Cold Weather Sport Riding Motorcycle Gear Guide

Some guys roll the sportbikes into the garage at the first sight of winter weather. We don't think that's how it should be. So we assembled our top six outfits for the sport rider that wants to extend the riding season into the lower temperatures. These outfits will generally feature aggressive styling and a cut that is designed to be in the tuck position. Outfits in this guide come from REV'IT!, Icon & Alpinestars. All of this said, we think this guide will present a bunch of different choices and styles for the winter sport motorcycle rider.

Watch below, our Cold Weather Sport Riding Gear Guide.

Our first featured outfit is the Alpinestars Argon WP Jacket & Alpinestars Edge Drystar Pants. Highlighted by that classic Alpinestars style, the Argon WP Jacket is built on a 600D chassis with a PU coating that adds to the waterproofing & durability of the coat. Sandwiched between the outershell and the interior is a waterproof breathable membrane that keeps you dry while allowing perspiration to evaporate out. The jacket features a removable thermal liner and the Edge Drystar pants have the Drystar membrane, offering upgraded waterproofing and breathability.

Alpinestars utilizes their proprietary CE rated Bio Armor in the shoulders, elbows & knees. There are ergonomic stretch panels in the right places for comfortable articulation and as always with AStars, YKK zippers throughout both the jacket and pants. This outfit is one of the more muted options in our winter sport riding gear options for a subtler vibe.

Amping up the aggressiveness (as they tend to do), we paired the Icon Contra Redeemer Jacket with the Icon Insulated Canvas Pants. The Redeemer is a graphic version of the Icon Contra Jacket, which comes in at a lower price point. The street riding theme of this outfit extends to the fit which is urban-styled, generous, and a little looser than the European-designed gear in this guide. The jacket has removable CE rated Icon Field Armor in the shoulders and elbows, while the knees have aramid reinforcement panels in the knees.

Both the jacket and pants feature removable insulated thermal liners to give you the flexibility of riding in the cold with the liners in or pulling them out and getting into some milder temperatures. What really shines on this outfit is the graphics of the jacket. As Icon puts it, "the Contra Redeemer is a worthy talisman in the continuous quest for moto salvation."

If you're a moto guzzi or light motorcycle guy or general retro enthusiast, the vintage styling of the REV'IT! CR Textile Jacket paired with the REV'IT! Factor Pants might be just what you're looking for. With bold, blocky racing stripes down the front, back, and sleeves of this jacket, it screams vintage rider. CE rated armor in the shoulders, elbows and knees, a water-resistant treatment on the jacket with Hydralining waterproof breathable membrane built into the pants. The jacket has a built-in jeans loop for riding on milder days and a removable thermal vest liner (the pants have removable thermal lining as well) for when the temperature dips. Also available in a stylish retro red color, the jacket isn't the warmest in this lineup, but as far as style is concerned, it gets it done. You will get great performance out of this outfit in Fall, Winter and Spring.

The Alpinestars Ransom WP Jacket & Alpinestars ST-5 Drystar Pants combo is going to keep you absolutely warm and dry in the colder months of the year. The jacket features a built-in waterproof breathable membrane and the pants have Alpinestars' upgraded Drystar membrane, equally waterproof but slightly more breathable than the jacket. Each piece in this outfit has a removable quilted thermal liner for cool and cold weather versatility.

Removable CE rated armor in the shoulder, elbows & knees and a strong 660D pants construction equates to excellent protection from abrasion and impact in this combo. Alpinestars subtle styling in the jacket is a real draw for the sporty rider with the understated color blocking and the high profile collar. Another great option in our Cold Weather Sport Riding Guide that is going to perform excellently in the cool and cold weather, wet or dry.

Gixxer guy? We've got you covered. The Icon Arc Jacket comes in a couple of different designs, but the Icon Arc Suzuki Jacket was designed with only the GSX-R enthusiast in mind. Couple it with the Icon Arc Textile Pants and you can ride your bike in the winter with an aggressive look. The jacket is the only one in this bunch that features a mix of textile and leather, with 1.2-1.4mm premium cowhide in the impact areas. It also has removable CE rated armor in the elbows and shoulders with a removable insulated liner for temperature versatility.

