Best Cold Weather Motorcycle Jackets
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00Hey, this is Pat. And I'm Spurge. And today we want to talk about cool to cold weather
00:09jackets. So this is going to be some of our favorite picks. We know there's a lot of jacket
00:13options out there, but we wanted to give you a place to start if you're looking for jackets
00:16to get you from the fall into the colder months of the winter and then back in the spring.
00:21But we also understand that depending on where you live in the country, the winter is different
00:24for you. So we're talking about cool jackets. This is going to be jackets where the high
00:28of the day is between 65 and 75 degrees, maybe a little bit colder than that in the morning
00:33or the evenings. When we're talking about the cold weather jacket picks, we were talking
00:37about a high of between 50 to 65 degrees. All of this is in Fahrenheit, people. We're
00:41not going European math on you. And then we have a final category of brrr. This is going
00:47to be the high of the day isn't going to crest above 50 degrees, but you're going to be riding
00:52in colder temperatures. Now we have a detailed landing page for each of these as well as
00:59detailed breakdown videos of Pat and I walking through all the specific information if you
01:03want more info on any of the jackets discussed. Yeah. And just keep in mind, these are our
01:08picks. We both started in customer service here and we have the, all the questions from
01:11customers over the years. And these are the recommendations we've given them over the
01:14years that have really stood the test of time. So just keep in mind that in addition to what
01:18you're going to see today, you can always reach out to a customer service representative
01:21if you have additional questions, you're going to see QR codes on the screen as well
01:26as a full list of descriptions below in the YouTube video. We're doing our best to give
01:31you all the resources you need to help make your pick a little bit easier. There will
01:34be a best of cool to cold weather jackets landing page. And there are also going to
01:40be a slew of best of pages where you can look at best helmets, best jackets, best gloves
01:45to find the right gear for you and your riding style. But enough of that, let's kick off
01:49today by talking about some of our favorite cool weather jackets. And the first one we
01:53want to discuss is the Roland Sands Anaheim 74. Yes. And I am very excited about this
01:59because I actually own this. This is my fall riding jacket. And the reason I love it so
02:03much is a, the style. I think Roland Sands did a fantastic job with that, but the fact
02:08that it is a full denim vest, as well as a hoodie style fleece on the sleeves, but with
02:13direct venting. So you can open it up. You can ride in the morning when it's a little
02:16bit colder. Once you get up to highway speeds and the temperature drops, but you can open
02:19up the vents. If you're say taking a lunch ride and it's hot out and the sun's out.
02:23One of the things that I've noticed from watching Pat's product videos, he likes to use the
02:27word fantastic a lot. So I would just say, as you're watching this video, every time
02:31that Pat says fantastic, take a drink. This is coming in around the $250 price point.
02:36I like this because it is affordable, but it is still going to give you a lot of functionality
02:41and style for that price. Now we talk about the CE level one armor in this, this is going
02:46to be a SAS tech armor. So really thin, comfortable armor. If you're somebody looking for a motorcycle
02:51jacket, that's going to keep you safe, but not necessarily look like a motorcycle jacket.
02:56This is going to be a great option for you. Now, from a sizing standpoint, Pat and I both
03:00like this. We feel it fit really true to size. We're both about a 44 inch chest. We would
03:05wear this in a large, but there were some comments from customers saying that if you
03:09are on the larger side of the spectrum, you might need to size up if you are between two
03:13sizes. Yeah, and fantastic drink. I really like that this jacket has the armor included
03:19at CE level A, but at the $250 price point, I think it's hard to beat for the seasonality
03:23that you're getting out of it. So for the ladies in the audience, we have another Roland
03:27Sands jacket similar to this one to consider, and that is going to be the Cambria CE. Yeah,
03:33the Cambria CE, I think a few of the ladies that ride here have been wearing this one
03:36for a while, and it's going to be a little bit more colder weather oriented than the
03:41Anaheim jacket, but all in all, the bomber style look to it with the polyester, and I
03:46think the armor really adds to the styling without, you know. Yeah, so we say colder
03:50weather. I think the biggest critique from some of the women that we're hearing from
03:54is that it's very specific in its temperature range. If you're going north of 75 or 80 degrees,
04:01it's just going to be too hot of a jacket, and if you are going below that 60 to 65 degree
04:06mark, you are definitely going to have to layer up here because there are no included
04:10liners. I know Pat really likes the interior liner on this, but again, the other note here
04:15is that this is a little bit more expensive than what we're seeing in the men's pick.
