First Impressions - Rukka Airpower 3 Jacket
I received my Rukka Airpower 3 jacket from Adventure Motorcycle Gear one week ago. I was very excited when I saw the box on the porch last Friday. As soon as I put the jacket on, I new I was in for a treat. The jacket comes in two parts: the main body and a waterproof/insulating liner. The liner is really interesting – it combines a three-layer Gore-Tex liner, and adjustable insulation. The insulation value is adjusted by blowing into a tube which inflates the liner. How cool is that?
What immediately struck me is how comfortable the jacket felt when I put it on –even more so without the liner. The fabric on the jacket drapes very comfortably and has a soft hand – It did not feel like I was wearing a highly protective motorcycle jacket, but a jacket I might wear about town. It is much softer then the mesh jackets that I have felt in the stores - in fact it is not really a mesh at all –but a woven Dupont Cordra that breaths. This is replacing my seven year old First Gear Kilimanjaro, which is much stiffer, and bulky feeling, even without the cheesy fleece liner that came with the jacket. Now don’t get me wrong, the First Gear was and is a great jacket for the price, and served me very well, but it is just not in the same class as the Rukka. Kinda like comparing a Honda Element with a Lexus RX.
The Outer fabric is a woven Dupont Cordra that breaths. To put this to the test, I went on a six hour ride on Sunday, including some off-road riding in the Uwharrie National Forest. It was a hot and humid day, typical for North Carolina in July. Woohoo! I had never owned a mesh type jacket, and the ventilation was amazing! I was still wearing my Motosport pants, heavy duty Cordra, hot and leak prone, and I was, well, cool on top, hot below. I felt so much better, and was cooler at all speeds, but in the direct, overhear shun, I no longer felt cool in the spots where the ventilation came through, but all hot everywhere else. Even the Armor is vented so that they are not hot spots.
Speaking of Armor, the Armor used looks and feels like a combination of soft and hard armor, making the jacket more comfortable and easy to get on then hard armor. It looks like it would be much more protective then the soft armor in my First Gear Jacket.
In the off-road section of my ride, I found the jacket much cooler then an unvented jacket, but not as cool as just a jersey and roost protector. No surprises here. As long as I was moving right along, things were fine, but when Islowed down or stopped, the sweat poured on.
On the way home, Massive storm clouds loomed ahead, so I stopped and zipped in the liner. This was the first time I had done so on the road, and it did take a minute or two to get in in, zipped and snapped in place. Practice will make this faster. I imagine that if I get caught off-guard and am putting it on in the rain, I could just pt on the liner, zip it up, and then put the jacket on top, without mating them together – both sets of zippers are available. When is started raining I traveling in the 5-75mph range, and I stayed nice and dry. The temperature also dropped quite a bit, and I was quite comfortable. I wanted to see what would happen if I inflated the insulation, so I puffed away. I could feel the jacket stiffen up a bit – the manual that came with the jacket stated that over inflation added stiffness, not insulation, so I attempted to add just the right amount, but I was not sure how much is right. I imagine that time will tell. Anyways, a few minutes later and I was overheating, so the insulation works. All through this, a nasty rain storm did not get me wet (well, except for my old pants).
That’s all for now. I should be getting the pants soon; I needed a long leg size that Adventure Motorcycle Gear, the US importer, did not have in stock, so they are coming from Finland. More about those when they arrive.