Fox Racing Friday | 1992 Fox Orbit T-Shirt

Fox Racing Friday | 1992 Fox Orbit T-Shirt

Presented by Fox Racing

Would you believe that there was a time when Fox Racing wasn’t also a casual clothing giant? While these days it seems impossible to go a day in public without seeing someone in a Fox Racing T-shirt or another sort of Fox casual apparel, there was a time when Fox only offered a few T-shirts to complement its line of excellent riding apparel.

In 1990, I began my career in moto-journalism with an Assistant Editor position at Cycle News, America’s Weekly Motorcycle Newspaper. Already a huge fan of Fox Racing riding gear – the first set I bought was a 1988 blue and yellow kit that Donny Schmit wore on his factory Suzuki – and my new position at Cycle News allowed me to actually call the guys at Fox Racing and request new gear to wear in motorcycle tests. Free gear? Someone needed to pinch me! The paycheck was nice, but the perks were unreal! (I’m sure it’s like this for all new motorcycle media people…) Because Cycle News didn’t really have any apparel advertisers editors that weren’t required to wear certain apparel, so for me it was Fox Racing 24/7. My Editor, Jack Mangus, made sure I didn’t abuse the system and kept a close eye on what showed up at the offices for me to wear, and I even remember one time when two sets showed up at the same time he made me send one of them back.

When the 1992 Kawasaki KX125 was released, I was really excited to throw my leg over it for the first time. Truth be told, the 1991 Kawasaki KX125 is the last new motorcycle I have ever had to buy, as I was recruited by Cycle News shortly thereafter and have been blessed with the privilege of riding and racing test bikes ever since. My ’91 KX125 was a great bike, but the refined ’92 version was hyped up to be even better. And besides, they came with those cool new blue-anodized KYB forks!

For the test ride, Brian Price – my contact at Fox at the time – sent me an awesome set of gear that was green, white, blue and purple, but mostly green. That year, the knee area of the 360 pant was made of stretch Kevlar instead of leather, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Coincidentally, I had an Arai helmet that was custom painted by Mike Metzger’s uncle – Joe Schmoe Graphics – and it matched perfectly!

The ’92 KX125 ended up not being that much better than the bike I already owned – especially because my cylinder was modified by Damon Huffman’s dad at Cycle Engineering – but the initial testing day was a blast. Kawasaki delivered the bike to us at Glen Helen Raceway, and legendary photographer Kinney Jones snapped a photo of me that made me actually look like I knew what I was doing! The photo of me putting the KX125 through its paces was in the running for the cover of the next week’s issue of Cycle News, but I believe a photo of Chris Carr winning a flat track race beat me out. Haha!

After the issue with the bike test came out, Brain at Fox called and asked if I could send him a color print of the main test photo. I took the original slide to Ritz Camera in the Santa Anita Mall in Arcadia and had a print made, then sent it off to Morgan Hill. A few months passed by, and Brian called and said he had sent me a surprise. I about fell over in shock when the box arrived and inside it was a handful of T-shirts…with my photo on the back! Dubbed the “Orbit” T-shirt, it featured me navigating a right-handed corner…past the solar system! It was definitely out there at the time (let’s just say, about 25 years ahead of its time), but I loved everything about it except the strange number one that the artist added to the front numberplate. For insurance reasons, I believe, Mangus never let us add numbers to any of the test bikes for photos. He said that adding a number implied that we were racing the bikes, and that exposed us to liabilities that the owners didn’t approve of. Anyway, the number that was drawn onto the front of the KX125 was more like the one on the front of Scott Parker’s flat track Harley than a motocross bike! No matter, I was thrilled and honored, and the Orbit T-shirt was one of only four or five T-shirts offered in that year’s catalog.

I wore my supply of Orbit shirts proudly until the silk screening was dried, cracked and faded, and today, I still have this one for posterity’s sake. Remember I said the design was about 25 years ahead of its time? When I brought it in from the garage to write this feature, my youngest daughter Megan gasped in awe and demanded that I give it to her to wear. Apparently, both thrift store finds and stuff with space on it is cool these days…haha!