The jacket is designed in a very urban style with a loose and relaxed fit. The same goes for the pants, which also have removable armor in the knees and durable Cordura and Aramid reinforcement panels. Sized as an overpant with a loose fit, be sure to order your normal pants size if you're wearing them over jeans. If you're gonna rock them commando, buy one size lower for proper fit.

Last but certainly not least in winter sport riding gear guide, the REV'IT! Bronx Jacket and REV'IT! Factor Pants (we know, we feature them a lot..) is the most understated of the lineup, and will probably appear most to the city guy, whether he's riding a light motorcycle or even a scooter. Both the jacket and pants are constructed with high denier fabrics for abrasion resistance and offer Knox CE rated armor in the shoulders, elbows and knees.

The Bronx is essentially a waist-length version of the REV'IT! Brighton Jacket, which is showcased in another of our winter gear guides. Other than the muted style of this combo, my favorite nuance is the removable knitted collar. When it's frosty out, keep it attached, but when the temperatures are slightly high in the Autumn or Spring, pop it off and you're riding comfortable.

That does it for this installment of winter gear guides. Be sure not to miss our full series of guides, including our Winter Motorcycle Glove Guide.

-RetroZilla

Related:

Cold Weather Touring Motorcycle Gear Guide

Cold Weather ADV Motorcycle Gear Guide

Motorcycle Helmet Buying Guide

Cold Weather Touring Motorcycle Gear Guide

Next up in our Cold Weather Motorcycle Gear Guide series is Touring Gear. Winter Touring Motorcycle Gear has to meet certain criteria for us to classify it as such. It needs to be able to handle cold extremely well making thermal liners a must. It also has to fend off all elements that Mother Nature rains down; snow, sleet, rain - it all needs to bounce right off. To that end, all this gear needs to have an element of waterproof breathability, be it a membrane bonded to the outershell or a removable liner membrane.

The main differentiating factors between this Touring Gear Guide and our previous ADV Gear Guide lie in application and technologies used. With ADV Touring Gear, you generally see more space-age materials in addition to advanced technical features that are very specific to the application the gear is designed for. ADV Gear is designed for a closer-to-even balance of on-road & off-road riding and therefore needs to be more technically-advanced. The Touring Motorcycle Gear featured in this video will be focused more towards on-road riding with slightly less adventurous, if any at all, off-roading.

That said, we pulled out seven of our favorite Cold Weather Touring outfits and gave a brief breakdown of the application, features and fit of each. We hope this will serve as a guide for all the Sport Touring riders out their looking to keep the rubber side on the road through the coldest months. Without further adieu, our Cold Weather & Winter Touring Motorcycle Gear Guide:

First up in our Winter Touring Motorcycle Gear Guide is the REV'IT! Sand Jacket & REV'IT! Sand Pants. This combo is the best-selling mid-level touring outfit of 2010. Out of all the outfits featured in this video, this very well may be the best at performing in all four seasons. With an impressive venting configuration for hot weather and removable Hydratex waterproof breathable liner and thermal liner, you're covered in cool & cold wet weather as well. Don't miss our part 1, the REV'IT! Sand Jacket & Pant Review, and part 2, the REV'IT! Sand Jacket & Pant Armor & Liner Breakdown, for a more detailed look at this impressive piece of gear.

We know we featured this outfit in our Winter ADV Motorcycle Gear Guide, but it's for good reason that we included the Firstgear TPG Rainier Jacket & Firstgear TPG Escape Pants in this collection as well: performance in all weather conditions, all temperature ranges and all seasons. The TPG Rainier was a standout of last year's Firstgear class, and a year later the TPG Escape pants came up to speed. The fit is articulated, the d3o molecular-level armor is there; it's simply an all-around better pant than the first iteration was. This combo will do a great job of competing with anything else on the market.

