The Plaintiff series of sunglasses by Oakley are designed to be a modern take on the age-old aviator design, Oakley set about creating their own aviator using state-of-the-art materials like titanium hinges, leaf-spring stems designed to flex rather than snap, an 8.75 base curvature, lightweight C-5™ alloy frames and Iridium® coated lenses.
In the formative years of motor racing, no gentlemen would be caught dead in his automobile without his leather helmet, goggles and trusty driving gloves. Fortunately, companies that still produce these items still exist and as the above pictured gloves attest, they haven’t lost an ounce of style over the passing decades.
The Speedy Bike Club Tee comes from Twin Six and is available in 5 sizes for $22 USD.
Ariat have been making riding boots since 1993, their footwear is well known for having a retro look with much more modern performance characteristics. They’re an established world leader in equestrian boots but their motorcycle boots are extremely good as well, this model is called the Rambler and features a distressed leather upper and a Duratread outsole.
The Chronograph Modern XL watch by Maurice de Mauriac is a Le Mans inspired timepiece featuring a titanium case, a sapphire crystal face and…
The 301 sunglasses by Tom’s Eyewear are the sort of thing I picture a Cary Grant wearing whilst driving a convertible with a bescarved Hepburn in the passenger seat. With walnut-wood temples, a choice of hand-painted colours and Made-in-Italy quality make them an easy addition to the face.
Dime City Cycles is a one stop shop for anyone building or restoring a café racer or retro/vintage motorcycle, they literally sell everything a bike builder might need, including threads like this Café Racer Tee.
Premier Helmets is an Italy based company producing some nice, less common, boutique designs. All their helmets are ECE rated (read more on that here) and this particular model is moulded from carbon fibre. Featuring a flip-down visor (with either a smoked or tinted finish), the helmet looks a lot like something you’d find on the head of an Apache chopper pilot.
California based Xetum Watches produce some very interesting timepieces, the relatively new company uses modern, American designs and powers them with ETA 2824-2 Swiss…
I’m convinced that if I had a pair of Tractor Skis and a Colt 45 I could take over most of Canada in less than a week.
These leather and canvas briefacases/courier bags from Deus Ex Machina are perfect for those days you need carry more than your cellphone, helmet and keys, they’re big enough to carry up to a 17″ MacBook Pro and they come with detachable shoulder straps.
The Serpico range by Smith Optics falls into the retro aviator catagory, not a bad thing nowadays as many new sunglass-styles leave you looking like a surprised, futuristic bumblebee. Smith uses carbonic lenses (it’s a hard polycarbonite, not glass) to avoid the risk of getting broken glass thrust into your delicate eyeballs should you perform an accidental dismount off of whatever it is you were riding.
