Vanson Srx Properf Jacket
VANSON SRX PROPERF JACKET
CW EVALUATION
Holier-than-thou roadwear
HEAT IS THE ENEMY. WHETHER YOU’RE talking about a hard-running motor tugging its way up a mountain grade in 100-degree conditions or a leatherclad rider stewing his way to heat stroke in summertime stop-and-go traffic, too much temperature is definitely a bad thing.
Well, the good folks at Vanson Leathers (213 Turnpike St., Stoughton, MA 02072; 617/344-5444) can’t do a thing for your engine’s overworked internals, but they can help keep you from boiling over. Meet their vented SRX PROperf jacket, an awkwardly named but very simple solution to an age-old motorcycling problem. Vanson took a traditionally styled black-leather jacket and perforated its entire exterior with thousands of tiny holes-about 40 per square inch by our less-than-scientific count. Presto, instant air-conditioning.
Up to a point, anyway. This is, after all, still a black-leather jacket and it can’t rewrite the laws of thermal dynamics. Come to a standstill for any length of time in sunny, 80-degree-plus weather and you’re going to sweat, perforations or not. The SRX’s beauty is that as soon as you start to move, airflow over the jacket cools things down. On our jacket, the cooling effect was
fairly dramatic in the arms, less noticeable in the torso. At first, we chalked this up to both arms simply being stuck out in the breeze. But a closer look at the front of the jacket revealed that due to double-leather layering over the shoulders, two interior pockets sewn into the mesh lining and a 2.5 x 15.5inch storm flap (on a jacket that’s supposed to let wind in?) behind the zipper, about 75 percent of the SRX’s front perforations were obstructed.
Being curious types, we cut one pocket out to see if it made a difference in cooling effect. It did, so we took X-acto knife in hand and hacked out the other pocket. The increase in airflow was appreciable, though still not as dramatic as in the arms. Blame this on “cavitation” effect; as wind pressure flattens the front of the jacket against the rider, flow-through ventilation decreases. Still, if we were ordering another SRX, we’d opt for deletion of the interior pockets and maybe even the storm flap-cooling, in this case, taking precedence over convenience.
Of course, the SRX’s ventilation is a two-edged sword. Unless you live in the desert Southwest, at best it’s latespring/summer/early-fall wear-and at $440, the SRX is pretty pricey to be
just the second jacket in a rider’s wardrobe. Adding underlayers, including Vanson’s new Streamliner thermal vest, would lower the SRX’s temperature range, except that its tight-fitting, waist-length design doesn’t accommodate layering as well as a longer, fullercut jacket. Also, as you’d guess, the SRX is about as waterproof as a screendoor in a submarine. Get caught in a late-afternoon thundershower, for instance, with its attendant drop in temperature, and the rest of your ride can turn positively polar.
What about crash protection, the primary function of riding gear? Well, common sense says that a jacket with thousands of holes punched in it will be less tear-resistant than a conventional jacket. On the other hand, the SRX, available in men’s chest sizes 34-54, is constructed of thick, competition-grade cowhide, with double-leather patches at the shoulders and elbows/forearms. Our jacket also came with Vanson’s rubber/plastic armor in those areas, a $50 option. Even without the armor,
though, we wouldn’t feel particularly at risk wearing the SRX.
Contrary to Vanson’s press materials, the SRX PROperf is not “as cool as wearing a T-shirt,” nor is it, as another magazine review states, “the closest thing to no jacket at all.” What it is, is a clever way of riding comfortably through the dog days of summer, when far too many jackets end up being bunched up and bungeed to the rear seat or left behind altogether, hanging neatly in the hall closet.
In other words, a cool way to beat the heat.
