Posts tagged leathers
Beat the UK Snow: How to Stay Warm on Your Motorcycle this Winter
Nov 26th
Keep your motorbike covered up! (click photo for credit)
Wintertime is notoriously bad for bikers. Not only are the roads slippery and the days short and dark, but it is cold out there as well. There are loads of excellent weatherproof leathers on the market, but when the temperature dips to around zero and you add in the wind chill factor, it can be pretty cold on a bike.
Bikesure, the specialist motorcycling arm of Adrian Flux Insurance Services, has decided to take a peek beneath motorbikers’ leathers and find out the best options around for keeping warm.
Balaclavas.
These stop the draughts creeping up under your helmet but you have to be careful about the fogging up factor on cold mornings. Take a good look around on sites such as Get Geared to find what suits you.
Tops, leggings and all-in-one suits.
Made from thermal fabric these not only provide warmth but they also stop leathers chafing and make putting on a one-piece leather suit easier. Choose a variety that is easy to wash if you want to keep your friends. SMS Motorcycle Clothing has a good choice.
Neck tubes and neck and body warmers.
Neck tubes range from a simple snood style to an extra long version that covers the shoulders and prevents the wind getting through the top of your jacket. Some models are attached to full body warmers for extra heat retention. There are even different coloured neck tubes at Sea Star Superbikes.
Heated vests and arm warmers.
These are the ultimate way to keep warm. They have an electronic connection that plugs into a 12Volt supply to heat up the garment. Some versions just have heated arms that attach to a body vest while others heat the trunk area as well. Top Gear Superstore has SungBug heated motorcycle clothing.
Heated socks.
Heating elements ensure the heat is from the top of the sock right down to the toes to keep a rider’s feet toasty warm. There are some plug-in heated socks at Gerbing’s.
Want to know how to ride a motorcycle on ice and snow?
Check out Mad Stu’s video below with his tips:
And finally, our other great tip to combat the snow and cold is simply to avoid it completely. Why not check out the Twitter powered Snow Map from Ben Marsh. Twitter users post updates using a scale 1 to 10 (with 10 being blizzard), adding the hashtag #uksnow and then adding the first part of their postcode. This information is then used to display it on a real time snow map. Clever stuff.
Stay safe out there! Be sure to share your winter motorcycling tips in the comments below…
Holy Bike Leathers, Batman!
Jul 20th
BANG! WHACK! K-POW! You can’t get cooler than Batman, but even those of us who grew up watching Adam West biff the bad guys from his Batcycle, would probably not don a lurid Spandex one-piece before hitting the road. And the revamped outfits of Messrs Keaton, Kilmer and Clooney were hardly any more appealing to the average man in the street.
But, riding to the rescue on his unbelievable BatPod motorbike came Christian Bale, in The Dark Knight – a movie notable for a lengthy chase involving lots of motorcycle riding goons.
In Christopher Nolan‘s re-imagining of the Batman franchise, the costumes are brought right up to date, and capitalising on this to the max are UD Replicas, with a range of biker gear based on the movie. You can get Bruce Wayne’s biker jacket, or sport the leather numbers worn by the Joker’s henchmen.
But the best is yet to come, with the imminent release of the Batman replica motorcycle suit, comprising gloves, jacket, trousers and boots. Comprising Kevlar body armour and moulded leather attached to a hard-wearing Cordura base, with Spandex confined to a supporting role, so that you can actually move your limbs.
All in all, if you want to scare old ladies and wow children, this is the outfit to be seen in on you bike, although admittedly perhaps not if you ride a Vespa! But if you’ve spent you hard earned money on a nice set of leathers, make sure they are protected with a decent helmet and leathers policy – and I mean decent, many inferior products on the market will not cover the amount that this suit will retail for. You can buy the suit soon at http://www.udreplicas.com/.
Airbags for Bikers
Apr 2nd
Safety is always a more intimate concern for those who prefer to travel on two wheels than it is for those who favour four wheels and a metal box. With nothing between you and the road, any accident is potentially quite harmful to a motorcyclist.
All sensible bikers in this day and age should be wearing a decent helmet and a good set of leathers (or other suitably protective clothing). But now some of the fancy safety features standard on most modern cars are starting to become available to bikers.
Dainese have come up with an airbag that is incorporated into the rider’s protective clothing. They are currently testing and refining the technology on the track, but it is sure to become widely available in the next few years, so frequent riders could benefit from added peace of mind.
The idea is that the neck, head and chest are protected from any impact or scraping injuries, meaning you’re more likely to survive any injury suffered.
Whilst this is still very much early days, any technology to reduce injuries suffered by bikers has got to be a good thing. And whilst these outfits probably won’t be cheap, decent protective gear rarely is, which is why it’s so important to get a decent helmet and leathers insurance policy – ours gives £1,000 worth of cover for just £20 per year.
Luckiest biker in the world?
Feb 14th
Remember the SMIDSY post we did previously? The guy driving this car also did a SMIDSTRL (Sorry mate I didn’t see the red light).
The guy on the bike might just be the luckiest guy in the world. If you get into a scrape you want to be wearing a high quality helmet and protective clothing.
Of course, the best gear can be expensive, but in the event of an accident you won’t have to worry about replacing all your safety gear, so long as you take out our optional helmet and leathers cover.
Gordon Bennetts! – Insurance Babes, real and otherwise
Jan 19th
The latest issue of the Insurance Times has an interesting feature on the so called Bennetts “Babes”.
Usually Bennetts employ wannabe glamour models, who may look attractive in the right light, but generally know as much about insurance as I do about morris dancing. It seems that Bennetts have realised that having someone from the insurance industry who is both attractive and well-informed on the merits of the various motorcycle insurance policies available would be a good thing.
And so, presumably having failed to find anyone suitable working for them, they’ve launched a competition to recruit babes from the UK insurance industry.
They must be somewhat regretting having chosen alleged racist bully and Celebrity Big Brother contestant, Danielle Lloyd, to launch their campaign – especially so given her well known history with competitions (She “won” Miss Great Britain before being stripped of the title when it was found she was in a relationship with judge Teddy Sheringham). They’ve now been forced to cut their losses and dump the hapless glamour girl.
Of course, we already know that the hottest girls in insurance work for us, in the shape of the legendary Flux & Bikesure babes.
For proof of that, you only had to be at Stoneleigh Park last week for the Motorcycle Trade Expo, where men from around the UK bike industry had the opportunity to meet Laura and Jenny, who were there on our behalf, along with Rob, Duncan and Dave McCourt, our dealers rep.
And the dealers and traders were pleasantly surprised to find that OUR babes not only looked stunning, but also genuinely worked for us, knew all about insurance and bikes and even took an interest in their well polished helmets – our helmet and leathers cover is an essential add-on for bikers who want to look after their gear.
Check out our Flickr for more pics of some real insurance babes in action, or check out their website – fluxbabes.co.uk.