Thursday 26 September 2013

Made to measure gloves from Held

Always fancied a pair of Made to Measure summer / race gloves? Made personally for your hands? With a choice of colours? And your name embroidered on the side?

Well now we can do that for you!

Check out racer Scott Smart's:

Motorcycle Gloves personalised from Held
Held wearing racer Scott Smart's personalised gloves
Or racer Gary Mason's:

Motorcycle Gloves personalised from Held
Racer Gary Mason's personalised Held gloves

How much?

The Made to Measures are available in the Held Titan and the Held Phantom Glove. The service is charged at the price of the glove + 30% (max), meaning you could have a pair of Made to Measure Phantom IIs, with your name on the side, and a choice of colours for under £60 extra!!


How do I go about it?

We can liaise with a Held Dealer to sort it out for you, and it's a real simple process to get a Bespoke, one-off pair of gloves:

* Contact us at social@held-uk.co.uk  including your name and phone number,  and we'll help you through the process.

Then it'll be:


* Choose your gloves: Titan (RRP £229.99) or Phantom II (RRP £184.99) 

* Choose your colour scheme (Yellow, green, red, black, blue, grey, white... etc!)  

* Choose your lettering / numbers (Bear in mind the space available on the glove- 10 characters max - so if your name is Sokratis Papastathopoulos you'll have to abbreviate!) 

* Draw neatly round your hand on a sheet of A4 (like you did when you were a nipper) to just below the wrist joint


Re-live a childhood moment- the hand drawing!

Just what we need!

* Photo-copy your palm and the back of your hand (tip: put a tea-towel over your hand so as not to allow the light in as the copier lid won't close properly on your hand!)

Photocopier!



How long does it take?

Around 6 weeks from the day we receive your information and measurements!

So why not treat yourself! Drop us a line at social@held-uk.co.uk

For more information on Held in the UK please visit www.held-uk.co.uk
 

Tuesday 24 September 2013

Held wearer Tom Weeden Oliver’s Mount Gold Cup

Held wearer Tom Weeden signed off his debut road racing season in fine form at the Oliver’s Mount Gold Cup road races last weekend. The 19 year old was certainly in good company with most of the big TT names attending; Tom was up against the likes of John Mcguinness, Michael and William Dunlop, Guy Martin and Bruce Anstey to name a few. Tom entered the 3 races and was certainly kept busy jumping between 2 bikes all weekend. 

Held wearer Tom Weeden beat Michael Dunlop
Weeden: Overtook Michael Dunlop in style
 He was entered in the Supertwin races on the Trickbits FBM Performance Suzuki SV650 and also in both the David Jeffries 600cc class and the Darren Lindsay Trophy on his own Triumph 675. Tom was racing against 1000cc bikes in the Darren Lindsay Trophy but was confident that if it was wet, as the forecast said it would be, then he was in with a good chance of a decent result.

Practice went well on both bikes. In the initial practice sessions Tom went 6th fastest on his Triumph and 3rd fastest on the SV650, this was certainly a confidence boost going into qualifying and into the races. Weeden went 11th fastest in the 600 qualifying session and 13th fastest in the Supertwin session but was confident that if he got off the line well he good push for a decent result from there. 


Tom made a good start in the 1st of the Supertwin races and soon started to make up places. He crossed the line in 8th position at the end of lap 1 and momentarily dropped back to 9th before reclaiming the place back. Tom put some consistent laps together before putting his fastest lap of the race in on the last lap to cross the line in 8th behind Chris Palmer. 


Next up was the Darren Lindsay Trophy for bikes of 600cc and above. Weeden was starting at the back of the grid and so just decided to have fun and treat it as a bit of practice. He made a good start again, however on the first few laps his brakes were not working properly causing him to run wide at the hairpins. He still managed to pull the bike home in 17th place after 8 laps around the Olivers Mount road circuit but was adamant he should have finished higher if it wasn’t for the brake issue. 


In the David Jeffries Cup Tom finished 8th in both the Heat race and the first leg, but had sorted out the brake problem and was confident that he could produce a good finish in the second leg on Sunday. 


Tom only completed 1 of the two available practice sessions on Sunday morning in order to save the only set of wet tyres the team had for the races. He completed 2 laps on his Triumph and went 9th fastest and then posted the fastest time in the Supertwin session after pulling in after only 3 laps. This boosted Tom’s confidence and he knew that if it was wet for the races then he was in for a good chance of a decent result. 


