Summary: The new Rev'it Sand jacket is
the 2010 replacement for the popular Rev'it Off-Track
jacket. It has rugged good looks, excellent fit
and "professional" styling details that make it an
excellent choice for all-weather, all-season use.
Background
I described the new
Rev'it Sand jacket in a 2010 Rev'it
clothing update I wrote after a visit to Rev'it U.S.
headquarters in New York, back in November of 2009.
The Sand jacket that was available for the photographs
during that visit was a prototype that was nearly ready
for production, but the Sand jacket is now available at
Rev'it retailers.
The Sand jacket is a replacement for the
Rev'it Off-Track jacket, which was a popular choice
with Adventure Touring types and others and was sort of
a street-based version of the Cayenne Pro.
The
"Pro" in the name apparently signifies the position the
jacket holds; the Cayenne Pro is the Rev'it technology
leader and although it may not look all that much
different from the Sand jacket, hard-core Adventure-Tourer
and off-road riders are willing to pay for the best.
For the other 98% of us, the Sand jacket should do
just fine, thank you. Which doesn't mean that a
Cayenne Pro isn't something to lust after; just that the
Sand jacket should very nicely fulfill just about any
requirement that can be dished up by the vast majority
of motorcyclists.
wBW Flash Slideshow: Details of the Rev'it Sand
Jacket
Rev'it Sand Jacket Features At the risk of redundant redundancy, I'll repeat some
of the differences and improvements noted in the First
Look before describing the Sand jacket in detail.
Part II of this review will describe the new Sand pants
that are a perfect match for the jacket.
Zippers I don't remember having
difficulties with the zippers on the Off-Track jacket,
but apparently some owners didn't care for the
coiled-loop zipper style. Rev'it now uses the YKK
Vislon zipper, which features specially
molded large zipper teeth that look like they mean
business.
The YKK Vislon zippers are designed to be self-cleaning
to prevent jamming when the teeth get dirty during those
off-road rides on your F 800 GS. An additional
benefit is that these "low-torque, low-effort" zippers are very easy
to use and they operate smoothly. They can be
found in the front of the jacket, on the placket, in the
vents and on the sleeves,
The Vison zippers make it very easy for the owner to open and close
the new-style front vents with one hand. While
that may sound like something that should be a
requirement on a motorcycle jacket, it's definitely not the case on
many other jackets we've reviewed and this has always
puzzled me.
A front vent zipper that requires two
hands to operate is not a good idea for motorcycle use.
But, with too many zippers, one hand has to hold the
jacket material while the other struggles with the
zipper pull.
Now it may sound borderline silly to wax poetic about
something as mundane as a zipper, but this is a good
example of the Rev'it attention to detail we've
mentioned in reviews of many Rev'it products.
Someone actually took owner feedback and thought about
how the jacket will be used in the "real world" and
figured out a better solution.
The ease with which the zippers work is also emblematic
of other design features on the Sand jacket. For
example, the very first time I put the jacket on, I
noticed how much easier it was to use the lower front
pockets. Those two pockets do not have a
waterproof zipper underneath the pocket flap. The
flap simply folds over and is secured by hook-and-loop.
So I can reach down, open a pocket with one hand and
make a deposit or withdrawal with less drama than is
usually the case.
Another very subtle feature that, had we not worn dozens
of other jackets during webBikeWorld reviews, probably
would have been missed. But it again points to the
way the Sand jacket was designed for real-world
motorcycle use.
That said, there is one issue that is a side effect of
the new low-torque zippers, but you'll have to wait
until I get to the section describing the venting system
on the Sand jacket to learn more!
Pockets As I mentioned in the
First Look, owners asked for larger front pockets.
Not only are the front pockets of the Sand jacket easier
to use, they're larger -- a full 23 cm wide and 15 cm
deep, not counting the folded-over internal flap to keep
out moisture. The front pockets are "patch" style,
with large pleats on either side which allow
overstuffing if desired and they appear to have a
water-resistant lining.
The large chest vents can also be used as pockets in
a pinch, but they provide excellent ventilation, so it's
probably not a good idea to load them up with
Snickers...uh, I mean Power Bars.
Inside the thermal liner is another deep pocket at
the left side, this one is 17 cm deep and secured by a
zipper. The jacket shell has a similar pocket in
the same location. The jacket has a huge rear
pocket along the bottom hem; this one measures about 36
cm wide, it's 20 cm deep and has two separate pleats.
You could probably stuff an entire bedroll in there!
Actually, it will hold either the separate
water-resistant liner or the thermal liner or both.
Above and Below:
The waist and arm adjustment system used on the Rev'it
Sand jacket.
Adjusters The Sand jacket has
plenty of adjustment, and the adjusters will get a good
workout because the jacket will go up and down about a
size, depending on how the separate liners are
configured. There are dual side adjusters with
really big, really beefy and wide nylon straps that are
attached to equally large pieces of rubber elastic in
the front of the jacket.
