#ixs

Many, many moons ago, I club raced for five years, and one of my favorite stories from that era involves a high-speed crash in Turn 7 of the big track at Willow Springs. Every Saturday, at the end of the day, expert riders had the chance to sign up for practice starts. Novice racers had these required as part of their school day. So, on the first of the practice starts, during the warmup lap, where we’re trying to get heat in the tires, a novice racer commits the cardinal sin of abruptly chopping his throttle on the back straight where everyone is WFO heading for the ultra-fast Turn 8. He went from motoring away from me on his much larger displacement bike to essentially dropping a high-compression anchor. The result was that I barely had time to cut my throttle before I plowed into him.

Riders on the European side of the pond are probably more familiar with the Swiss manufacturer iXS Motorcycle Fashion Apparel than those in the American market. However, don’t let the word fashion in the company name fool you. iXS produces motorcycle gear ranging from technical undergarments to race-ready one-piece leathers and everything in between. Since the company is looking to expand its presence stateside, the timing was perfect to sample part of the iXS vintage line of leather jackets. To my eye, the Flagstaff looked to provide an ideal balance between retro styling and real-world protection.