What's in our gear bag?

by Danika White

Danika White and Lexi Pechout walk you through their gear bags. The similarities and differences. Key pieces you need, and things to look for when getting gear! 

We both are very close in skill level and riding level to each other. Why we wanted to dig into our gear bags, is because we wanted to show you that gear is always going to differ from each rider, skill level, and terrain your riding.

Danika White 

1. Shift Blue Label Pants
2. Shift White Label Gloves
3. Fox V3 RS Helmet + Fox VUE Goggles
4. Alpinestar SX-1 Knee Guard
5. Fox Raceframe SB Chest Protector
6. Alpinestar Tech 7S Boots
7. Shift BLUE LABEL Jersey
8. Space Brace Ankle Braces

     

    Lexi Pechout

    1. Fox Flexair Pants
    2. Fox Airline Gloves
    3. Fox V3 Helmet + 100% Armega Goggles
    4. Fox Flexair Jersey
    5. POD K4 Medical Grade Knee Brace
    6. Husqvarna OGIO Erzberg Hydration Pack
    7. Fox Instinct Boots 

      We believe your two most important pieces of gear are your helmet and boots. When buying these items, you should spend the most time fitting, researching and plan on spending a bit more on these. Even if you’re new to riding and looking for your first set of gear, or been riding for a while and just upgrading/refreshing your boots and helmet these are things to look for.

      Helmet

      Helmets come down to the fit. Every helmet has a different head shape, even different models of helmets by the same brand. You may love the colour or look of a helmet but unfortunately sometimes when trying the helmet on, the fit isn’t for you. We recommend going to your local dealer and getting fitted/helped being fit by their Moto associates.

      Technical features to look for in a helmet are:

      Shell construction – Top rated helmets usually use a carbon mix shell. Which carbon can produce an extremely lightweight shell with superior penetration, rigidity and impact resistance.

      EPS – This is the “foam” located between the shell and liner of your helmet. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a crushable foam. This is what absorbs the linear impact inside your helmet. You can find different levels of safety here with dual-density EPS, Varizorb, Flex, Conehead, Koroyd etc. these different levels of EPS improve protection by spreading forces of impact across a wider area.

      Venting – The top line helmets have stronger shells and can have more venting cut out in them while keeping the integrity of the helmet. With venting you’ll have intake vents where air comes through into the helmet, and exhaust ports to flow the air through.

      Safety features – Impact Liners, energy management, rotational management. These internal “membranes” for certain impacts, the can reduce harmful forces transmitted to the brain. These would be MIPS™ (Multi-Directional Impact Protection System), Flex Energy Liner, Impact Energy Cells made of RHEON, 360 ̊ Turbines etc. 

      Boots

      Boots are your first contact point with your bike. You want to look for a boot that is rigid, but able to feel the controls, mobile but without a lot of side bend and for it to fit as one fluid system with your knee protection.

      As far as fit for a boot, there’s a couple things to look for. Height of the boot, size of the calf, foot size. Boots come in Men’s, Women’s and Youth sizing. One thing to note for sizing is Youth Sizing merges into Men’s – so a Youth size 8 foot bed will be pretty much the same foot bed as a Men’s size 8, but there will be a height difference and usually a difference in stiffness. Then Women’s its usually 1.5 sizes from a Men’s/Youth – so if you’re a Women’s 7 you’d be around a Men’s/Youth size 5 and vise versa. This leaves you at quite a few choices of boots to try on and fit. Bring your knee protection in with you since you’ll want your boot to fit seamlessly with that. Sometimes Women’s or Youth boots are hard to fit with a Knee Brace, so you may need to go to a Men’s boot.

      Technical features you can look for in a boot are:

      Soles – Within a Moto Boot sole there is usually a steel shank. Thes shank will support the footbed and protect against flexing. Somethings to look for is what is around these shanks or in between the sole and footbed. Some boots have impact and vibration dampening materials to reduce these forces coming into the riders feet and legs. Also the exterior of the sole can be “slick” with less tread for MX style riding, or more “aggressive” with a lugged tread for more plant while off-roading.

      Ankles – Hinge/pivot systems. These allow smooth articulation of the ankle while limiting side bend, and reduces “break in time.” Also, some hinges offer a lockout to limit hyperextension. On some ankle hinges the system can wrap around and provide Achilles support as well.

      Buckles – Talon style buckle. There’re some different names when it comes to buckles but look for a strap/buckle combo that would clear mud and debris easily out, and have some degree of movement to flow with you on the bike.

       

      The gear you choose is going to be determined by what type of riding you’re doing, where your riding and how often your riding but it comes down to what you feel most comfortable, safe and confident in.

      If you have any questions on gear please let us know, we'd love to help or let you know what we have tried/liked! 

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