7 Best Adventure Motorcycle Jackets: Top Shelf Vs Budget

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Top shelf vs bottom dollar: We compare the most expensive adventure motorcycle jackets from the most popular brands to their budget-friendly counterparts to figure out how much a good jacket is really worth. 

It seems like just when you thought you’d seen the most expensive piece of gear on the market, another “latest and greatest” adventure motorcycle jacket is released, and the sound of jaws hitting the floor can be heard for miles all around.

What’s even more shocking is how often the prices of these jackets are justified by the incredible amount of safety and technology manufacturers manage to pack into them. 

Who would have thought 20 years ago we’d be seeing jackets with built-in computers, floppy rubber pads that transform into rigid armor upon impact, or fabrics fused with ceramic by (FRICKIN’) laser beams that can out-slide even the best leather?

"Customers at Torres Del Paine while on our Guided Tours in Patagonia"

It’s impressive… but is spending $1,000+ really necessary to ride safely and comfortably all year round?

Below we take a closer look at a handful of our favorite adventure motorcycle jackets of the year across a wide range of prices to see if there's an honest argument to be made for "super premium" adventure jackets. 

Before we get into all that though, let’s talk about where we stand on “adventure” gear in general.

Our Take On Adventure Motorcycle Jackets

It goes without saying that the word “adventure” gets thrown around a lot these days whether we’re talking about the gear we wear or the motorcycles we ride.

Could the new Yamaha Tenere be the best adventure motorcycle out there? Is the Honda CB500X an adventure bike at all? Is the adventure segment even a real thing, or is some asshole just trying to sell me a skid plate for my touring bike?

"A full setup like the Badlands Pro will do you well when on RIDES like on our Patagonia trips."

If you’ve been following us for a while, I think you know where we stand on all the above. As far as adventure motorcycle jackets go, however, we’ve got a few things we look for at RIDE Adventures before considering a jacket appropriate for our tours. 

The first, and arguably most important, is adequate waterproofing.

We ride rain or shine, and consider gritting your teeth and bearing the elements to be part of the “highs and lows” that make adventure touring such a unique experience. 

In a perfect world, every adventure motorcycle jacket is fully Gore-Tex protected, and every day is bright and sunny.

Unfortunately, Gore-Tex doesn’t fit into every rider’s budget, and we all get rained on sooner or later.

However, for the comparisons below, that’s why we want to touch on both the best-of-the-best being produced by leading manufacturers as well as their entry-level offerings, which are much more accessible to many more riders. 

"Blazing trail on our Baja on Down tour"

Aside from having a reliable system of waterproofing, we also consider ventilation to be a big deal. Really, this is the main thing that separates your average “touring” jacket from what we consider the “adventure” jacket segment.

We spend a lot of time off-road, standing up, moving around, and working our bikes hard over varied terrain. 

If your jacket doesn’t flow enough air, it’s going to be that much more challenging to get through the day. 

You’ll also notice that we touch on the protective features of each jacket on this list, whether that’s crash-tested materials or high-quality internal armor and padding. 

If you’ve seen our ultimate ADV motorcycle gear guide, you’ll know that while abrasion resistance is always important, we prefer to use stand-alone protection from head to toe, and typically pull the armor out of our jackets before we put them to work. 

Still, that approach isn’t for everyone, so armor quality is also taken into consideration for the jackets below.

Alright, enough ranting, let’s talk gear.

Our Favorite Adventure Motorcycle Jackets

Weatherproofing, abrasion resistance, impact protection, and airflow. Those are the key ingredients in a good adventure jacket.

Here are our 7 favorite jackets currently on the market that deliver the goods across a wide range of price points. 

1. Klim Badlands Pro Jacket

If you’ve been following our YouTube channel, you know we’re huge fans of the Klim Badlands Pro jacket. 

Pretty much everyone on our team wears the Badlands Pro, and cumulatively we’ve put well over 100,000 miles on this adventure motorcycle jacket without a single failure.

It hasn't seen an update since 2018, and the fact that it's still our go-to jacket in such a competitive space speaks volumes to its quality and performance. 

"RIDE Adventures Guide and Founder Eric has guided with the Badlands Pro for the extent of his career with zero complaints"

Its Gore-Tex 3L weatherproofing is the best in the business. The ventilation is absurd (in a good way).

Its protection is second to none with Aero Pro D3O armor, SuperFabric panels, and a smart blend of tough fabrics ranging from 200D nylon in low-risk zones to beefy 630D Karbonite in the most crash-prone areas.

"RIDE Adventures Team member Garrett has also had a great run with the jacket for the past 4 years."

