Icon Hooligan Mesh Jacket - a review

Lately friends and family have been bombarding me with endless motorbike accident stories; and while I usually laugh these things off, a couple of them made me think about things a bit more. So much so, that I actually went out on the search for a jacket with a bit more protection than my trusted Loser Machine hoodie. What did I find? You ask, well the wife hooked me up for father’s day with a sweet Icon Hooligan Stealth Mesh Jacket.

like henry ford said, "you can have any color you want; as long as its black"

One of the main reasons that I haven’t worn a full on armour protected jacket is because they usually fit like shit. Most jackets seem to be made for 110 lb mini dudes, as they are cut super slim and short, while at the same time being bulked out so much at the shoulders that you look like an extra from Iron Man, wack. Additionally, i don’t dig on looking like Rossi while getting my morning coffee so I’ve been on the constant search for a well fitting leather or mesh piece.

Thankfully in the case of the Icon, the jacket fits more like a streetwear jacket rather than some wack street racing strait jacket. Additionally, the black on black, on black is clean and fits my favourite color profile: black on black. Yep, the jacket is shorter at the front than how I would like it, but the rest of the fit makes up for it, as it fits more like a hoodie than a classic motorcycle jacket. The jacket is also comes with a zip in/out liner which is pretty cool and makes the jacket great for a variety of weather. Speaking of weather, we are still experiencing weather that resembles March rather than mid June, so needless to say I have been riding the jacket with the liner zipped in all the time. The jacket is also loaded with padidng without looking like its loaded with padding (if you know what I mean) and fits nicely without making you look like you are trying out for a milli vanilli video.

Coming in at around $200 CDN, I would say that this jacket is definetley worth its price. Its packed with CE approved armour (even comes with a full back protector), vents amazingly well, and also looks more like something you could wear around town rather than only at your local bike meet. Yeah, i know some of the icon stuff is a little too Affliction styled, but this one is mellow and low key; Nice work icon.

gutted!

Rough night for my teams yesterday, le bleu plays a shit game and gets beaten handily by the Mexican team

bring back zidane!!
Plus those dastardly Lakers beat out the Celtics for the NBA championship; damn you! Hopefully Argentina keeps it together or I’ll have to boycott watching sports altogether

yep, ol KG looks unhappy in this pic, but admit it, Kevin Garnett is the best thing about the NBA right now.

The Glove

Back in the day, I used to really dig on the NBA and especially the New York Knicks. I’m talking the Starks, Anthony Mason, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson days; I loved it. During this time, one of the greatest shit talking defenders played the game for the beloved Seattle Sonics; Gary “the glove” Payton. Yeah, the glove played for a few different teams over the years, including the Lakers but to me he defined the Seattle Super Sonics at that time - as Seattle had some bangers, with Gary, Shaw Kemp and big smoof, Sam Perkins all on the team.

The Glove doin what he did best; crap talk

Now all these years later, my nephew Rajan is backin “the Glove” hard, and as the young buck just had surgery yesterday I thought I would throw out a Glove hype up post for him. dig it Rajan!

trash talkin the greatest player of all time, oh yes he did.

slash!

i've never been that into guns n' roses, yeah i know all the words to patience and a couple of other "hits" but they really weren't my thing; as Axl just seemed like a freak. While that was the case, i always thought that slash was the most interesting cat of the band. I remember seeing him on some awards show back in the day with duff drunk outta his mind and droppin F bombs all over the place; it was nuts.

here's the awards show in question. it was so much more crazy seeing this when i was in elementary school

fast forward a few years and i see slash doin some interviews here and there & despite his massive rock star status, i was impressed with how mellow and down to earth this dude seems to be. I then came across his biography (aptly names Slash) and thought i would pick it up after hearing some great things about it.

How was it you ask? well, if you ever wanted to know what caused the collapse of GnR, this book is a must read. Additionally, Slash talks about the start of the band, plus all the details of their debautchery; including downing a gallon of Vodka a day, oxycontin, speedballs, and a million other sordid tales of drug/booze binges that take the word excessive to another level. You also get to read about all the chicks, parties and life as a struggling rock star.

