BMW Comfort Shell Jacket and Pants Review

BMW Comfort Shell Jacket and Pants

By Trevor Hedge

After more than a decade in this moto-journalism caper and double that as a road going motorcyclist I have gone through a fair bit of motorcycle gear. Not only due to wear but also because of a waistline that has varied up and down by about 30cm over that time.

Over a year ago I got myself into some BMW riding gear for the first time in the shape of their Comfort Shell jacket and pants. At $1180 for the jacket and $805 for the pants it makes for an expensive $1985 ensemble when zipped together . That’s a whole lot of moolah to lash out on a textile suit, much more in fact than a good set of leathers costs.

So what do you get for your dollars?

You get the best all round touring suit I have yet to sample.

100% waterproof no matter how drenching and long the downpour but still comfortable in the heat of summer, the Comfort Shell is my first choice from the wardrobe when it comes to reach for riding gear.

Made from Germanic Unobtanium. Seriously though, the Comfort Shell is engineered in Switzerland and put together in Eastern Europe from various materials with long names suffixed with scientific explanations that would put you to sleep. All I care about is that it works.

I haven’t taken my testing of this product to the extreme of crashing but after recently removing all the armour out of the suit in order to wash it I was extremely impressed by the number, size and apparent quality of the armour built in to the suit and the look and feel of the actual fabric does instil some confidence in regards to abrasion resistance to a much higher degree than any other non-leather suits I have seen.

The armour looks many times better than any pliable armour I have experienced before and BMW, unsurprisingly, claim that their NP Protectors are between 200 per cent and 500 per cent more effective in reducing impact energy to the body than rival systems. I am not about to punt myself into a guardrail to put that claim to the test, but in this instance I am inclined to believe at least some of those claims.

So apart from the price of admission what’s the drawbacks?

While the suit does a great job of keeping you dry it will not keep you very warm. In cold conditions thermals or warm undergarments are definitely called for, as the Comfort Shell is nowhere near as good at keeping you warm as it is keeping you cool.

Long days in the saddle in the extremes of an Australian summer with the four airflow zips open leaves you reasonably comfortable while moving but you still get sweaty at low speeds. That really is unavoidable with any form of truly protective riding gear but the Comfort Shell suit can become a little whiffy. The smell the gear takes on is a strange almost chemical like odour that can get quite pungent. Thankfully the suit can be washed or dry-cleaned to stop people giving you funny looks while crinkling their nose when you enter a room.

My final gripe concerns the size of the zips on the vents. They are way too small to be operated with a gloved hand.

That may sound like a long list of whinges about what is my favourite piece of gear but I have spent a lot of time ensconced in this suit and know it inside out. Earlier this year I covered more than 16,000km in the space of a single month in the Comfort Shell. 6000km of which was in pouring rain and another 6000km in temperatures of 40c. It has also been my most regular piece of riding kit over the last 18 months and 35,000km, so I am fully aware of its nuances.

Overall though the BMW Comfort Shell jacket and pants is my favourite bit of kit. Just make sure you have some thermals underneath when the temperature drops.