Honest product reviews of Helmets, Riding Gear, etc

[melensdad]

Has anyone found sources for honest reviews? It is not that I distrust the moto-news-websites but pretty much everyone who gives reviews also has some small print somewhere that reads something like this:

We are committed to finding, researching, and recommending the best products. We earn commissions from purchases you make using the retail links in our product reviews.

Now I have no issue with that, per say, but there are more and more brands of DIRECT TO CONSUMER marketing campaigns out there so retailers like Revzilla, Motorcyclegear & BikeBandit are not selling those items. Consequently the reviewers, who seem to link to one of those companies, tend to review ONLY the items sold by those retail stores/internet stores that sell a wide range of brands and they ignore the boutique and upstart companies.

Companies like QUIN Design Helmets, Bonn Body Armor and Aerostitch seem to be bypassed in "Top Helmet" or "Top Gear" or "Top blah blah" product rankings.

Am I missing something? Have you found what I can't find?

 

[MZ5]

ADVrider (forum) has LOTS of members and lots of gear reports. Not the same as magazine-style reviews, though, just user reports or reviews.

In a general way, I usually think webbikeworld pieces are pretty decent. I believe they fall into the category you’ve identified, though.

Motorcycle Consumer News was precisely what you ask for, but they recently became insolvent and shut down publication.

I can’t conjure other publications or websites offhand that aren’t either ad-revenue-supported or paid when you buy through their site.

 

[melensdad]

MCN did exactly what I’m looking for but ...

I was hoping someone knew of another source.

 

[the Ferret]

trouble with reviews of any product is they are all what I call Best/Worst reviews if the customer is actually paying for the product and reviewing it. No matter what the product is

Same product reviews

This is the best "whatever" I have ever used. Fit perfectly, well made, worked as advertised, sizing was spot on 5 stars

This is the worst "whatever" I have used...not to size, seams were bad, zippers sucked, didn't keep me dry in a minor drizzle, didn't keep me warm etc 1 Star

 

[670cc]

trouble with reviews of any product is they are all what I call Best/Worst reviews if the customer is actually paying for the product and reviewing it. No matter what the product is

Same product reviews

This is the best "whatever" I have ever used. Fit perfectly, well made, worked as advertised, sizing was spot on 5 stars

This is the worst "whatever" I have used...not to size, seams were bad, zippers sucked, didn't keep me dry in a minor drizzle, didn't keep me warm etc 1 Star

So many one star reviews are the buyers fault (wrong size even though sizing is very clearly stated in ad), general grumbling (Chinese junk, don’t buy!), or irelevant (movie got rated one star because the disk was scratched and wouldn’t play). But the oddest reviews are the ones that say the product was excellent/awesome, and they give it one star. (???)

 

[Rabbit]

motorcycle gear hub does some excellent reviews and has crash reports from real people. I trust what they say on their individual gear reviews but skip the “best of whatever” reviews