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Best
Motorcycle Products of 2009
The 5th Annual webBikeWorld.com
Motorcycle Product of the Year Awards
January 1, 2010 (The Editor) - Happy New Year
and new decade! Best wishes to all of our visitors, contributors and
affiliates for a happy, healthy, joyous and prosperous
2010!
It's become a New Year's Day tradition to announce our
Product of the Year awards for the year just ended.
This is the 5th version of the awards and with the start
of a new decade, well, all I can say is that time
certainly does fly!
Each year at this time we pick our favorite
motorcycle products and accessories from all of the
interesting gear we reviewed in the prior year.
The criteria hasn't changed and it's just as simple: We
pick what we like. This is a subjective exercise with no
science involved -- just emotion. You may or may
not agree, and that's perfectly fine -- it's the nature
of an opinion. Everybody's got one.
Except, this year, you can vote on your own choice!
2009 wasn't a banner year for new motorcycle
products. The worldwide economic conditions are
probably the major cause and in general, we have to say
that there just weren't very many breakthrough products
in 2009 compared to the other award years.
The webBikeWorld.com Motorcycle
Product of the Year Awards are designed to give
recognition to
those products which, in our opinion, combine the most
unique, interesting and useful features, along with the best value,
to make them leaders in their class.
The categories change from year to year, depending
upon the products we've reviewed.
A Brief Look Back at 2009
As always, webBikeWorld wouldn't be what it is without
the evaluators and writers who have contributed much of
the knowledge and content on the website. The variety of opinions and the
excellent communication and photographic skills are what
make webBikeWorld.com so popular.
Also, the experience of webBikeWorld visitors and
your excellent and detailed feedback very much helps to
enhance each article. I have to say that
webBikeWorld has the best user feedback anywhere, with
thoughtful and useful insight that really does help
other riders.
The old-fashioned email-based system we use for our
Reader Comments and Owner Feedback section in each
review may seem clumsy compared to an instant feedback
form. But the system works -- it keeps out the
snipers who add no value to the discussion. The
readers who will take the time necessary to compose and
send an email have the motivation and knowledge to
provide the excellent feedback that can help others.
This year we received over 5 million unique visitors from
233 countries and territories around the world who read
15.5 million webBikeWorld pages and we served 8.336
terabytes of information -- think about that for a
minute!
And this was -- knock wood -- without a single minute
of downtime, thanks to
Liquid Web,
our fantastic web services provider located in Michigan.
Support
webBikeWorld.com
All this costs a lot of money, and I also thank all of
our visitors for supporting webBikeWorld through your
purchases at
Motorcycle Superstore,
RevZilla,
British Motorcycle Gear and
Amazon.com.
Please continue to use our affiliate links to
purchase your gear through them because this is what
maintains the site. They are highly respected
retailers who have liberal return policies, outstanding
customer service and international shipments.
webBikeWorld
Charitable Support
Your support also means that we
can continue to provide funding to
our
favorite charities. We're very proud of this
program and thankful for our ability to help others.
I'm very pleased to announce that we donated a total of
$4,089.50 in 2009, plus £300.00 to UK-based charities.
Since 2003, we are proud to announce that we have donated
a total of $30,547.35 to worldwide charities plus £2,725.00
to the Royal Blind Organisation in the UK and another $2,600.00
to Kiva.org!
And don't forget: as usual, I'll be bringing you a
ringside view of the latest
and greatest products for 2010 from the annual Powersports
Dealer Expo in Indianapolis in February,
so stay tuned for the webBikeWorld.com live reports from
that show.
From all of us to all of you, best wishes for a
healthy and prosperous 2010!
Rick Korchak
webBikeWorld.com Editor
► webBikeWorld.com
2009 Motorcycle Product of the Year Awards
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webBikeWorld.com
2009 Motorcycle Helmet of the Year
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Nolan N43 "Air"
webBikeWorld readers have been clamoring for
years for a good hot-weather helmet and the
Nolan N43 "Air" (review) delivers.
It offers modern styling and a breakthrough
design with a very unique top venting system
that actually "sucks" air up through the
helmet to keep the rider's head cool.
The N43 fits our definition of a true
modular helmet. It has a removable
chin bar that makes it a virtual "6-in-1"
helmet. It's surprisingly quiet; it
has an excellent surface finish with a
"hard" clear coat; an internal sun visor;
rubber grip surfaces on the moving parts and
lots more.
