What We Wear! The Held 'Safer SRX' Textile sport style jacket

 Our Stan gets out and about on his Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled and puts his Held gear through its paces! 

Stan's been wearing the Held 'Safer SRX' Textile Sport style jacket. Let's see how he's been getting on with it!

The more practical twin

There's a leather version of this jacket - the unsurprisingly called Held 'Safer' jacket. It goes with the 'Grind' leather pants. Now, the textile versions are the 'Safer SRX' and Grind 'SRX'.

I think it looks rather good, don't you?

Why textile versions of perfectly serviceable leathers? Personally, I thought this was an excellent idea. Full on Sporty looking clobber, with the benefits of textiles. Waterproof, windproof and breathable (when you use the supplied liner with it) and well over £100 cheaper for the jacket Vs the leather version. 

Yes, you even get the race 'hump' with it. It looks just like the leather version when you're riding, so if you're a sportsbike rider who would like the option to wear lightweight, vented gear in summer rather than a heavier leather jacket - yet have the option to pop in the liner to keep you dry then this could be the jacket for you. Match it with the Grind SRX pants and zip 'em together and you've got the complete outift!

Looks awesome too in black!

The Overview

It's stunning. A real head turner. And so are the Grind SRX pants that go with it. I've only worn the pants once though as during Summer I've been in Held's 'Jump' motorcycle urban trousers. 

You get a highly abrasion resistant fabric outer and a lovely breathable mesh inner lining, with a removable waterproof, windproof and breathable liner. There's two generous external pockets and a map/document pocket at the back. Inside, one of the pockets is for phones. 

There's a soft collar and stretch panels at the shoulders, elbows and under the arms, not to mention the inner arms. Comfort is a HUGE factor with this jacket. 

Protection wise you get the ultra-sporty external hard shell protection on the shoulders and elbows, it's double stitched and there's velcro for optional chest protectors. It's also double-stitched.

The Likes

• It goes beautifully with motorcycle jeans, namely the Held 'Jump' pants
• The Held In&Motion airbag e-vest clips in nicely
• The Held clip-in technology allows for all sorts to be clipped in so I can add thermal layers if I wish
• It looks bloomin' awesome
• It's super comfy

The Dislikes

• I honestly as yet have found nothing to moan about, even after hundreds of miles in it. This, for me, is unusual!

I'd recommend this jacket thoroughly, especially as it's under £290!

You can find out more about Held at www.held-uk.co.uk

What We Wear! The Held 'Alcatar' Adventure Helmet

 Our Stan gets out and about on his Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled and puts Held Gear through its paces. 

Stan's Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled

Today, we'll hear about how Stan's been getting on with his Held Alcatar Adventure Helmet:

3.5 Alcatars for one of your..

"There's a saying that 'the quality remains long after the price is forgotten' - which is how you justify big-ticket items; The initial 'sting' of forking out a lot of money eventually goes away but the quality product you've bought keeps on doing the job beautifully. This sounds like I'm breaking news that the Alcatar is expensive, well actually it isn't. It's under £140. What you'd expect to carry a big price tag doesn't, but you get a hell of a lot of bang for your buck with this helmet. Exceptionally good value for money.

In fact you can get 3.5 Alcatars for the price of a well known competitor's similar lid. I've worn both and in my opinion there really isn't anything in it when you compare them, especially if you consider what you're getting for your money! Let's take a look at the Alcatar, what I like and what I don't like about it. 

The Overview

For starters, it's a nice looking lid. More than a touch of the 'Master Chiefs' about it so first impressions for anyone with a certain style of bike would be good. Put it this way, it's perfectly suited to the Desert Sled, as it would be to the likes of the BMW GS, Triumph Tiger, Honda Africa Twin etc. It comes in a number of schemes, including Gloss black, Matt black, white & red, black, white & red or black and white. 

It's not any where near as heavy as I expected yet feels very robust. The cheek pads are washable which is a bonus with this helmet designed for mile munchers. It has a visor that doesn't interfere with the peak and a flip-down integral sun visor. The flip switch for the visor was a bit tricky but a squirt of WD40 sorted that out. I like the fact that when the sun visor is down you push a button on the side and the visor pings up out the way.. The main visor is Pinlock ready and you can if you wish get a dark tint version of this. 

If you're worried about changing / removing visors (Hands up who has broken side pods!) then don't be - the Held Alcatar scratchproof visor will come off with the help of a flathead screwdriver, very easy! The helmet is also very well vented too, at the chin and on top which allows a nice flow of air.

Likes

The style! check it out from the front:

The soft fabric interior for comfort over long miles

The price tag!

The fact the peak didn't cause my head to flip back at 60mph+! Held have the airflow correct

Dislikes

The fact I got a black one! My bike is white & red 😏

Integral sun visor system not quite as easy to operate as other Held helmets - but a bit of practice and a squirt of WD40 later and it's fine.

Final thoughts

It's a very decent lid at an absolute steal for under £140. All the features you get and the style for that price you can't go wrong."

You can see more about Held including our online Made to Measure configurator, full online catalogue, gear care tips, dealer locator and the history of the company by clicking here