Dainese has opened its second store in North
America (first in Costa Mesa, CA) in San Francisco, where Dudley Perkins
Harley Davidson used to be before they moved to Daly City. http://www.dainese.
com/eng/locator/index.asp
Helimot is the place to go for Daytona boots and custom
fit leathers. Helimot is owned by a lovely woman by the name of Linda,
who recognized the need for women to have leathers (1 and 2-piece) and
boots that properly fit a woman's body. Helimot is heavily recognized in
the Bay Area as the place to go for a custom fit leather suit. Linda, if
you're reading this, THANKS for my
Ladystars!! I love them!!
RoadRider has a large selection of women's gear as well. In the South Bay, they're definitely
a great place with a wide selection to choose from. The staff is always
helpful, and the customer service is top notch. Tell Ryan I sent you!
Scuderia is a very knowledgable motorcycle
shop located in San Francisco. They are the #1 Aprilia dealer in all of
the US and have an extremely knowledgable and friendly staff. And I'm
not just saying that because I work there part time. But mainly
because I'd been a customer for 3 years up until I was given the
privilege of working with the fabulous apparel department. I also say
this because most of the staff who know about gear are *gasp* women! And
they ride! It's because of their staff that I applied to work at
Scuderia. They carry brands such as Vanson, Revit, Dainese,
RS Taichi, Racer and
Olympia.
SF Moto sells new and used motorcycles and scooters! They are also the
exclusive dealer of ScooterGirls' GoGoGear for women. I've also
seen Teiz Motorsports gear, along
with a few other brands that you may not see at other stores in SF. Please
tell the owner Eric I sent you!
SFSC is the exclusive dealer for Corazzo Scooter and Motorcycle gear.
They carry Genuine Scooter Co. scooters and seem to specialize in selling
used, vintage Vespas and Lambrettas. If you're lucky, you might be able
to sweet talk the owner into letting you see his vintage lambretta collection.
Tell Barry I sent you!
"It is T.A.D. Gear's objective
to design and produce the world's finest apparel and equipment for the
wilderness, travel, exploration, professional field applications, or
whatever challenging context the user chooses." Check out my recent
blog post about them here.
Right adjacent to the cafe is MotoJava,
which I believe came first. Joe and Paul know how to treat a woman with
respect when talking to you about bikes and most importantly, they know
how to treat your bike! We've purchased three bikes from
MotoJava. I highly recommend seeing them if you're looking for a used
bike in pristine condition. They often get 250-600c bikes that often
have very low miles and of course, a million point (ok, maybe not a
million, but a lot of points!) inspection from top to bottom.
"US Motorcycle Rentals has the best selection of motorcycles for rent in Northern California. We realize that not everybody wants to ride a Harley Davidson therefore we proudly offer a superior selection of both American and Metric motorcycles, scooters and dirt bikes. Our rental fleet features the latest motorcycles from Harley-Davidson®, BMW, KTM, Honda, Hyosung, Kawasaki and Yamaha. All of our Harley Davidson motorcycles have Stage One performance upgrades and additional safety improvements to ensure you have a fun and safe rental experience."
Well of course I want you to check out my forums! The only motorcycle
forums totally dedicated to talking about gear. Every motorcycle
forum I've ever visited usually has a classified section for selling gear.
Why not create a forum totally dedicated to the issues we all face as
riders?
BARF is a very active sportbike forum for riders
living in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Aside from talking about
all things moto, everyone believes in being a safe, responsible and well
educated rider. Ask anyone if they think a GSXR1000 is a good starter
bike and you'll get a million resounding NO's and many recommendations
to take your MSF class before starting out. If you live in the Bay
Area, you need to get your butt on BARF! You can find me posting as
MrsPeebles.
Cycle Angels is a fairly active
forum for women riding sportbikes. There's a great variety of women of
all ages, riding all kinds of bikes. You'll find smart women riding
street, track and dirt too! You can find me posting as MrsPeebz.
City Bike was the first motorcycle newspaper in San Francisco.
Check out their bike reviews and stories about all things moto. I've also been
asked to contribute a couple of articles as of March 2010, and will post those
as soon as I have electronic copies.
Urban Moto is a great motorcycle newspaper available at various
dealers and shops around the Bay Area. They even do an
annual women's issue once a year.
Carla is an amazing woman who has been riding for many years. She's practically
ridden all over the world. She even wrote a book about traveling around the US
on her Ural. If you want to know more about riding abroad or getting into
adventure travel, go see Carla and tell her I sent you.
Side Stand Up is a weekly motorcycle podcast show, broadcasting
live every Tuesday at 4pm Pacific. Log on the first Tuesday of
each month to hear me give my Gear related reviews, tips and more!
The WMF is an amazing organization founded by my friends Sue Slate and Gin Shear, in order
to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer Research. Together, they've ridden almost 2 million
miles to work for the cause. I've been lucky enough to work with them at the IMS several years
in a row now, and am amazed at how much they've accomplished in the motorcycling world.
More resources for women riders! Founded by Genevieve Schmitt, WRN puts out a monthly
newsletter as well, with the latest and greatest news and information from the motorcycling
industry.