04:19This is coming in around the $380 mark, so definitely a little bit more money for something
04:24that isn't going to give you a wide range of functionality. You're definitely seeing
04:28a little bit more of the style come into play. Yeah, and you're bumping up the CE AA for
04:31the abrasion rating as well, but I think just overall style, the quilted liner inside, no
04:36ventilation. It's going to be great for those cold mornings and, you know, late nights while
04:39you're out riding in the fall. Cool. We have one final pick, and this is going to be the
04:45Revit Ignition 4 H2O. This has been around for over a decade. When I started working at RevZilla,
04:50we had the Ignition 1. We are now in the fourth generation of this. This is going to be
04:56north of $500. It's coming around the $580 mark. Somebody that wants leather,
05:00that wants mesh, that wants seasonality, this is going to be a great option for you to consider.
05:06Yeah, this is, I think, a perfect combination of leather meeting mesh, which is where that extra
05:10price is coming into it. You get the abrasion resistance of the leather, but I think it's
05:14the liners that really steal the show with this one, just because this is a perennial favorite
05:17for four-season riding because you have the mesh, which might scream not cold weather,
05:22but once you get to the interior of the jacket, you also have two sets of liners. So you have
05:27the waterproof liner inside there, as well as a thermal liner inside of that, and now they're
05:32not destination. We get that question a lot. Are they destination liners? Can I wear them around?
05:36You can, but they're not going to be styled to be worn off the bike or anything like that.
05:39One of the other questions we actually got from a customer was around when we were talking about
05:44the Ignition 3 in one of the reviews, we were a little bit upset that Revit only gave us a
05:50vest thermal. So they've actually updated it for the Ignition 4. You're now getting a full
05:54sleeve thermal, so you can really fine-tune exactly how you're going to wear this and
05:59really what temperature range you're going to go after, keeping in mind that that waterproof liner
06:02will help to block wind, as well as the full thermal liner in there to help keep you warm.
06:06The one note here on sizing is size it depending on how you're going to wear it. If you're planning
06:10really you're in SoCal, you're mostly going to wear this as a mesh option, size it that way,
06:15and then like Pat just called out, we just want to show it to you. The armor in this is going to be
06:21the C-Flex CE Level 2 armor, so a little bit bulkier than what we're seeing with Roland Sands.
06:26Yeah, but you're getting that additional abrasion resistance and you're getting that additional
06:29upgrade in the armor, which helps justify the price, especially with that leather in there.
