Top 10 summer motorcycle pants 2024
Published on: 27 June 2024
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Recently, we did a review of what we considered to be 10 of the best summer, motorcycle jackets. Our definition of a summer riding jacket being anything without a waterproof membrane. This being a necessity, obviously, to prevent overheating in warmer climes, or when you're working hard off road. And so we thought it appropriate to follow up that review with one about riding trousers that are similarly suited to hot-weather riding.
Motorcycle trousers without a membrane are so much easier and more comfortable to wear than waterproof trousers. There is, of course, one problem with this form of attire on the bike. Basically, if it rains you are going to get wet. Of course, you might decide that what you actually want is a pair of motorcycle jeans, and this we would highly recommend, but that will be the subject of an altogether different review.
The solution, of course, is to carry with you something like a pair of Scott waterproof, over-trousers. Now for some people this is an unimaginable inconvenience; a step too far. And indeed if you commute all year round, and like to tour in Wales, Scotland or Ireland then equipping yourself in this way may just not be for you.
But for most casual, weekend riders, rain is an unfortunate inconvenience, not a regular occurrence. Most weekend riders will look out of the window on a Sunday morning. If it's raining, they will go back to bed. What also has to be remembered is that, contrary to our unreliable memories, it does not rain all the time. On average in the summer in the UK, there will be some rain on just one day out of three.
The bottom line is that it just doesn't rain every day, and the reality for most of us is that if we find ourselves riding in the rain we have simply been caught out. And so we simply don't see the logic in always going out on a summer’s day prepared for an impending hurricane when, most of the time, we won't see a drop of rain.
We have never been totally in love with the Marrakesh pant in the way that we always have been with the Marrakesh jacket, but despite our reservations a lot of people still like them.
The construction of the pant is identical to that of the jacket. So a chassis of 1000 denier Cordura infused with Elastane for a super-stretchy, comfortable fit. D3O Ghost in the knees and hips. Undoubtedly, these pants are going to flow a lot of air. In fact, they will probably flow more air than any trouser we offer. So they are perfect when it's really, really warm. By contrast, they can be uncomfortably cold when it's chilly.
And this is an issue. When it's cold, you can layer up under the Marrakesh jacket, so as to reduce the effects of the wind chill, and to insulate body heat. But this is not so easy with the pant. There is no such thing, for example, as a super-thin windproof base-layer for the legs.
Subjectively, we also sometimes think that wearing the Marrakesh top and bottom together can look a bit strange. There's so little detailing involved that, particularly if the top and bottom are matching in colour, it can look as though you've gone for a ride in your pyjamas. But that might just be us!
Lastly, we don't really understand the cut of the Marrakesh pants. On the previous model, the legs were so generous they wore like flares. They looked a bit ridiculous. On the current trouser, the legs are so narrow you can't get them over a pair of adventure boots. They will go over an adventure-style, short boot like the Outlander. And you can get them over some touring boots, but this is a perfect pant for serious adventure riding, so not being able to get them over an adventure boot does seem like a mistake to us.
Classically, we have always preferred matching the Marrakesh jacket to a significantly more abrasion resistant, single-layer jean, but not everybody, it would seem, likes to ride in jeans. Personally, I don’t really understand why!
A lot of people really love the Sergeant pant. In fact, it has become the calling card of the urban-dwelling, Scrambler owner who wants to adopt a more adventurous aesthetic than his ride outs to Loomies and Rykas would suggest.
The pant fits quite tight to the leg. It’s a flattering look, but the narrowness of the leg means that, strangely for a so-called adventure pant, they will not go over any kind of adventure boot. But, by the same token, the thickness of the fabric means that they won’t fit inside an adventure boot either. In truth, you’d be best of wearing a short, adventure boot with the Sergeants. Falco, Forma, Icon and Klim all do boots that would work.