The Badlands Pro was a top-of-the-line jacket when it was first introduced, and it’s only gotten better with each update. 

The tech specs of the Klim Badlands Pro read like an article of their own, so just trust us when we say this jacket needs nothing and is worth every penny. 

If we had to find something to complain about here, it would be that the external pockets are highly water-resistant, but not fully waterproof, so you wouldn’t want to trust sensitive electronics in them through a downpour. 

Of course, if you do manage to find something to complain about with the Badlands Pro, you can always step up to Klim’s $1,500 Badlands Pro A3 jacket, which is made entirely from space-age Vectron fabric.

Vectron is three times more abrasion-resistant than the Cordura used on most high-end jackets, so the A3 earns a rare "AAA" safety rating, and as an added bonus, it's also highly heat-resistant, so the jacket runs cooler in hot, sunny weather. 

CHECK PRICE:
Klim Badlands Pro Jacket
RIDE ADVENTURES
 REVZILLA | AMAZON

2. Dainese Super Adventure Absoluteshell Jacket

We've been testing Dainese's new Super Adventure Absoluteshell jacket this year, and we're over the moon for this thing. It blends aggressive moto style with true four-season protection, and does it all with top-shelf materials and construction.

Our favorite part about the Super Adventure is that the windproof fabric around the chest and back is completely removable, which transforms the jacket into an insanely well-vented setup that flows enough air for off-roading in the peak of summer.  

"Testing the Dainese Super Adventure Jacket out in the Mojave." photo: Simon Cudby

We've also been loving the modern in-the-boot fit, acres of integrated stretch, and high-quality removable waterproof liners.

The material quality and construction are on par with Klim's Badlands, but the SADV is much more affordable.

With that being said, the Super Adventure is still an expensive piece of kit, and a non-laminated one at that.

It also doesn't include any thermal liner for the price, although most folks prefer to bring their own premium insulation anyway.  

CHECK PRICE:
Dainese Super Adventure Absoluteshell Jacket
AMAZON

3. MSR Xplorer ADV Jacket

MSR gear has always been respected in the motocross world (it was started by and named after off-road legend Malcolm Smith of On Any Sunday fame), but up until recently, it wasn't particularly revered in the adventure world.

That all changed when the folks at Rocky Mountain ATV (the same folks who make Tusk tires and accessories) took over the company and began using it as their in-house brand. 

"Cruising high on our Northern Vietnam group trip"

If you're reading this, we'll wager you're probably familiar with Rocky Mountain ATV's reputation for quality on a budget, and their new MSR Xplorer jacket is no exception.

For around $420, you're getting a jacket that comes damn close to the quality, performance, and durability of many premium brands' flagship products.

We're talking about name-brand Superfabric abrasion resistance, removable D3O armor,  and eVent 3-layer weatherproofing.

FYI eVent goes toe-to-toe with GoreTex in our experience, and is used by brands like Mosko Moto and Sea to Summit to great effect. 

Downsides here are few and far between (especially considering the price), but the main drawbacks we've found are (a) less-protective CE level 1 armor, and (b) a bit less ventilation than flagship products like Klim's Badlands Pro.

We'll also note that the jacket doesn't include a zipper to attach to your pants (if you care about that), but all things considered, this $400 jacket feels like a $1,000 model, which will make an outstanding value for countless riders. 

CHECK PRICE:
MSR Xplorer ADV Jacket
AMAZON

4. Klim Carlsbad Jacket

The Carlsbad is Klim’s entry-level 4-season adventure motorcycle jacket, and it’s bar-none one of the best values in the segment. 

It’ll run you about $100 more than the other “budget-friendly” jackets on this list, but the features you'll get for the money are pretty remarkable. 

The same three-layer Gore-Tex protection as the Badlands Pro, for instance, is well worth the money on its own. 

On top of that, the Carlsbad also includes D3O armor in the shoulders and elbows, AND ships with a D3O back protector at no extra charge.

As if that weren’t enough, you also get a stow-away collar system, 14 total pockets (including hidden “stash” pockets for sketchy border crossings), and Klimatek mesh backing behind the armor pockets to help keep the jacket cool. 

No, it doesn’t vent quite as well as the Badlands, and no, it doesn’t have any ceramic-infused SuperFabric, but as far as entry-level jackets go, this is the Klim jacket to beat. 

CHECK PRICE:
Klim Carlsbad Jacket
REVZILLA | AMAZON

5. REV’IT! Dominator 3 GTX Jacket

I really can’t imagine where Rev’It will go next after this jacket. The list of features is just outrageous. If you can imagine it, Rev’It built it into the Dominator 3 GTX adventure motorcycle jacket. 

