Held Hot Rock leather jacket in brown

There are lots of leather jackets on the market, and we here at Motolegends think that we offer some of the very best of them, so if we’re going to take on a new one it needs to be a bit special. We’re not looking for jackets simply to fill the racks. The Hot Rock has all the features you would expect on a premium jacket. It’s not perfect, but it wants for very little. And we will go through all the details as part of this product description. But we were drawn to this particular jacket for two specific reasons. First we simply liked the look. We liked the leather; we liked its natural patina. Off the hanger, it looks like a jacket that has already been around the block. This we accept is very subjective, but we think this jacket looks different, and we like it. And it was on this basis that we asked Held to send a sample for us to look at. And when we tried it on, we realised what the second draw was with this jacket. Its comfort. The leather is beautifully soft; combine this with extensive use of stretch panels throughout, and you have a jacket that is going to be lovely to ride in, lovely to walk around in, and lovely to own.

The chassis is a combination of cowhide and sheepskin. The leather, by the way, is designed to mark. It’s a style of leather known as ‘pull-up’ leather, and the more you wear it the more unique and personal it will become. You get concertina stretch up the flanks, behind the shoulders and on the hem. The leather up the insides of the sleeves is a leather infused with stretch. We don’t know exactly how they do this, but it is leather, and it is stretchy. It’s yet another contributor to the comforting and cosseting feeling you get when you put the Hot Rock on.

The jacket is lined with mesh, this will make the jacket a bit more breathable on warmer rides. The upper pocket on the left ches is also a vent. And there’s a second, zipped placket behind the main zip that enables you to ride with the main zip open in order to flow more air into the jacket.

Pockets are not in short supply. You get three on the outside, and two more inside. The jacket does not have a waterproof membrane, and as a leather jacket is something that we tend to wear over here in warmer weather, that’s the way we would like it. The other thing we have come to favour with a leather jacket is the absence of a thermal liner. Most inner, thermal liners in leather jackets are pretty poor quality, but the problem we have is that a leather jacket will fit very differently dependant upon whether the liner is in or out. We prefer the idea of getting the fit right, then choosing the mid layer you prefer to wear underneath it. 

The jacket comes with all the necessary adjusters. At the neck there’s just a popper, but there’s a very sturdy-looking, three-popper belt arrangement at the hem. And at the ends of the cuffs you get both zips and a strap for cinching the end of the sleeve tight over a glove. There’s a connecting zip, and we will be able to convert this so that you can use the Halvarssons Waist Zip, allowing you to connect the jacket to a pair of jeans. We like the idea of connecting, but the Hot Rock, nonetheless, comes with a usefully-lowered back for when this is not possible.

In terms of armour, the jacket comes with Level 1 protectors in the shoulders and elbows. Frankly, we don’t think it’s the most comfortable armour out there. We would be tempted to upgrade to D3O’s Level 1 Ghost or SAS-TEC’s Level 2 armour, both of which will fit in the pockets. There’s a pocket for a back protector; and again we would recommend a D3O Viper. The Size 9 fits most sizes like a glove.

We have already said that we are not in the market for run-of-the-mill leather jackets. But we think the Hot Rock is a bit special. How a jacket feels when it’s worn is always a personal thing, but we think this is a supremely comfortable bit of kit. But the Hot Rock is not just the leather jacket equivalent of a pair of slippers; it’s also a thumping good jacket that is going to look after you on the bike.