As part of REV'IT!'s new teaming with GORE-TEX and as a complement to the REV'IT! Defender GTX featured in our ADV guide, the REV'IT! Legacy GTX Jacket & REV'IT! Legacy GTX Pants pack a mean punch and will be perfectly suited for the rider in the Pacific Northwest. The reasoning? They feature a non-removable GORE-TEX waterproof breathable membrane that is bonded to the outershell. This outfit is the only one in this collection that features GORE-TEX, the ultimate in waterproof breathability. You can stretch this outfit into the warmer temperature zones with the removable thermal liner, but it's going to shine in the cool/cold wet weather. Seattle, Portland, this is for you.

Out of everything in this video, the Olympia AST Jacket & Olympia Ranger 2 Over Pants comprise the outfit most relegated to three-season riding. With fewer venting options than the other six combos in this lineup, the AST Jacket & Ranger 2 Pants will perform extremely well in the cool and cold weather, easily fending off all forms of precipitation. The Thermolite insulated liner jacket can be worn standalone, making it a great destination layer for when you get off the bike. And of course, the thermal liner jacket can be taken out entirely and vents opened up for the warmer times of the year. It's also available in the hi-vis yellow option from Olympia shown in the video.

The REV'IT! Dragon Jacket & REV'IT! Factor Pants are the mid-range offering from REV'IT! for Cold Weather Touring rides. The Dragon features a stylish standalone liner jacket that also contains the Hydratex membrane, the waterproof breathable element of this jacket. Beyond that is a detachable thermal liner that will keep you plenty warm in the winter but when removed, will flow a great amount of air for warmer weather riding. The Factor pants also offer a detachable thermal lining, but the waterproof breathable membrane is bonded to the outershell. Bottom line, this outfit will perform great in all seasons, all temperatures, and all levels of precipitation.

Next up, the Firstgear Kilimanjaro Jacket & Firstgear HT Overpants are a great option for the rider looking for a roomier fit. These Firstgear products feature a box cut which puts them along the lines of a classic American fit as opposed to the European svelte cut that we so often see in Touring gear. The Hypertex bonded membrane in the jacket and the pants provide the waterproofing and breathability in this outfit. The jacket and pants both offer standalone thermal liners that can be worn when you hop off the bike or removed entirely for warmer weather riding. This is another excellent mid-level Winter Touring option from Firstgear.

Finally, the Dainese D-System D-Dry Jacket and Dainese D-System D-Dry Pants take all of the great Italian styling and design that go into their street gear and apply it to an all-season all-weather Touring outfit. With a full DuPont Cordura outer construction and a removable waterproof breathable D-Dry liner system, Dainese created an outfit that will keep you warm, dry and in style no matter what treacherous winter weather gets hurled at you. It's going to shine in the colder, wetter months of the year but also perform very well in the heat with its ample ventilation.

That will wrap up our second Cold Weather Motorcycle Gear Guide. Be sure not to miss all of the installments!

-RetroZilla

Cold Weather ADV Motorcycle Gear Guide

REV'IT! GORE-TEX Gear Guide

Olympia Ranger 2 Pants Review

REV'IT! Legacy GTX Jacket & Pants Review

Cold Weather ADV Motorcycle Gear Guide

It's that time of year again. Time to put away the lightweight summer mesh jackets and bust out the brawnier winter motorcycle gear. Park the sportbike in the garage until spring and roll out the GS (or KTM or V-Strom of course). No more outdoor picnics in the sunshine. Just raw, bleak, absolutely bone-chilling weather. There will be freezing rain, sleet, blizzards. All of this makes it seem like the perfect time to ride, right? If you have the right gear for the weather, then there's no doubt about it.

That said, we're rolling out a series of HD videos we're calling our 2010 Cold Weather Motorcycle Gear Guides. Our hope is that these guides will serve as a means to navigate the vast array of cold weather motorcycle gear, effectively making the buying process that much easier. We've broken it down into four categories: Everyday Riding, Sport Riding, Sport Touring, and ADV Touring.

