by Cath » Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:39 pm
Not sure if any of the women on the board have as much problems as I do in finding gear that fits well, but in case you do, I just wanted to have a quick rave about the IXON range, and specifically the Nirvana Textile jacket.
I love this jacket. I finally decided to try on some new gear (have been going around in a mens DRI RIDER and mens Draggins for way too long!) and was pleasantly surprised.
Pros:
- comes in a range of colours (i.e, more than just pastel blues and pinks, thank god - mine's black)
- comes in a range of sizes (i.e, more sizes than just itsy-bitsy cutesy-pillion size)
- has the expected soft armour in elbows and back (haven't had to trial these in a crash, but they don't appear to be substantially different to the ones in my old DRI RIDER)
- actually follows my body shape reasonably well (i.e, wide enough to fit hips and bust, fitted at the waist so that you don't feel like a michelin man). Bonus: because it actually fits well, the armour should stay where it is supposed to!
- internal pockets that are situated so that any contents sit below the bust, not squashing your boobs!
- has a back zip to zip jacket into pants
- warm quilted liner that was adequate for winter riding (apart from at 6:30am on the freeway, but nothing yet invented is warm enough to block THAT bitterness out!)
- with the quilted liner removed, it's quite cool, even though it isn't as cool as a mesh.
Cons:
- external poskets are closed via velcro only - I don't quite trust them to stay closed or hold anything I don't want to lose
- small embroidered flower on upper arm and neck - not my style, but finding something that fit so well and wasn't pink had me ecstatic enough to overlook it
Overall, IMO, it's a great versatile jacket. Great commuting wear for most weathers, fits like a glove, very comfortable when riding and looks reasonably flash.
Road: 2005 ZX10R - not named yet
Road: 2008 Z750 - Kwak
Track: 2006 ZX6R - Yoshi (with a very Genki undertail)