Note that the N43 Air is ECE-approved only
and sold only in Europe. The U.S.
version, the
N43 Trilogy (review), has a completely
different top venting system and is not our
2009 Motorcycle Helmet of the Year.
Overall, the N43 Air is definitely a
breakthrough design that really works.
And, it's affordable! (Nominated By: Burn).
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webBikeWorld.com
2009 Motorcycle Clothing of the Year
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Falco "Podium" Gloves
We reviewed many gloves in 2009 but the
Falco "Podium" Gloves (review) were the
standout. The leather is unlike
anything we've ever seen -- or felt -- in a
pair of motorcycle gloves.
We have no idea how they make the leather so
soft, but they sure are comfortable...and
the price is right!
The Podium gloves offer the perfect
compromise of safety, fit, comfort and
protection for street and sport riding and
they are our pick for Motorcycle Apparel of
the Year. (Nominated By: Rick). |
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webBikeWorld.com
2009 Women's Motorcycle Clothing of the Year
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Scorpion Savannah Pants (Tie)
Scorpion didn’t sacrifice safety for
style with these low-rise textile and mesh
riding pants.
CE-approved hip and knee
armor, thigh adjustability, warm and cool
weather versatility, and a competitive price
make the
Scorpion Savannah Pants (review) a
must-have item!
Scorpion Elektra Jacket (Tie)
Scorpion hit the bulls-eye with the
Scorpion Elektra Jacket (reivew). It is a beautiful
armored leather jacket specifically sized
for women, with adjustability
through the bust, waist, and hip to fit a
wide range of shapes and sizes up to 3W.
A
full-sleeved, insulated liner takes it from
warm days to cool nights. Get one
before they’re gone! (Nominated by: S.G.). |
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webBikeWorld.com
2009 Motorcycle Tool of the Year
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Clearwater "Andie" LED Flashlight
Super bright, super build quality, a
spare battery and a dual recharger make this
one a winner.
The
Clearwater "Andie" LED Flashlight (review)
is a real beast -- you'll be amazed at how
bright this baby is!
It's perfect for the garage, on the road,
in the house...trust us, you need one!
(Nominated By: Burn). |
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webBikeWorld.com
2009 Motorcycle Accessory of the Year
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BikeVis "Bullet" LED Visibility Lights
We knew that the
BikeVis Bullet LED lights (review) would
be a contender as soon as we first turned
them on.
These inexpensive and (relatively) easy to
install LEDs put out an amazing amount of
light for their size and they can make any
motorcycle more visible to oncoming traffic
-- always a good thing!
(Nominated By: "Mad Dog" Earle). |
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webBikeWorld.com
2009 Motorcycle Intercom of the Year
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BikerCom Communications
System (review)
Our intrepid reviewer from the Great
White North, H.B.C., did a yeoman's job this
year, writing an incredible 9 detailed
articles and reviews about motorcycle
intercoms. This is a huge effort,
especially considering that each intercom
system was evaluated on a long-distance
journey!
He's currently evaluating even more
intercom systems, but in the meantime, HBC
picks the
BikerCom System (review) as a Bluetooth
winner.
This is a hybrid system, and not perfect,
but a product that shows what technology and
innovation can produce and where it is all
going in a very positive sense.
What it lacks in total portability it
makes up in versatility and flexibility,
especially when multiple peripherals are
needed or desired for riding use.
Customer support has been outstanding. |
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webBikeWorld.com
2009 Overall Motorcycle Product of the Year:
Reader's Choice
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Poll
Results
Lots of attempted scamming
going on here by some pranksters who
apparently thought I wasn't going to notice
several hundred votes from the same IP
address! We started out with 810 votes
and ended up with 385 after I deleted the
repeat votes that came from the same IP
address (which isn't supposed to happen,
I'll have to talk to the PollDaddy folks).
Here's the breakdown:
| BikeVis LED Lights |
165 |
| Falco Podium Gloves |
121 |
| Nolan N43 Air |
58 |
| Other |
18 |
| BikerCom Intercom System |
17 |
| Clearwater LED Flashlight |
13 |
| Scorpion Elektra Jacket |
3 |
| Scorpion Savannah Pants |
3 |
So the BikeVis LED Lights
won the webBikeWorld Reader's Choice Award
for Overall Motorcycle Product of the Year
for 2009! Congratulations and thanks
everyone (who wasn't a scammer!) for your
support! |
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