As I have suggested, the material the Sergeants are made from is quite thick. It is undoubtedly the weight of the fabric that helps deliver an AAA rating for abrasion resistance under EN17092. But it is the weight of the fabric, and the fact that the Sergeants have no vents, that mean that the Sergeant is not really suited to the hottest conditions, or to serious off-road riding.
The pants come with Level 2 armour in the knees and hips. On the knees it can be fitted and removed from the outside.
The only other point of note is that the Sergeants only come in one leg length. And these days that doesn’t cut the mustard. But otherwise even we have to admit that these Fuel pants look the part. And that the price is not unreasonable.
The Rokker Chino is a phenomenal pant, although it’s not for everybody; and undoubtedly it is not as cool to wear as some summer trousers.
The chinos are made from a Schoeller Industries fabric known as Dynatec. The first thing to point out is that, as a result of this, the chino is hugely strong. It is not the same fabric that Rokker uses for its jeans, but it still delivers a leather-beating ‘slide time’ of over six seconds on a Cambridge abrasion test machine. Under EN17092, they are rated AA, but would clearly be at the top end of AA. They come with D3O Ghost in the knees and hips.
The trouser is very smart. The outer fabric resembles a cavalry twill which gives the pant somewhat of a military air. You could wear these in the smartest of offices, and not look under dressed. This having been said, it would be better if such an office had good air conditioning, because these pants are no lightweights. With no membrane, they’ll flow air on the move, but this is not the coolest trouser in the armoury.
What does make the chinos stand out a bit is that they come with Nanosphere treatment to the fabric. Somehow this treatment creates a texture to the surface of the fabric that breaks up the droplets of rain, making it less likely to be absorbed into the material. Frankly, this is all gobbledygook to me, but what we have often been told by customers is that they are good for up to an hour in the rain before you start to feel wet.
The trousers also have a Coldblack treatment. This reflects 90% of the sun’s UV rays, meaning that on a hot day the pant’s don’t absorb heat in the way that you might expect a black trouser to.
This is a very serious trouser for, we suspect, quite seriously-minded individuals.
The Klim Dakar pant, in truth, is not really designed for the road. It is very much an off-road trouser, although of course there is nothing stopping you from riding wherever you want in them. After all, you can ride on the road in a pair of shorts if you want to.
The Dakar pants come with pockets for D3O armour, although it does not come supplied as standard. Now normally if a motorcycle trouser has armour pockets, it still needs to be tested for abrasion resistance under EN17092. But it would appear that Klim has found a loophole. If a pant is designed specifically with off-road riding in mind, you can get away with not testing them.
But frankly we don't understand why the pants have armour pockets in the first place, because the legs are so wide that the armour would never be in the right place if you came off. With a pant like this, you would normally wear knee protectors that attach to the knees. Because the legs are as wide as they are, they will go over even the largest off-road boots.
The Dakars are very lightweight, as you would expect of something designed for getting hot in the rough stuff. You get leather patches, stretch panels, vents, cargo pockets, large openings at the bottom of the legs, and so on. In other words, everything you would expect on an off-road oriented, adventure pant.
Klim does a similar pant called the Jackson that is designed for wearing inside the boot. Same deal; not CE approved.
If everybody made trousers to the same spec. and design we would live in a dull, old world. Well, the Triton pants from Pando are not like any other trouser we offer.
Undoubtedly, the Triton is a bit of a looker. This is a trouser that many people will be attracted to largely on aesthetic grounds. They are quite tight fitting, but with stretch in the fabric they are also incredibly comfortable. There's some room in the thighs, where you get a couple of cargo pockets, but they taper quite dramatically down to the ankles. They will not go over the shaft of anything more than an ankle boot.
It's a pant that is going to be more suited to slimmer, more athletic frames. And let's face it, probably younger ones too!
As is consistent with the terms of this review, the Triton pants do not have a waterproof membrane. But they do have a PU coating. Now this is far stronger than the Durable Water Repellent you get on every waterproof pant, but it will still not deliver the level of waterproofing that you get with a membrane. In fact, Pando quote the waterproofing score as 10,000. That's not up there with a Gore-Tex membrane, but it's a lot more than water-resistant.
