DEAN HARRISON
We are continually proud of our association with Senior TT Winner and all-round top lad , we have enjoyed every minute of the wild ride that we have spent with him over the last decade .
We don ’ t just collaborate with ‘ everyday ’ riders , since 2013 we have been working with Dean Harrison - 2019 Senior TT Champion who has been pushing Spada leathers to their limits at the fastest road race events in the world - collaborating closely with Dean on the design and how we meet his specific demands for what he expects from his professional kit , competing in the punishing demands of the world-famous Isle of Man TT Race .
This continuous feedback loop of collaboration with riders , both every day and with the highest level professional athletes , ensure that our products are always achieving the difficult combination of offering performance , functionality and value .
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Born in Bradford in 1989 , Dean Harrison isn ’ t your stereotypical sportsman . Because , unlike so many , Dean wasn ’ t riding bikes before he could walk . He wasn ’ t dragging his parents around the country to compete in age group races when he was still at primary school .
In fact , it wasn ’ t until his first year at Hanson School , Bradford that the interest in road racing that his sidecar racing dad , Conrad , had instilled in him , began to grow . Although even then , that interest was restricted to following race results , plastering his bedroom wall with posters of his favourite riders ( David Jefferies , John McGuinness and Bruce Anstey should you be interested ), and riding a Yamaha DT50 in fields around the back of Leeds Bradford Airport .
Astonishingly , it wasn ’ t until 2007 , when 18-year old Dean ( who by then was working as a mechanic in Shipley , West Yorkshire ) bought his first racing bike .
COMPETING AT THE ISLE OF MAN TT
Just four years after that first race , Dean was competing in his first Isle of Man TT , posting a very credible 122mph and securing a 12th place finish . And in 2014 – just seven years after buying that first racing bike – he topped the podium at the world ’ s most famous road race for the first time .
In 2019 Dean etched his name forever in road racing history by winning the big TT race – the Isle of Man Senior TT . This at the end of a weather hampered fortnight during which he ’ d also achieved another three podium finishes .
Dean once again tackled the roads in 2022 and took on the short circuit racing calendar with the icon and well recognised DAO racing team .
He competed in his first race , the Auto 66 at Elvington , North Yorkshire , three months later ; and from that second placed finish a career that not even Dean had anticipated was born .