This is a short list of the protective riding gear I have used since 1984. Starting with helmets and progressing through boots, gloves and leathers. As you'll see, I have tried a few pieces of protective gear during my riding career.
Helmets owned
AGV
Model: (era 1980's) Roberts Replica
Model: (era 2000's) Ti Tech Rossi Replica
NOTES: The new Ti Tech is a real improvement over the old AGV stuff. Still a tad on the heavy side otherwise fit and finish is nice. Comfortable interior that is removable. So So visor removal still can be improved. The Roberts helmet goes way back to when I started sportbike riding in 1984 and that helmet was a total disaster! I can't figure out how Roberts raced in it as the visor was impossible to keep closed. It was also impossible to clean the visor as it scratched if you touched it on it and it was totally flimsy thin. But he was getting paid to wear it.
Arai
Model: (era 1980's) F1 Spencer Replica, , Cooley Replica
Model: (era 1980's/90's) Signet Swantz Replica, Ewards Replica
Model: (era late 90's) Quantum/e Raptor
Model: (era 2000's) RX7RR Doohan Replica, (2) Haga Replica's, Cadalora Replica
NOTES: Arai builds very good helmets. Light weight, awesome interiors and the fit and finish are always top notch. They are just insanely over priced. The visor release/removal system is so so even today and by Nolan standards they need to work on making a better system. Another issue I've had is the vents popping off of the visors.
Bell
Model: (era 1980's) Lawson Replica M4
NOTES: This helmet was a complete piece of junk. Noisy, horrible visor fit, crap cheek pads and zip venelation in what was supposed to be a ventilated model. At the time this was Bell's top of the line helmet and there is nothing really good to say about it.
HJC
Model: (era 2000's) AC11 Yikes Replica
NOTES: Super noisy, awesome ventilation, decent shield and ok shield removal as well as paint work. Cheap interior. Reasonable pricing. No big complains if you go into this helmet knowing what your getting.
Marushin
MODEL: So long ago (the 80's) I don't recall the model.
NOTES: It was very heavy and I hated it, I probably only wore it once or twice and got rid of it.
Nolan/Xlite
Model: (era 2000's) 801R "Bull" and "Sea" Replica's
NOTES: Best buy of any helmet's I've owned. I own two of these helmets and they are awesome. Top notch fit, removable liner, awesome visor and decent paint work. A kick ass pushbutton visor removal system that actually works, really, just push a button on each side of the visor and off it comes. Very simple and easy to do. The helmets and visors are super reasonably priced which is a huge reason to look at one before you buy a helmet.
Shoei
Model: (era 1980's) Task V
Model: (era 1980's5) GRV Lawson Replica
Model:(era 1990's) X-8 Rainey Replica
Model: (era 1990's) X-9 Russell Replica
Model: (era 2000's) X-Tek Ukawa Replica
Model:: (era 2000's) X11 Norrick Replica, Ukawa Replica
NOTES: Awesome helmets all of them. I love the X11's. Expensive as hell but great fit, great visors and great paint work. Just way over priced! A pretty decent visor removal system.
Suomy
MODELS: (era 2000's) Gunwind Rapp Replica, Gunwind Aprila Mille Star,
MODELS: (era 2000's) SPEC 1R Biaggi & Pitt Replicas
NOTES: Horrible ventilation on both versions of their helmets, so, so fit, great paint work, comfort was better on the SPEC 1 R, but both had flimsy visors that were a pain to remove or install. And the SPEC 1R's were way over priced.
Boots and Gloves owned
AGV
Model: I bought them sometime in the 90's for a trip to Laguna. They were ok, nothing special. I think there laying around here somewhere.
Alpinestar
Model: Alpinestars S-MX Plus & Supertech Boots
Model: Alpinestars GP Plus Gloves
I hated the gloves as they aren't even close to the comfort that Kushitani offers and I never could get used to the two fingers being attached to each other (although it is a saftey feature) I loved both pair of boots, particularly the S-MX Plus boots. They offered great protection, awesome fit and were super comfortable to walk around in. They were squeaky as most plastic boots are.