Overall, i digged the book. its funny, shocking and as real as it gets. Plus you get to understand what it takes to "make it" as one of the biggest bands in the world. If you're around, feel free to borrow my copy or if you are not don't be a cheap bastard and go buy it.

Onterrible? maybe, not

Despite the fact that I dig Ottawa, I’ve been hating on Toronto steadily for the past 14 years. Why? I really have no idea – maybe it started back in the day, when I would hear people from Toronto saying “this place sucks, its not like Toronto” or “there’s no steak like Toranta” and on and on. Nevertheless, I made it clear that I was not into the place commonly known as the “centre of the universe.”

A couple of weeks back I had to make my maiden voyage to Toronto for a family wedding, and tried to do so with an open mind and no preconceived notions. Upon landing, my first reaction was “damn, its hot here.” And hot it was, we’re talking between 29-35 degrees, it was awesome; especially after dealing with the crap weather we had been having out here.

Time was limited, so we had to maximize everything; including a super fast trip into the downtown core. Yeah, I barely saw anything but from what I did, I actually liked. People were friendly, and there was cool little Donair / hot dog spots all over the shop. We also got to checkout the cool little area of Oaksville, which reminded me of Kerrisdale in Van. We had some killer ice cream, great coffee and an amazing antipasto plate, ahh life was good.

In the end, I came to the realization that this place that I had spent so much time talking crap about really wasn’t that bad. In fact, I actually kinda liked it. Additionally, I got to reconnect with some awesome family members, while also meeting a bunch of amazing people. while their hockey team does indeed suck, the place that I lumped under the moniker “Onterrible” really isn’t that bad.

every city needs a good burger joint, and in TO its motorcycle burger!

the evidence of the goodness

fender chop

johnny boy decided to chop his nightster up the other day and i was completely down for the transformation. Hiro at West Eagle hooked up the seat and bracket so we could throw on the solo seat without any problems. The next step, take out the grinder and get choppin. check out the step by step breakdown:

stock harley nightster rear fender & solo sear, nice but.....

first step is the tear down. take off the old fender, and get ready to find another spot for the ECM

Decide on the length you want for the rear fender struts and get choppin. you gotta be commited at this point, as really there is no goin back. Some cats get freaked about choppin up their nice new harley, but we don't give a shit

no pics for the next steps, but it goes like this: decide on your fender length, make sure everything lines up and chop it. Next, move the turnsignals up to where you want them, move your ecm and bolt it all back together. hopefully it looks as dope as this

J-man and i busted a move to make sure all was cool

pee break

gotta say, that shit looks good! nice work john

hot kick

With summer on the horizon (not that you can tell around here) and having seen a bunch of solid kicks, my interest in the sneaker world has been renewed. Additionally, I’m still on the hunt for the perfect pair of shoes/ sneakers that I can run at work without looking like I should be wearing a pair of chick jeans and riding a fixed gear. With that in mind, I present my top 5 hottest kicks for the summer feature…

First off are these amazing Nike Air Max 24-7’s. Featuring a bit of the iconic air max 95 combo-ed with the air max 97’s and a 360 air sole - these things will make any shoe freak pee their pants. Although, I probably would not buy them as they are not my style anymore, you must admit they are some seriously hot shit


Second up is these super clean, Puma Penny Rey pieces. Clean design combined with supple leather; these joints are perfect for the summer, and the brown one’s are a must have


With their classic style and simple construction the Nike Blazer’s definitely make the summer list. While I’ve been feelin the blazer low’s and the bruins more these days, these vintage hightops are a classic light weight shoe that’s perfect for chillin and also clockin some miles on your scoot. Check out the slightly yellowed midsole = awesome!


Right on the heels of the upcoming WorldCup comes this killer Adidas Adicup 2010 Germany/ High Snobriety pack. It features the classic Votary shoe in the Germany colorway; which is perfect for summer.

While I’m feeling the Germany models, I also have to mention these bangin Argentina coloway Adicup’s as well; soo hot. Incidentally, Argentina is my pick to win the world cup (after France of course)!


Last but definitely not least is these super clean Puma Benny’s; perfect for the upcoming summer daze when you are hanging at a bbq trying to impress that cute girl across the way. Yeah, your selvage denim will turn em blue but these definitely make the summer list