There was a time when I wouldn’t ride without leather jeans, confident in only their ability to save my skin in the event of a spill. Something akin to the ‘risk compensation theory’, which was being espoused at the time in relation to Volvo drivers. Although in my case I’m not sure that that confidence made me any more – or less – reckless.
And then Kevlar happened.
I was sceptical when Rich King turned up in a pair of jeans with some knitted panels inside, but in the fifteen plus years since we have all come to acknowledge the resilience of these Aramid fibres, and they have transformed our summer riding through improved technical fabrics used as linings – especially when combined with armour.
One name long associated with armoured jeans – perhaps the longest – is Australian-based Draggin’ who championed the technology and embraced Kevlar, an Aramid textile trademarked by Dupont, but they have since gone on to develop that further into their own product: Roomoto.
A unique knit of the Dyneema and Kevlar, Roomoto MR4.0 is certified as providing over 4.4 seconds of road abrasion and being tear and burst resistant, quite apart from being non-allergenic, soft, breathable and machine washable.
It is this new material that is put into all Draggin’ Jeans these days, and now into their Roo Hoody: an armoured and lined zip-up sweatshirt. A jacket that isn’t a jacket, a hoody that isn’t a hoody because you can unzip the hood, and a sweater that has exactly the right features you’d want on a motorcycle. Potentially the ideal summer garment, although in that it is up against some very stiff competition.
It is a sweatshirt like no other that I’ve seen, being outwardly a conventional shell with some nice features, like zippered outer pockets and an inner pocket within the breathable mesh lining, and all the clever stuff is concealed.
Clever stuff like soft DFFUSE CE-certified armour at the shoulder and elbows, and a large back protector; like the Roomoto lining in strategic places; and like inner thumb cuffs that prevent the sleeves from riding up.
It could hardly look more normal to the outside world, but you’re well aware of it. How aware will be down to where you strike a balance.
This jacket works best when it is zipped up, with the torso integrity maintained and all the armour held in the right place: perfect for the road.
It doesn’t have a windproof membrane like some, so you get the benefit of a cooling breeze through the material – which I’m pitching as being a good thing in hot weather – but at some point you’re going to stop, and this is where you make your first decision: wear or remove?
Bagger riders will love the Roo Hoody because they can take it off and stuff it into a pannier much more easily than any other outer layer, but those who can’t stow it will be wearing or carrying it. Zipped up, again no problem, but the suggestion is that this will be fair weather clothing – hot weather even – and worn unzipped.
As soon as the unzipped front is blowing in the breeze, the weight of the back protector conspires with gravity to gently try to pull it back off your shoulders, which in turn upsets the positioning of the elbow and shoulder armour.
It’s more irritating than uncomfortable, and it is only a factor because the base garment is light and so flexible. Indeed, the only reason you are aware of it is that Draggin’ supply the armour as standard with the Roo Hoody – which is refreshing – and the acceptable compromise to date has been to lower the zip but not completely unfasten it. An alternative would be to remove the back protector. It would be a shame to waste it, but you could always put it into something else with an empty back protector pocket.
The shoulder and elbow armour pieces are smaller and less obtrusive, and give me the broader, squarer shoulders that I’ve always wanted, but they do beg the $64,000 question: would you wear it as a sweatshirt with benefits, or as a jacket?
If a sweatshirt, and if worn under a bike jacket, there’s every chance that it too will have armour at the elbows and shoulders and they will interfere with each other, but under a regular denim jacket – or a cut-off, or indeed anything without armour – you’ll get the full benefit that the Roo Hoody’s armour provides.
If as a jacket, you need to ask yourself whether the abrasion resistant Roomoto is going to be enough by itself to protect you? It will certainly do a much better job than the vest top you were riding around in during that mid-June heatwave, and then every piece of armour increases the protection it offers.
The big thing to take away from this is the flexibility of the garment as you buy it: you can choose to use the abrasion resistance qualities of the Roomoto alone for protection in a slide, you can protect vulnerable joints from impact with the pre-fitted armour, or you can add the back protector for that additional level of protection.
You can wear it as a jacket, a sweatshirt or a hoody, and you can screw it up small and tuck it into luggage more easily than any leather jacket: even smaller with less armour.
It is an excellent piece of casual riding gear and even in its minimum form it is significantly better than streetwear, and for only a little more money.