ALPINESTARS YOKOHAMA DRYSTAR JACKET

ALPINESTARS YOKOHAMA DRYSTAR JACKET. The holy grail combo for an adventure jacket is that it isn’t too heavy and that it can easily handle changing weather conditions. There are many variables around this though, including number and size of pockets, ease of liner use and build quality down to the type of cuf closure device and how good the zips are. An adventure jacket is an expensive piece of kit, too, so it must last. It’s not easy to live up to all of this and the good stuf tends to set you back solid dollars, but in return it’ll last you years and years. 

I’m pretty fussy about jackets and gloves, more so than pants. If my jacket is a bad fi t or it can’t handle hot conditions it just shits me no end. That said, I get annoyed by some odd stuf, for example I don’t like shallow spoons. With a long week of riding ahead of me, I suited up in the Alpinestars Yokohama kit and headed for the Victorian Alps and would eventually circle right back to Newcastle all on the bike. It turned out to be a better than average test of riding gear so I’ll dive right in. 

First of all, the jacket is grey, not black. I don’t understand the proliferation of black jackets in a country that gets hot enough to fry a duck mid-fl ight. Nobody wants to be wearing a sun-sucking black jacket in 40-degree heat. I took the chance of removing the thermal liner before I left because based of the weather report I was pretty sure I wouldn’t need the extra warmth.  The fi t was pretty much perfect straight away. The length of the arms was spot on and it didn’t restrict across the shoulders, where you fi nd solid shoulder protection pads. There are also soft chest protection pads in the chest and one on the back. 

The jacket is reasonably long itself, which I like in terms of how it protects against the rain but it can also be zipped to the pants to create a one-piece barrier from the worst conditions. One of the Yokohama’s biggest drawcards is that is has its dry liner actually built in so you don’t have to add or subtract as the weather changes. The fi t only changes from using the thermal layer or not (there is a mesh layer but it really doesn’t afect fit).

My time in Victoria was spent in pretty high heat peaking at about 35 degrees, and I was doing some pretty vigorous riding exploring the region’s most out-of-the-way places. I had just come of a ride of six days in a jacket that had only two small vents (none on the arms), so to be able to open up the chest vents, back vents and long forearm vents on the Alpinestars was a gift from the moto gods. The cuf s can be opened up easily via the double Velcro tabs (which give you complete control over the cuf ), and the air fl ow was second to none. I was in a jacket that wasn’t soaking up the heat and was venting like a champ. The Yokohama gets a massive tick from me for the way it handles hot conditions

Next was a ride that started in chilly conditions and continued into once again being a stinker. I started the day with my customary base layer on, which is the only thing I wear under a jacket if I can, but I added a long-sleeve sports shirt for the frosty start of about 11 degrees. I zipped up the vents and I was comfortable. No problem at all. By the time we were riding a single-trail loop in 32-degree heat I had opened the vents and removed the sports shirt and I’m pretty sure I did more laps than anyone else and wasn’t getting overheated.

sources: Ultimate Adventure Bike Australia, June 2018

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