Hondaline Two-Piece Northwind Riding Suit

HONDALINE TWO-PIECE NORTHWIND RIDING SUIT

CW EVALUATION

Cure for the common cold?

ALTHOUGH FOR WILDLY DIFFERENT reasons, a motorcyclist has to choose his clothing just as carefully as a Dallas debutante picks a dress for her coming-out ball. And that’s especially true if the weather’s a gizzard-chilling combination of rain and cold. But where the Dallas deb’s criteria rarely veer from purely stylistic considerations, a motorcyclist’s invariably adhere more to the basics-such as merely staying warm and dry. And while the Hondaline two-piece Northwind Riding Suit might not be a deb’s choice for cotillion wear, a rider could do a lot worse for girding himself against the wet and cold.

Fashioned for Honda by Hein Gericke, the Northwind’s intended to be the final word in protection against cold, wet weather, one that obviates the need for multiple layers of clothing. To that end, the suit starts out with a PVC-coated-nylon outer shell, with heat-welded and sealed seams. For warmth, there's a double layer of Hein Gericke’s Thermoliner, an aluminum-plated, needle-punched polyethylene film backed with polyester fiber insulation. The aluminum plating faces the wearer’s skin, and is intended to reflect body heat; the needle holes are designed to allow perspiration to escape. For additional insulation, there’s also a furry synthetic material sewn in from knee to shin and in the seat area of the high-waisted pants.

Hein Gericke also took pains to seal out the elements at every opening in the garment. The jacket, for instance, locks out wind and rain with three layers of material over the main zipper, elastic at the waist and a drawstring in the hem, as well as both elastic and a snap-down tab at the cuffs; the pant cuffs add a zipper to the elastic-and-tab combination. Further, a chin-high storm collar supplements the standard mandarin collar, to keep cold air and water from funneling down the wearer's neck; both seal with Velcro closures. Some riders will find the extra collar a welcome addition, because the mandarin one can’t always be closed tightly enough to do the job.

The collar’s performance tips the Northwind’s hand, too, since despite all the insulation and attention to detail, the bulky Northwind isn’t especially warm. Certainly, it's far toastier than a formal gown, but compared to other cold-weather suits, Hondaline’s ranks as dead-solid average. On a day-long ride through temperatures ranging from the 40s to the 50s, our tester—garbed in jeans, two heavy cotton shirts and an electric vest with Thinsulate insulationhad to keep the vest switched on to hold the chills at arm’s length. Against rain, however, the Northwind shows its stuff. In storms that make a rider feel more like he’s riding under water, rather than merely through it, the Hondaline suit will let him stay dry as a soda cracker.

But where the Northwind doesn’t measure up—literally—is in its fit and sizing. Our tester normally wears a size Medium in such gear, but with the Hondaline he had to go all the way down to Extra-Small to get a proper fit. Even then, the jacket sleeves were absurdly blousy, which allows them to flap at extra-legal speeds, and makes it difficult to pull gauntleted winter gloves over the cuffs.

No matter how you cut it, though, the Northwind suit ($184.95 from your Honda dealer, in XS-XXL) is a far superior foul-weather garment than a deb’s lacy, frothy gown—and roughly on par with some other, similar suits. It’s just that the Hondaline gear covers the basics, and comes up short in living up to its billing as the ultimate covering for bad weather. So while a rider could do a lot worse than winter in a Northwind, he could do better, too.