06:33But even with those thermal liners in there because of the mesh, this isn't something you're
06:36going to be able to push into the coldest months of the year. For that, we need to get into our cold
06:40category, and keep in mind this is where the high of the day is going to be between 50 to 65 degrees,
06:45and we're going to kick things off with a look at a favorite pick for Pat and myself,
06:50the Merlin Hixson 2 D3O. Yeah, and I think this one also stands out on a style spectrum too,
06:54because it is a full leather, which is the first one we've talked about being full leather, but
06:58also it has this really sweet British style to it in the Hixson. I really dig it, and I think a lot
07:03of the features Merlin tossed in here are pretty sweet. Would you call it fantastic? Yeah, I would
07:07call it fantastic. So it comes in around $400. I think we struggle with leather jackets because
07:12everyone that rides a motorcycle, well not everyone, but a lot of people that ride motorcycles
07:16love a good leather jacket. However, we find that it's sometimes too hot to wear in the heat of the
07:21summer. It's sometimes not warm enough to wear in the winter. So this is one that you can stretch
07:25a little bit because it does have a drop thermal in there. You are getting CE Level 1 D3O included,
07:31and that is going to look like this. It's a soft, comfortable armor, and again, for around the $400
07:37price point, you're getting a great style jacket. Pat and I have really grown to like what Merlin is
07:42doing. Over the past three to five years, they've really kind of come into the market constantly,
07:46you know, iterating on their product selection, and Merlin is one of those brands where pretty
07:50much across the board, whatever they make, I can put on and it feels comfortable. Yeah, I think when
07:55you look at the fact that it's full leather, a very soft and nice leather as well, when it's a
07:59full leather main construction and then inside you get a drop thermal in there, thank you, you get a
08:04drop thermal inside of it, but you also have some vents on the outside, so coming through the front
08:08and exhausting out the back. They're very small and the leather is going to counteract that, but
08:12it helps get a little bit of fresh air into the jacket on those warmer mid-days. Now, the one
08:16note on this one as we move on to the the next pick, which is going to be an Alpinestars one,
08:20there is no waterproof here, so this is just your drop thermal. If you're riding in the elements,
08:24you would have to wear some kind of a waterproof protection over top of this or just get wet.
08:29There you go. All right, Pat, let's move on to the Andes V3. This is an Alpinestars jacket
08:37and there is both a men's and a women's option. They're going to look pretty much identical and
08:44the functionality on this is going to be identical, so regardless of whether you're
08:48looking at the the Stella version for women or the men's version, all the reasons that we like
08:54this one are going to be the same, starting with the fact that it's affordable. It's around the $300
08:58price point. Yeah, and it checks a lot of boxes when it comes to riding in cold weather. It's got
09:03a touring level cut, so it's a little bit longer, has a little bit more surface area,
09:07has a pretty decent polyester main construction in 600D with reinforcement panels in ripstop
09:12at the outer edges, but it also comes with that non-removable waterproof liner and thermal with
09:17a little bit of ventilation. The front vents are going to allow a little bit of that air to pass
09:20through to at least help on those hot days. So, the armor on this is going to be a CE Level 1
09:25Nucleon Plus. We like this because it's comfortable. I mean, it's flexible. You're still getting impact
09:30protection, but it's not feeling bulky. It's not feeling like you're prohibitive. You know, we have
09:34a lot of people that look at this jacket and they're thinking, you know, entry level into
09:38adventure riding. I think depending on how you're riding on an adventure bike, this can work for
09:43that. I think that if you are really pushing it off-road, you're going to start to feel the limits
09:47of, you know, the temperature range for this. And that's actually one of the top questions we got is
09:52how comfortable is this in 90 plus degree heat? Yeah, that's where it's not going to shine.
09:57Honestly, that's why Alpinestars came out with an air version of the Andes, which has mesh panels
10:02and a removable waterproof liner because I think they knew the Andes V3 stood on its own in the
10:07cold weathering category. So, instead of trying to change that and make it worse in maybe another
10:10area, they just came out with an air version that would be better for that. So, the final question
10:13we have here is does it have a connection zipper for the pants? Yeah, it actually has a full size
10:18connection zipper inside so you can connect it to a matching Alpinestars set of pants and that'll
10:22really help stop the cold air from rushing up the jacket just a little bit more. So, talking about
10:27stopping the cold air, let's move on to our final category, which is the BRRRR category. Keep in
10:33mind that we are talking about sub 50 degrees Fahrenheit here. So, you are riding in the
10:38coldest months of the year and our picks to kind of kick things off is going to be the Klim Latitude
10:43for men and the Altitude for women. Yeah, and I have the Klim Latitude in my hands. Spurgeon has
10:49the Altitude, which are almost identical jackets. There's a couple little functionality for the
10:53female fit or for the male fit that changes, but otherwise the materials, the Gore-Tex, everything
10:58like that does remain the same, although the price does get a little bit different. The women's
11:01version, the Altitude is around $700. The men's Latitude is around $800. Yeah, and you are getting,
11:06again, I mentioned it's hitting pretty hard when it comes to protection. It's going to have a
11:11little bit of leather, a little bit of 1200 denier, some D3O armor at the elbow, shoulders, as well as
11:16the back included. CE Level 1. CE Level 1 armor, yeah. But it doesn't go to the back, I like that.
