Belstaff Outrider jacket in black

Okay, we have to be honest here. When we were first shown this jacket by the importer last year, we weren't particularly taken with it. And that was a purely personal reaction. It wasn't like anything we had seen or offered before, and we couldn't really get our heads around it. It was too heavy to be a shirt, yet wasn't quite what we'd call a jacket.

 

It didn't have a membrane, so was no good in the rain. Yet it was too robust to make for a summer-weight jacket. Nor did it come with any venting. And even though Belstaff says this jacket was modelled on a style from their archive, I can only imagine that that is based on a very loose interpretation, because certainly I have never seen anything like it.

 

Often, we look at gear from the perspective of those who come into the shop; and we simply couldn't imagine what kind of customer would buy into it. The jacket is, in all honesty, probably just a bit too hipster and trendy for most of our clientele. We also get nervous when there's no kind of technical story with a product, and so we decided not to range it.

 

But within a couple of weeks of its release, we sold a couple, even though it's not even on our website; and so we've had to revise our thinking. Perhaps we do have customers to whom a shirt-cum-jacket like this does have an appeal?

 

And so here we are. Let us tell you about the Outrider.

 

The styling is  subjective, but there's lots of things going on here. You get a large collar on the jacket, although it is poppered, so shouldn't flap too much as you track across town. You get diamond-quilted padding on the shoulders and elbows. There's concertina stretch banding at the elbows and behind the shoulders for comfort. There's a flap pocket on the left breast, but nothing on the right. There's corduroy in the neck for comfort. The tail is a little lowered, which is good to see. That tail, confusingly, is also faced in corduroy. You get two, zipped, hand-warmer style pockets on the outside. There's another one inside the jacket. There's a poppered adjuster at the ends of the sleeves.

 

No complaints about the Outrider from a protection perspective. It comes with Level 1, D3O Ghost in the elbows and shoulders, which is what you'd expect. There's a pocket for a D3O back protector. The jacket is rated AA for abrasion resistance under EN17092. There's nothing particularly high-tech about the fabric itself, which comprises cotton combined with some Polyamide and Polyethylene fibres. There's also a small amount of Elastane incorporated for a little bit of stretch. And it's this simple construction that explains why, to pass at the AA standard, the jacket is quite heavy.

 

So, what's our view? Well, a little undecided really. We don't see this as a serious motorcycling jacket, but for someone who does most of their riding in an urban environment, and who doesn't need a membrane or good venting, the Outrider passes muster.

 

The bottom line, in all honesty, is that this is a style piece. If you like the look, and can live with its limitations, go for it. I'm sure many people will think it's a cool jacket. We can offer something that is much more practical for less money, but I guess that those who like this jacket won't like the alternatives we have in mind!