These adjuster straps continue all the way around the
back of the jacket to the other side, so when you cinch
them up, you're strapped in for the ride, no two ways
about it.
To do that, there's a rubber pull
attached to the nylon holder. It takes some effort
at first to tighten up the wide straps because they
offer a lot of resistance due to their width, but they
seem to be loosening up a bit with use.
The wide adjuster system is also used on the inside
of the upper arm, although the typically snug Rev'it fit
doesn't require much adjustment here. What is
interesting about the fit of the arms though is that
they feel snug, which is correct, of course, to keep the
armor in place, but they don't bind when I bend my arms.
Anyway, no such problem with the Sand jacket, and
this is probably due to two things: first, the accordion
pleats in the elbow provide some extra give in that
area. And it's also due to another Rev'it specialty -- they
know how to cut the fabric to fit a human body.
I'd have to say that typically the Rev'it clothing just
fits better than most anything else.
The Sand jacket and pants -- once I found the right
combination of sizes -- fits "like a glove", which makes
for a very comfortable ride in a wide range of
conditions. The adjusters make it that much
better.
Bar tack stitching used to reinforce high-stress areas
on the Sand jacket.
Reinforced Stitching
The First Look also described the new bar tack stitching
reinforcements used near the high stress areas of the
Sand jacket.
Yet another subtle detail that would probably be
missed by most owners unless they were pointed out,
these reinforcements can be found in the pocket flap, on
either side of the webbing for the waist and arm
adjusters, at the flaps that cover the front vents, at
the rear vents, rear pocket and probably elsewhere.
You have most likely seen bar tack stitching before;
this reinforcement method is used on heavy-duty work
jeans and similar clothing that will experience a lot of
wear and abuse.
It is not commonly found on
motorcycle clothing because each bar tack means an added
manufacturing step and it uses a different style and
process of stitching with careful placement to ensure
that the correct area will get reinforced.
Armor
The Sand jacket uses removable Prolife CE-approved armor
in the elbows and shoulders and a removable back pad in
the rear. The armor is comfortable and not bulky.
Front vent system is easy to deploy and forms an air
scoop when open. Flashlight shown behind 3D mesh.
Ventilation
The Sand jacket has an entirely new and successful front
venting system. My evaluation is
based on recent brief usage when the temperature soared
to 68 F after weeks of snowy cold. 68 degrees
Fahrenheit is not really a temperature that requires the
ultimate in ventilation, but it was at least warm enough
for a trial.
The all-season motorcycle jacket concept has pretty
much baffled many clothing designers; the problem is
having a jacket that can go from windproof and warm for
winter to open and flowing lots of air for summer.
We've seen a variety of different front venting
solutions to address the issue, but very few are
successful. Most of the "scoop" type front vents
don't really work as designed; either they don't open
wide enough to scoop the air, or they're blocked
underneath by the jacket lining or other material.
Probably the most successful near-all-season jacket
available is the
Rev'it Sirocco
(review), because it converts
from nearly windproof to very nice mesh for warm-weather
riding. The new Sand jacket is now also a top
choice for all-season use. It's biased slightly
more towards cold-weather riding only because it doesn't
have the huge mesh surface area of the Sirocco.
As it turns out, the new front vent design on the
Sand jacket with its "3D" mesh is an excellent design
for the real world. In the Sirocco, the foam
inserts that block the wind and keep in some warmth for
winter riding must be removed and stored in the jacket
pockets, which is a bit of a hassle.
The Sand jacket features two vertical zippers in
front, using the low-torque zipper teeth described
earlier. Open the flap at the top, roll down the
zipper, fold the fabric over into a "V" shape and close
the flap and you're done. The vent now looks
roughly like two right triangles; the triangle towards
the center is open mesh and the triangle towards the
outside acts as the air scoop.
The "3D" mesh is about 10 mm thick and it feels
somewhat like a block of foam that was perforated to
create the mesh. The thickness of the 3D mesh
keeps the fabric away from the rider's clothing and
seems to help increase air flow. If the mesh was
as thin as a piece of fabric, it would probably lay
closer to the rider and allow air to flow only on that
one section as the wind pushed it back.
If the separate water-resistant and wind-resistant
liners are removed from the jacket, the rear vents can
be opened and the combination of the open front and rear
vents creates a very nice flow of air into and out of
the jacket.
Arm vent has two-way zipper but the zipper pull at the
wrist doesn't remain secured.
Arm Vents
The sleeves of the Sand jacket also have a new type of
vent system that is different than the system used on
the Off-Track. The sleeve vents on the Sand jacket
have been moved down on the forearm and the two-way
zipper can be opened from the bottom (at the wrist) or
the top to expose a section of fabric mesh underneath.
This brings up the only issue I have with the Sand
jacket; the zipper doesn't stay closed at the wrist end
of the arm vent. I think this is due to the
low-torque YKK Vislon zipper, which requires less effort than a coil
type to open or close. You can see in the photo above that the
zipper is open at the wrist end; the zipper pull starts creeping
open every time I wear the jacket.
