Given the rise in popularity of modern classic motorcycles in recent years, it’s only natural that motorcycle gear and apparel would follow suit. Just like most major OEMs have at least a couple of retro-styled bikes in their catalogs, most major gear and helmet companies have at least a couple of retro-styled items to match those bikes. But the Italian company DMD does it differently.
DMD doesn’t just dabble in café racer gear… they live and breathe it. Case in point: the DMD Rivale retro full-face helmet.

Based in Bergamo, an impossibly picturesque city in Italy’s alpine Lombardy region, DMD specializes in helmets and apparel. Specifically, helmets and apparel that combine modern materials and manufacturing processes, with all the style and panache of yesteryear. This family-owned enterprise traces its roots back to 1975 California. While traveling to the US, the patriarch of the family, Amilcare, decided to start a motorcycle gear import and distribution company.

Many years later, he and his son, Davide, found themselves in a warehouse filled with archived motorcycle products from the 70s?and an idea was sparked.
Amilcare and Davide reasoned that the market was ripe for a modern remake of one of the helmets that they’d seen there. The neo-retro and new wave custom scenes were only just starting to blossom, and the market for vintage-inspired gear was largely untapped. So, in 2007, DMD was launched, named after Amilcare’s kids; D...