Tag: jacket

Knox Urbane Pro MkII Armoured Shirt Review – WebBikeWorld

July 16, 2021 / Brandon Jackson / 0 Comments

My review of the Knox Urbane Pro MKII Armoured shirt is now published up to webbikeworld.com. This armoured shirt (yes, I’m using the British spelling) steps up the abrasion resistance from the previous iteration to level AA from single “A” making this garment tough enough for use on the street without the need for an outer layer. This brings it in line with the Zephyr Pro jacket for durability in a crash.

This also blurs the line a bit between jacket and shirt as both feel very similar in weight and fit in a very like fashion. Whatever one calls it, they both can be worn as standalone protection. I loved my original Zephyr jacket and only replaced it after needing a larger jacket (or shirt) to accommodate my Klim Ai-1 airbag vest. Since I wanted to try something different I decided to give the Urbane a shot as it has a different look and a lighter color scheme available which I prefer for hot weather riding.

The protection doesn’t stop with abrasion resistance as Knox provides CE Level 1 MICROLOCK protectors at the elbows and shoulders. The back receives their very large and very soft CE Level 2 MICROLOCK back protector which is one of the largest “in-garment” protectors I’ve seen. It is also very well vented and very soft making it a great, albeit heavy, piece of protective kit to have watching one’s back. Knox offers CE Level 2 armor for the shoulders an elbows and I did this upgrade on mine right before the review was published. One can see the CE 1 vs CE 2 shoulder pieces in the photo above.

For the full review with all the details and lots of photos head over to webbikeworld.com.

Pilot Motosports Elipsol Jacket Review | wBW

May 3, 2018 / Brandon Jackson / 0 Comments

My latest review for webBikeWorld of Pilot Motosport’s Elipsol jacket is now posted. The Elipsol is a new offering from Pilot which combines the ventilation of mesh panels with the utility of an adventure jacket plus a “dash” of sporty cut thrown in for good measure.

I’ve been a fan of Pilot’s gear since I started reviewing it for webBikeWorld a couple of years ago. I have found their apparel to offer a very good balance of quality, design, and value with some subtle innovative touches that go a lot further in real world use than one might think.

The Elipsol continues this tradition in a package package that can easily take on three seasons and then some. Mesh paneling plus two liners make it easy to adapt to varying weather conditions. Combined with a surprising amount of storage space, the Elipsol is the most versatile jacket in Pilot’s lineup and offers good competition to offerings from other manufactures in this segment.

Check out the full review over at webBikeWorld.com

Pilot Motosports – Elipsol Air Jacket

Hit-Air MLV-C Airbag Vest – Preview

April 27, 2018 / Brandon Jackson / 2 Comments

Product: MLV-C Airbag Vest
Manufacturer: Hit-Air
Sizes: Medium (covers S – XL), Large (covers XL-3XL)
Color(s): Black, White, Red, Blue, Brown, plus special edition colors
Made In: Japan
Price: $479.00 base ($509.00 as tested)

Introduction

Recently I posted that I had purchased an airbag vest so as one can tell from the title of this writing, I chose to go with the Hit-Air MLV-C Airbag vest. Here’s a look at why I chose the Hit-Air brand and why I chose to go with a vest instead of an airbag integrated jacket.

Why Hit-Air over Helite?

The two major players in the motorcycle airbag vest/jacket arena are arguably Hit-Air and Helite. There are also a handful of others making vests using a tethered system like the one used on these devices. After a lot of research I chose to go with the Hit-Air brand.

(Note: There are options from Dainese and Alpinestars that use electronic sensors to activate their airbags but I wanted to focus on the tethered systems for this review)

Deciding wasn’t easy as both manufacturers offer a quality product. Helite, for there part, does a bit more marketing than Hit-Air so their name may be more familiar. Marketing isn’t everything (but sometimes it is, I’m looking at you Betamax) and I wouldn’t have guessed that Hit-Air got started several years before Helite based solely on name recognition alone.

In terms of options, Helite has three with their Turtle vest, a race version, and a custom leather option. Hit-Air has several offerings for vests, seven by my count, and that is just the vest options. There also appears to be 13 jackets available from Hit-Air that include their airbag technology so Hit-Air has the most variety of options.

