Hein Gericke V-Pilot Jacket And Pilot Pants

HEIN GERICKE V-PILOT JACKET AND PILOT PANTS

CW EVALUATION

A suit for all occasions?

SO FAR, THE PERFECT RIDING SUIT doesn’t exist. Many people have tried, but no one has ever figured out how to build a garment that can keep a motorcyclist as cool as a cucumber when the weather is oppressively hot, yet as warm as toast when the mercury is hovering down around freezing. That suit also has to afford excellent protection should said rider suddenly find himself sliding along the macadam after parting company with his bike.

Nope, nobody makes such a suit. But a few companies come close, including Hein Gericke, the riding-gear specialists from Germany. And perhaps that company’s most versatile outfit is a two-piece ensemble consisting of the V-Pilot Jacket and Pilot Pants.

Both pieces of this suit are made of 1.1 -to-1.3mm-thick, drum-dyed cowhide (in black only) doublestitched with a tough, 5-ply nylon thread. The jacket ($305, in men’s sizes 34 to 52, and women’s sizes 34 to 42) has a sport-oriented cut with a straightforward zippered front, a Velcro-closed mandarin collar, and padding at the elbows and shoulders covered by a second layer of leather. Thanks to two expansion panels in the rear and a wide, outer “kidney belt” at the bottom that adjusts over a two-inch range, the jacket has a trim look and a comfortable fit. The pants ($ 199, in sizes 28 to 40 for men and 5 to 14 for women) are padded at the hips and knees, and have a sewnon belt fitted with a conventional adjustable buckle.

Both pieces are designed to work together as a unit, but they can be bought (and used) separately from Hein Gericke dealers. If you don’t know the location of any HG dealers, contact Intersport Fashions West (333 South Anita Dr., Suite 1025, Orange, CA 92668; [714] 978-7718) for assistance.

The suit’s versatility stems from the jacket’s easily removable inner liner of aluminized mylar, and the four zippered vents (two front, two rear) in its upper torso area. Opening the vents and unsnapping the liner lets a rider stay comfortable up into the 90-degree range; with the vents closed and the liner in place, the rider will stay warm until the thermometer starts nearing the 40s, at which point adding a sweater or other layering under the jacket becomes necessary.

Life isn’t always so pleasant for the rider’s legs. The pants are unvented and their mylar thermoliner isn’t removable, so they can effectively become a portable sauna during a summer afternoon’s ride. Your only options are either to wear something cooler but not as safe—like jeans—or sweat it out. But the pants do keep legs toasty at lower temperatures. And the top of the pants can be zipped to the bottom of the jacket at the rear, a wonderful feature that prevents cold air from blowing up the rider’s back.

That rear zipper also keeps the jacket from riding up in the event of a crash, as our test rider found when he went down at about 45 mph in the rain. Fortunately, both rider and suit emerged practically unscathed, with only some minor scuffing on the VPilot as a reminder of the get-off.

At first, we were surprised at that durability, because the seams in the jacket’s right elbow pad had begun unraveling after only two weeks of use. But we later learned that Hein Gericke’s own warranty study showed that the rate of return for defective garments was only .14 percent, or 14 out of every 10,000 items, indicating that the unraveling on our jacket was not typical. No wonder the company has a liberal warranty policy that covers defects in material and workmanship for any reasonable length of time.

That peace of mind won’t come cheaply, however, because at $504 for both, the V-Pilot Jacket and Pilot Pants are rather pricey. And as allaround, all-weather riding garments, they achieve something less than perfection. But they’re close to perfect. Matter of fact, they just might be closer than anything else you’re likely to find.