At the moment there is a shortage of the Transitions helmet shield for the Shoei RF-1400. They are on back order everywhere. So, when this Puentemys CWR-F2 Compatible Photochromic Shield showed up on Amazon I decided to give it a try. After all it was less than 1/2 the cost of the Transitions shield. At the very least I figured it could be a stand-in until the real one came back on the market. See, I actually ride every day starting in the dark and ending in the bright Texas sunshine, and changing visors even once a week is once too many. The main question I had was is it any darned good?
After having the excellent Shoei RF-1200 for over 5 years I finally decided to get a new helmet. I did my research and came up with the helmet I got, and so far I am loving it. Made the absolute right decision and got a helmet that is the right balance of quality, safety and price.
Donna gives her first impressions of the new Shoei RF-SR helmet. 👍👍 After years of motovlogging where only my voice is recorded, I finally modified my helmet setup so that the intercom channel is also recorded on the video footage. This means you get to hear from her directly! This is the very first video using this new setup, and I am intending to refine the audio quality in future videos. What you hear is straight "out of the box" with only intercom channel boosted. It is in stereo and the intercom channel is on the right whereas the helmet audio is on the left. Converting to mono would make it easier to consume if you are using headphones.
I decided to do a test of my Mission Neck Gaiter just to see how well it worked, during one of my Sunday rides on the 2016 BMW R1200RS. It was a hot morning with some humidity so I was not sure what the results would be. For now let's just say that it was what I expected, and these results should be typical for all thin synthetic material neck gaiters of this type. Along for the ride was my new Ulanzi MT-40 selfie stick with remote control, which I used with my iPhone XR to record this video. That worked very well and is a great compact travel companion. In this video I stop in 2 of my go-to parks in the Tomball area where I comment on my findings and a few other things.
After the disappointing tryout of the Rev'It Fly 3 gloves which I returned, I decided to revert to the Sand glove family from the same manufacturer (hey, I like Rev'It gear) and this time I was not disappointed. I have the Sand 3 gloves which served me well, but which had to be re-stitched maybe 3 times due to seams starting to come loose. This typically happened at the seam between leather and mesh, which is why I wanted to try the Fly 3 gloves. Aside from the issues with the Fly 3 gloves, it seemed to me that its all leather (perforated) construction would be too warm for my hot and humid Houston summers. The Sand 3 / 4 gloves are partially leather and textile and in my experience they are the best combination of airflow and hand protection. There are other gloves that may flow more air but they have less protection. These Sand 3 and Sand 4 gloves offer great all round performance and is not offroad only - wear them anywhere!. Just have to keep an eye on the stitching.
When my Rev'It Sand 3 gloves needed to be replaced I looked again to Rev'It for a new pair. This time I thought I'd try the Fly 3 gloves, but they came up a bit short and had to be returned. See why. As a result I find I cannot endorse this product.
On only the third time riding with this new helmet I share my final thoughts on the Sedici Strada II Primo Carbon helmet. No huge surprises here compared with the Sedici Strada II Dino, but it is no doubt a better helmet all around. In carbon fibre finish it might look plainer than the Dino but of you like the blackout look then its matte carbon fibre look is pretty cool. The motovlogging setup is also slightly improved as I placed the microphone more behind the cheek pad. The downside of that is that it better picks up the music coming through the speakers!
A recently discovered break in the EPS liner of my Sedici Strada II Dino helmet meant that, unexpectedly, I'd need a new helmet after less than one year. In all that time since my lowside with the S1000R I never inspected the helmet for internal damage, since I assumed the damage was superficial. Lesson to be learned - after *ANY* impact to your helmet carefully inspect the EPS liner! Anyway, this put me back into the market for a new lid and what I ended up with is a testament to the value the Sedici Strada II helmets present.
This is not an in-depth review of the new helmet, but rather just letting you know how I came to switch out the Dino after less than a year, and how the new helmet compares with the Dino. I will do a proper quick review of the new helmet in a later video.
My Shoei RF-1200 Transitions visor was getting a bit old and is approaching replacement but at $200 each, getting a new helmet of a similar price seemed to be a good alternative, for several reasons.
In this riding review the two helmets are compared. While the SHoei costs about $500 vs the Sedici at $200, one would think that the Shoei would be significantly better. Well, if you watch this video you can form your own opinions.
Here is MY full review of my new KLIM Latitude Jacket and Pants set. I try the gear on after a quick unboxing, then road test it in both dry/cool conditions as well as in almost torrential rain. If you want a full breakdown on what the jacket and pants entail then you might have to look elsewhere. But this review covers all the basics and how it performs.
Tested in both cool and dry conditions as well as in almost torrential rain. See how it performed.
In this video I review and road test these great gloves in driving rain. Highly recommended, and for GoreTex gloves, a pretty good value with good looks as well.
Just a quick video to show the fit up of my KLIM Torrent Storm Collar with my KLIM Latitude Jacket. The material and construction is of a good quality and seems that it should be durable with proper care.
This small video was a long time coming. Shortly after I got my Shoei RF1200 helmet I got a dark tint visor, but swapping visors is for the birds, so I decided to get the Transitions photochromic visor made for Shoei helmets.
A quick unboxing, and try-on video, followed by some thoughts during a test ride.