Spada Adventure Jacket - review

With extensive venting the Spada Adventure jacket is a great solution for riding in all weather conditions, especially when hot weather may turn into rain.

Superb ventilated waterproof jacket

Initial Thoughts

The Spada Adventure jacket is a looker alright, after opening the box I was impressed with the combination of styling and function with the umpteen pockets festooning it. The colours used gave the jacket a very classy feel and one I think would fit well with any bike on the market today, as the weather was 22 degrees on the day the thermal lining was removed and even that had a high quality feel to it.

Construction

The Adventure jacket is made from a Heavy duty Nylon and features a 100% waterproof and breathable membrane, there are more connecting zips than you could shake a stick at for short and long zips, large and small too - most impressive! The jacket also has a number of different waist adjustments from a velcro strap to 2 elastic pull cords hidden within a side vent compartment.

Speaking of vents... Well the Adventure has tons of them! Starting with the back of the jacket you have a slightly hooded vent across the top of your back and with the hood meaning you can have this open even in the wet this is very handy indeed, secondly there are the aforementioned side vents that also incorporate the waist adjustments and then moving on we have 2 hooded vents on each side of your chest - well collarbone actually and then last and certainly not least a large vent on each arm from wrist to nearly armpit and with a double sided zip allowing you to customise the position and size of the opening - this jacket is about as vented as you could EVER need without being a full on vented summer jacket - perfect for changable weather.

In use the ventilation works brilliantly and in 25 degree french weather it kept me cool and comfortable while zipping around the countryside, in the UK where we had some rain and cold some were left open and they didn't leak or cool me too much, with all the vents closed on the dreary M1 and the rain coming down coupled with the road spray from the million lorries the jacket remained watertight and cosy throughout.

Along with loads of vents the Adventure jacket features heavily on pockets, the sheer amount can be quite astounding when you start finding more and more throughout your trip - the most handy of all of these (at least for my passenger) was the back pocket that negates the requirement for a bum bag or similar and is large enough to keep everything your pillion will likely need on a journey (passports, ipods and required documents are a doddle to access with this)

I found the Adventure jacket to be as comfortable and useful as I would hope for in a textile jacket and with its dual purpose in both hot and wet weather I could not recommend it enough for daily commutors and travellers alike. There are a couple of irritating things with the jacket but they are so minor they were only really added in at the last minute - firstly some of the pockets are so small that with bike gloves on they can be fairly useless to have anything in, secondly because of the positioning of the connecting zips it can get confusing on how to unzip the suit from the trousers if its hot and you are in a hurry, this is mainly noticable when you are using the long external zips and get round the back where the short connections are.

• Heavy duty nylon construction
• 100% waterproof and breathable membrane
• CE approved elbow, shoulder and back protectors
• Multiple arm and chest adjusters
• Functional venting systems
• Twin waist adjusters
• Full and short zip facilities
• Matches Adventure Trousers