bell Moto 3 (p la in white) or nothing. A few yea rs later, when I was ready to upgrade, Bell's new Moto 4 (aga in, pl ain white) found its way on to m y mel on . For some reason , that particular helmet was the zeni th of h elm et d es ign in m y eyes, a n d m y a ttractio n faded w it h th e Mot o 5. I' ve since ow ne d a variety of o the r he lme t brand s and mod els, bu t th e ne w Bell Moto 7 may have refueled my Bell infatuation . Our test u nit ha s several of the best featu res from m y oid 4, bu t m ost of them function be tter. For exa mp le, the int erior is still removable and was ha ble, only now that int erior consis ts of three pieces, w hich mea ns the cheek pad s can be swa pped out for a d iffe ren t size to customize t he fi t. Also, ther e' s still a cooling sys tem, exce pt that now th ere are several more ven ts, and they actually function. There's no way to close off the vents for chilly dual-sport pavemen t jau n ts , b u t I always used to lose th e Moto 4's rubber plu gs anyway. Speaking of rubber, the 7 has more of it tha n myoid 4, to the exten t that some of it is a bit extraneous, in my opinion. For example, ru bber goggle grabbers on each side of th e face opening are supposed to help hold the goggle strap, and I su ppose they do, but that was never a problem for me in the past. In add itio n, there's a roost guard on top of the face A Product Evaluation , Advent-Edge Tailgate Net 0"- -the N e-t ou ' re p ro babl y a lready fa miliar w it h t h e AMP Re s e a r ch alu minum Bed X-Ten der that allows you to u s e th e area on you r ta ilga te w hile it's in the down position. The XT end e r keep s thi ngs - li k e yo ur gearbag and gas can - from flying ou t Y m m m ~ as ~ ..c E ~ C 12 protector tha t he lps fill the gap below the goggle fra me, but I' d re move it if there were a way to easily d o so . Still, these thin gs can't really be seen as nega_ lives, and the fact that the y've been held over from the Mota 6 (a lid I never tried ) indica tes that they're so me w hat popular. On e change that' s unquestionably an im provement is the 7's ligh ter wei ght, th an ks in p art to it s carbon /ke vlarl fiber gl ass co-weave . Although I never used to complai n abou t a heav y head befo re, the newfound lack of poundage is d efin itely both no ticeable and apprecia te d . A lso, th e Moto 7 is jus t p lain comforta ble, more so th an in the past. It ' s also go t a better -looking, stro nger visor th at is hel d on by st ro ng er aluminum sc re ws t hat a re m ore easily accessible than in the pa st . Bes t of all, our test he lme t has a McGr ath-replica p aint job that eli m ina tes my cue-ba ll look. the back w he n yo u 're flyi ng down th e high way . In fact, we evaluated a Bed X-Tender a few iss ues ago (Octobe r 6, is su e #39) a n d we re ve ry mu ch im p ressed with it. Like the X-Tende r, the Adven t-Edge Tailga te Net also extends the usefuln ess of your truck's cargo bed, but by the use of a three-piece net that su rro u nds the lowered tailga te. The nets are su ppo rted by two steel, powd er-coat ed fra mes . Installa tion is a br eeze. The Tailgate Net attaches to the tru ck' s existing tailgate latch es, so n o m odifications, or d rilli ng, are necessary . It took me only abo ut 10 minutes to install the net, and that was with out the instructions, which I had left at the office. Once mounted in to posi tion, and it' s time to load your motorcycle, sim p ly u n hoo k the ea sy-to-opera te hooks on one side of the rear net (leavi ng the side frames in place), slid e the net to the side, and you 're read y to push your bike up the ra m p and int o your tru ck. Re-lat ch the hooks and you're ready to go. Very easy . . Whe n your day of riding is over, the. en tire Tail gate Net can be rem oved in seconds, folded up into a sma ll packa ge (18" by 6") and stowed beh ind the seat of your ca b. Agains t th e clock, it took me abo u t 25 seconds to re-ins ta ll th e complete Tailga te Ne t. Mot ori n g down the highwa y, the Tailgate Net certainly gives you a more secure fee li ng, n ot h a ving to w orry abo ut lar ger objects in the bed of yo ur tr u ck b ein g deposited on th e road behind you, but you still might want to keep a close eye on smaller ite ms th at cou ld possibl y find th eir way th rough the sma ll holes of the net. Ov erall, I think the Tailgate Ne t is a grea t product and would make an excellent Ch ristmas gift. It doesn't look qu ite as nice, nor d oes it mount as securely to the truck as the AMP Bed X-Tender, but it does have its ad vantages: no drilling with installation , easy storage when not in u se, and cost. The AMP X-Tend er ret ail s for $210, and the Advent -Edge Tailgate Ne t $138.95. The Tailgate Ne ts are available to fit most small-, mid- and full-sized pickup tru cks. Kit Palmer

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