What can you wear while riding your motorcycle to preserve a Positive Adventure Outlook (PAO) all the way from a 100-plus-degree desert to a freezing Rockies mountaintop and everywhere in between? A quick blast last summer from Cycle World’s oceanfront editorial offices in Southern California to Colorado’s 14,000-foot-high Pikes Peak revealed Alpinestars’ “4-in-1” Frontier Gore-Tex gear to be a pretty reasonable solution.
Cut for an upright, relaxed fit, the zip-together jacket (Black or Yellow/Gray, sizes S-4XL) and pants (Black, sizes S-3XL) adapt amazingly well to changing climate conditions. Starting from the inside and moving out, the jacket has a removable Gore-Tex SoftShell liner that’s smooth to the touch, breathable and waterproof. Plus, this nice-looking coat can be worn on its own off the bike. Next, there’s a zip-in quilted thermal liner for preserving body heat. That’s followed by a fixed-in-place mesh liner fitted with stretch panels to ease movement. Finally, the rugged, 475-denier textile shell with its sensitive-skin-friendly micro-fleece neck is polyurethane-coated for durability and water resistance.
Ventilation can be tuned to suit the weather. Two large chest panels can be unzipped and stowed in pouches just below the openings. A large mesh panel on the back can be opened to allow air to flow through the jacket. Smaller mesh bicep/wrist panels unzip, as well. If you’re wearing a wet T-shirt and have opened all the vents, you have an effective personal cooling system.
Like the jacket, the Frontier pants are constructed of heavy, PU-coated fabric and have the same layered liner system. Hook-and-loop-tabbed ventilation panels on the thighs can be adjusted on the go to move more or less air. Cargo-style pockets are easily accessible and water-resistant. Reflective striping, piping and logos on both jacket and pants add nighttime glimmer.
CE-approved Bio Armor is fitted at the shoulders and elbows; closed-cell foam protects the upper chest and back. The pants get similar protection at the knees/shins, with additional padding at the hips. It all feels pretty solid and crashworthy.
Together, the Frontier’s multi-fabric layered construction and variable ventilation provided our tester with protection from a variety of elements along with about as much comfort as he could’ve hoped for during multiple day-long rides in Hades-like heat to freezing cold and back again. Good riding gear really can help maintain PAO, and we’d say the Frontier Gore-Tex jacket and pants do that well.
Alpinestars
2780 W. 237 St.
Torrance,CA90505
310/891-0222
www.alpinestars.com
Price…$699.95 jacket, $599.95 pants
Ups
- Armored where it counts
- Loaded with layers, panels and pockets
- Really, truly waterproof
Downs
- Where do you store the layers when you’re not wearing them?
- “Teflon-coated hydrophobic micro-twill” sounds a little femme
- No budget left to buy gloves and boots
