Puma breaks in to motorcycle protection market

Fashion company Puma, better known for their sport and footwear style ranges, has unveiled a new full-riding range at the Intermot 2008 show in Cologne.

• Shop for over 65,000 products with MCN

Following a successful merge into the motorcycling footwear market with the 1000 and Desmo boots, the firm will have a new in-house designed race suit and other riding garments available to purchase by Spring 2009.

The new ‘09 range has been completely designed by Puma themselves with Dainese putting all of the garments into construction.

The headlining item will be the premium one-piece racing suit. This suit has been developed using the manufactures close ties with Ducati to kit out three of their riders in 2008.

MotoGP’s Sylvain Guintoli and Ducati test riders Niccolo Canepa and Vitoriano Guareschi have been flying the Puma flag this season, presenting the perfect stepping stone for the brand to add road-going garments to their established motorcycle boot range.

The racing suit will be joined by two other suit variables; a lower spec sports leather suit and a two-piece suit. All three will be available in similar colour schemes – red and black, black, white and a slightly more wayward military green shade.

If you’re not looking for a full suit there is also a choice of leather and textile jackets and pants, following many of he same design trends as the suits. A textile range is going to be more focussed on designs for scooter and casual riders but still providing protective armour.

To compliment the suits, a brand new glove range will also be up for grabs with two different specifications. The Sport and the higher-end Racing glove look very similar, with the only difference being the knuckle protection material with the sport applying carbon sliders and the racing boasting the same protective material used by Dainese on their premium race glove.

Puma has also added another boot to it’s range – the SuperRide. This boot will come in below the 1000 and Desmo, with a simple Velcro fastening system – no zips – aimed more towards sports-tourer owners.

And the 1000 has also been slightly updated with a longer toe slider system and a hook that keeps the fastening brace in place after product tests proved the adjustable brace could slip off leaving the back panel of the boot flapping.

Prices for the new range haven’t yet been confirmed, but you would be looking at paying close to the higher end prices of the Dainese range for one of the Puma suits.

With the garments coming out of production just days before the show, names haven’t yet been confirmed. However Moto Direct in the UK will be expected to continue their distribution of Puma for 2009 with the new riding range expected to be available in March.