Hey guys, and in this case especially you girls! Tired of wearing uncomfortable gear that doesn’t protect all of your parts? Well, Dainese has a solution for you.

The Italian safety gear maker has designed a chest protector just for women. Like the men’s protector, it’s designed to cushion impacts and prevent penetration (no pun intended? -Ed), protecting the ribs, lungs, heart and all the other organs in there.

Unlike the men’s protector however, the Dainese Thorax Pro Lady (the one with the straps) and the Dainese Thorax Lady are also designed not only to accommodate, but to protect breasts too. Sorry, fat dudes… The one with the straps will work underneath most jackets and leathers, but the strapless version is designed to attach to a Dainese back protector. Ladies, take it from us, your breasts are worth protecting!

Stay tuned for more updates!

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Hi guys, Paul here again for another segment of Essential Stuff. Today we have the Frank Thomas Velocita 1 Piece Suit. It features high quality full grain matte leather at 1.2 – 1.4 mm thickness, Arma-Flex CE approved armor at the shoulders, elbows and knees, with the facility to also fit at hips.

The multiple stitching throughout on all major seams insure maximum tear and abrasion resistance. The flexible stretch panels make for a pre curved sports fit. It also has an aerodynamic race hump, replaceable track knee sliders, and airflow punched leather panels for optimum rider comfort. Check it out!

These are available in men’s sizes: 38-48 and five different colors. Stay tuned for more updates!

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Hi guys! For my first post this year, I’m going to show you a neat motorcycle helmet. This is the special edition Ruby Pavillon 10th anniversary of Nickelodeon’s wildly popular series Spongebob Squarepants helmet.

Based on the already high-end Pavillon helmet, which includes a carbonfiber shell, and nappa lambskin lining, the Spongebob edition is available in both Europe and the USA, but only 200 will ever be produced.

It’s that exclusivity which likely explains the $1,200 price tag (regular Pavillon’s sticker for around $700). Whoo wee! But not to worry folks, if that’s too rich for you, there’s also a $180 silk Spongebob scarf!

Stay tuned for more updates!

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What’s up people? Here’s another item, we can’t get in the U.S. Created as a limited run in Italy, these Arai Vector helmets use a retro-reflective paint to increase safety at night.

It is obvious that reflective clothing and helmets increase safety at night, but they’re often not used because they make you look like a dork.

However, paint like this, is available from 3M and many other companies here in the States. While these could be incorporated into helmet designs straight from the factory with little to no effect on their daytime looks, it’s just not done here for some reason. We just hope to see better integrated designs than these lame looking flames in the future.

Stay tuned for more updates.

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The latest addition to my motorcycle wardrobe comes this week in a pair of stylin’ Olympia Ranger 2 riding pants. Over the next few months, I’ll be testing these suckers out and, against a basic price-vs-quality criteria, letting you know if they’re worth the MSRP $199.99 investment.

For now, some early observations:

The Olympia Ranger 2’s are, to me, just like those freaky Aeron office chairs that hit the market a few years back. They look alien and uncomfortable, and even after a few minutes you’re not sure if these things are all they’re cracked up to be. But soon, as it begins to dawn on you that there’s something more to the package than unsettling looks, you become vaguely aware that these pants – like those ultra-ergonomic Aeron chairs – know more about your body than you do.

Rugged Cordura material with tough stitching and plenty of padding make these pants, first and foremost, safer than any plainclothes alternative when it comes to asphalt surfing. This safety should be the buyer’s number one priority.

Everything else boils down to user friendliness. The pants are waterproof and windproof, yet comfortably breathable. Any seam that might let moisture in has been protected by extra material (which is to say the fly doesn’t leak); meanwhile, the pants come with an eight-inch jacket attachment zipper in back, for those of you out there who regularly ride through monsoons….

The four oversized pockets up top and a bellows pocket on each thigh are big enough to get your hands into with your gloves on. I know! Science, right? Try that in a pair of leathers. The Ranger 2’s also unzip all the way up to the waist, although having only recently learned to tie my shoes by myself, I rarely bother with this feature. (Buyer’s tip: the first time you try zipping the pants back on, don’t do it in public.) And while the pants do come with a decent liner, I find I like wearing my jeans a lot more.

On the bike, the Ranger 2’s are roomy and comfortable, cool enough despite the weatherproofing that you can wear them on days when you wouldn’t even look at your leathers.

Ultimately, it’s important to keep in mind that these are general-purpose riding pants, and to that end they’ve performed well so far. Certainly, they’re bulky, but to me, these $200 pants do two things: spare you the four- to eight-week recovery time from a heartfelt low-side wipeout (and all wipeouts are heartfelt). And they remind you to ride like your skin is on the line. Fair play, Olympia.

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