11:21Yeah, and it does get the Gore-Tex waterproof liner as well. So, I have been using a previous
11:26version of Latitude for years. This is a go-to like touring street jacket for me. It's something
11:31that I think really can become a four-season option. There are no liners in this, right? So,
11:37this is a bring your own base, mid-layer, heated gear kind of option, which is really what you're
11:43going to see as we're talking about the Burr category. Because when we get up into this stuff,
11:47like you're going to have to pick the thermal and heated liners that really you need depending on
11:54how extreme of a temperature you're going down into. Yeah, and I think when we were looking at
11:58the category, that was the goal. This is hitting pretty heavy on the protection, the Gore-Tex,
12:03everything that you need right out of the gate, and then you can customize it for yourself later
12:07on and really add in whatever you need. I go with heated liners, you go with thermals, and it's
12:10really just a debate as old as time. So, some questions here. Is this comfortable above 90
12:16degrees? As I said, I've been using this one for a while. I think as long as you're not pushing
12:21this as an off-road option, Klim has better off-road options. This is my four-season pick.
12:25So, with the vents open, you're getting direct vending. You can easily ride this in the summer
12:30months up that and over that 90 degree temperature. And as long as you're moving, you're getting the
12:34airflow through here. The final question is, will the Traverse from Klim keep you as dry as the
12:40Latitude and Inclement weather? As dry? Sure. I mean, the Traverse is also a Gore-Tex performance
12:46shell, so it does get the guaranteed waterproof and guaranteed for life of the garment. That Gore
12:50will back up. So, you still get that. It's just different features on the outer shell and main
12:54material construction. Yeah. Keep in mind that Gore-Tex does have a performance, a three-layer
13:00pro shell. This is the performance shell. Also note that Pat and I didn't recommend that. I
13:04think you can go that way if you want to, but Pat and I both like just the standard performance
13:09shell. Speaking of waterproof protection, getting away from Gore-Tex, which can sometimes add price,
13:14our final pick here from a jacket standpoint is the SIDICHI Guarda WP. Coming in around the $250
13:21price point, this is a much more affordable laminate waterproof option for those out there
13:26that like the Klim, but they want something that's a little bit more affordable. Yeah,
13:30and I think it hits on a lot of the similar features. It has a laminated waterproof
13:34construction throughout. It has direct venting. It comes with a decent armor complement as well,
13:39and actually Spurgeon, you own this jacket as well. Just like the Latitude, you own this one.
13:43I have this and I have the Marco Mesh. So, if you're looking for a summer option, thank you,
13:46that's what I was looking for. If you're looking for a summer option, there is the Marco Mesh built
13:50in the same chassis. The Guarda was the first one that I got. I like this because the fit is
13:54awesome. It just has a great fit to it. It looks nice and svelte. It's comfortable to wear all day.
