For this edition of Classic Ink, we are going to take a look back at some epic Sinisalo ads from the 1980s.
Based out of Finland, Sinisalo started out as a manufacturer of ice hockey equipment in the 1950s. That business proved very successful, and in 1974, Sinisalo used their years of experience producing protective equipment to move into the exploding off-road motorcycling market. The newly formed Sinisalo Sport Ltd proved just as adept at producing high-quality motocross gear as they were at building hockey equipment, and the brand quickly gained traction in the high-stakes world of Grand Prix motocross racing. By the late seventies, Sinisalo had major factory stars like Andre Malherbé and Harry Everts taking home world titles while wearing the Finnish brand.
Already well established in Europe, Sinisalo made a dedicated push to break into the US market in the early 1980s.
By 1983, Sinisalo had a solid lineup of riders in the US, including established stars like Jeff Ward and young up-and-coming talent like Scott Burnworth and Ricky Johnson.
By 1988, Sinisalo was hitting on all cylinders with epic gear and great ads like this memorable one featuring newly crowned 250 Motocross champion Jeff Ward. Everything from his gear to his helmet to that epic mullet screams pure 80s baddassery. Who’s bad? Jeff is bad, my friends.
I love all of this 1988 Sinisalo gear, but particularly the fluorescent pink/blue and green/blue combos. Great colors and a classy, clean design. Regardless of how bad he is, however, I do still doubt the wisdom of Wardy continuing to wear an open-face helmet by 1988. Maybe teeth were just tougher back then?
At $310 for the pants and $83 for the jerseys in today’s money, this Sinisalo gear was certainly not cheap, but its Finnish quality was obvious when you compared it to many of its rivals.
Today, gloves are all about minimalism and ease of movement, but in 1988, we valued our knuckles as well.
In 1988, Jeff Ward and his Sinisalo gear stepped back down to the 125 class for the Motocross des Nations to take on the newly-crowned 125 World Motocross Champion Jean-Michel Bayle. While Ronnie Lechien stole the day, going 1-1 on his mighty KX500, Jeff helped uphold American honor by going 2-1 in the 125 class to deliver Team USA its eighth straight Chamberlain trophy.
