Every year we make the trek to frigid Indianapolis to pick out what’s cool for the upcoming riding season. With the Spring fast approaching, we’ve scoured North America’s largest Motorcycle Show to bring you our picks for 2009…
CycleTRAK

On the surface, this gadget may not sound all that interesting, but when you start to find out more about what it can do - you begin to think that this may be necessity for every rider. The cigarette pack sized CycleTRAK, powered by MicroTRAKgps, doesn’t come cheap. At $699 with a $14.95 per month service fee, this might be one of the most expensive accessories you invest in.
Here’s what the CycleTRAK does - install the black box on your bike, activate it and create your account on their website, and you’re immediately able to track your bike’s movements Online through CycleTRAK’s Mapquest driven interface.
The CycleTRAK reports satellite delivered GPS data back to their data center using a high-powered cellular transmitter embedded in the unit. Currently enabled for North America only, the CycleTRAK allows you to retrace your bike’s route history online, and of course pinpoint your ride’s location in the event that it’s stolen either online, or by phoning their 24/7 North American call center.
That’s not the cool part (in our opinion). What’s significant is that the unit features a built in bike-down sensor. In the unlikely event of a crash, the CycleTRAK will report back to their call center that your bike has gone down. The call center staff will first attempt to contact you – then, if they are unable to do so, they will dispatch EMS to your exact location. If you ever ride on your own, in the canyons or in the twisties, you will appreciate that this feature could be a lifesaver.
You can find out more about CycleTRAK and their product by visiting their website at
www.microtrakgps.com
R.I.S. Designs Clear Fuel Cap
This machined, clear fuel cap from California based custom component manufacturer R.I.S. Designs lets you look inside your tank and see the gas sloshing around. We thought it was cool because we’d never seen anything like this before, plus we always wondered what sloshing gas looked like.
This cap will impress and amaze your friends and provide you with hours of gasoline-sloshing-watching entertainment.
You can find out more at
www.risdesigns.com
Arai’s Corsair-V Helmet
Premium helmet manufacturer Arai debuted this helmet at the MotoGP in Indianapolis last summer. Hitting store shelves now, the new Corsair-V continues to improve upon the already stunning top-notch quality all Arai helmets deliver. The Corsair-V is an Intermediate Oval fit, and features increased use of their patented venturi along with an adjustable rear wing for those of you who race. The helmet is almost infinitely configurable with varying sizes of cheek pads and inner linings. A featherweight, the Corsair-V also sports a lower center of gravity due to it’s wider opening and bottom bead, as well as an enlarged view port for increased peripheral vision.
Delivering hand-made craftsmanship, unbeatable safety (and a high price tag) – the new Corsair-V continues to live up to the Arai standards for excellence and quality.
The new Corsair is available in solids as well as several graphic patterns including a few matte finish patterns, and some of the hottest racer replicas.
You can find out more by visiting Arai’s new website at
www.araiamericas.com
Chatterbox Bluetooth XBi2
Over the last three years, we’ve been bombarded with requests to check out various Bluetooth bike-to-bike systems, and to date, every one of them has failed to deliver any performance that we could recommend to you. For the third year in a row, the biggest disappointment for us has been the Scala Rider, who do not accurately point out the unit’s many shortcomings, including overall poor fit and fishing, build quality, lack of a replaceable battery, and most importantly, the inability for the newest Scala to communicate with more than one motorcycle at a time.
We were pleasantly surprised – excited in fact, to come across Chatterbox’s XBi2 – new for 2009. Featuring a replaceable battery, a resealable waterproof casing made out of ABS plastic – Chatterbox claims they put it through a 24 hour shower test & we’ll have to verify that for you – as well as offering claimed full duplex simultaneous communication between up to 3 motorcycles over a 500+ meter range, it looks like we may finally have a winner in this accessories segment.
The XBi2 can also pair with 2 more devices, including the ability to stream full digital audio in stereo. According to Chatterbox you can pair with a radar detector, a Garmin - then pair your cell phone to the Garmin and stream music through it as well, and still carry on a conversation between three riders.
Sounds cool – and we’ll let you know just how well it works later in the season.
The XBi2 will retail for $229 and will be available in stores later this spring. More info at
www.chatterboxusa.com
Ancra Reverse Ratcheting Strap
Tie down pioneers Ancra have released their newly patented reverse ratcheting tie down. The tie down features a carabiner style heat treated anchor with a 3000lb load rating, as well as a new ratchet design allowing you to slowly release tension on the strap.
We needed this a long time ago!
Check out Ancra and their products at
www.ancra.com
Vance & Hines CS ONE Sportbike Exhaust Systems
Exhaust giant Vance & Hines is re-entering the Sportbike market after taking a break to focus on making Harley pipes. New for ‘09 is the CS ONE series exhaust, with fitments for most major sportbikes. Available in black ceramic or polished stainless finish, the new pipes will be available at stores near you soon.
www.vanceandhines.com
Brocks Performance TiWinder
Weighing in at just under five pounds for the FULL system, Brocks Performance's patent pending hand crafted titanium sidewinder, dubbed the TiWinder ™, features fantastic build quality, and to be honest we just cant get over how light this full system is.
Available soon, the system will retail for $1895 and you can order it online from
www.brocksperformance.com.
Also new for 2009 is Brocks CT Series Dual Canister Carbon Tip Full Titanium Exhaust System with fitments available for the Hayabusa, ZX-14 and other models. This full system will fit the bill if you’re a racer, or if you like the twisties. For everything in life, there’s Mastercard… good thing ‘cuz you’ll get stung for $2170 if you try to sneak one out the door. 2200 bones is peanuts compared to BST's kit (below)…
BST Carbon Fiber Wheels

