Bike Stop have hooked us up with the New Men's Dainese Sandstorm jacket.
First impressions, it appears to be a better made version of our RST Adventure 2 jacket, but we must remember there is a significant price difference.
This jacket is comfortable, versatile and stylish and incredibly well made.
Fortunately for you (unfortunately for us) the first test ride involved a very wet commute on the motorway. The jacket is advertised with a GORE-TEX® layer to keep all the wet weather out, and it did just that. There seems to be a degree of waterproofing to the outer layer too, which is nice. There are two waterproof pockets on the front of the jacket, and 30 minutes into the now VERY wet commute, the phone and wallet are still bone dry.
After a fair amount of time waiting to see if the rain was going to stop (and then realising it wasn't), it became a frantic rush out the garage. In the rush, a neck buff was left on the side. However, this wasn't realised until we reached our destination! The neck of the jacket is adjustable with a sturdy Velcro strap meaning whilst wearing this jacket we could probably leave the neck buff at home again next time.
Under the jacket, our trusty Bshirt was worn, no thermals and despite it being approximately 11 degrees - we remained warm, no drafts and more importantly remained dry.
The Dainese jacket comes with arm and shoulder armour, however it lacks a back protector, but has a pocket to fit one. When spending this much on a jacket we would like a back protector to come as standard.
High-vis strips are a nice addition on the back along with the reflective Dainese logo on the arms, every bit of visibility helps!
The jacket is an all weather jacket with removable waterproof and thermal layer. There are lots of zipped vents on this jacket meaning during summer you can keep cool yet protected. The inner thermal layer can be worn as a stand alone, off the bike jacket, or at least we did and felt seriously cool.
Dainese may not be the first choice for most bikers given the price
tag. This jacket is for those that really want to look good, be protected and
take whatever the British weather throws at them.
What we really like about this jacket is how it makes you feel, it’s super comfortable and has a presence about it “look at me in my Dainese jacket”. Even the cashier at a petrol station commented on how nice it looked, why thank you sir (he must have been a biker).
Last night, after a long ride in the cold and dark, we asked ourselves a question that has been simmering since the first ride with the jacket. We’ve done hundreds of miles with the jacket now, in all weathers and it can be asked, and answered almost begrudgingly...
Max: “If you’d known what you know now, would you have saved a bit more and purchased the Dainese jacket instead of the RST jacket?”
What we really like about this jacket is how it makes you feel, it’s super comfortable and has a presence about it “look at me in my Dainese jacket”. Even the cashier at a petrol station commented on how nice it looked, why thank you sir (he must have been a biker).
Last night, after a long ride in the cold and dark, we asked ourselves a question that has been simmering since the first ride with the jacket. We’ve done hundreds of miles with the jacket now, in all weathers and it can be asked, and answered almost begrudgingly...
Max: “If you’d known what you know now, would you have saved a bit more and purchased the Dainese jacket instead of the RST jacket?”
Jonjo: “Yes, despite being almost double the price”
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| Jonjo - the BirotarUK model |
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All the best
BirotarUK
All the best
BirotarUK
