Spidi Genesis leather jacket in black

The Spidi Genesis leather jacket is quite plain and clean to look at, but what detailing has gone into it has been introduced in order to make the jacket more comfortable.

 

The leather is a buffalo leather. Now some manufacturers and retailers will have you believe that buffalo is something exotic; a step up from cowhide. That is not necessarily the case. Buffalo is soft, flexible, strong and durable. There are lots of different qualities and grades of buffalo leather, but the reason that many bike apparel makers use it is because it is more widely available, and less expensive, than full-grain cowhide.

 

The leather on the Genesis is very nice, although I think we would venture to suggest that the oiled leather on our exclusive, Vintage jacket from Spidi is more supple, and has a nicer handle.

 

What makes the Genesis more comfortable than some leather jackets are the elasticated, stretch panels that run up the insides of the sleeves of the jacket. You also get small, stretch gussets at the sides that serve to make the jacket a little more comfortable on the hips. Just above the elbows you get some concertina stretch banding that allows you to bend your arms more easily.

 

There are two external, zip pockets. There's another pocket inside the jacket. All the zips, including the main one, are by YKK. For colder conditions, the jacket comes with a poppered liner. As is often the case with Italian jackets, the liner is configured as a gilet. It cannot be worn separately. It only works when attached to the inside of the jacket itself. The liner is made with an unspecified, hollow-form fibre. The liner will do a job, but we suspect that, more often than not, it will end up in a bottom drawer, rarely to be used. In truth, you'd be far better off with a mid-weight Merino top of some description.

 

On the subject of branding and decoration, the Genesis jacket has a rather large logo on the left sleeve. But what's good about this version of the jacket is that the logo is black against the black leather. You can hardly notice it, and over time it's likely to disappear completely.

 

The Level 1 armour in the shoulders and elbows is Spidi's own Warrior armour. It's not flat like D3O, but it's pretty unobtrusive. It really wouldn't make any sense to change it. There's no back protector as standard. We'd go for a T8 D3O with Velcro either in Level 1 or Level 2 version. The leather itself is AA rated for abrasion resistance under EN 17092.

 

The Genesis isn't the fanciest, snazziest leather jacket out there. It really is about as 'back to basics' as it gets. But that's the way we like it. This is a jacket that will be easy to wear. It will suit any bike. It will always look good and, over time, will develop a very pleasing patina.

 

It's a lovely jacket. We really can't see anything not to like!