After 1 lap of the 2nd leg of the Darren Lindsay Trophy the rain started to come down whilst all the riders were on dry tyres. Tom pulled in hoping to be allowed to change to wets and that the race would be restarted. The race was then halted before half distance which meant a full race restart would be made. A lot of the riders felt it was a passing shower and went for intermediate tyres or drys for the restart, Tom however decided to risk it and kept the wet tyres on hoping it would rain again otherwise he would chew up his only set of wets. From the very back on the grid Tom had nothing to lose and everything to gain and decided to go for it for the 3 lap restart. 


After 1 lap Tom had moved up into 10th. Then on the second lap the rain came down and Tom decided to gas it and make up as many places as possible. Weeden found himself in 5th going into the last lap and decided to just keep his head down and stay focused in the difficult conditions. 

On the last half of the lap he caught up with the TT stars on their 1000cc bikes and snapped up the opportunity to overtake such high profile names. Tom moved up into 2nd place, overtaking Michael Dunlop around the outside into one of the hairpins and was ecstatic as he crossed the line to take 2nd from very last on the grid. 

Tom was next out for the second leg of the David Jeffries 600 Cup. From 12th on the grid, Tom made good progress on the first lap and crossed the line in 9th position. On lap 3 Weeden moved into 8th position and set his sights on the next rider in front of him. On the fifth lap he moved into 7th place and put in some fast laps to gap the riders behind. Tom crossed the line in 7th and then was straight back out in the next race on his Supertwin bike. 


The last Supertwin race had to be restarted twice after two incidents occurred on the track. But once they got away Tom made a great start and slotted into 4th place on lap 1. The rider in front narrowly avoided highsiding in front of Tom and he had to quickly make avoiding action as he slotted up into 3rd place. He remained there for the remainder of the race to take another top 3 finish and end the season on a high. 


Tom left the Oliver’s Mount road circuit over the moon with the results he had achieved and he can’t wait to return next year.






For more information on Held in the UK please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Friday 13 September 2013

Donington: Solid 4th Place for Held wearer Joe Burns

Solid 4th Place for Joe Burns 

Held leathers and gloves worn by National Superstock 1000 racer Joe Burns
Joe Burns at Donington- Jon Jessop Photography

Friday free practice and qualifying 1 turned out to be a complete washout, in free practice Joe used old wet tyres and achieved 24th fastest time, qualifying 1 was little better more rain, but with new wet tyres Joe cruised to 20th.  There being little point in taking risks, as the forecast for the weekend was for dry weather.

Saturday was indeed dry and sunny, and qualifying 2 was much more representative of Joe’s abilities, he was 3rd fastest in a very competitive 46 bike session, so the race would include a valuable front row start place. The top four riders were within 0.35 seconds of each other.


Warm up on race day and Joe put in the 2nd fastest time, showing once again that he is highly competitive in this race series.


In the race Hudson Kennaugh got the best start and into turn 1 Joe was dropped to 4th place but in a very tight group, for the next 8 laps he chased Victor Cox and at one point took third place, only to lose it at the next corner.


Joe’s front tyre began to lose grip and he came home in an excellent fourth place, just 4.6 seconds behind Coxa good intelligent ride that sees Joe rise to 8th in the championship.
Superstock now has a three week break until we race again at Silverstone.

 To see more about Joe Burns click here


To see more about Held Rider Equipment that Joe wears click here

Thursday 12 September 2013

Sean Neary: Ducati 848: Race Report – Round 6 – Donington Park

Here's the race report for Held-wearing Sean Neary's exploits at Donington:

Sean Neary wears Held Motorcycle leathers and gloves
Sean Neary - edging nearer the podium
 Firstly I need to thank all my sponsors for putting in further funding to allow us to complete the season. As ever I am humbled by the support but I now feel in a position where I can get the results to repay them.

