A HERITAGE OF INNOVATION

Knox was founded in 1981 by former racer Geoff Travell. In those days, motorcycle body armour did not exist, and racers would simply wear leather suits re-enforced with duct tape. Following some serious crashes in the late 70’s and early 80’s, Geoff took matters into his own hands.
On hearing that Barry Shene had taken to stuffing cushions from his mothers sofa into his leathers, Geoff took the skills and knowhow from his profession as an upholsterer to make the first ever back protector for motorcycle riders under the name Pro-Tek.
Geoff made a fibreglass mould formed from his own body and thermoformed the first back protectors using the hardest grade upholstery foams available.
Armed with a van full of back protectors hot off the press, Geoff arrived at the British Grand Prix and was overwhelmed by sales from riders in the paddock. Early adopters were well known racers such as Raymond Roche, Jack Middleburg, Michel Frutshi, and Christian Sarron.
A famous picture shows Wayne Gardener waving his Pro-Tec back protector over Roger Marshall in 1983.
This invention set the focus of the company over the following 40 years, with many innovations brought to the market. These include the first ever motorcycle jacket with armour in 1987, the first CE approved motorcycle protectors, the invention of the patented Knox SPS scaphoid protection system protecting riders from scaphoid and hand injury, the iconic Handroid glove, the game changing Urbane Pro Shirt and Knox layering system.
Throughout this time Knox has stayed true to its British heritage, whilst being exported all over the world and trusted by millions of riders.
Since CE standards were introduced in 1994, Knox has been an integral part of WG9* and has become the name synonymous with innovative protective motorcycle apparel.
Now, we celebrate our past, but more importantly, we build on our heritage with carefully designed and developed, high quality products that will protect a new generation of riders.
*WG9 is the European working group responsible for the CE testing standards for motorcycle equipment