The rest of the VX-Pro3 is relatively unchanged. The liner is superb in fit and dismantling for easy cleaning. There are, however, some permanent pads inside that take a bit of effort to clean around. All external visor screws remain plastic which, by design, break when the visor is pulled or pushed upon impact-an extremely good thing. This year, with its expanded rider replicas, the company is stepping up its game in the looks department, too.
What we really think about when we put on a helmet are safety and confidence. And every one of us feels that when wearing an Arai, we're wearing the Cadillac of helmets. -Jesse Ziegler
| Gear | 95.0 |
| Style | 18/20 |
| Comfort | 10/10 |
| Function | 50/50 |
| Wash/care | 9/10 |
| Price | 8/10 |
| www.araiamericas.com |
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AMP
Bed X-Tender
If there is one thing on my truck that I can't live without, it's my AMP Bed X-Tender. OK, I need my loading ramp, too, but the Bed X-Tender makes it a cinch to fit two or three dirt bikes, a cooler, gas cans, chairs and overloaded gear bags into my truck as if I had a long bed, without worries about having things fall out the back. AMP (www.amp-research.com; 888.983.2206) makes them to fit about every truck known to man, and it's not only functional in the bed, either. It is lightweight and sturdy, and in years of use we haven't seen a failure from it yet. Mine has seen plenty of service as a make-shift chair or a bench. I have a small sheet of plywood in the back of the truck at all times, and the bed extender can safely play the legs of my plywood table. Often it is used as a step into the bed of the truck. And when I'm running errands with the tailgate closed, it is a nice partition to keep stuff from tumbling around the bed of the truck, especially during spirited driving.
The extender takes about an hour or so to install, and the standard latching method involves dropping in the X-Tender into its pivot points and clipping a retaining strap into the tailgate latch. One of the new improvements is a lever release at the pivot point attachments at the side of the bed that allows installation or removal from any angle, unlike the older version that had to be at nearly 90 degrees to slide into the catch. Now the side posts will drop and clip in easily, especially handy if the bike's rear fender or license plate is in the way of getting the X-Tender up to 90 degrees to install. In reality, $374.03 isn't much to pay for an upgrade to a long-bed truck ($415.64 for Ford applications that use a special bracket kit), especially when it can be shortened back up to a regular bed instantly. -Jimmy Lewis
F2 Racing
KTM EXC PowerBack Kit
If you have attempted four-stroke jetting, you know why riders will pay to dodge that bullet, especially riders aiming at closed-course competition with their off-road or dual-sport bikes. The PowerBack kit from F2 Racing is complete and well developed through extensive on-bike testing with multiple computerized sensors aboard. The complete KTM EXC kit for both the 450 and 525 come with jets, a custom needle, a vent-hose check valve, carb-side and radiator-bottom heat reflecting tape and instructions to relocate the horn! F2's testing showed an 11-degree drop in coolant temps. The suggested jet sizes are another sign that this is not simply a copycat jet kit.