The C3 Pro is not a new helmet; it’s been on the market for six some years. But, mistakenly, many people thought that when the C4 came out a few years ago it was intended to replace it. And so it sometimes gets overlooked, which is a shame because we still think it’s the match for any flip-lid on the market. What surprised us when we looked into it recently is that we have never actually done a solus, video review on the C3 Pro. Well now we’ve put that right. The review above is pretty comprehensive. We talk through the helmet, its construction, its features, its strengths and its weaknesses. We also look at the E1; in essence a C3 Pro with knobs on. If you’re in the market for a new flip-lid, you should watch this review, even if you didn’t have the Schuberth on your shortlist. The C3 Pro is the most proven, reliable and dependable flip lid on the market. It wants for nothing, yet in basic white it is £120 cheaper than the Neotec 2 and £150 cheaper than the C4 Pro, and that saving would make a great contribution to a Sena comms..

Nobody can deny that TCX just seems to get it right when it comes to short, motorcycle boots. They do some good touring boots, some decent adventure boots and, for all we know, which isn’t a lot, probably some good racing boots. But when it comes to trainer or work-boot style boots they rarely miss a beat. For many years their X-Blend has been the reference work-style motorcycle boot. It looks great. It does what it’s supposed to, and it is well priced. Their Street Ace has held a similar status at the basketball end of the market; so much so that we were genuinely concerned about whether TCX’s plan to replace it was a good idea. Well, that’s just what TCX has gone and done. Their new boot, called the Street 3, is similar in concept. Visually, it’s a bit different, with even more of a street look. But like its predecessor, it is made from full-grain leather, it has a waterproof membrane, protection in the ankles, toe and heel and so on. Perhaps the biggest difference is the shank in the sole that, whilst allowing front-to-back flex for walking, adds a good degree of useful-if-something-runs-over-your-foot transverse rigidity. You don’t get a shank like this in many boots of this ilk or in boots at this price point, so TCX has done good! The Street 3 is just like the Street Ace; but just a little bit better.

The Segura Leone is one of those jackets that look like something you’d pick up on the high street, and as such the expectation is that there will be some kind of trade off in terms of functionality. And yes, compared with something from Rukka or Halvarssons, there is; but actually this is a really well thought-out jacket that has just about every bell or whistle you could ever want.

Let’s start with the basics. The outer fabric is a synthetic material known as Serica. It has a handle a soft as cotton, but it’s much stronger. The jacket comes with a fixed waterproof membrane. For its thermal layer, the Leone has padded, woollen, plaid shirt. Now the shirt can be taken out of the jacket, and can be worn separately. And as a shirt, it’s totally on trend. You could turn up at the Bikeshed, and provided you had a beard, tattoos, and body piercings, everyone would assume you were a fully paid-up member.

Obviously, the jacket comes with armour. It’s fitted in the elbows and shoulders, and there’s a pocket for a back protector. There are more pockets inside and out than you will ever need. I stopped counting at ten; and there were more to come, including a big one at the back.

Ther are adjusters for the waist, the sleeves and the neck. You also get gusset zips up the flanks to help the jacket to splay for greater comfort when you’re on the bike. Football pockets behind the shoulders aid articulation on the bike. Down the front there’s a storm flap; and this is you’ll need because the zip is not waterproof. It’s a good-quality YKK zip, though and there’s nothing wrong with this arrangement. It’s what you get on every Belstaff. Finally, in terms of spec, you get long two-way zips up the arms for venting.

One of the very best summer waterproof gloves on the market is the Rukka Virium. It is comfortable, has all the protection you would expect and seems to fit the majority of people really well. The waterproof membrane comes courtesy of Gore-Tex, but importantly the membrane is a laminated one, meaning that it will not take on water like most waterproof gloves. The Virium is the go-to summer-waterproof gloves for most of our London commuters, who will rely on it from March through to the end of October. Well, a few weeks ago, Rukka asked us if we wanted to help them sell through a small quantity of Viriums that had a hi-viz yellow panel at the wrist. The lower price we were offered meant the exercise worked well; so a few weeks later they asked for our help in selling through a slightly larger quantity of Viriums that had a silver reflective panel at the wrist. That worked pretty well too. And with the price reduced from £164.99 to £119.99, we weren’t that surprised. As of now, we have some dribs and drabs remaining of both styles, albeit in a very, very limited range of sizes. You may already be too late to get hold of a Virium in your size, but it’s probably worth clicking below to see what we have left.

We sell some of the best technical gear money can buy; in fact, we think we sell the very best. There are brands we don’t offer, but if anybody did a technical piece that we thought was extraordinary we would offer it; it’s really as simple as that. But, in our eyes, the best of the best as far as motorcycle suits are concerned, is the Stadler Supervent and its matching 4All Pro. It’s a Gore-Tex Pro Shell garment. It’s got insanely strong armour, Superfabric on the shoulders and elbows, and venting that’s in a different league to anything from Rukka. The suit also comes with a 10-year warranty. Now, I am not saying that we lacked faith in our man Boris, but in the middle of December we were not totally convinced that we were going to get a deal, so we negotiated with Stadler to bring in a huge quantity of stock to mitigate possible WTO tariffs, delays at the ports, extra paperwork and so on. Well, in the final analysis, it was not necessary, but the good news is that we now have better stocks of the Stadler suit than we have ever had. If you have ever hankered after a Stadler, or even if your’e just curious, now’s not a bad time to do something about it, because we’ve got all the sizes and all the leg lengths on the shelf.

