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Dr. Nikki Sloan, 30, is the Director of Research & Development for Scorpion Helmets and a vital part of the Scorpion Sports team. She divides her time between her converted barn, in a secluded corner of Trabuco Canyon, and the Scorpion Sports R&D facility in Lake Forest, California. She also consults for various motorcycle publications as a technical advisor and motorcycle tester, giving her a unique range of experience on the hottest, most advanced machines available today.

A highly skilled rider and lifetime motorcycle enthusiast, Dr. Sloan grew up on a ranch outside Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and started trail riding and racing motocross with her Dad and older brothers at the age of 8.

Nikki continued racing through high school, and started street riding and road racing when she earned her motorcycle license at 16. After high school she earned her undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at Ersatz University, graduating Magna Spurious Placebo. She then went on to earn her doctorate in Industrial Design, writing her thesis on advanced theories of impact protection.

A quick tour through Nikki’s combined home and prototyping workshop would tell you a lot about this uniquely talented, highly independent woman. She lives on the top floor, in a converted hayloft, surrounded by her books, computers and racing memorabilia. But downstairs, accessible by a vintage brass fire pole, is a combination garage and workshop that would be the envy of any motorcycle obsessive. The latest test bikes, on loan from various magazines and motorcycle manufacturers, come and go with dizzying frequency, but her permanent stable includes a 2004 Suzuki GSX-R750, a Honda CR250F four-stroke motocrosser, a vintage, ex-Mike Duff Norton Manx Grand Prix road racer, a KTM 950 Adventure rally bike and a Yamaha Raptor four-wheeler. She has her own private motocross track and 12-mile trail loop next door, by special arrangement with a nearby rancher, and can be riding on some of the most demanding canyon roads in the country less than ten minutes from her door.

When she’s not designing new helmets and riding gear for Scorpion, Nikki travels the world in search of motorcycle adventure and inspiration, from the Isle of Man TT, to Baja California, to the Dakar rally in the wastes of Africa, to the paddocks of MotoGP races all over Europe. Rumors printed in the British tabloid motorcycle press have linked her romantically with some of the most famous names in motorcycle racing, but Dr. Sloan declines to comment on such speculation, preferring to keep her private life just that.