10 Most Underrated Motorcycle Accessories

Jun 15, 2023

The obvious accessories are, well, obvious, but these are equally useful and don't get the attention they deserve

Look up motorcycle accessories, and you’ll find ten million of them – at the dealership itself. Don’t get us started on the weird things you can find for motorcycles on the internet. To satisfy those of you with morbid curiosity, they include a detachable hardtop canopy, mini indicators, and underwear with the manufacturer’s branding on them. Motorcycle manufacturers have now grown wise to the fact that accessories are in reality more profitable than developing and selling the motorcycle that the accessories were designed for, so you can have a bewildering choice as factory fitment at your authorized dealer. With so much choice, it can be confusing to pick the right accessories for your motorcycle and use. Some accessory choices are obvious – heated grips and a taller windshield if you ride when it is cold or rainy, or auxiliary lights and crash guards if you tour a lot and/or are likely to ride after dark often. However, some accessories end up flying under everyone’s radar, and don’t get the attention they deserve through no fault of their own.

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“This isn’t underrated,” you’re thinking – but we often pick the most affordable helmet we can find, or the one that our riding heroes wear. Beginners often make the former mistake, and soon find out that the wind buffeting can be quite a pain in the neck. The noise one experiences at speed also contributes majorly to fatigue, and both of these effects can be minimized by purchasing the right helmet for your use. There are many different types of skid lids, but in general the higher up the ladder you go, the more you’ll get of the following:

Protection: Look for ECE, Snell, or Sharp certification for best results.

Comfort: You’ll get reduced effect from the wind, whether it means the helmet not pressing into your nose at speed, shaking due to crosswinds or buffeting, and much-reduced wind roar. Also, a million different visor options and inserts, and vents, will help with cooling and defogging.

Convenience: Removable and washable everything will be a given.

Gloves are a must-have for any biker. Those who have fallen on tarmac will tell you how much skin you’re going to save, even in a low speed spill. Just like the helmets, there are riding gloves for all occasions – summer, fall, rains… maybe not for winter though. The one thing that can save a lot of time while riding today are touchscreen-enabled gloves. These are motorcycle riding gloves that have a special tip for the index and maybe the middle fingers that allow you to operate a capacitive touchscreen like the one on your smartphone. This isn’t a requirement on older resistive screens, but those have disappeared from production a while ago. Not only do touchscreen-enabled gloves help keep your fingers warm, they will also save you a ton of time because you won’t have to take off and put on your gloves every time you need to operate a touchscreen.

Related: 2022 Best Motorcycle Gloves 2021

Another accessory that gets a lot of attention, we still think the Bluetooth headset is an underrated accessory simply because it isn’t just to listen to music to, or take phone calls. Get one that fits correctly in the cutouts of your helmet padding (another reason to avoid the cheapest lids) and you won’t even notice it is there, so seamless is the fit. Another must-have option if you ride anything other than solo is an intercom feature. This will allow you to have a conversation with your pillion or fellow riders while riding like a walkie-talkie, rather than over a phone call. This immediately makes redundant all the hand and leg signals riding groups have invented, meaning there is no need to take a limb off a control surface. It also reduces dependency on the phone network or phone battery charge for communication.

Modern motorcycles like the Kawasaki Ninja 1000SX have GPS built in, but for more affordable and/or older motorcycles, GPS is absent. This can be installed as an aftermarket feature, however, and the benefits are many. You’ll never lose your motorcycle in a parking lot, for one. For another, should it ever get towed or stolen, you’ll know where it is even if you’re unfamiliar with the location. GPS trackers also usually have a geofencing option built in, so should your motorcycle go beyond a prescribed area, you will get an alert on your phone. The only thing you might have to worry about is the tracker draining your battery if you don’t ride it often, or if you park it up for the winter. Either problem is solved with a trickle charger or disconnecting the device if you’ve locked the motorcycle in the garage.

Related: 10 Accessories Every Motorcycle Rider Needs

In a similar vein to the GPS tracker for your motorcycle, this is the GPS tracker for your keys. These tiny trackers are usually GPS devices powered by the same kind of battery that is installed in your computer – the CMOS batteries. They also use Bluetooth, and some of them have a speaker to help you find them inside a room. The most popular name among these is Apple’s AirTag, which uses any Apple device within range to ping its location to the owner. There are alternatives like the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag, Tile Pro, and Cube Shadow. The uses for a device like this are almost infinite: you can stow them in your luggage on a trip, should you be flying to your destination, or you could even stow it in a hard-to-find location on your motorcycle and have it replace the GPS tracker!

