Don't JUST look at the pix! READ ON!!!
So, last week I got a package in the mail from Icon Motorsports.
I now have a brand new Variant motorcycle helmet, jacket and gloves!
But it looks like Randy stole it for a few.

Sweet ass stuff!

She didnt want to give it back...

But it prompted me to think, besides the fact that a beautiful girl is wearing JUST the helmet, gloves and jacket, ok well, she took the jacket off, but why am I so stoked with it?

For years and years there has been the huge debate over helmet laws, "We don't want to wear them!" the bikers yelled. Personally I agree, not with the fast that I have to wear one being in california, but with the fact that the government already has too much control over all our lives. If someone doesnt want to wear one, fuck it, they shouldn't have to. Period.

But for me, I will always wear one, ALWAYS, and it will always be a full face, I dont care how fuckin hot it is, thats a fact of my life. I tend to ride faster than I should on a daily basis in one of the most dangerous citys in the USA, that is just a fact of life. A while back one of my best friends Denver Dan went down on his sporty, at 70 MPH, know what hit the ground first??? the chin of his helmet. If it wasn't there he might not be talking right now. Everyone who says they they are only for racers, hasn't really thought it through. If you go down on a track, be it dirt bike or road race, you might end up hitting a hay bale or another rider, but generally the crashes aren't fatal. You ride on the street you have too many other assholes in cars tryin to kill you. How is that safer than the racetrack??? IT"S NOT!!! So for me I will always wear one, but you do whatever makes you happy, it's your life, not mine, to live as you want.

With that said, this Variant helmet fuckin rocks!!!! A little wind noise is ok but howling isn't and this one is quiet. It has the killer cheek pad system that is washable and has 6 different adjustable vents. It also has more visibility than any helmet I have EVER worn. That in itself makes the helmet worth it. Bad ass I fuckin love it! thank you Icon for makin such a killer helmet.

Now to the jacket and gloves.
First off, I cant ride with out gloves either, it just freaks me out to ride without em! These Icon Sub Stealth gloves rule!
Ok, I am not good with change, in case you hadn't noticed. I have been a normal leather jacket guy since I started riding. I have seen all the new fangled jackets and clothes out there and always was like, "Whatever, my leather is fine."
Until I wore this jacket, it's the standard Icon rain jacket. WOW, this jacket is amazing, it weighs nothing and NO AIR GETS THROUGH IT AT ALL! Now with this said, I am a total pussy about the cold, I HATE being cold, hate it, hate it, hate it. The day the jacket showed up was in a break of the rain, I put it on and rode to the gas station, damn this fucker is warm! WOW
But then I took my sweat shirt off and rode to Lowe's to get some wood glue, (I was making a few new patterns) with just a tshirt and the jacket on over it, (yes, with pants etc, shut up.) I wasn't cold AT ALL!!! Amazing, and with it being fully adjustable it really fuckin works. My hats off to Icon you made my day, week etc!
So, now Im fully sold on the "New fangled riding gear" thanx to them! Try the stuff out, you won't be disappointed!

THANK YOU ICON!!! For EVERYTHING!

The magazine also has a good article by Nelson Kanno on their "last Saturday of every month" ride-in lunch gathering at Santa Fe Importers in The LBC, ChopperDave did a spread on this year's GNRS, and Dan Roedel does a good tech on the Baker N-1 shifter drum installation. Also, there's a killer feature on the bike Fab Kevin and "Poolboy" built - that's it on the cover.

And, my feature on the rigid shovel I built for Chris Worrell publishes in the next issue of IronWorks, and I have a tech article on the Led Sled Sporty hardtail install I just finished on Dan's bike coming up in IW in the near future, as well as my usual column in GKM, which should be going to print next week.

Now you see why I haven't been on here updating my blog?

Remember when I asked Jaluv next time he went by Dick Allen's old Normandie shop to snap some photos of what it looked like today? If you'll search back some in the posts, you'll see some "then & now's" courtesy of Jahluv. Lookie what he sent me about a week ago.

Jahluv works in the City of Montery Park, CA , and he was going by the old site of Buchanans there in that city, before they moved up to Azusa. Monterey Park is framed by the 10, the 710, and the 60 in L.A.

This is the building where they used to make spokes, build wheels, straighten, repair, and rake frames, and extend glide and springer front ends. A lot of work going on inside this small building at one time, huh? Too bad they sold all the frame tables and the springer jigs when they made the move up to Azusa.