This first video focuses on our picks for Cold Weather ADV Touring Motorcycle Gear. We cover six different outfits from five brands to give a glance at the many different options available. Check out the full video below:

The first outfit we featured is REV'IT!'s new flagship all-season all-weather outfit, born from their new marriage with GORE-TEX. The REV'IT! Defender GTX Jacket & REV'IT! Defender GTX Pants will perform tremendously under any conditions that Mother Nature throws. We've done a two full 10-minute videos on the Defender, one in which we discuss application, features, and fit; in the other we break down the armor and liner system. You can check them out by visiting our REV'IT! Defender GTX Jacket & Pants.

Next up is the new for Fall 2010 Alpinestars Durban Gore-Tex Jacket & Alpinestars Durban Gore-Tex Pants. With a strong history of producing apparel for the race track and roots in motocross gear, it only seemed logical that Alpinestars would eventually enter the ADV Touring realm with strong offerings. Building on the strong foundation of the Alpinestars Frontier Gore-Tex Jacket, they spent another year worth of R&D and came out swinging with the Durban suit. The Alpinestars Durban Suit plays really well in the arena of ADV Touring gear and offers a ton of four-season versatility. We'll be rolling out our full 15-minute review of this suit in the very near future.

Third in line is the Firstgear TPG Rainier Jacket & Firstgear TPG Escape Pants. We already knew that Firstgear had hit an ADV Touring home run last fall when they released the TPG Rainier, a jacket that immediately joined the upper-echelon of all-season all-weather gear. But the R&D in the TPG pants weren't quite there yet. Give them another year of hard work, and they roll out the much new and improved TPG Escape pants. The addition of molecular-level d3o armor, the completely redesigned fit & articulation and a generally more well-thought out product results in a pair of winter motorcycle pants that can flex its muscles up against the best of the best on the market.

The Olympia X-Moto Jacket and Olympia X-Moto Pants also get a thumbs-up from us. Out of all the cold weather ADV motorcycle gear we carry, this outfit is likely to be the most versatile in terms of multi-season wearability. Utilizing Olympia's Mega Vent Panel system, this suit will work very well with the integrated hydration pack in the summer as well as performing exceptionally in the brutal, bitter cold of winter. The waterproof breathable liner will keep you dry, the Thermolite lining will keep you warm, and the 2000D Cordura reinforcements will keep you protected. This is a great middle-of-the-road option that offers a ton of bang for the buck.

Next, we featured the Klim Adventure Rally Jacket & Klim Adventure Rally Pants for the rider who is going to do the majority of riding off-road. Think something along the lines of a 90% off-road, 10% on-road split. Inspired by the Dakar Rally, Klim created this suit to be the most bomb-proof outershell on the market today. Constructed exclusively with the most rugged GORE-TEX materials, the Klim Adventure Rally Suit is waterproof, breathable and ultimately indestructible. The only caveat with this outfit is the lack of thermal liner. Basically, what you choose to do for in terms of insulation is your call with this suit, but the exterior is heavy-duty to the point where we couldn't leave it out.

Finally, perhaps the best-selling ADV touring outfit over the last three years at RevZilla.com, the REV'IT! Cayenne Pro Jacket & REV'IT! Cayenne Pro Pants. Prior to the previously-detailed REV'IT! Defender GTX Jacket & Pants, this was the absolute mountaintop for REV'IT's ADV gear. And for good reason. It offers true four-season flexibility, with removable liner systems, Hydratex waterproof breathability, and futuristic materials like SuperFabric. The implementation of the Exkin liner, 2x warmer & 1/2 the weight of Thermolite, means you'll be nice and toasty in the frosty weather. This is without question an upper-echelon beast of an ADV touring outfit.

There are two 10-minute video reviews detailing this outfit that you can see by visiting our REV'IT! Cayenne Pro Review page.

That does it for our first Cold Weather Motorcycle Gear Guide. Stay tuned for all four installments.

-RetroZilla

Related Posts:

REV'IT! GORE-TEX Gear Guide

Alpinestars Tech Touring Gear

Olympia X-Moto Review