Bates
Gloves & Boots
NOTES: This goes back to the late 80's, early 90's and it's no wonder they don't do any mainstream racing gear anymore. Zero protection by todays standards. The gloves were super comfortable but the leather faded like crazy. I still have both the gloves and boots laying around here somewhere.
Dianese
Model: KC Boots
NOTES: Super comfortable boot that had pretty good protection for the era.
Held
Model: Akira & Galaxy Gloves
NOTES: AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME Gloves. Great fit, they last forever and are super comfortable. The use Kangaroo leather on the palms and dispite the use of riviets (so old news) they are probably the most comfortable pair of gloves I have ever owned. No color fade on a pair that is 6 years old! In fact they are still in my gear bag, I just don't want to part with them. Highly recommend these!!!!!
Jollisport
Model: (era 1980's) Gloves, I owned a few versions of their product.
NOTES: Well these go back to 1985 or 86 and at the time they were the best you could buy. They used a padded palm with rivets for sliding down the track. No finger protection, they did offer small strips on the knuckles I'm assuming for sliding knuckle down. By todays standards they would be insanely dangerous. I still have a brand new pair of these gloves hanging around here somewhere.
I purchased a lot of this oddball stuff from a place called COSMOPOLITAN MOTORS. It appears they no longer run the same business as they once did. As I recall they were the importer for Montesa as well. They also distributed Speedmode leathers and back protectors, Sidi boots and Jollisport Gloves.
Kushitani
Model: (era 2000's) GP2, GP4, GP5 Gloves
Model: (era 2000's) Power Max Boots
NOTES: Very comfortable and reasonably well made. They last forever and take well to the rain. With our race team I have seen mixed results in the crashing of their gloves, some hold up well in crashes while others suffer some seam failuret. The new GP-5 has a lot of updates that hopefully resolved some of the issues my racers had with them after crashing in them.
The boots are another story. I have a lot of time in the original Power Max boot and they are very comfortable. I think the boot could use a little more crash protection in the ankle area. The new or updated version if you will has a new plastic shin plate. Same boot otherwise. The problem I have is that they are more expensive than Alpinestars and given a choice I would buy the Alpiinestars (which I did and wore both throughout 2005/2006)..
I have a lot of Kushitani gear laying around the house!
Ray
Model: (era 1980's) Road Racing Boots, I owned multiple pairs in the 80's
NOTES: Again these boots go back to the 80's. Super comfortable and they had reasonable protection for the time. But not by todays standards.
I am assumming that they have gone out of business as there is no current website available.
Sidi
Model: (era 1990's) Vetabra, I owned multiple pairs in the 90's
NOTES: Great fit, very comfortable, expensive and very squeaky. Other than the price I liked these boots, but I think the Alpinestars are more comfortable and a better value.
Spidi
Model: (era 1980's) Roberts replica gloves
NOTES: Again these go back to the early 80's. Very little protection and like the Jollysports gloves used a padded palm with rivets for sliding down the track. No finger or knuckle protection. Let me say that riders in and before Roberts era had a lot of courage to look past this lack of protection and go as fast as they did. (although at the time this was the top of the line in protection) By todays standards kind of scary. I still have a pair of these gloves hanging around the house. ALSO: In late 2007 I thought I saw that Motonation had a plan to offer retro versions of the original glove (like the Roberts replica I have, although his glove is not one that is offered). You can still see the Uncini, Spencer and Lawson replicas at the Italian RETRO site. I'm not sure if they will be for sale in the USA though. CLICK HERE to go to the Italian RETRO site.
Riding suits owned
Alpinestar
Model: (era 2000's) Haga Replica
NOTES: I bought this suit on a whim. It was prior to Alpinestar moving production to a out of Italy. Actually I think the original Haga suit was made in Japan). Althought the fit and finish was pretty good, the suit was heavy and it had binding issues in the knee area. Never the the less it was a decent partially ventilated suit. The suit did look cool though.
