Retro-vibes from the top of the world :: Bell's Moto III
When I signed up for a 6 day ride through the Indian Himalayas, it became really clear that I had some gaps in my riding gear that I was going to need to address. Given the range of terrain, variations of altitude, and general unknown aspects of the trip, I had to dive deep into catalogs of ADV suits, boots, and other gear.
We were going to have a chase truck with most of our belongings, but were planning on 4-8 hour days on bikes, at altitudes up to 14,500 feet above sea level, with water crossings, unpaved roads, and lots of dust. That said, unlike Charlie and Ewan, our trip wasn’t planned around using modern bikes, but on Royal Enfield Bullet 500’s. So a full kit of the latest gear would have looked a little off.
Enter, Chris Killen and the Bell Moto III: I had been reading about Bell’s move to re-issue the Moto III and even seen a few advance pictures. Needless to say, I was super interested. In a guerilla marketing move, Chris, and Sasha Valentine of CafeRacerXXX, planned to outfit our entire group in Moto III’s. Giving Bell some great photo ops for their new lid and all of us a little retro styling for the all-important mountaintop Instagram posts.
Growing up reading Dirt Bike Magazine in the early 80’s, the Moto III conjured up mental images of Bob ‘Hurricane’ Hannah and his famous lightning bolt stickers. Although there were better technical options for our trip, I was excited to get my hands on an advance prototype to see how it felt. When the helmet arrived, I put it on and was stoked on how comfortable and quiet it was. Oh, and it looked cool AF w sunglasses or vintage style goggles.
Even though the Himalayan terrain was crazy, our riding on the trip was at a pretty mellow pace. I never had to truly test the helmet with a crash. But with DOT and ECE certification, you get two (of three) helmet certifications in a helmet priced at under $400. And, although the look of a helmet should never be the primary determining factor, it definitely doesn’t hurt that the Moto III is easily the coolest looking retro-styled helmet on the market today.
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