Icon Motorhead Leather Jacket Review

[Jeremy]

Icon Motorhead Leather Jacket Review - 8/24/08

Manufacturer Specs:

• Durable 1.2mm-1.4mm leather chassis
• No restriction collarless neck
• Zippered shoulder intakes offer ultimate climate control
• Dual purpose chest pocket/vents offer storage and/or cooling
• Insulated removable liner to adjust for riding conditions
• Waist expansion vents allow you to adjust jacket to your size
• Drop tail pattern keeps jacket from riding up while on your bike
• Micro-perforated leather arms provide cooling

Background:
I have owned this jacket for three years and have used it as my primary jacket for warm weather riding (65+ degrees).

Construction:
The jacket has a nice solid feel too it. The leather seems to be substantial and of high quality. It features large pull tabs on several of the zippers including the main and size zippers which allow you to more easily access these features of the jacket with gloves on. Additionally, the cuffs of the jacket sleeves feature rubber-backed snaps to minimize scratching should they come into contact with your bike as well as zippers approximately 6" in length that when unzipped expose star-perforated leather expansions that allow for easier removal of the jacket.

The Motorhead jacket features five pieces of CE approved armor: 2 shoulder pads, a back pad, and 2 combined forearm / elbow pads. Like the leather, the armor also appears to be of a high caliber construction. It is thick, well formed, and fits easily into slots built into the interior mesh of the jacket. These slots allow you to adjust the location of the armor within a given variance and close with velcro. Unfortunately, Icon didn't build in a more precise positioning system as it would be nice to be able to velcro the armor in place within the pocket. Consequently, I occasionally have to readjust the shoulder armor while the back armor and forearm / elbow armor remain in place perfectly.

Comfort:
Like most, I'm a believer that gear comfort is of paramount importance because after all if it isn't comfortable chances are that you're not going to wear it and gear that sits in your closet isn't going to help you should you go down (god forbid).

With the removable liner in place, the jacket is extremely comfortable. In terms of temperature, I typically ride with it in place anywhere below 65 degrees, or up to 70 at night. I find this jacket to be suitable for anything above 65 degrees at highway speeds with no more than a t-shirt underneath. In the daytime I almost never ride with the liner in place during the summer months, however I keep it in the trunk and will on rare occasion zip it in for a late night ride home. I do however keep it zipped in through most of the spring and all months. With proper clothing underneath, the jacket is appropriate down to 50-55 degrees, but because of the star-shaped perforations on the underside of the arms and along the sides of the torso I would say that there are better options for riding in lower temperatures.

The extended length tail is a nice feature and prevents your lower back from being exposed when you're in riding position; which is an important feature for both safety and comfort. At the bottom of the extended tail is the Icon logo which appears embossed in some sort of padding. When standing this pad is at tailbone height and I am unsure if it is meant to help protect your tailbone or simply as decoration.

Upon removing the liner, the jacket becomes slightly less comfortable because there is no longer a padded layer between you and the armor. It's not uncomfortable, just slightly less comfortable.

The inner side of the sleeves and torso also feature star-shaped perforations that increase the ventilation to the jacket substantially. This is a great feature to have for warm weather riding in a leather jacket. I do not own a mesh jacket because I believe that leather offers more protection and am concerned about mesh melting should I fall at speed. Consequently, the perforations in non-crucial impact areas of this jacket are a welcome defense against summer heat. In addition to the perforations, the jacket features two zippered front shoulder vents, two vertical lower back vents, and my personal favorite: two chest vents that when open (unzipped) also function as pockets and allow you to place items down through the zipper while also providing pas-through ventilation. The shoulder and back vents provide an airstream that is great for cooling your back. The shoulder vents catch air at the top which seems to find its way out the lower back vents and bottom of the jacket, effectively providing ventilation to your entire back. In addition to the chest pockets, there is an additional inside pocket on the left side of the jacket. All three pockets are fairly sizable and are certain to have no problem fitting anything you would traditionally use a pocket for.