"Ricardo, our Colombia guide, wearing a Rev'it jacket while taking in the lush green landscapes of Colombia"

Gore-Tex protection head-to-toe, CE level 2 armor included throughout, high-tech TPR infused fabric in the slide-prone zones, flexible waterproof panels at the back of the shoulders… Look, I’m not even going to try to list it all here. 

It’s just as bombproof, water-tight, and protective as the Badlands Pro jacket above, but has a few proprietary bells and whistles to boot, like a removable monkey-paw system and massive “VCS AquaDefence” ventilation ports with Fidlock magnetic fasteners.

The Dominator got an update in 2022, and the jacket is now much less bulky and a bit lighter thanks to anatomic material mapping. It also got a few notable refinements like a stowable storm collar and a removable kidney belt.

Unfortunately, the Dominator also still retails for $300 more than the Badlands Pro, so you'll really have to be a Rev'it fan to justify the asking price.

We'll also note that the brand has replaced the previous jacket's Superfabric panels with the TPR-welded fabric noted above, and we're still on the fence as to whether this is an upgrade or a cost-cutting measure.

CHECK PRICE:
REV'IT! Dominator 3 GTX Jacket
REVZILLA | AMAZON 

6. REV’IT! Sand 5 H2O Jacket

...Or, for about a third of the price, you can give the Rev’It! Sand 5 H2O a try. 

The shell itself isn’t waterproof like the Dominator 3 above, but Rev’It! includes a removable liner to handle waterproofing duties and keep costs down.

"Rev'it!'s Sand jacket worked great on a recent tour through Vietnam." 

Ventilation has been improved over the outgoing Sand 4, which is a godsend on a hot and sticky summer day. The old center vent is gone, and in its place are two much larger stowaway vents on the torso. 

You won’t find any premium SuperFabric at this price point (or a back protector for that matter), but the Sand 5 H2O does get Seeflex CE level 2 armor in the shoulders and elbows, as well as a rugged ripstop polyester exterior from top to bottom. 

Rev’It! is also thoughtful enough to include a removable thermal liner with the Sand 5 to help stretch the jacket into four-season territory.

This liner doubles as a stand-alone jacket that’s handsome enough to wear around town, so that's one less thing you'll have to pack on an overnight trip. The same goes for the waterproof liner, believe it or not. 

The multi-layer approach to waterproofing isn't our favorite, and the full ripstop construction leaves a little to be desired in terms of stretch and flexibility, but the Sand 5 is a rock-solid piece of four-season adventure gear that’s built to last for years. 

CHECK PRICE:
REV'IT! Sand 5 H2O Jacket
REVZILLA | AMAZON

7. Sedici Avventura Waterproof Jacket

There are smokin' deals, and then there's the Sedici Avventura Waterproof jacket. This three-layer adventure motorcycle jacket comes with everything you need to explore the world on two wheels year-round, yet retails for well under $300.

So how do they do it? Long story short, Sedici is the "house brand" of CoMoto, the largest moto gear retailer in the US (Revzilla, Cycle Gear, J&P Cycles, etc).

As such, they fully benefit from the direct-to-consumer business model, and pass those savings on down.

"Sedici's Avventura jacket looks and rides the part for under $300" photo: Sedici

For your money, you're getting a 450D Oxford chassis, removable waterproof and thermal liners, level 2 armor in the shoulders and elbows, and a highly-adjustable fit with plenty of added stretch panels for long-distance comfort. 

It's a great suit all-around, and a fantastic one for the money. The Avventura's 450D fabric doesn't feel as bombproof as other options on this list, but considering the full four-season suit, pants included, is under $500, we aren't complaining. 

CHECK PRICE:
Sedici Avventura Waterproof Jacket
REVZILLA

Closing Thoughts: Choosing an Adventure Motorcycle Jacket

Like so much else in the motorcycling world, finding the right adventure motorcycle jacket comes down to making the smartest investment you can. 

Spending $1,000+ for guaranteed all-weather performance, four-season comfort, and the best safety features money can buy doesn’t seem nearly as outrageous if you intend to see the world from the saddle of a capable adventure bike.

Hell, that’s only thirty cents a mile on our Patagonia Adventure excursions alone…

With that being said, for your average weekend warrior or riders who are relatively new to the adventure and dual sport realm, we can confidently tell you that you don’t need the latest tech to stay safe and enjoy the ride rain or shine.

Every one of the budget-friendly jackets on this list packs a ton of protection and technology for the money, and many of them would get you around the world in a pinch just fine. 

→Read More:
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Best Adventure Motorcycle Gear for any RIDE
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