What We Wear: Held two-piece Stint / Turn leathers

I wanted some leathers that would just about match any style of motorcycle - from Cruiser to Sports to Naked to Off Road. The Held 'Stint' Jacket and 'Turn' Trousers do just that. Plenty of old school black leather with a healthy hint of modern.

In fact, the leathers, looking at first glance sporty, seem to blend in very nicely with all styles of bike, just as I'd hoped. 

I've had these now for around a year and they fit like a pair of old slippers! Having said that, typical of the usual style from Held they were so soft and supple that they took minimal breaking in. 
 
The 'Stint' Jacket

With Zip air vents on it, Kevlar stretch panels and a mesh liner I've found this Jacket very comfortable this Summer. Last Winter I also wore it with some waterproofs over the top which did the trick in terms of keeping out the wind.

I've slipped a SAS-TEC protector in the back and love the fact that it's two piece- I can zip up the trousers to it for that one-piece feel, or mix it with some Held Crackerjack Kevlar
Jeans. Perfect for every ride!

Held 'Stint' black leather motorcycle Jacket - RRP £419.99

The 'Turn' trousers

Held 'Turn' black leather motorcycle trousers - RRP £349.99

The 'Turn' trousers zip nicely to the Jacket and also have Kevlar stretch panels in the places you need them most. This also allows a very pleasant flow of air to, well, areas that benefit from a flow of air ;)

Here's the official pics of the two items: 

 Summary

Great fit, exceptional comfort, plenty of SAS-TEC protection built in, the ability to mix n' match with other gear, the feeling of a one-piece when zipped up and the 'character' to blend in nicely with any style of bike. I've covered a few thousand miles in them so far and I love 'em!

Blood Bikes Manchester recruiting tomorrow!!

Blood Bikes Manchester will be hosting a volunteer rider recruitment day on 31 August 12-4pm at: 

Inner Circle Training
Meyer Street,
Stockport 
SK3 8JE.

Blood Bikes Manchester has been operating for three years, making free deliveries of urgent blood, samples, medication, records and donor breast milk to NHS hospitals and other health charities such as St Ann's Hospice. It's manned by volunteers who are out every night, weekends and bank holidays clocking up the miles on their purpose-designed fleet of blood bikes and saving about £145,000 for the hospitals they support.

www.bloodbikesmanchester.co.uk

Held Racer News: Cadwell Park and Jesse Trayler

TRAYLER AND MSS COLCHESTER KAWASAKI ENDURE CHALLENGING CADWELL

held wearer Jesse Trayler and the MSS Colchester Kawasaki team had one of their most challenging weekends of the season so far in the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship at Cadwell Park last weekend.

Trayler and the MSS Colchester Kawasaki team had high hopes for the Lincolnshire circuit, but a tough qualifying session put him down the grid and fighting back. The Essex-based contender was moving back through the field, before a crash ended his run.

Trayler said: “After a successful test at Cadwell a couple weeks ago I was really confident going into the weekend that we could score a top result. Unfortunately this wasn't to be and I was hampered all weekend with bike problems, so I only managed five laps in Q1 and didn't even make it out for Q2. It really left us on the back foot and I started a low 28th on the grid.

“I got another belter of a start again on the restart after a red flag. After three laps I had climbed up to 13th and started to close a group of riders down! Sadly though my bad luck wasn't done for and I had a huge highside at Charlies.

“I'd like to say a massive thank you to my team and everyone that helped all through Saturday trying to get the bike running properly, especially to Nick Morgan who just didn't give in and also to Richard from Dyno jet that runs the BSB Dyno. Also my dad that always makes things possible. It just wasn't to be this weekend and now we just need to regroup, put the weekend behind us and crack on with getting ready for Oulton Park now.”

If you want to learn more about Held in the UK 

please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Held Race News: Joe Burns, Thruxton, National Superstock 1000

Joe Burns - Race Report Thruxton, (Round seven)

Only one week ago Joe Burns came on board with IN Competiton Racing to compete on our new Aprilia RSV4RF in the Pirelli Superstock 1000 class in the British Superbike Bike series. We are absolutely delighted with Joe’s performance this weekend. 