The Helite Turtle vest has an integrated back protector that sits over the inflation bags in the vest. This is a great feature for impact protection. The Hit-Air vest offers optional back protectors for their vests that installs via hook and loop fastener on the inner side of the vest under the airbag.

I like the optional nature of the back protector in this case, especially since I have CE level 2 back protectors installed in my riding jackets already. This last point I would consider a toss-up so no points either way. In the end I chose the Hit-Air, but then I had to answer the next question…

Which one?! Read on to find out.

Pilot Direct Air V3 Mesh Jacket Review | wBW

May 12, 2017 / Brandon Jackson / 1 Comment

My review of the Pilot Motosports Direct Air V3 jacket was just published today over at webBikeWorld.

The Direct Air Jacket V3 combines free-flowing mesh material with solid textiles in the impact zones. This makes the jacket feel a bit more sturdy than other “full shell” mesh jackets. But it does so at the expense of some air flow.

Pilot has upgraded the protectors used in this jacket as well as the waterproof liner. It’s now a REISSA membrane lined with polyester mesh. Usability features like Pilot’s Red Tab system and “At Hand” pocket are present and those are details we also really appreciated in the Pilot Trans Urban V2 jacket we reviewed recently.

Read the full review (click here)

Pilot Motosports Trans.Urban V2 Jacket Review

April 5, 2017 / Brandon Jackson / 0 Comments

I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing Pilot Motosport‘s follow up to their original Trans.Urban jacket , the Trans.Urban V2 for the past several weeks and I’ve come away very impressed. This jacket is more of an evolution of the original rather than a makeover and that’s great as there was a lot to like about the original one.

The original Trans.Urban was a great jacket for a very good price at $225.00 (USD). The new Trans.Urban V2 updates the styling and armor but keeps all the good stuff that was already in place and only adds $15.00 (USD) to the price. This is only 7% from where it was around three years ago so it’s not a bad increase at all.

The important aspect to keep in mind is the value that is represented. Even with the minor cost increase, the bang for your buck factor is still impressive. Add in the fact that it’s a pretty sharp looking piece of kit and you’ve got a great 3/4 length jacket for honest three season use.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? For all the details and more photos head over to the full review here at webBikeWorld.

AGV Sport Compass Jacket Review (wBW)

January 8, 2017 / Brandon Jackson / 0 Comments

Just published my review of the AGV Sport Compass jacket over at webBikeWorld.com. This is my go to jacket now for good weather. It has a unique waxed-cotton and buffalo leather shell in a sport riding cut which really stands out from the crowd of technical street riding gear.

The look and protective features make it versatile enough for use commuting, sport touring, and even just looking slick standing next to your favorite vintage or modern-retro motorcycle. Looks of course aren’t everything and the
Compass jacket does include CE armor in the shoulders and elbows, which is
also where the leather portions of the jacket are placed for best protection.

A back protector pocket is in place but the included foam pad should be replaced with something more substantial. The jacket reviewed here does have a pants to jacket connection zipper but not all copies include it. For some reason only part of the production run included it and I had to swap out a couple to finally get one with the zip (thanks to motorcyclegear.com and AGV Sport for helping out with this).

Check out the entire review and photos over at webBikeWorld.com
.

REV’IT Outback 2 Jacket Review (men’s and women’s)

July 25, 2016 / Brandon Jackson / 0 Comments

Carmen and I teamed up recently for a look at the REV’IT Outback 2 jacket for webBikeWorld. The Outback 2 jacket blurs the line a bit between an adventure jacket, touring jacket, and sport riding jacket. It might be the perfect jacket for the daily commuter offering plenty of storage, multiple liners, and quality construction.

In this review Carmen and I look at both the women’s and men’s versions of the Outback 2 jacket. While the overall design and function is quite similar, there are some differences we call out during the review. From the review…

The Outback 2 jacket is the REV’IT! mid-level entry in their adventure jacket lineup, but I would really classify this jacket as more of an Adventure/Sport if such a category exists.