13:59You are getting vents. From a weather standpoint, this is something that I would not wear north of
14:0775 degrees. That's where you want to check out the Marco Mesh. This is something that blocks
14:11so much wind. This is a sub-cold weather jacket for me. Pat tossed me this. I didn't. I should
14:17have mentioned earlier. This is the CE2 Axial Armor. It comes standard in the shoulders as well
14:23as the elbows. If you want to add the back protector, that was one of our questions here,
14:26is what back protector would work with this? I would recommend the Axial Back Protector. There
14:30is a CE1 and a CE2 version. You might as well go with the CE2 just to give you that protection
14:35there. Yeah, and then you can also add a hydration pouch over top. You have some pretty beefy
14:39reinforcements, 1200 denier up at the shoulders, the elbows. So, it's really made for protecting
14:44in the slide, but at the same time, that waterproofing on there is really going to
14:48block the elements out. So, this is a pick that we very much like. I think from a fit standpoint
14:52and from a cold weather standpoint, this is going to be a great option for you that's not going to
14:57crest that $250 price point. Now, like we said, everything here, you're going to have to add
15:03either some base layers or some mid-layers to or a combination thereof to be able to really get
15:09it into these colder months, or you're going to have to add some heated gear. And so, our final
15:15pick to just kind of discuss today is Hotwired Heated Jacket Liners. Now, Hotwired also has
15:21vests and gloves and pant liners, but really from a core standpoint, you want to make sure that your
15:25heart is kept warm. That's what pumps all that warm blood throughout your body. So, our pick is
15:30the Hotwired Heated Jacket Liner for around the $220 price point as a compliment to these other
15:36jackets. Yeah, and I think the last three jackets we talked about didn't have any liners inside of
15:40it, and that's because it was such a big debate on what is the appropriate, what is perfect for
15:44Spurgeon, what's great for me, what's great for other riders. And I think at a certain degree,
15:48sub 50 degrees is what this Burr category is, at a certain point when you factor in wind and moving
15:53at highway speeds, you're down below freezing. You really got to start generating heat. That's
15:57the way I look at it. And by plugging this into the bike and running the wires through, you can
16:01actually get a pretty hefty heat inside of it. I've never actually ran it at full heat. I usually
16:08run it at medium, and I'm still sweating at that point. So, you do have multiple settings. So,
16:13there's a little button on the jacket with like three different settings here. This is also the
16:17new Bluetooth version. So, there is an app, and you can actually program where those three settings
16:22come into play. I think there's like 10 different programmable ranges. And Pat talked about the fact
16:26that there is an electrical draw off the motorcycle. So, you want to make sure that you have
16:31the excess electrical capacity to run heated gear. This is going to draw about 75 watts. And for most
16:37people, that'll work on their motorcycles. But you have to be careful when you're starting to add in
16:42gloves or pants or other heated or electrical drawing elements to the motorcycle. Yeah. And
16:48if you're running something like a Goldwing or R1200GS, you're going to have tons of that. So,
16:52you can factor in and just add in the gloves, plug it into the jacket, add in the pants,
16:56and plug it in there and make one seamless outfit. But what you do have is heating elements up in the
17:00collar, one on each sleeve, one on each side of the chest, and then a big old panel on the back
17:05of carbon fiber heating elements to really help keep you warm. And like I said, I've never ran
17:09it at the hottest temperature just because I don't need it. Even when there's snow on the ground,
17:13the medium is usually just fine for me. But the point that we're probably getting to and you're
17:18probably kind of inferring is that when you're looking at heated gear, it becomes a much more
17:22complicated discussion. You're probably going to want to do a little bit more research than what
17:25this video has provided. We're just here to create some of the awareness around it. And if
17:30you want to dive in to more information about heated gear or kind of where you can figure out
17:36your electrical charging capacity, you can always check out the video for these individual jackets
17:42throughout the entire range. There's all the information presented on the product page.
17:46And we've got a slew of different best of options. So, maybe you're not looking for a winter or a
17:52cold weather riding jacket. Maybe you're looking for a best helmet. We've got all that laid out for
17:57you as well. Yeah. And don't just take our word for it, especially don't just take Spurgeon's word
18:01for it. But if you have questions and this is starting your search for the next pair of cold
18:06weather jackets or even hot wired heated liners, give us a shout. You can reach out to our customer
18:11service team. They're all riders. They can all walk you through what options are available and
18:15what might be best suited for your riding style. And that's why we had QR codes throughout the
18:19video. And if you do have any questions on where to find this stuff, there are a slew of description
18:24links below on YouTube. But for right now, Pat and I are going to hit the highway. Thank you so
18:28much for joining us today. Until next time, enjoy the ride.