Editorial Fox Product Spotlight of the Week

Fox V3 Prey Helmet featuring Fluid Inside

Price: $519.99

The Details

Introduced last month, the all-new Fox V3 Helmet boasts a wealth of new design and safety features that make it stand out from other premium off-road motorcycle helmets. To celebrate Independence Day, the Prey edition features a bold and proud stars and stripes design. At the heart of the new helmet is an all-new MCT (multi-composite technology) shell that comes in four shell sizes, and is paired with a Varizorb EPS liner, which features multi-density foam to help disperse impact energy more efficiently thanks to its cone-shaped injected design. To address the dangers of rotational impacts, Fluid Inside technology is incorporated into the inside of the helmet, between the EPS and comfort liner. The fluid pods are designed to mimic the cerebral fluid that protects your brain from coming into contact with the inside of your skull, offering both linear and rotational impact dampening. In total, seven Fluid Inside pods are spread throughout the helmet to help disperse impacts in a crash. Another unique feature of the new V3 helmet is its two-piece construction. While the main shell is traditional in design, the entire eyeport and chinbar is a separate piece, dubbed The Cage. Made of composite materials, the piece is designed to offer impact energy management than a traditional one-piece design. The entire helmet is extensively vented, with massive ports that are protected by injected mesh screens. Finally, Fox’s patented MVRS magnetic visor system is incorporated. Designed to detach on impact in the event of a crash, the system helps guard against snagging on the ground and mitigate external rotational forces.

SML Says

The all-new V3 definitely looks unlike any other motocross helmet. In fact, it looks much like the Rampage Pro Carbon mountain bike helmet we’ve come to love. What do we think of the new moto helmet, though? Having given it a thorough and complete test (unfortunately?) by suffering a massive crash in it on our first day of riding in it, we can confidently give it a two thumbs up review.

But let’s get to our pre-crash impressions, first! The new V3 fits very well, and we encountered none of the pressure points that we initially suspected that we might from the Fluid Inside pods. Instead, the helmet slips on nicely and has a soft, luxurious feel inside against your head and face. Unlike the previous V3, the new helmet has a deeper fit, and the chin bar offers plenty of clearance for your face. The previous V3’s chinbar felt close to our face and had a much different feel. We love the fit of the new helmet, and it offers a great field of vision and accepts all goggles well, even the current trend of oversized goggles from other manufacturers.

Ventilation is amazing in the V3, as air flows through the massive vents and cools your head. On cold days, we found ourselves actually cold inside the V3! As one might expect, more sound reaches your ears due to the generous venting, but that is something that only takes a few laps to grow accustomed to.

The MVRS visor is not adjustable, but the height of the visor seems just right for the majority of riders who will race in it. Trail riders might wish for a lower setting, but the standard location is proper! The MVRS is more sturdy than it was on earlier helmets, and it takes quite an impact to dislodge the visor. But, we can state from experience that it does indeed detach on impact.

The crash we had in the new V3 was pretty significant. (Switch to a first-person account, here.) An overdose of throttle in a dry, slick corner sent me into a violent high-side, and I slapped my head onto the hard-packed SoCal dirt with such force, that it rendered me kookoo for the better part of an hour. A trip to the ER for a CT scan revealed no bruising, bleeding, or swelling of my brain, and I was released with a clean bill of health and a prescription for pain killers. Initially, I was bummed out about suffering a mild concussion in the new helmet, but a few days later I connected with Mark Finley from Fox Racing and got to take a look at my crash-damaged lid. The damage done to the helmet made it obvious that the impact it protected me from was pretty damned big. Having more helmet-smashing experience than I’d like to admit, I can honestly say that the V3 likely saved my life, and I would have suffered a mild concussion at best in any helmet I could have been wearing. The brunt of the impact was in the right forehead area, and the EPS was compressed to the point that it cracked. The Cage eyeport and chinbar was completely intact, proving that the two-piece design is indeed sturdy enough to protect against big impacts.

Would I ride and race in the new Fox Racing V3 again? Absolutely. See my crash-damaged V3 in the video below.

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