The Pando comes with vents on the thighs for better airflow, although the fabric itself will also flow air quite adequately.
The armour that comes in the Tritons is Level 1, D3O Ghost. It comes fitted in the knees and hips. The pants are rated single A under EN 17092, which is what we might have imagined, leading us to the view that even though the Tritons have an adventurous look, they are probably more suited to the urban explorer than the international rover.
As we suggested, it is perhaps difficult to pigeon hole the Triton pants. They are not outstanding in any one respect. But they look nice, are comfortable, offer acceptable protection, will flow reasonable amounts of air, and are more than just a little waterproof.
They are perhaps a jack of all trades; a master of none. But occasionally, that's exactly what you're looking for. What is impressive is that the Tritons come in four leg lengths. The price, however, means that the Tritons will be, to most, more than just an impulse purchase.
Gotta be honest. This is our favourite riding trouser. Bar none. Okay, we accept that if you get on the bike at six on a December morning for your 60-minute commute into the office, they wouldn’t be the right thing for you. But for commuting in the nicer months, for touring anywhere warm, or for the casual rider who goes out for a ride at the weekend, a pair of Rokkers is pretty much unbeatable.
As they’re single-layer, they will flow loads of air, although not so much as the Marrakesh pant, perhaps. They wear like a pair of Levi’s. They are as comfortable, if not more so, than a pair of Levi’s. And they look like a pair of Levi’s.
Now technically, they are only AA-rated under EN17092, but made with amazingly strong UHMWPE fibres they sit at the top end of the AA standard, and actually deliver a slide time, (under EN13595) of over six seconds, making them technically 50% stronger than leather.
The Legend is the model Rokker makes exclusively for us. The fabric contains additional stretch for a more comfortable fit on the bike. We’ve had Rokker put a little more volume into the calf area. The fly is a zip fly. The armour is D3O Ghost. And they come in no less than four leg lengths, which is important in making sure the knee is correctly positioned.
I’ve ridden across the Sahara in a pair of Rokker jeans. They flow enough air, but for me the appeal is that after a day in the saddle you can rock up at the bar without looking like a courier seeking a signature!
The PMJ Aviator is very similar, in many respects, to Rokker’s similar-looking Cargo pant. They look like the kind of cargo pant you might pick up on the high street.
It's a slim-fitting, single-layer pant, with a small cargo pocket on the thigh. It's made from a combination of a material called Ultracor Cordura and cotton. Now that's not a particularly exotic cocktail of ingredients, and what it means is that even though the pants meet EN17092 at the AA level, they have a slide time under EN13595 of 3.9 seconds. That's not unimpressive, but it falls short of the Rokker Cargo pant's six seconds.
The armour in the PMJs is okay, but it's smaller than the Ghost armour in the Rokker pants. The mechanism for holding the armour in the PMJs is also not as nice as the system in the Rokkers. But for us the main issue with the PMJ Cargo is that it comes in just one leg length. And that's fine if you're of average height, but it just means that the pant won't work for you if you’re tall or short. As Gordon Gecko famously said: “If you want to be able to piss in the tall plants you've got be a big dog”. And if you want to be a big dog, one leg length just doesn't cut it, I’m afraid.
But here's the clincher. The PMJ looks, wears and feels just like the Rokker pant. But the PMJ is £100 cheaper. And some people will take the view that paying the extra dosh for the Rokkers simply doesn't add up.
The Klim Switchback is a classic, adventure-style, cargo pant. And it presses all the right buttons. Being made from a very basic combination of cotton and Cordura, the Switchback is not the most protective trouser you can buy, although it still meets the AA standard. The issue is that AA covers a huge spectrum, and cotton/Cordura sits at the lower end of the spectrum. But this should not be a problem, as the Switchback is designed more for the rough stuff than the road.
