A chance meeting between a couple of motorcycle guys checking out a bike on the street outside the AIMExpo last year resulted in a groundbreaking launch of a comprehensive gear line. Of course it helps when the two guys are Motonation president Bill Berroth and Bikers Crown CEO Martin Solar. When it comes to importing and distributing high end protective gear, Motonation specializes in doing things differently and Bikers Crown has been the leading family of dealerships in the Czech Republic for the past 18 years. MPN crashed the party, held at the historic time capsule Kon Tiki Motorcycles in San Diego, to witness the Trilobite brand introduction.
Fusing old school values with timeless styling and cutting edge technology, Solar created the Trilobite motorcycle jeans line a couple years ago and has since expanded the range from riding pants to entire collections of ADV, Urban and Retro wear. Aptly named after a paleozoic era armored arthropod, the trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, roaming the oceans for more than 270 million years.
“There is a quarry near my house that I grew up riding motocross in and it was full of trilobite fossils,” says Solar. “It had a flexible protective shell and was the inspiration for the four-layers of protection found in the Trilobitex material.”
Starting with a Dyneema UHMSPE (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene), the Trilobitex material has evolved to become 15 times stronger than steel!
The line was different than ordinary denim and something that appealed to Berroth.
“When Motonation was created, it was based on a philosophy of doing as many things differently from its competitors as possible,” said Berroth, the ex-enduro racer. “When racing, you will never pass anyone by following them, you have to be creative and bold by selecting lines that the others have not used. Trilobite is a line others haven’t taken… plus Martin is a really cool guy and we both want to have the best product available.”
To get the details on Trilobite’s high tech material and timeless styling cues check out trilobitemoto.com or for dealer ordering details, go straight to the North American source, Motonation.
