When you're at the track or just lounging around the house it's nice to listen to your favorite playlist on your iPod. Sure you can pick up a generic set of portable speakers, but are you really going to get the best sound possible out of those? How about the convenience of charging your iPod at the same time? The iK500 does all of that in one small package that is extremely portable measuring in at 8.5 inches tall, 19.2 inches wide and 8.4 inches deep. While at first there is nothing visually overwhelming about it, as soon as you dock your iPod and press the control knob in the middle of the unit you're ready to hear your favorite music. This is when you'll realize where all of Kicker's engineers spent their time in development. The dual 3/4-inch tweeters, dual 5-inch woofers and 6-inch subwoofer emit a sound that makes you feel as if you're front row at a concert. Another nice feature about the iK500 is the adjustability of bass and treble levels in the unit and how easy everything is to operate. The convenience of changing the volume level or music track you want to hear from a wireless remote is a nice feature as well. Additionally to compensate for the different style of Apple iPod types on the market, the iK500 comes with a handful of adapters so your player will rest comfortably in the docking station. For those who have an MP3 player that is not an iPod brand, there is an auxiliary input that works with any conventional headphone jack. On a recent trip to a race, I had trouble hearing the audio out of the elevated and surrounded television set when watching a movie in our RV, so I ran the audio output to the RCA-style jacks on the backside of the unit and discovered I could now hear the audio easily and clear but also make it sound like it was a home theater system.inline_mediumwraptextright26437589/products/1001_atvp_kicker_ik500_speaker1001_atvp_01_z+thrashed+kicker_iK500_speaker.jpgTrue

Outside of your helmet, there's nothing more important when it comes to rider safety than boots. It's for this very reason that we put so much emphasis on only wearing the best possible products on the market. As far as we're concerned, safety is the one area where bargain shopping is a no-no. I know what a lot of you are thinking ("my work boots are comfy and work just fine"), but let us assure you that your steel-toed high-tops are about as effective at preventing serious leg injuries as a five-gallon bucket would be at preventing a head injury. Simply put, good boots are a must for anyone who rides with any degree of aggression. With all that said, sheer aggression is what it took to swindle the new Alpinestars Tech 10s away from my coworkers before they could slide their grimy feet into them.