The leg is wide enough to go over pretty much any boot. You get large cargo pockets, large, zippable vents; and D3O Ghost in the knees and hips, the former being both highly adjustable, and removable from the outside.
The Switchback is, in some ways, the perfect, adventure pant. And it comes in three leg lengths, which is always useful. Some people are not massively keen on the grey and black colourway, because it’s the colourway you’ll get on a working trouser that you might buy from somewhere like Screwfix. We ordered big on the tan colourway of the Switchback for 2024. Upsettingly, they didn’t meet the factory’s ’Minimum Order Quantity’, and so Klim didn’t progress. A bit of a shame, as we thought the colour looked great.
Anyway, as long as you don’t mind looking like the guy from Screwfix, the grey and black version is always an option.
The Pando Moto Tuff Chino came out of a series of conversations we had with Pando Moto about the fact that some people who ride into work don't wear knee armour. And that’s because they don't want to go through the hassle of taking it off in the loo when they get into the office, only to put it back in again when the time comes to go home. What we had noticed was that a lot of these people had decided, therefore, to ride in non-protective pants; a pair of chinos that they had picked up in M&S or elsewhere.
Frankly, we thought this was a bit crazy, and so we spoke to Pando about producing an abrasion-resistant chino of some description that would be supplied not only without knee armour, but without even knee armour pockets. It was only by removing these armour pockets completely that we felt we could create a pant that you really could wear in the office all day long.
Pando came up with a fabulous fabric that, in other products, they knew to be AA rated. And so we ended up with a very smart-looking chino that you could wear into a meeting, but that offered more than acceptable levels of abrasion resistance. The jean wouldn't have any protection for the knees, but they have pockets for the hips, so you could still wear unobtrusive hip protectors.
It is exactly the pant that some people want. Some people do fit hip armour into them; and to us this makes a lot of sense because, in our view, it is more useful than knee armour. Most accidents will result in a low-side crash; and in a low-sider you will nearly always land on your hips. Also if you want to remove hip armour in the office, you can do that at your desk. You don't have to take your trousers off, and turn them inside out.
Not everybody wants to ride without knee armour, but for those who, for whatever reason, find knee armour inconvenient, the Tuff Chinos are perfect. And don't forget that if you decide you do occasionally want to wear knee armour, there's nothing safer or easier than Endura’s D3O Ghost knee socks.
Truth be told, motorcycle trousers don’t get much lighter and easier to wear than these.
They wear, and feel, more like something that you’d pick up at Lulu Lemon than at a bike shop. It’s a single-layer pant, and whatever the fabric is, (a high-tenacity polyamide), it is infused with some extra Elastane for an incredible, stretch fit. The trousers are so comfortable that they can be a bit disconcerting. They don’t feel as though they are going to be massively protective, although they meet the AA standard under EN17092.
Remember, though, that AA covers a huge spectrum of abrasion resistance. We know of AA rated jeans that record a two-second slide time under the EN13595 Cambridge machine. But equally we know AA rated pants that score over six seconds. What we would guess is that this pant sits at the lower end of this continuum. Yes, they pass the test at a respectable level, but we would be minded to suggest that the Supercharged pants are more suited to the urban environment than international touring
The armour is Spidi’s own, Level 1 armour. It’s light, flexible, but reassuringly large. For added reassurance the pants have a bit of Superfabric on the knees, but it must be ‘Superfabric Light’, because it’s not like the regular stuff.
As we have suggested, this is not a pant you buy solely for its protective qualities. It’s a very modern pant. It’s probably better suited to younger folk and, given the slim fit, probably thinner folk too.
We seem to be composing more and more reviews these days where we suggest that fabrics feel too light to be fully protective, but clearly there are some very thin, very strong fabrics out there. The Supercharged is the epitome of the motorcycle pant that doesn’t feel like a motorcycle pant. Take the armour out, and you could do a Yoga class in a pair. They really are that easy to wear.
They come in one leg length only, which always upsets us, but they are easy to shorten.
To see all summer motorcycle pants, click summer motorcycle pants.
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