We often cite the fact that, here at Motolegends, we are huge fans of merino wool as a mid-layer. It has so many, useful properties. It is insulating. It breathes incredibly well. It stores heat and can hold a third of its weight in moisture without the wearer feeling wet. It’s also comfortable and doesn’t stink, even if you wear it for a week or more. Halvarssons does really good merino, but just before Christmas we noticed that they were running short of it, and that it wouldn’t be available again until the summer. And so we simply snaffled it all. The items we are talking about are called the Polo Wool and the Long Wool. And they’re reasonably priced. The top is priced at £84; the bottom at £74. Now, elsewhere in this bulletin we talk about the benefits of heated gear and, as we’ve said, if you’re riding long enough and fast enough when it’s cold enough there comes a point where only electric is going to work. But until you reach that point there’s nothing that will do the job of keeping you warm as well as merino wool will. And, designed for motorbiking and snowmobiling, Halvarssons’ merino is darned good.

One of our most popular, non-technical bike jackets for ladies comes from the French brand Segura; it’s called the Frida. When we say non-technical we mean merely that it’s perhaps not the kind of jacket you would commute in. Yet it’s still got everything you need. CE armour. A waterproof membrane. A zip-out thermal liner, and so on. But it is still unashamedly a casual-style of biker jacket. Just before Christmas, we heard that the jacket was going to be discontinued by Segura. And so, given how much we like it, we asked the distributor to buy back all the stock from UK retailers, in order to let us have them. This duly happened, and in December we went out with an offer. We sold a lot. Right now, we have less than a dozen jackets left across the size range. Now part of the reason they sold so well, other than the fact that it’s a great jacket, was that we reduced the price from £259.99 to £199.99; thus taking a jacket that was always good value, and turning into one that was a downright bargain. If you want to know more, Sara made a video about the jacket that you can watch above. But if you don’t want to miss out, it’s the button down below that is perhaps more important!

We’ve included Warm & Safe in this Pussycat not because there’s anything new from the company, or even because we’ve had a recent delivery from the U.S., but rather because right now it’s so bloody cold out there that I personally could not really contemplate going out on the bike without heated gear. But, of course, that might just be me! But there is something that every biker should know. And it’s this. Riding a bike in the winter doesn’t have to be an unpleasant experience. For many people, the solution is to put on more and more layers, in an attempt to improve the level of insulation. Well, this only goes so far. Certainly this approach can leave you too encumbered, and unable to move freely on the bike. But, more importantly, layering will only work for a limited period, because all layers can do is to insulate heat that is generated by the body. After a while, on a long journey on a cold day, especially if you are riding at speed, the insulation will be of no use because you won’t be generating much body heat. Eventually, you will start to feel cold and you will begin to shiver. At that point, you won’t be concentrating fully on the road, and you will become a liability.

We know some people won’t countenance electric, but we don’t really know why. The reality is that you can ride in temperatures that are close to zero degrees, and still feel warm and cosy. If you’re somebody who wouldn’t normally countenance riding at this time of year because of the cold, then you should give some thought to going electric. It’s simple and straightforward; with Warm & Safe, there are no wires from the controller to the jacket; it works on Bluetooth. It honestly could not be easier to use. That Warm & Safe’s gear is the best is something you might, for now, have to take our word for. But it’s lighter, thinner, warmer and more reliable than the other brands. It’s also the nicest and easiest to wear. Above you can see our video review. Or by clicking on the button below you can go to the relevant page on the website.

So here we are again. We are all in lockdown, which means that, for now, you cannot come and visit us. Of course, we are still operating as an internet and mail-order company. We are all still here six days a week, trying to make life as normal as it can be. But we cannot replicate the benefits of being able to visit a shop in order to try something on and get the size right. Which is why we are re-introducing a scheme we initially trialled during the first lockdown. You have to phone your order in but, basically, you pay for one and we send you two, to give you a better chance of getting the size right. When you place your order we will ‘authorise’ your card for the second item, but we won’t charge for it. Only if the unwanted size fails to come back to us in three weeks will we put through the charge for the second item. We cannot replicate the retail experience, but we can take some of the risk out of the buying remotely. We do, by the way, offer a similar facility on Click & Collect. You order two sizes, pay for one, come and pick up the gear; but try them on in our external waiting room. Again, you leave one behind and take the other one home.

It seems that there are lots of reduced prices on gear in this particular Pussycat. And that reflects, I suppose, the time of year. We’re expecting a lot of our new lines to arrive with us in the coming weeks, but we’ve reached a position where we’ve decided not to continue working with some brands. Bell helmets is just such a brand. The Bell brand is the most famous in the motorcycle apparel business. They produce great-looking helmets and some of the best graphics in the business. But we have only ever marketed Bell’s retro and urban helmets, and in the last 12 months we have come to revere other such helmets more highly. We’re talking about helmets like the Shoei JO, the Arai Rapide, the Shoei Glamster and the Shoei X-Zero. And so strongly do we feel about these helmets that we have decided, with regret, to part company with Bell. Now 40% is the margin earned by retailers. Unless you find a retailer who is determined to wind up his business, you won’t ever find a Bell helmet being sold below the discount we are offering here. We don’t have a lot of helmets left, and we don’t have many sizes remaining in any of these helmets, but if you are looking for a bargain you should take a look. We are going to hold these prices until the end of January, but it is unfair on other retailers to discount at levels such as this for an extended period, so at the end of January, any helmets left on our shelves will be returned to a more standard, albeit still-reduced price.