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RST Blade Textile Jacket & Trousers


DJP
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I bought these for commuting hence the choice of textiles. They're a bit cheap 'n cheerful but I went with RST because they do trousers with a long leg fitting. Also RST stuff all uses the same connection zip so that you can mix & match any RST jacket with any RST trousers. Cost for the pair was about £200.


Blade Textile Jacket


A sports style short jacket which zips to the matching trousers.


The Good: Nice fit and feels protective with extensive armour on the shoulders, back & elbows. The zip out liner makes the jacket warm in winter and cool in the summer. Has vents in the back for extra air flow in hot weather and adjuster straps on upper arm, lower arm, wrist and waist.


The Bad: The jacket barely overlaps the trousers at the front with the result that rain water quickly finds its way in though the gap. Zip tabs are small and difficult to find with cold or gloved hands.


Overall: A decent jacket for the money more suited to summer use.


Blade Textile Trousers


The Good: Warm with zip out thermal liner fitted. Comes with knee protectors and ankle zips for easy fitting over boots.


The Bad: Not waterproof. Even worn with a longer jacket (which sorts the overlap issue) rain still seeps in through the seams. Not too bad in a short shower but a prolonged downpour will quickly result in a damp crotch. Not good. In the rain I’ve taken to wearing them with cheapo waterproof over-trousers on top which works but kind of defeats the point of textiles.


Too warm in summer, even without the lining, and quickly become sweaty and smelly. They also don’t include hip armour as standard although this is available as an optional extra.


Overall: A decently warm winter trouser let down by poor waterproofing.


Blade Leather Trousers


I bought these for summer use after finding the textile version too sweaty.


The Good: Reasonable quality with knee sliders included. Leather over impact areas with fabric stretch panels on the back of the knee. Fixed liner, non-sweaty in summer.


The Bad: Don’t include hip armour as standard although this is available as an optional extra.


Overall: Decent leather jeans that work well with the Blade jacket for summer use.

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I have used RST gear for a few years and always found it to be the higher end of the cheap gear.

My spare jacket is an RST Paragon 5 which has always been waterproof even in the heaviest of prolonged rain. However the same cannot be said of the trousers, this is mainly because they have a 4 way crossover seam at the crotch. It wouldn't take much to rectify this, I have a pair of Furygan trousers that have a one piece gusset at the crotch which eliminates the problem, why RST don't adopt this pattern I have no idea.

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  • 3 months later...

I've been wearing the blade textile jacket and trousers for a few months now.


They are both very comfortable. The armour doesn't poke you like some brands do.

They feel very safe. I feel confident that should things go wrong they will stand up to the task of keeping me in one piece.

Considering that they don't feel heavy.

They are well priced for what you get.

Removable lining means you can get 3, maybe 4 seasons.


The zips in the pockets are sturdy but fiddly with gloves on.

In the summer, over say 16 degrees they are warm.

There is a rear vent in the jacket but that's it. Nothing in the trousers. when the temp is mid teens or higher and I'm commuting home and stopped in tesco for a few bits my shirt is damp and stuck to me and guaranteed sweaty gentleman bits.


There are much better jackets and trousers out there. But for bang for buck these are very competitive and ideal for someone new to two wheels.

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