While looking at riding gear at motorcycle superstore, I stumbled upon this Icon backpack.  It is unlike anything I have ever seen before.  The overall concept of having a highly visible riding backpack is a great idea.  I’m going to try to track one of these down in a store where I can take a close look at it, but I’m afraid that Icon did not spend enough time looking into the organization beyond the helmet and face-shield compartments.  When I’m commuting I typically have a computer, pens, paper, power supplies, extra computer cables, phone, books and or files.  I am waiting for someone to make a good riding bag with places for all of that.  I hope this one comes close.  I’ll let you know if I find one in a store.

After returning my Icon Airframe I was still lacking a helmet.  So I set out on a quest to get a new Airframe.  Ryan and I went down to Turn 1 Motor sports in Plymouth, Indiana.  They have one of the largest selections of helmets around here.  Unfortunately they didn’t have my size.  I tried on several other brands of helmets thinking I may be able to find something different than the Airframe.  I ended up bringing home a Shoei RF-1000.

Price wise the Shoei was about $80 more than the Airframe.  But the dealer at Turn 1 said that it is a much better helmet.  From my reading I would concur.  My first impression was the Shoei feels lighter than the Airframe.  Unfortunately I haven’t had enough time in to properly check it out.  I’ll write a complete review of the helmet when I get a few bugs on it.

A few days ago I reported that I had contacted Icon about my Airframe helmet.  I was told I needed to return it to the place of original purchase.  I picked up the helmet at Performance Motor Sports in Holland, Michigan.  Yesterday I took a trip up there to take the helmet back.  I was a little apprehensive thinking this could be a big hassle. 

I was amazed at how easy this process was.  I took the helmet in and they took a look at it.  They instantly found the problem with the cheek pad.  Unfortunately they did not have a replacement helmet in stock so they were going to order one and have it drop-shipped to me.  The helmet was back-ordered from Icon.  I asked if they would refund my money and let me pick up the helmet at another shop that had it in stock.  To my surprise I received a “sure, we can do that.”  That’s what I call service. 

If you are in need of a place with good service I recommend Performance Motor Sports.

While spending a couple of days at the annual EAA Airventure I stumbled upon this folding motorcycle and storage system.  Every pilot needs good transportation when he arrives at his destination. 

The motorcycle was a Yamaha dual sport motorcycle around 250 cc.  When I was talking with the Motopod staff they had not settled on a motorcycle for the final version.  It will be some road legal dirt bike style motorcycle because they tend to be lightweight.  They take the large knobby tires off and replace them with good road tires and add a quick release to the front wheel.  Motopod designed a folding handlebars that lock solidly in place to make the bike fit into their pod.

The pod is made out of nice composite materials, is fairly aerodynamic and can be painted to match the airplane.  The locking system looked like it would stay in place trough just about anything.  I particularly like the winch system for hoisting the pod up.

Motopod has designed this unit for the bottom of airplanes however I think there are other places this could be used.  There is plenty of room under the average semi trailer to secure this pod. 

It will be interesting to see how Motopod is doing in a year or so.  I think they have a good idea but I don’t know if it will catch on.

I e-mailed Icon today about the cheek pad in my helmet that is not staying in place.  They told me that I needed to take it back to the original place of purchase and have them replace the pad or exchange the helmet under warranty.  So it looks like I will be making another trip to Holland MI.

Icon’s response time was about two hours.  That is a very good response time.

I’ll keep you posted as to how this plays out.

I just returned from my first real ride with the new helmet.  I like it.

The good points…

The Icon Airframe is smooth while traveling at highway speeds.  The visor snaps down tight against it seal providing a nice wind-proof fit.  I rode for about 10 miles at 70 mph down the freeway without wind noise problems or excessive forces while looking behind (blind spot).  The vents provide more than enough air for cooling.  I actually had to close down some of the vents because they were drying out my eyes.  The airfoil on the back of the helmet worked as advertised keeping the helmet in a nice riding position without buffeting. 

The bad points…

There are only two down points to this helmet so far.  First, the right cheek pad does not snap in as securely as I would like.  Some times as I’m taking the helmet off one of the two snaps will come loose.  I may call Icon and ask them about this.  I may just be a defect on this particular snap.  All other saps seem fine.

Second, the chin strap is a little short.  If it was longer it would be easier to secure.  Because it’s a little short the snap at the end gets in the way.  I suspect the strap issues will become easer with practice. 

Over all I like this helmet.  I’m sure I will find more things that could be improved upon so keep reading for those posts.

I was putting on my helmet the other day when I noticed the foam in the chin guard was coming loose.  I supposed it was time to replace this helmet.  It’s probably ten years old and helmets should be replaced every five years or so.  Five years is about how long it takes for hair oils and styling products to break down the foam liner of a helmet.

So what should I look for in a helmet?  I started with the safety criteria.  I read safety review after safety review.  Do I want a helmet that is SNELL rated or is DOT enough?  Should I be looking at standards from other countries?  In the end (for the crashes I’m most likely to have) any helmet with a DOT stamp is likely to be adequate.

The next thing I focused on was comfort.  This is where the process got really tedious.  What makes a helmet comfortable?  I made myself three classes of comfort.  First fit, second, aerodynamics and last, noise level when riding.