Keeping with the theme of anti-theft devices, we’re going to head to the opposite end of the spectrum as the GPS trackers and Bluetooth key finders: the good old-fashioned motorcycle lock. These come in different shapes and sizes, beginning with the good old chain and padlock. Hardened steel for the chain and a high security padlock will make a good combination. The downside to this combination is that it is too much trouble to carry around while riding. For parking at home, in combination with a good shackle, it is tough to top. A more portable option is a disc lock that fits into the holes of a brake disc, or a U-shackle lock that goes from one fork to the other, combined with an alarm that goes off if the bike is moved.

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Lane splitting is legal in only five states so far (California, Arizona, Montana, Utah, and Hawaii), whereas it is outright illegal in 34 states. As such, a dashboard or helmet camera is a great investment to have. We’ve all been on the wrong side of a cager’s lack of attention at some point or another. A dash cam will help you should you meet with an accident or get pulled over by the police. YouTube is littered with examples of dashcam footage that helped an innocent rider out when the law came down hard on them. Even when all is well, it will also help you preserve memories of rides on your favorite bits of tarmac. Just remember to not do anything illegal, because now there will be proof of it!

Whether you like wrenching or not, and whether you have the most reliable motorcycle in the world or not, you should have a motorcycle tool kit along on your rides. There are many different sizes and forms of tool kits to choose from, but we recommend it should have the tools to help loosen or tighten bolts for handlebar fittings (hand guards, mirror mounts, lever mounts) and foot pegs, since these are the most commonly damaged items during light crashes. Of course, this also assumes that you will know how to use the tool kit, so it always helps to either do a basic course in motorcycle repair, help out at your friendly neighborhood motorcycle workshop, or have a more knowledgeable friend show you the way around your motorcycle. A puncture repair kit is also a great addition to the tool kit. There’s one thing we’ll recommend above all else – spare 10mm sockets!

You might not be a tourer, but even if you commute, bungee cords are your friend. Get the weight of your backpack off your back, and onto the pillion seat. For commuters, if you get the right backpack and mount it correctly, you might even get yourself a free backrest that will help alleviate some of the stress of the wind blast on your ride. Tourers know that bungee cords are a lifesaver. Not only are they used to anchor luggage onto the motorcycle, but they can also help temporarily hold on a bit that broke off in a crash. Off the motorcycle, they can be used to keep luggage together for easy transport off the bike (the rule states that you can make only one trip from the garage into the house, remember) or to help tie down a tent in a windy place in a pinch. Cargo nets can help you carry your helmet on you, hands-free. The possibilities are endless.

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If you live in an area where it rains or snows often but prefer to keep to two wheels, waterproofing is a necessity. It also becomes an invaluable addition to any tourer’s arsenal. Let’s start at the top: a helmet with vents that shut, antifogging features like a pin lock, antifog visor insert and breath protector, and an inner liner that can be removed and installed easily for quick drying will help. Next, make sure you get yourself a jacket and a pair of pants with waterproof liners. These liners will usually zip into place on the inside. For gloves and boots, the best option is to have something that is breathable as well as waterproof. Gore-Tex is the most well known material known for this, but there are other brands that challenge its dominance now. You could also just get an oversize waterproof jackets and pants that go over your riding gear, eliminating the need to dry your riding gear at the end of the day. Over gloves and over boots can take care of your extremities, although they can affect negatively feel at the grips, and grip at the feet.

Charles has been an automotive journalist for a decade and a half, with experience across cars and bikes. He has worked with brands such as Autocar India, Overdrive Magazine, Motoring World (A Delhi Press publication), PowerDrift, and India's biggest online automotive research destinations, CarWale and BikeWale. He has also worked at the client end with brands such as TVS, Ford India, MG Motor, Jeep India, and Group Landmark. Along the way he has ridden and driven a wealth of cars and motorcycles in numerous locations, which gives him the experience and perspective necessary to make him an expert on the subject.