Joe Burns, National Superstock 1000. Photo: Chris Brown, @visordownphoto

He came out strong from the beginning, leading FP1 most of the way only dropping to second on the last lap. Unfortunately qualifying didn't go so well meaning Joe had to start from 14th on the grid. 

During the race he was as far back as 15th but he battled hard and put in a great second half of the race to finish a very credible 7th position and was only 0.3 seconds off the fastest lap of the race, this is a fantastic achievement considering the small amount of time he has had on the bike. 

We would like to say a big thank you to everyone that has helped get us out this weekend, special mention to Edward Allingham, Ian Newton, Adrian Gorst, Dave Lewis, Ruairi Grimes and of course our sponsors that have come on board with this new project. Really looking forward to Cadwell Park to see what progress we can make!

To learn more about Held motorcycle gear in the UK, including a list of UK stockists and an online catalogue please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Held Race News: Trayler climbs the standings to 4th!

TRAYLER MOVES UP THE STANDINGS WITH MSS COLCHESTER KAWASAKI

Held wearer Jesse Trayler overcame one of his toughest rounds on the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship calendar at Thruxton to claim a hard-fought eighth place and move up to fourth place in the overall standings.

Superb season for MSS Colchester Kawasaki rider Jesse Trayler

Trayler and the MSS Colchester Kawasaki team had a challenging start to their weekend before qualifying on the fifth row of the grid, but this didn't faze the Essex-based contender and he delivered one of his best performances of the season to fight through to eighth place.

Trayler said: “Thruxton for me, I knew was going to be tough after struggling to find any pace at all there last year. So this weekend I knew I just had to be realistic. After a bit of a disappointing end to qualifying in 15th I knew I had work to do and it was just a case of salvage operation and try push through for some points! I knew my race pace was going to be better and actually the times weren't far off and I was only 0.9 off pole! 

"I got another good start which helped then I got a bit beaten up and pushed back mid-race. Come the end though I'd managed my tyre well and a gaggle of riders in front started to come back to me and I successfully passed them to come home in eighth and push myself one place forward into fourth in the championship! So a job well done I think come the end of the weekend at Thruxton! 

"I would like to say a massive than you to the guys at MSS Performance, Colchester Kawasaki, Linxcel, Leonard Brookes, Held Leathers and Shark helmets for their support for this season and also to a few other individuals that have kept faith in me and helped me progress this year especially."

If you'd like to learn more about Held in the UK, including an online catalogue and a list of UK stockists please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Held Race News: Podium for Tom Weeden at Olivers Mount

Tom Weeden Olivers Mount Cock o’ the North 2015

Tom Weeden was back in action last weekend at the Olivers Mount Cock o’ the North road races in Scarborough. After a successful week at the North West 200 back in May, Weeden couldn’t wait to get back on the bike and back to the Olivers Mount circuit. Unfortunately the meeting had to be reduced to one day due to an issue with the Scarborough council; despite this the team still made the long journey up in order to get some track time before the Manx GP in August.

Tom Weeden: 3rd behind Lee Johnston and Dean Harrison

The rain came down heavily on Sunday morning, much to Tom’s delight after his success in wet conditions at the Spring Cup. After the first few groups had gone out for morning practice the rain started to come down too hard to continue. The organisers decided to call a delay of an hour for the rain to pass with Weeden’s 600 session being the first back on track. 

As forecasted the rain died down after an hour and Tom was out for the 3 laps of practice he would get to reacquaint himself with both the bike and the track before qualifying. Weeden took it easy in the wet conditions, short shifting and not taking any risks and was pleasantly surprised to see himself 4th fastest on the timesheets.

The track had begun to dry for qualifying and it would all be down to tyre choice. The nature of the Olivers Mount circuit meant parts of the track would be dry but the parts under the trees would still be wet. After a lot of nail biting and deliberation on what tyres to go for, Tom decided to go for an intermediate in the front and a heavily worn wet rear that he didn’t mind destroying which had been saved for a moment exactly like this. 

