Viking Cycle Jacket - A Product Review

Motorcycle House sent me their Viking Cycle jacket to test out and I put it through a test no rider wants to put a jacket through. I went down in some gravel on May 24th and I am happy to report the jacket did its job admirably.

The day I got the jacket it arrived by UPS and I tore into the box with excitement!

The package my jacket came in.

A nice looking jacket

The jacket looked good and that new leather smell was intoxicating.

I eagerly took a look at the jacket, I inspected the zip out liner and the pocket sneak through for both inner pockets.

Inner pocket sneak through in the liner

The zip out liner

The old saying is that you get what you pay for and this jacket does not have the nicer poly-cotton liner of more expensive jackets, it has a nylon liner that feels rather like that of a nylon jacket or windbreaker.

The jacket's liner is made of a nylon
fabric, as are the inner pockets,
although the pocket mouth is
leather lined.

The sleeves of the liner are held in place with snaps that easily come undone when you take the jacket off and that can be a pain because the liner sleeve comes out of the jacket with your arm.

The snap that holds the
liner sleeve in place
comes undone easily

The front outer pockets of the jacket are rather small, but deep. They pitch forward at an angle that is a little awkward for me and I can't open my hand wide inside the pockets. They feel a bit "restrictive". 

My jacket is a size large and it fit pretty well through the shoulders and the sleeves - the body length was fine for just walking around and there was room to wear a hoodie underneath without the jacket feeling over tight.

All was good, UNTIL I started riding.  I am long in the back and I found that when the jacket was done up, with a hoodie underneath, and I was in riding position that the waist which has an elastic in the side to taper the jacket's fit, rode up too high up for me leaving my kidney area exposed and a tight feeling around the middle part of my ribs.

Photo Courtesy Steel Horses Photography:
You can see the jacket is short in the waist for me but fits good through the shoulders and sleeve.
I realize wearing a hoodie underneath takes away some of the body length,
but there are times a hoodie is needed and this was one of those mornings.

Hindsight being what it is, I should have gone for the XL, but now that the jacket's leather has been compromised, I can't return it for a different size.

For the cost of it, $89.95 it is a surprisingly decent quality jacket.
Not fashion leather but not real heavy leather like my personal custom made jacket is made from either.

It survived a 30-35 KPH gravel crash and did so admirably, but now that the leather has been compromised, I won't wear the jacket again, except as a fashion jacket, because if there were to be a next time, the leather on the right sleeve would probably fail.

Do I recommend this jacket? Yes, for the person on a tight budget that wants a jacket that is capable of lasting through a rough ride, it's a good choice, although once compromised, I would recommend replacing it. Shipping does take a while for a product like this, about 10 days.

The sizing charts they offer on the Motorcycle House web site are pretty accurate but I feel they need to add a measurement from the armpit to the hips so that a person can ensure a better fit in the body.
Their customer service was great, the ordering straightforward and simple.

I give the Viking Cycle Jacket from Motorcycle House 3 gas tanks out of 5

If you are blessed to be riding today, please ride like everyone around you is blind and cannot see you and please, consider dressing for the slide and not the ride!

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider