On A Mission To Find The Best 3/4 Length Motorcycle Jacket

New jacket time part-two. A few weeks ago, I started my journey for a new motorcycle jacket. You can see my first story at the bottom of the post.

Before deciding to write the original piece, I was hoping some shop or some garment manufacturer would give me a jacket or two to wear for a while (free and forever of course). Sadly, no such luck. I envy those paper magazine testers with whole rooms full of “used only once” stuff. Well there is an upside, I get to spend time looking at stuff in different motorcycle shops! Going into different motorcycle shops to try on jackets, I found many of the shops have staff who were quite helpful in suggesting stuff that I should look at, jackets that were on sale, end of line items, new improved models coming, etc. While they may try to “up sell” you into a more costly jacket, I was mostly impressed that staff in shops are really knowledgeable about what they sell.

Visiting multiple motorcycle shops to look at ¾ length jackets revealed that some shops carry a lot of different manufacturers and some only carry one or two lines. One shop I visited had over 100 various motorcycle jackets with about 95% all from one manufacturer. Sure they carry every size, colour and model but it is hard to compare jackets, if you only have one brand. Most shops I visited will carry multiple brands, but may not have every colour choice or size. Also some shops specialize. These shops only carry jackets that relate to the kind of bikes they sell. As an example; my closest HD dealer carries mostly only black and leather. An adventure touring/dirt bike shop I visited, limited their selection to mostly on/off road use jackets.

If you have taken my advice and tried on a ¾ length jacket, the first thing that hits you is that one of these jackets initially feels bulky and heavy. Certainly, bulkier and heavier than most bomber style or waist length jackets. You will likely find that the extra bulk disappears when sitting on your motorcycle.

One of the things that I failed to mention in part one is that most manufacturers do not make sizing options like extra long jackets or short arm versions. Although most do some women’s sizes. A few do custom sizing (like Aerostitch) or have ‘long’ versions available on special order. If you are a “Sizing options” kind of rider, be sure to ask.

I haven’t talked a lot about sizing. Your ideal size jacket is based on your body size and what you wear underneath your jacket. I mostly wear two layers under my jacket. A light compression shirt (yes Lycra like the bicycle racers wear) and a cotton tee shirt (long sleeves or short depending on outside temperatures). I have both hot weather compression shirts to wick away sweat and cold weather Lycra to keep heat in. I am not a pretty sight in just the Lycra but it does work well. A jacket that fits you well will have enough room inside or adjustment to allow you to add a fleece liner/shell for those cold mornings and still not flop around when it is hot and you only have your cotton Tee under the coat.

Most three season motorcycle jackets are either waterproof or have a waterproof inner liner. Often these liners can be removed. There will also be a ‘zipped in’ or ‘snap in’ thermal liner for cold weather. If you are spending upwards of two hundred dollars on a ¾ length jacket, you should try it on with these liners in and out. A great fit with all the liners in might not be so great a fit with the liners out.

Some ¾ length jackets still have some form of waist belt to snug down the jacket. However, most of the latest designs use side straps to adjust how tight the jacket is on your lower body. Also a lot of the latest design jackets will have a zipper to allow you to zip riding pants to the jacket. I am not sure anyone ever zips the jacket to the pants but it would help to keep your pants from falling down I guess.

A reminder, the bottom zipper tab or dome fastener of your ¾ length jacket may rub on the back of your bike’s fuel tank. A bit of tape or some of those peel’n’stick little round cushion things (for lamp feet or other anti-scratch furniture patches) attached to your zipper tab or dome fastener will resist marking your tank.

Did I buy a new ¾ length jacket? Yes a nice blue/black one. Brand? Watch for me on the road in 2016 to see which one. Or check back from my review.