Alpinestars’ Cooling Vest

https://www.alpinestars.com/products/cooling-vest

RRP £160.00

After a lifetime of riding motorbikes, I stand by my theory that there are only a few days every year that are the right temperate to ride. Days are either too hot or too cold. However, like most bikers, I will be out riding either sweating or shivering regardless.

To combat this, I have been using heated clothing for years, but I have never found a cooling garment that worked or was comfortable. One I used was a vest you soaked in cold water and wore under your jacket - horrible. Being too hot is dangerous as it can quickly lead to heat stroke and exhaustion. Obviously, when it’s hot you can open your jacket vents or even wear mesh motorcycle jackets, trying to get air flowing. However sometimes this isn’t enough and you need a boost. Thankfully, there are innovative companies that are striving to make us more comfortable all year round.

When your body gets hot it sweats, which evaporates - this results in a cooling effect (called evaporative cooling) that helps to maintain a cooler body temperature.  Alpinestars’ Cooling Vest works on the same principle, yet remains dry to wear.  You pop half a litre of water in the vest, squish it around so the water is evenly distributed, then wear it under your jacket. It’s not the temperature of the water that cools you down but the evaporation effect. As the water heats from your body temperate it evaporates and cools you down. This cooling effect of the vest lasts around three days before more water needs adding. Of course, the only part of your body which is cooling is your torso, but pumping cooler blood around your body soon cools you down. I went on a hot trip around the UK and was surprised how much difference this vest made. I let a fellow rider try the vest and I immediately noticed how much hotter I was without it, and he mentioned how much cooler it made him.

This vest is comfortable to wear as it has lots of stretch panels allowing free movement. It does add to your bulk under your jacket, but not too noticeably.

All quality motorcycle gear is expensive, but I am sure if you used this vest on a very hot day you would pay twice the price for one. This genuinely worked for me.

4/5

Pros

Comfort

Three days until top up

No batteries to fail

It really works

Con

It bulks you up a bit, but this is outweighed by how well it works.