It's not a big problem in the scope of things because
I wear gloves with the gauntlet over the sleeve, but I
would have preferred a separate fabric section with
hook-and-loop or a snap or some way to ensure that the
sleeve stays closed and the zipper stays shut.
The specially treated Cordura fabric used to create the
accordion pleat on the arm.
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Sand Jacket Water- and
Wind-Resistant Liners
The Sand jacket is actually a "4-in-1" combination.
The shell can be worn alone without the liners and it
has a full-length mesh lining permanently bonded to the
inside. The jacket also has a separate full-length
wind-resistant liner, then a separate full-length
thermal liner is attached to the inside of that.
But either liner can be used separately, so both
liners can be installed, or the thermal liner removed,
leaving the shell and the water/wind resistant liner, or
the thermal liner only, which can be connected to the
shell with a separate set of internal zippers.
This is a nice feature that offers a lot of
versatility. The four-ways in which the jacket can
be configured are: shell only; shell with both liners;
shell with water/wind resistant liner only; shell with
thermal liner only.
With both liners installed, the jacket is very warm
and the thermal liner seems a bit thicker than some of
the thermal liners used in other Rev'it jackets.
In our recent variable weather, I wore the Sand jacket
and pants in temperatures ranging from about 40 degrees
F to 68 F and the outfit was just as comfortable in both
extremes.
The water-resistant liner is the Rev'it Hydratex
membrane, labeled as tested to 7,000 grams of moisture
transfer per square meter over 24 hours and able to
resist a 5,000 (5 meter) column of water.
Large strips of reflective material are used on the
front and rear of the Sand jacket.
Sizing The Sand jacket shown here is a size XL.
It fits perfectly with both liners installed and is
about one size larger with both liners removed.
For the most part, the extra room when the liners are
removed can be taken in by tightening the adjusters.
The Rev'it size chart for the Sand jacket is somewhat
different than expected, based on the sizing chart in
the 2010 catalog on the Rev'it website, so the
recommendation is to study the size charts at Rev'it and
your retailer and take your measurements to make sure
you order the correct size.
The size chart indicates that a size XL will fit a U.S.
men's 41" to 44" chest, which seems like a
slightly wider range
than usual for a size XL and also the size range one would expect for
a size L, not XL. I do think that the size XL Sand
jacket will be too large for someone with a 41" chest,
and a more rational size range would be 42" to
44" for the size XL.
The XXL jacket is listed as fitting a 44" to 46"
chest, according to the size chart. I tried an XXL
and it felt like...an XXL, which is too big for me.
I would normally choose a size large motorcycle jacket,
which is usually sized to fit a 43" to 44" chest.
Rev'it uses letter sizes for Unisex clothing and
numeric sizes for men- and women-specific clothing. More discussion on this topic in the
Rev'it Sand
Pants Review.
Other Features
The Sand jacket has the Rev'it adjustable collar system
which is slightly difficult to close but at least is
adjustable. The last couple of jackets we reviewed
had non-adjustable collars, which is obviously not a
good thing.
The jacket uses high-quality
(and expensive) all metal Prym snaps made in Italy,
rather than the plastic snaps used in the Off-Track
jacket. The snaps can be found in the water/wind
resistant liner and towards the inside of the flap that
covers the front vents.
Besides the main zippers mentioned above, Rev'it said that YKK zippers are used throughout but
Rev'it uses zipper pulls of their own design. The
main YKK Vislon zippers are labeled on the back side of
the pull. The
special Rev'it catch for the collar has also been
reinforced; this allows the collar to be left open by
securing it to the catch on the left-hand side.
The Rev'it heat sealed and
bonded reflectors are used in the front and back of the
Sand jacket.
Also, the jacket has an attachment zipper for the
Sand pants. The zipper can be attached with either
liner (or both) installed. The jacket weighs 2.5
kg (5.5 lbs.) and the pants weigh 1.8 kg (4.0 lbs.) with
all liners installed, which makes for a nice lightweight
combination.
Rev'it Sand Jacket
Specifications
Shell:
Combination of 500, 750 and 1200 Denier fabric, 100%
polyamide.
Insulation:
Removable thermal liner
Waterproofing: Removable Hydratex liner, tested at
3L (5,000mm H2O)
Breathability: Removable Hydratex liner tested
at 3L (7000g/m2/24hrs)
Armor:
Prolife CE-approved protection at shoulders and
elbows.
Conclusion The new Rev'it Sand jacket is an excellent choice
for all-season use. It has thoughtful design and
many useful features that are "real-world" tested and
not just thrown on the jacket for the sake of a thicker
marketing brochure.
But the jacket is
also very comfortable to wear -- the cut and styling
fits snugly as it should but without binding and the way
the pockets and zippers work make the jacket an
immediate favorite.
