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Shift SR1 Roadrace Suit and SR1 Glove |
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Posted by Administrator
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Friday, 15 September 2006 |
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Shift SR1 Leather Suit and SR1 Road Race Glove.
One thing that always shows whether riding equipment is good or not, is when a moto-journalist spends his (my) own hard earned cash on it.
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In this instance, it's an irrevocable yes. I originally first bought a white Shift M1 jacket from my local dealer, had to pay full pop and was pleased to do so. It's very stylish, and most importantly, very well made. The safety features and manufacturing standard is easily up to the quality of some of the other Italian manufacturers, Alpinestars and Dainese to name just two.
Shift also became one of the first company's to cater to my beloved Supermoto obsession (their parent company being Fox) So I bought their Supermoto suit and spent many a happy day sliding around on my bum, thus proving the reliability and protection that they offer. I actually still have a Supermoto suit converted to road-race with the addition of Velcro knee pads (applied by a local vendor) to attach some road race knee pucks to. The cut of that Supermoto suit is obviously for a sit-up-and-beg style rather than a road-race crouch, but ultimately I feel safe in it.
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| Fast forward to the last couple of weeks and Shift have come up with the perfect answer to my road-race suit dilemma, the SR1 suit. Shift has invested in many different resources to support this street line and consulted with numerous European specialists, specialists with extensive experience with the leading Italian street brands. This suit has also been produced with the developmental input of none other than former AMA Superbike Champion, Doug Chandler. This very attractive suit has a shorter waist to neck (chest) measurement and pre-curved arms. It is a great mixture of 1.2mm to 1.4mm cow hide leather, and a Premium Schoeller® stretch Kevlar® composition in the under arm and inner thigh region and is very flexible with accordion stretch panels behind each shoulder, lower back and knee area's. |
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The overall effect is a very comfortable suit with minimal break-in time. I first wore the suit at the 2006 R6 intro and suffered no discomfort or fatigue of any sort. The problem with most suits is the flexibility factor - if it takes forever to break in then your ability to ride decent length sessions is reduced and the fatigue factor goes through the roof, not to mention an awkward riding style. I've got off a bike before and had cherry marks on my knee's (behind and on top) due to stiff leathers - No such (bad) luck with these, they fit perfect
The elbow/forearm armor is enveloped in purpose-built leather pockets that will almost totally resist body armor movement in the event of a big tip over. I've seen injuries where the crasher has avoided track rash but suffered nasty armor inflicted injuries due to the movement and pinching of plastic on skin. The shoulder pads also have very strong Velcro attachments on two sides and the knee and shin pads shrouded in sueded leather. All seams are blind double and triple stitched and glued for max safety too.
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| Further design traits include a fully removable polyester (zip in/out) inner liner that helps with wicking moisture away from your body and vented leather area's on the neck and thigh area to further exhaust moisture. The neck area is also neoprene for moisture control and comfort. The hips also have a memory foam on each side that sets to your riding, sitting position. This memory foam extends to a portion covering your all important (tell me about it) tailbone area. I swear these things are more comfortable than my Kung-Fu pajamas. The zips look good on the SR1 and a step up from the Supermoto suit (which I never had any problems with either). The knee pucks are generous in size and should last a reasonable amount of time, they offered a nice feel too and also took a hit when I nicked a curb or two at Willow. |
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The butt also doesn't look baggy, like some other race suits - it's not a biggy but sometimes picking up chicks in the pits is hard work, especially if you look like you have a bag of potato's strapped to the rear of your jockeys... girls notice these things apparently.
The only downside that I could see was the soft (included) back protector. I swapped mine out with a hard one that I just had kicking around. Kudos to Shift for even supplying one at all, and I'm especially grateful that it's an industry size pocket because my harder alternative went straight in perfectly.
Lastly, a very shagadelic feature is a pair of Shift logo'd hoops on the very bottom of each leg that meant I could turn and hang the suit upside down to air out over my fan, in between sessions. Incredibly simple, but very thoughtful. It seems that Shift dissected the market competition and came up with, and in some cases, a better alternative and added some unique design style points of their own.
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| Shift also has a nifty set of matching SR-1 gloves that offer triple protection in the knuckle area with an accordion style design that has carbon Kevlar inserts on each joint. The wrist-band has a strap that prevents the glove pulling off your hand on impact and a further cuff that shields that wrist-band for further impact safety, and there's also a Velcro cuff fastener to snug the whole thing up to your leathers. Oh, and the fingers are also pre-curved too, so again, minimal break-in. |
| The gloves also have a vented area around the rear portion of the glove that seems to draw moisture away as you ride. My palms sweat a lot (basically because I'm scared witless most of the time) and my hands are staying dry in these. The pinky finger seems well protected and features a one-piece wrap around leather portion that extends from the top of the little finger, down to the wrists (you don't need to be snagging the little guy who went to the market, or was he the one who went home?). There's also a nifty suede reinforcement on the inner thumb and forefinger which helps with grip and feel too. The liner, by the way, is also full Kevlar for further abrasion resistance. |
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All in all, a very competent looking glove, and after the many times I've crashed, I can usually spot a bum glove.
The suit offers incredible value too, go reread my specifications and then find a comparable suit for less than $1200 - You won't, because I've already looked.
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Lastly if you're on the market for a suit, look for all the specifications you see above (as a minimum). We are motorcyclists and our bikes are inherently unstable (as we sometimes are), always dress (or overdress) for the crash, there's no downside.
MSRP for the glove's $129.95 and for the suit for just $899.95. Colors available are Black/Blue, Black/Silver in sizes M(48) to XXL(60).
This equipment will be available in about two weeks (mid-March 2006) from www.shiftracing.com, at your local Shift dealer or by calling 1.888.SHIFT-IT .
Mike Emery
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