After some strong results at Oulton Park myself and the Team were in a positive mood for Donington Park. In addition to that my bike had spent the weeks post Oulton Park at the JHP Ducati Coventry Workshop to resolve the power issues we were experiencing at Oulton Park. My engine was built by Jeff Green at GTEC Performance and there was no doubt that the engine was built to a fantastic standard. However that is only half the job and the bike has to be built correctly to ensure the engine can perform to its potential. Rick Hackett at JHP found a number of issues with the bike including a cracked exhaust manifold, blocked air tubes and a faulty power commander just to mention a few of the issues. With the assistance of JHP we gained another 10BHP which is an unbelievable gain in a one make series like the Ducati 848 Challenge. Massive thanks to Rick at JHP and also Jeff Green for building a bullet proof engine at the start of this season. It’s a little frustrating that we didn’t resolve the other issues earlier in the year as I’ve no doubt the season to date would have been very different had the bike been set up in this way. You live and learn as they say and it's safe to say I will never make a mechanic!


Sean Neary wears Held leathers in the Ducati 848 Challenge
Held wearer Sean Neary- on it!

Practice on Friday at Donington was a complete washout so I went and did a few laps to ensure we had a good wet setup if needed. Qualifying on Saturday was interesting to say the least due to the mixed weather conditions. I opted for full wet tyres which in hindsight was a big error as the track was dry for the last 10 minutes of the session. I held 5th until the last 5 minutes when the teams on the dry tyres pushed me back to 12th which is as to be expected.

The bike was absolutely fantastic and credit to everyone involved as this is now a completely different bike to what I have been riding and I now spend my laps with a beaming smile as I still can’t believe the increase in performance!

Race 1

I would have been better off getting my Mum to perform the start which I did in race 1!!!! Absolute shocker which saw me 20th in turn 1. I fought back to 7th and had a great race long battle with Deane Brown and Daniel Fowler. I missed a gear on the final lap which put paid to my challenge for 6th place. Given the start and the work I had to do I was reasonably happy with the final result and still buzzing about the performance of the bike. I also set the 7th fastest lap of the race meaning a promotion on the grid for race 2.

Race 2

A much better start saw me 6th on lap one. I managed to get back past Ben Field on lap 2 and began to close in on the leading group. As I remember thinking we were in the hunt for some serious podium action I lost the front at the final turn on lap 2. Absolutely gutted does not do justice to the way I feel after that. These boys are the quickest in the country so I have to ride on the limit to be in with a chance. I don’t think my front tyre was quite up to temperature as they held us on the grid for a while but that said this was down to rider error, so I hold my hands up. I must say the Held Clothing kept me in great condition and I didn’t end up with a scratch. The Held Evo suit has had contact with the tarmac on more than 5 occasions over the last couple of years and they are still in 100% condition to protect me.

I was disappointed for the Team as for the first time this year that bike is capable of winning and I really can’t fault the effort of all involved. That’s racing as they say so we move on!

Assen is 2 weeks away and I can safely say I have never been so excited for a race in all my life! The bike is an absolute joy to ride and I am confident we can be challenging up front. Get me on that ferry now!

Thanks all

Sean #10


For more on Sean please visit his website

For more on Held, please visit ours!

Tuesday 3 September 2013

Held wearer Joe Burns: Disappointment turns to joy at Silverstone 200.

This weekend Silverstone was the scene for the Moto GP Hertz British Grand Prix and one of the support races, the Silverstone 200, this is run as two 100Km races and allows entries from BSB, Superstock 1000 and Superstock 600.

National Supertock 1000 racer Joe Burns chooses Held Rider Equipment
Held wearer Joe Burns
The team arrived with a bike that was rebuilt following the Cadwell Park race meeting and Joe set to work in free practice and then qualifying, the result being 13th fastest and 11th fastest respectively. 

Race one on Saturday afternoon ended very quickly for Joe, after just two laps the clutch failed, the first mechanical DNF of 2013, there seemed to be no obvious cause for the problem so a new clutch was fitted and the bike prepared for race 2.


Grid positions for race 2 are set by the fastest time set by each rider in race 1, this left Joe with a starting position of 16th on the grid. With 5 laps to go he was 4 seconds behind Hudson Kennaugh who was holding 7th place.


Joe set out to close the gap and at 1 second per lap he was right behind Hudson as they crossed the line, an excellent 8th place being the reward, plus a lap time that was 2 seconds faster than he has previously achieved at this circuit.


The team left Silverstone happy with the result, looking forward with enthusiasm to next weekend at Donington Park and of course the race meeting on 6th October at Silverstone. 





For more information on Held motorcycle leathers, motorcycle boots and motorcycle gloves please visit www.held-uk.co.uk