Standards
What the markings actually record
Nearly everything a rider buys carries a marking, and almost all of them are read as promises. They are not. An approval records that a sample passed defined tests; an armour level records a force measured on a rig; a lock rating records an attack with named tools for a named duration. Each is precise, each is real, and none of them is a statement about what will happen to you. Some are published documents; several things this trade calls standards are conventions with no publisher at all, and the difference matters when something does not fit. Each page says which it is, in four parts — what the document or the convention fixes, what it does not promise, what it works with, and which families on this site rely on it.
Helmet approvals
What an approval tests, at which points and at what speeds, what a version number changes, what a P/J marking covers — and the sentence none of them contains.
Garment & armour standards
The transmitted-force test behind an armour level, the type letters that describe coverage rather than performance, and the standards written for whole garments.
- EN 13594 — Protective gloves for motorcycle riders Garment & armour
- EN 1621-1 — Motorcyclists’ protective clothing against mechanical impact, limb protectors Garment & armour
- EN 13634 — Protective footwear for motorcycle riders Garment & armour
- EN 17092 — Protective garments for motorcycle riders Garment & armour
- EN 1621-2 — Motorcyclists’ protective clothing against mechanical impact, back protectors Garment & armour
Fluid specifications
What a JASO marking certifies about a wet clutch, what a DOT number sets as a minimum, and why two identical-looking designations must not be mixed.
Security ratings
What an insurers’ rating records — which tools, for how long — and why a published classification says more than any shackle diameter.
Market conventions
Chain pitch designations, tyre date codes, clothing sizes and load indices: notations a whole trade uses, published by nobody as a single document.