Icon Motorsports… You’ve heard me talk about them before. I really love my Icon Superduty jacket… I’ve worn it for about 5 years now and it’s finally developed the perfect fit and a deep, rich, contrasting ring around the collar. I wore my bright yellow Icon Mainframe helmet until it fell to pieces… after I used it on my crash test dummy. My Icon Pursuit gloves? They look great in their light tan leather with sweat and oil embellishments. My bright orange Icon MilSpec Vest is like a trademark. You can see me coming from a mile away. Really, they’ve got some well designed, well built rider gear and I’ve always recommended them.
Well, they’ve got a giveaway going on right now so I decided to visit their blog to get the deets. That’s when I read a recent post on the Icon blog about their Seventh Seal jacket. 
The second sentence said “There are some issues however.” Really? What is it? Issues with the artwork? The pigment? Defective zippers? No, according to their blog “if you wear this jacket and try to hop on a motorcycle that is less than 600cc, the jacket will take itself off of your pansy ass and BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF YOU for being a WUSS!”
Well, that IS a problem. The biggest “motorcycle” I ride is a 400cc scooter and while some of my favorite scooter folk are Wussys, I can’t say I hold that distinction. But, you know what? They DID say “motorcycle” so no foul on scooters, eh? Actually…
“This jacket is not for a scooter! If you get within 15 feet of a moped, the jacket will spin you around and lasers will shoot out of the back, disentigrating the Vespa/Faggio.”
Oh! A mechanical issue that destroys scooters, mopeds and fictional scooters from Grand Theft Auto Vice City? That’s so unfortunate!
“That’s actually pretty cool, and I consider it a feature.”
AHHH! I understand. In a blatant attempt to confirm the “masculine overcompensation thesis“, Icon Motorsports decided their Seventh Seal jacket was a good excuse to point fingers and calls names at scooter riders. Now that’s a bit disappointing.
This could be a misunderstanding however… after all, Cornell University sociology doctoral candidate Robb Willer said he found “that if dyou made men more insecure about their masculinity, they displayed more homophobic attitudes, tended to support the Iraq war more and would be more willing to purchase an SUV over another type of vehicle”. Robb didn’t say anything about a tendency to design laser wielding demon jackets that will “swallow your fat, nagging girlfriend from the back of your bike and spit out a hot, pierced chick covered in tattoos, wearing a school girl uniform”, who “won’t ride on a scooter either.”
After I read this part of the post I had to double check that I hadn’t accidentally stumbled across some 15 year old’s Icon fanboy blogger site, but sure as day the link to the blog came directly from the official Ride Icon website; so it’s official… Icon Motorsports is experiencing insecurity about their masculinity and as such behaving in an extremely masculine way as compensation. It’s going to be ok Icon.
If YOU have the urge to overcompensate, you’re in LUCK! The official Icon blog writer has a Seventh Seal jacket that is too big for him so he’s selling it for $200.00. Much cheaper than, you know… buying a new one… from Icon…
***CORRECTION***
My bad! Scrolling back up to the top of the post I see:
“Straight from Craigslist Seattle. Just for the record – we didn’t write this – but we do very much approve.”
So, there you have it… not Icon written but Icon approved.
2. April 2010 at 11:57 pm
Steve,
That’s friggin’ classic commentary man!
3. April 2010 at 6:20 am
This is sad that they would alienate part of their customer demographic. Perhaps they don’t see it as much of a loss. Oh well, I guess they won’t be getting any of my sissy dollars.
5. April 2010 at 9:32 am
Icon had it together a few years ago, with original ideas and a clear effort to attract motorcyclists and scooterists that didn’t want to wear the same flames/skulls/tribal crap that everyone else was wearing. Sadly, since then they’ve slipped back into the Faux-Troy-Lee mid-90s penis-compensation bandwagon and their output has been very disappointing.
I wear the pursuit gloves, too. Right out of the bag, the left glove looked like my dream motorcycle glove, and the right one looks like a bad knockoff of the left one, with lower-quality leather, sloppy stitching, uneven color, and the knuckle pads out of alignment. I didn’t send ‘em back because I needed them and figured they’d look the same after they were broken in, but they don’t.
6. April 2010 at 6:00 pm
So ICON’s ICON BLOG new ad campaign is really awful, have you seen the ad in Motorcyclist (May 2010 Page 34-5)? It’s a bad ‘Sin City” Frank Miller rip off! Gun’s and Ho’s… I looked at it and said what does this have to do with Motorcycle gear? The company is being led in the wrong direction (by it’s ad agency or BLOGER and is spending serious money to do it. Too sad, anyone know anyone there to tell them they are way of of line?… I will be voting with my dollars, and someone should let them know.
6. April 2010 at 9:40 pm
I posted the same comment on the ICON Blog for the stupid SLAB town chronicles…
12. April 2010 at 5:10 pm
AMEN to Tim, Beeb and Drewbird911! That’s 100% on the money. I like their old greaser-inspired gear way more than the Lord of the Rings, devil, demon, badassery they are slinging these days.
So, guys… What brand is getting your attention these days? Any jackets, helmets, gloves, boots that stand out to you these days?
29. May 2010 at 10:05 pm
Steve, I just buy whatever I need from New Enough on close out (aka whats cheap) Thanks Again for the Great Web SIte!