Not new to the market and not new for ’09 – but big in the "drool my God that’s an amazing piece of gear" department - South Africa’s Black Stone TEk is reaching further in the USA with distribution through Brocks Performance. Featuring fitment for most sportbikes, BST’s wheels are works of art.
Now – if you have some extra tens of thousands lying around (yes – that’s TENS of thousands), you can call them up and grab a full carbon fiber frame for you bike as well. Not likely – at least not for us mere mortals.
If anyone wants to buy us some stuff from BST we’ll gladly accept the offer – please send carbon fiber wheels and frame, or simply deliver buckets of cash to our office in Anaheim and we’ll take it from there.
You can learn more about BST’s CF wheels and other cool and exotic parts by visiting their website at
www.blackstonetek.com
Area P Carbon Fiber Megaphone SLIP-ON

California’s Area P continues to expand its product line, and debuts what we’re told is the world’s first carbon fiber megaphone, available in a Large Straight-Cut Megaphone as well as a Small Slash-Cut version.
Area P tells us that their system is a universal fit application.
“It's something different that I personally have not see previously available in the market. We've thought about doing these for many, many years. The R&D program was intense with endless dyno runs, heat cycling, and 1000's of street miles to come up with the final product(s). Anyone familiar with performance carbon fiber testing (whether that be strength or heat) can attest to how demanding a detailed R&D program can be. You test to the point of failure, make changes, test again, etc, etc.... It's not easy or quick. Even after determining an agreeable resin temp spec, diligent final assembly of the megaphone is required to maintain critical tolerances and barriers.
On a lighter note - it would probably make an interesting set of photos if we showed the parts that were "binned" during the R&D process (including fire extinguishers...). No bikes or lives were lost. But hey, that's what R&D is all about. No shortcuts.
"Essentially, we are debuting these as universal mufflers. By that definition and logic, you can remove your existing muffler from brand XYZ, and install ours onto it. With the inlet sizes available, we can cover most existing mid-pipes on the market. Or you can cut your existing mid-pipe down for a shorter GP type length and install this for a more custom tailored style that meets your preference. And with our custom spec program, we can normally provide additional and/or different inlet sizes (and possibly lengths and/or bracket locations) at no extra charge on special order basis. We will be debuting these later on specific-fit applications. For now, we thought it may have a broader market appeal for those "custom-type" applications. We plan on having product/stock in April."
You can check them out at
www.areapnolimits.com
Source: Bikeland.org