The call proved to be perfect with Tom taking two laps to get used to the tricky conditions without using up too much of the rear tyre on the dry parts. Then on the 4th and final lap Tom found himself a bit of space on track and put a quick lap in fast enough for 3rd position on the grid, 2.2 seconds faster than 4th position and only 1 second off of pole. 

The track had mostly dried up for the first 600cc race, full dry tyres being the choice for all on the grid. Tom’s once trademark flying starts have been something he’s been missing this year so he was hoping to at least consolidate third position into turn 1 front the front row. Unfortunately this didn’t happen, Weeden dropt to 7th into turn 1 after getting beaten up a bit off the line. He moved into 6th halfway through the lap but the front pack had begun to pull away. At the end of the first lap the red flags came out due to an incident that needed clearing, giving Tom another chance to sort his start out. 

The start was better in the rerun but still far from perfect, Weeden was in 6th but this time right on the tail of the chasing pack. On lap 2 he moved into 5th when a rider in front crashed causing Tom to take evasive action. The race continued and Weeden found himself behind Daley Mathison trying everything to find a way past. On the last lap Daley showed Tom half a gap at the end of the back straight and he didn’t need asking twice to come through into 4th. With half a lap to go Ivan Lintin had an off in front of Tom leaving him to take 3rd position. 

This boded well for the remainder of the meeting in which Tom had one more 600 race and then the main Cock o’ the North race. Unfortunately though an incident in which a sidecar spilt oil over a large proportion of the track caused a lengthy delay. Despite even getting the fire brigade to come and clean the circuit it was deemed too unsafe to continue due to the amount of oil covering the circuit. On a road circuit with very limited run off rider safety has to paramount and we respect the unfortunate decision to have to call an early end to an already shortened meeting. 

Looking at the positives Weeden can go to the Manx GP with himself and his bike in one piece and on the back of another great podium result at Olivers Mount. 

If you'd like to learn more about Held Motorcycle gear in the UK please visit www.held-uk.co.uk for a list of UK stockists and our online catalogue

Held Race News: Trayler 2nd at Brands

TRAYLER CELEBRATES PODIUM FINISH FOR MSS COLCHESTER KAWASAKI 

Jesse Trayler celebrated his first podium finish of his 2015 Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship at his home round of Brands Hatch last weekend, claiming a hard-fought second place, missing out on the win by just 0.0678s.

Jesse Trayler celebrates 2nd place

Jesse had got off to a flying start from the second row of the grid and was posting consistent times to hold third as ahead of him the leading pair in the standings, Alastair Seeley and Josh Elliot were scrapping for the lead. This gave Jesse the opportunity he needed and he closed the deficit over the closing laps and in a position to pick up the pieces.

Jesse was determined to hold on to his podium finish and looked set to claim third until Elliot crashed out on the final corner, promoting him to second place for his first podium finish of the season.

Trayler said: “We have been building up some good momentum leading up to Brands Hatch GP at the previous two rounds with good results. The weekend got off to a good start in practice and after qualifying fifth on the grid we knew we had a good pace for the race on Sunday. Myself and Mike at K-Tech worked really well to get the handling better after each session with just a few changes over the weekend, and for the race the bike was really consistent the whole way through.

Jesse Trayler on his way to second in the National Superstock 1000

“I got another good start and was up into fourth. The first few laps were banzai with some really strong lap times coming straight away. I was happy to hold third place strongly the whole way through unbeknown to me that I actually had a big gap over fourth come the end when I kept seeing +0 on the pit board!

“The last few laps were exciting as Alastair (Seeley) and Josh (Elliot) started to come back to me and I was catching them at quite a rate due to them tripping one another up battling for the lead. It was just out of reach for me on the final lap to be in a position to do anything about them and I think it was just as well I kept my nose clean with Josh sadly crashing out on the final corner on the last lap.

“We have been in the top five the past two meetings and it was so nice to finally top it off this weekend with a strong finish and my first podium in the Superstock 1000 class for MSS Colchester Kawasaki. It is so nice to repay everyone with this result for their hard work and commitment to get to this level now and be up the front, and I feel I can continue to do so.”

If you'd like to see more about Held in the UK, including our online catalogue and a list of stockists please visit www.held-uk.co.uk