USED & REVIEWED

HOT RODS, STINGRAYS AND PUPPIES WHAT’S GOING ON THIS MONTH?

HOT ROD STU
Shoei NXR Cruise helmet
Price – $849.95

I love the fit and finish of Shoei helmets and I’ve been hanging out to get one as a track helmet. I now have one – the Shoei NXR Cruise. The NXR is a sports touring helmet, but I love how well it fits and its stability at high speed. I was more than happy to go with one. I’ve used an NXR on the road for a number of months and now getting one for the track means that I don’t have to readjust to the characteristics of a different helmet – I can just “get into it”.

Another plus with the NXR is that it comes standard with a Pinlock visor insert. Nothing is worse than barrelling down into a corner at well over 200km/h and not being able to see where you’re going – the Pinlock fixes this problem. Don’t have a Pinlock insert in your helmet? It is a MUST! I recently introduced a friend to the Pinlock and he said he wonders what he’d been doing all this time.

The Shoei NXR is compact, lightweight and aerodynamic. It is one of the lightest full face helmets available, which makes it comfortable to wear. It is also a quiet helmet and comes in an industry leading four shell sizes to ensure a custom fit for heads between the sizes of XS-2XL.

Sizing is bang on the money with other helmets, too.

Ventilation performance is excellent.

I run the NXR with the top three vents closed and only on the hottest days are they open.

The NXR’s QR-E base plate system facilitates quick visor changes and is very easy to use.

A dual layer, multi-density EPS liner not only improves impact absorption with varying densities of foam in key areas around your head, it is also designed to allow cool air to travel unrestricted through channels created in the EPS, further improving the NXR’s superior ventilation. In addition to enhanced impact absorption and ventilation, the precision placement of multi-density EPS liner material creates a more compact, lightweight design.

Emergency Quick Release System (EQRS), using technology borrowed from the X-12 helmet, allows emergency medical personnel to easily remove the cheek pads from an injured rider’s helmet. When the cheek pads have been removed, the helmet can be safely lifted from a rider’s head without creating unnecessary strain around the neck.

The helmet has a fully removable, washable, adjustable and replaceable 3D Max-Dry System II interior. The 3D centre pad is three-dimensionally shaped to match the contours of a rider’s head, allowing for an extremely comfortable fit while maintaining the firm hold necessary for distraction-free, high-speed riding.

Additionally, the NXR’s 3D-shaped cheek pads are available in multiple sizes for a customisable fit, and Shoei’s Max-Dry System II liner material absorbs and dissipates sweat and moisture twice as fast as traditional Nylon helmet interiors.

Available in a wide range of plain colours and graphics, you need to try one on when next buying a helmet. See your local bike shop or www.mcleodaccessories.com.au SW

STEVE IRWIN’S REVENGE
Held Titan gloves
Price – $300 (Special AMM Price!)

Have you ever seen a glove with stingray in it? Held has top level Titan gloves which offer what could be the highest level of protection from any glove on the market. I’ve seen what can happen to your hands if you use them as sliders along the bitumen, even if you’re wearing (cheap) gloves. This is why I’m a massive fan of the highest amount of protection money can buy and Held gives this to you with the Titan.

They’re made from 100% kangaroo leather and Kevlar, with stingray skin panels in vulnerable slide areas for maximum abrasion protection. Why stingray? Well, apparently Stingray offers the slipperiest surface with the least resistance of any product known.

Continue up the bottom of the hand onto the palm and you’ll find a small carbon fibre slider, and a huge patch of stingray hide sewn in across the base of the palm to promote sliding in a wreck.

There’s also another carbon fibre slider at the base of the thumb. None of which get in the way when using the controls.

Other features include shock absorbing memory foam in the wrist/cuff, Kevlar lining in vulnerable areas, ring and pinkie finger bridges reinforced with Kevlar ceramic polymermatrix coating and carbon and titanium knuckle protection.

Sizing is as per your normal size. I went with the size 11 (2XL). They were a touch tight when I first put them on, but after wearing them only twice, they are starting to mould just nicely to my hands – exactly what you want. For so much protection you think it’d be cumbersome, but they are anything but. In the end, these offer the best protection I’ve ever seen out of any glove. Grab a pair, or check out the entire Held range at www.heldaustralia.com.au SW

FIRM AND SQUEEZY
Grip Puppies
Price – $29 + postage.

We tested the Grip Puppy comfort handlebar grips on a Suzuki DRZ-400E fitted with knobby tyres, which vibrates quite a lot.

Installation was easy. There’s no need to remove anything (but you have to undo the hand guard stem if you have one). You lather up some ordinary soap in your hands and rub the lather onto the existing handgrips. Then simply slid the Grip Puppies over the slippery surface and you’re done.

As a test to see how good the Grip Puppies are, Rob fitted one Grip Puppy onto the left hand grip only, leaving the stock hand grip alone on the throttle hand. His experiment lasted about three hours on a mix of sealed roads: suburban back streets, 60km/h arterial roads with traffic light stops, expressways and country highways. The result – a noticeable benefit. He says it wasn’t as if one hand felt better or worse than the other while riding; but he did notice that at the end of ride, his left hand did not have the post-ride tingles while his right hand did. So it definitely does make a difference and helps in reducing rider fatigue. Grab a pair from our good mate, Andy at Andy Strapz – www.andystrapz.com Ph: 03 9770 2207, or email: info@andystrapz.com

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