Corner
Model: (era 2000's) Thor
NOTES: I met the US Rep at the Indy dealer show. We made a deal there to supply STT (whom I was working with at the time) with team suits and to make them a dealer. Corner was a leather manufacture out of Italy that built the original high end AGV suits that guys like Mat Maldin wore. In 2002 Corner went off on their own and after seeing their suits at the dealer show I convinced Monte to take a chance with them. From there we placed an intial order for the team suits and some additional suits to sell. Before the intial order came I purchased a size 48 suit which I wore for quite a while and the fit was perfect.
The intial order of custom and retail suits we ordered took forever to get to the USA and when they did get here the suit I ordered (another size 48) was so tight that I was only able to get it on one time. I ran one session at Grattan and had to get three people to remove it. I had zero movement in it and it damm near killed me. Wasn't to happy about that.
Although the fit was a major issue, the suit was a work of art and may have been one, if not the finest suit I have ever seen. This was a pro suit, although the people at Corner could not build the same size twice these suits had the best triple stitching I have ever seen. The crash protection was overkill. I mean this was a kick ass suit. I would have loved to have sold these suits as I could not believe how well made they were. Sadly that would never happen as Corner simply could not produce a reliably sized product and had major fitment issues (as with my suit). It wasn't long and the US Corner distributor blew out the US inventory and Corner disappeared.
Finally a company that could build a killer suit, but had no clue on how to build more than one the same size. They no longer have a website.
Dainese
Model: (era 1980/90's) KU, Silverstone, Belzebu
NOTES: After the Jumbo suit (listed below) I purchased my first high end suit by Dainese and I owned a few of them through the years. Awesome fit and comfort as well as crash worthiness. No ventilation meant these suits got warm inside and I believe that they to have moved assembly of the suits away from Italy :( I left the fold for Kushitani and it's awesome ventilation.
Jumbo
Model: (era 1980's) This was the first true leather riding suit I owned (circa 1985).
NOTES: This was my first attempt at a zip together suit that was designed with roadracing in mind. Fit was awesome. It was heavy of course in those days there was no ventelation or stretch panels any where. Of course my first Dianese was built the same way. Jumbo is no more in the US, long gone. If you go to their current website it says they started in 1989. That can't be true as I bought quite a few suits for sale through the Cycle Barn in 1984 or 85.
Kushitani
Model: (era 1980/90/2000's) Many suits, gloves and boots as well as other gear they make.
NOTES: Well I've owned so many Kushitani suits that I am somewhat biased. They use supple Holstien cow and the suit is super comfortable as well as lightweight and crash worthy in my opinion. Their suit has the best ventelation (that I've found so far) in the business for an off the rack suit. Steel zippers mean no zipper breakage .... ever! And these suits last a long, long time and stay supple.
As a side note, I've seen and heard of more than one person crashing these suits with varied results. In the caseof my race team the suits held up perfectly in multilple high speed crashes. I have however heard that others have had issues with the arm area moving around during a crash and this is a fitment issue. As with any suit you need to be sure that the suit fits you snuggly everywhere.
Kushitani does not have multiple price point suits and so it's almost one price shopping. Expensive is the word in owning their gear.
Lastly, so many top pro racers and world champions worldwide have worn Kushitani suits through the years for nothing that it has to say something about the suit. You only see them leave when the money man comes a knocking. That says something.
Sinasilo
Model: (era 1980's) Got this suit from Lockhart as I recall.
NOTES: By todays standards it had little protection. But Sinasilo did a nice job in the building of these suits. I still have it hanging in the closet. Sinasilo is no more in the US for road racing gear. I still have this suit hanging in the basement.
Sinasilo was and I believe still manufactures dirtbike gear. No current website is available.
Spidi
Model: (era 1990's) The name of the suit escapes me. It was around 2000 and it was the top of the line Spidi suit, and I remember my brother and I each bought one. I really liked the suit, the fit, comfort was good, however it lacked ventelation and so after a year of using it I sold it and bought, yet another Kushitani suit. I believe that they have also moved assembly of the suits away from Italy.
