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British Motorcycle Gear Adventure Pants
British Motorcycle
Gear "Adventure" Pants
Review
by Rick for webBikeWorld.com
Summary
These lighter weight pants fit like a comfortable
pair of jeans and they're a good match for the
British Motorcycle Gear Adventure jacket.
Background
I briefly mentioned the British Motorcycle Gear
Adventure pants in my review of the
BMG
Adventure jacket, Part 1 of this two-part review.
The Adventure pants were designed as a match for the
jacket, but of course either the jacket or pants can be
worn separately.
The Adventure pants have a light stone color, perfect
for summer, and an equally light weight at only 1.5
lbs., which is lighter than some of the street jeans I
own.
The 500 denier fabric matches the stone-colored
fabric of the same weight used in the Adventure jacket,
meaning that the pants are also biased towards
warm-weather riding. British Motorcycle Gear says
that the Adventure jacket and pants outfit was designed
for Dakar Rally types and serious two-wheeled exploring
as a full-coverage solution that provides better
protection than other off-road designs.
While it may sound counterintuitive to wear full
coverage clothing in desert riding, notice that you'll
never see a Dakar Rally rider wearing anything but.
Something like a mesh jacket would pass too much dry air
over the body, creating too much evaporation which could
quickly dehydrate the rider.
The Adventure pants use the same design philosophy as
the Adventure jacket. They're both designed to be
a "shell" and the owner can mix and match liners,
insulating liners and padding or armor as desired.
I like this concept and I think it helps to make the
clothing more comfortable and I like the idea of
creating my own "bespoke" fit.
I usually end up removing the insulating and
water-resistant liners in most of my motorcycle clothing
anyway. The Adventure jacket and pants can be
purchased closer to the desired size and each can be
fitted with exactly the types of liners and protection
necessary for the job at hand.
The Adventure pants do have the typical open-weave
taffeta mesh lining found in just about every motorcycle
jacket or pants. But other than that, there is no
other liner, insulated or otherwise, included.
BMG Adventure Pants Sizing
The pants have pockets for optional Knox knee and hip
armor, but I'm not sure that the roomy jeans-like fit of
the pants would allow the inserted armor to fit tightly
enough against the rider's body to allow it to be as
effective.
I think the best way to wear the Adventure pants is
with a pair of
Bohn
"Cool Air" Bodyguard Adventure Pants underneath.
Too bad Knox doesn't make an equivalent -- the Bohn
armored undies are my favorite and I've gone through two
sets!
The Bohn underwear has built-in protection for the
shins, knees, hips and rear and the thin flexible
stretch pants keeps the armor tight to the body.
The lining in the Adventure pants slides very easily
over the underwear, making a comfortable combination.
The Adventure pants are sold in waist and leg inseam
sizes. The pair shown here is marked "L" and it's
the 35-37" waist with 32-33" inseam. It's slightly
narrower in the hips than I expected, so I think it best
fits perhaps a 35-36" waist and the leg length is sized
for a normal 30-31" inseam with the added inch or two of
length to accommodate the riding position.
The waistband can adjust the pants smaller, but it
has almost no adjustment to make it wider, despite the
hook-and-loop adjusters on the side. The elastic
on the sides expands out only about 1", so potential
owners may be better off going with the larger waist and
then cinching it down with the waist adjusters.
Since I'm at the upper range of waist size for these
pants, they're a little tight in the waist only when I'm
also wearing the Bohn underwear. If the waistband
allowed another inch or so of outward adjustment, I
think I'd be fine. The legs are cut just like a
pair of loose-fit jeans and I have no problems with
that.
Bottom line here is that I haven't been able to try
the different size combinations to determine which one
might fit best, but overall the light weight and
jeans-style fit of the Adventure pants makes them very
comfortable.
Waist
The Adventure pants have a standard zipper fly with a
single snap at the top. The zipper is covered with
a flap that secures with hook-and-loop.
The waist does not have a metal hook and loop, which
is a negative. We zinged the
Rev'it Sand pants for this reason and I'll do it
again here; motorcycle pants definitely need a metal
hook and loop at the waist, and should additionally have
some type of extra belt loop that covers the hook at the
waistband This would help keep the pants more
secure in case of a crash.
The single button at the top of the Adventure pants
just doesn't hold the waist tightly enough, especially
when the waist fits snugly, as it should. I can
bend over and the snap pops open.
The pants have a higher waist in the rear for a bit
of extra protection and coverage. The back of the
waist has a zipper that attaches to the Adventure jacket
for security.
Pockets
Vertical hand pockets are located on each side of the
waist. They close with GRT branded zippers and the
hem on each side of the pocket features reflective
piping. The pockets are lined with a solid
taffeta-like material.
Legs
The Adventure pants include a vertical
zipper on the outside of each lower leg that runs about 15" long up from the pant cuff.
This allows the lower pant leg to expand so the pants
can be pulled over some motorcycle boots, although the
pants are not designed as overpants.
The bottom 8" or so of the inside of the pants leg is
lined with the taffeta material. This zipper
opening is also outlined with reflective piping.
A wide section of pleated elastic material provides a
large amount of flex over the knees and the pants are
cut in a way that allows them to bend with the elastic
as the hinge point. This helps make the legs feel
very comfortable and flexible compared to other types of
motorcycle pants.
Vents
Both legs have a single zipper-covered vent about 6"
long at the upper part of the outside of the thigh.
As always, it's difficult to tell whether the vents in
this location are efficient because they lay more or
less horizontally when the rider is in the sitting
position, but these pockets are located in an area that
gets the most amount of air flow available on the legs.
Safety
The pants have a thicker-feeling black
abrasion-resistant material surrounding each knee; BMG
says it's Nomex fire-resistant fabric. The
black-colored fabric located at the side of the hips and
in the rear is called "Texland", according to BMG and
the hip section has a "Hitena" label on one side.
I believe Texland is the company that manufacturers
Hitena textile under license. We've seen the
Hitena brand used previously in motorcycle jackets and
pants.
So the pants appear to have the added
abrasion-resistant material in the right places, but
it's up to the owner to make sure that the desired
amount and type of armor or padding is correctly
located.
The stitching on the pants is very accurate with
tight tolerances. The stitch lines are mostly
single row and the stitches have been laid down very
close to the edges of the material on each section,
giving the pants a sharp and clean look.
Conclusion
The British Motorcycle Gear Adventure pants have
been purposely designed as a shell to be looser fitting
for comfort during those Adventure Touring and off-road
excursions. This allows the owner to choose the correct fit,
add the desired level of protection and decide which
types of underlying layers will be best suited for the
weather conditions. I find the pants and jacket
combination to be very comfortable in a way that most
other motorcycle garments are not.
See Also:
Part 1:
British
Motorcycle Gear Adventure Jacket
|
wBW
Product Review: British Motorcycle Gear Adventure Pants |
| Available From: British
Motorcycle Gear
(wBW
Affiliate) |
List Price: $199.00
|
Colors: Stone/Black.
Sizes: Waist: 23-46. Inseam: 26-37. |
Made in: China |
| Review Date: June
2010 Note: Product provided by manufacturer for this
review (more). |
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