I tried on helmet after helmet.  After the first half dozen helmets I had to do some more research on what makes a helmet fit correctly.  I found most of the helmets I thought were most comfortable were not fitted properly.  I liked the roomy feel of helmets that were loose.  It turns out the fit of a helmet affects noise while riding and visibility too.  But how do you find one that is not to loose but not too tight?  I went back to the shops and started trying on all the helmets again to find the perfect fit, but never finding the right thing.  The key came when I found out I can replace the cheek pads in many helmets to customize the size.  Most pads compress during the initial break in period.  But if the pads are still to tight around the cheeks I can replace them with thinner pads.  This was great.  Now I could find a helmet that fit around the top and back of my head knowing I had options around the face. 

The second part of comfort was aerodynamics.  I wanted a helmet that did not buffet around while riding.  I have not had a lot of problems with this–except while riding at freeway speeds.  Here I often experience buffeting when turning my head or in some cross winds.  Almost every helmet manufacturer has a solution and they are all similar.  They put a small spoiler on the back of the helmet to adjust the slipstream and minimize helmet buffeting.

Last on the comfort criteria list was noise.  I wanted a helmet that is as quiet as is reasonable.  After some reading, I found that a lot of noise is related to poorly fitting helmets and visors that are not adjusted for a proper seal.  Vents are another source of noise.  I wanted a helmet with a good compromise between price and the fitting/adjustability of the parts.

In addition to comfort the final helmet selection criteria was graphics.  I wanted a helmet with graphics that were not offensive.  I’m not into the sculls and death that seem to be very prevalent in modern helmet graphics.  I’m also not sold on a solid color even though many say they are more visible. 

I finally settled on a helmet.  I purchased an Icon Airframe.  For the most part it fits well, but is a little tight around the cheeks.  If that does not loosen up in a few weeks I’ll purchase new cheek pads.  The aerodynamics of the helmet received good reviews and the fit and finish seemed to be tight.  I saved some money by getting it on sale, but I did not get my first choice of graphics.  Never-the-less I don’t dislike these graphics. 

River Road makes a Tank Bag System that looks to be as close to ideal as I have seen.  There are three well-designed pieces to this system.  First is the magnetic base that has a built in waterproof map pouch for use independent of the bag sections.  Second is a large bag that zips onto the magnetic base and contains a set of backpack straps for off bike transportation.  The last piece is a smaller bag that can zip on top of the large bag or directly onto the magnetic base. 

I like how flexible this bag seems to be.  With all of the different combinations it has the right size setup for almost any need (within reason).  I was not able to spend as much time in person with this bag as I would have liked but it seemed to have a good inside layout.  Places for small documents, pens, pencils and other office type tools.  And the big thing–it is big enough for my laptop.  Something bag manufactures often forget when designing bags.

Reviews of this bag seemed to be positive.  Most people said this bag was a lot of bag for $150.  Build quality seems to be adequate, holds up well and the magnetic base was plenty strong to hold the large size bag.  Reviewers commented that the zippers are larger than zippers on most tank bags making it easer to reconfigure and detach at will.

The down side of this bag is its size when fully stuffed.  I read a review of this bag by a 6’ 1” tall person who was having a hard time seeing over the bag.  He had it mounted on the tank of his SV650.  I’m 5’ 8” so I don’t think I would get much use out of this bag fully stuffed on my SV650. 

All that being said I think this is probably the most useful tank bag for general commuting and overnight road trips I’ve seen.

I was browsing through a rack of helmets at a local Honda dealer where I stumbled upon HJC’s FS-10.  Wow what a cool idea.  HJC placed a retractable tinted visor inside the main face shield.

The visor is operated by a slide on the top of the helmet.  To lower the visor you slide a tab along a rail that latches when the visor is fully lowered.  To retract you simply press a button adjacent to the slide and the visor automatically retracts.  What a cool idea.

There are two down sides to this helmet.  First, it does not come in a color to match my bike.  Second, this helmet is not Snell approved (DOT approved only).  After further research I’m not sure this is as big of a hang up as I had thought. 

I decided I should find out why this helmet was not Snell approved.  According to Snell’s website they have not had to opportunity to test the modular helmets.  The FS-10 is considered a modular helmet.  There for the FS-10 Helmet may indeed be as good as a Snell approved helmet. 

I really like this helmet.  I wish it came in a red color that matched my bike. 

Yesterday I stopped in at the local Honda dealer to look at motorcycle accessories.  I stumbled upon a rack of tank bags.  I have been considering purchasing a tank bag so I took the opportunity to check the bags out.  It was very nice of the shop to have a sport bike and a table next to the rack of bags.

These tank bags were all made by First gear and all appeared to be well built.  The bag that first got my attention was the Monza Tank Bag/Backpack.  It is a medium sized magnetic or suction cupped tank bag.  The Monza features a removable base that could be used as a stand-alone map bag.  With the base removed the main portion of the bag doubles as a backpack.  Inside there is not a whole lot of organizational features.  It was mostly an open space.

The second bag of interest was the Silverstone Tank Bag II.  This bag was a little smaller than the Monza.  The mounting base was also removable leaving a backpack behind.  The base itself seemed to be less secure than the Monza’s when I placed it on a bike.  Being a smaller bag it may not matter.  The inside of the bag there is some organization for pens and such but it was not exceptionally great.

I think my problem with both of these bags is in what I would use a tank bag for.  I would want something that could replace my briefcase/computer bag.  It needs to have a place for a computer file folders and other accessories that a common commuter would take back and forth to work.  All of these tank bags seemed to be made for short overnight trips or to pack a lunch on a day ride.  I hope as motorcycles become more popular in mainstream commuting that accessory manufactures will make business friendly riding accessories.

If I were to purchase one of these bags I would probably pick the Monza.  It has more useable room and the ability to pull it apart and use the mounting piece as a stand alone map pocket was cool.  For now I will keep looking to see if I can find the bag that is right for me.