Most jeans outfit for motorcycling look bad and fit worse. I tried two popular options, Hood Motorcycle Jean’s G8 Evo and Bohn’s Adventure Pants. Seriously: Adventure Pants.
I feel uncomfortable sitting in a meeting wearing motorcycle pants that look like something out of a late 80s Michael Jackson video. Articulated joints, 15 vent zippers and armor that is clearly visible seem to be the norm. In an attempt to just look like a guy in a pair of blue jeans, I did some research and bought both a pair of Hood’s G8 Evo jeans and Bohn’s Adventure Pants. They are two very, very different approaches to increasing your odds in the event of a motorcycle accident.
Hood’s G8 Evo are an update on a prior G8 model they made and sold with Kyrano jeans. I decided to buy Hood as they are reputably, and visibly, one of the toughest motorcycle jeans around. While they look like classic jeans the G8 Evo is really 3 pairs of pants. There are 2 full kevlar liners, one heavy and one REALLY heavy, inside a pair of heavy duty jeans. Unlike most other kevlar reenforced jeans on the market, the Hood give you complete coverage with kevlar and you are not left hoping panels will be in the right place during a crash. Part of what makes other motorcycle jeans look so bad is all the stitching and monkeying about they have to do, trying to hold panels in place. Hood has solved that by putting you in side a full double layer of kevlar. The jeans are heavy. They make my normal Lucky Brand jeans feel like pajamas. Actually, the abrasion-resisting material is K-tech Para-aramid, a variant of Kevlar but not brand name Kevlar.
The G8 Evo also come with CE level 2, D3O armor inserts, that fit into heavy duty pockets at the knees and hips. Velcro is used inside the pockets for fine tuning. D30 is a non-Newtonian plastic that is pretty cool and makes wonderful armor. The “pro” version is very thick and bulges at my hips. With these pads and the huge amount of kevlar in these pants, I feel pretty much as protected as I do in my textile, old-man-on-a-BMW, riding pants. They are that heavy duty and that serious a pair of pants. I really, really like them.
The jeans are heavy and warm. I usually ride with thermal underwear on for warmth, so having the warmth built in by design is a welcome change. I don’t think they’ll be too hot in the NorCal summers, but if I were to head to the desert they might be a bit tedious. They are comfortable on and off the bike. They look great. They are a bit to the baggy side but that serves to hide the knee pads. I will be wearing these jeans a lot. Which is good, because they cost $360 USD and I want to get my money’s worth.
Hood custom makes jeans to your measurements inside a pretty wide range: 30″-44″ at the waist, and 28″ to 36″+ inseam. It was suggested I order one size up from my normal waist size to accommodate the hip pads. Luckily for me that made their smallest size, 30″ perfect. When ready, Hood overnighted the pants from the UK. Total order time was a little over 1 week.
The second pair I tried have the greatest name ever, I just like saying it: Adventure Pants. Bohn’s $150 Adventure Pants came highly recommended by a friend whose recommendations tend to get me in trouble. Why do I listen? Because it’s an adventure and now, I have the pants to go along with it. Adventure Pants.
Adventure Pants are sort of body armor meets yoga pants. Stretchy spandex pants have pockets sewn in for CE level 1 rated knee/shin, thigh, hip and tail bone armor. The spandex holds the armor in place so they won’t slide around and you can wear ANY pair of pants over your Adventure Pants. The impact resisting armor covers a surprisingly large area on your lower body and reputedly is placed in the highest need areas. Compared with other leg armor solutions I’ve tried, this may be the best, however keep in mind there is absolutely zero abrasion resistance in these Adventure pants. If you are not wearing a durable, road rash-resistant shell over the yoga pants, I think they are going to disappear on impact, the armor will go with them. Exercise good judgement. These could allow you to feel more protected than you really are.
I highly recommend the Hood Jeans. They also make jeans for women. If finding decent looking motorcycling wear is hard for men, it is impossible for women. Hood makes a good looking stuff with safety in mind. The Adventure Pants will get some use but I’d much rather wear the Hood.