Having had the Alpinestars Air-Flo jacket on the road now for some time, it’s time for the NYC Scootering review.

Nick at the now defunct Brooklynbretta directed me to the jacket, as a higher quality alternative (in his opinion) to the Corzano jackets I was looking at. Particularly his concern was making sure I hit the road suitably protected; something he felt the Corzano jackets don’t adequately address. As a wise man once said, dress for the crash, not the ride.

Two months in rain, wind, and shine and I’m in a position to praise the jacket as a solid everyday commuting jacket providing both comfort and importantly protection for Spring through Fall with some caveats.

Ventilation
By definition, the Air-Flo’s selling point is that as a textile jacket, it’s designed for ventilation  allowing you to remain cool in the Summer months while suitably armored. Specifically, this is controlled by a combination of the open-weave venting on the arms and chest of the jacket and the removable inner liner.

In hot weather the jacket can initially feel bulky and your first inclination is to leave the front zipper either fully or partly open, but with the inner liner removed, once you hit the road, the ventilation into the front of the jacket is designed so that even with it zipped up tight, it actually does a better job of directing air around your body than had you had left the jacket open.

All weathers
Come rain or cold weather, the 3 layer membrane removable liner does a surprisingly good job of being both wind and rain resistant given how light it is and when removed easily squashes or rolls up into a small light bundle that’s easily stowed under seat or elsewhere.

Storage
Pockets are accessible and of course zip-able, and all the zips have adequately bulky tags to allow gloved fingers to do everything they need to. One complaint is that the inner jacket’s left breast mesh pocket flaps loose when the liner is removed. This does provide more flexibility for storage I guess but nine times out of ten flops out of the jacket when the jacket is open.

Protection
Armor wise, the jacket provides chest, shoulder, elbow, lower arm and sculpted back protection. For the back and chest protection, Alpine Stars has opted for a more comfortable foam padding. The shoulder, elbow and arm protection however uses harder CE certified protection (again removable) that can certainly be a squeeze to get into but gives you plenty of confidence that it’s going to do it’s job if it hits the asphalt. The armor on the arms is somewhat adjustable via an inner band but it can be tough to get the elbow armor to sit exactly where you want it to.

Finish
Finish wise, the jacket comes in black, black and black, so if you’re looking for another color look elsewhere, but it is relatively logo free and feels at home on a scooter, deftly avoiding the Power Ranger look of other contemporary motorcycle jackets. It’s masculine in both cut and finish and isn’t specifically tailored to the female rider. All the major seams are multiple stitched but the lack of reflective piping on some of the finish feels like a miss. The jacket sizing is a little smaller than most, so if you’re typically a large you may want to look to the extra-large to get the fitting your looking for. If possible, I definitely recommend giving it a try in store because as with all armored jackets it’s important to make sure it sits on the body correctly.

Conclusion
The jacket is reasonably priced at an a MSRP of just shy of $180 but I picked it up for $150. This is a  price point that sets the expectation for a particular build quality that it certainly matches. While the generous armor can feel bulky in hot weather stand-still traffic, any fears are put to rest as soon as you get some air flowing into the Air-Flo which does an admirable job of ventilation. The jacket doesn’t look out of place on a scooterist, and the light-weight removable liner does a fantastic job at cutting down wind and rain.

Pros

• Sturdy fit and finish.
• Great ventilation at speed.
• Heavily armored.
• Liner is easily detached and rolls up light and tight.

Cons

• Bulky on hot days in stand-still traffic.
• Inside pocket flies loose without liner.
• Armor placement can take some tweaking.
• Not available in women’s sizes.

MSRP $179.95

Available from the Alpinestars official web store and other online retailers.

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