Plus Size Jacket and Pants

March 23, 2012 GearChic

My friend Chris needed some help finding gear. She met me at Scuderia the other day and we got her dressed! She's a ~US 10 on top and ~US 14 on bottom and has a 31" inseam. Her immediate needs were a pair of boots and riding pants. She's making the transition from a cruiser to a dual sport bike (woo hoo!), with an upright riding position. But she also likes to borrow her man's sportbike and wanted something that would be comfortable on that bike too.

Chris is a real woman with real curves and she needed real gear. She wanted protection in the knees and hips, no mesh/ventilation (since she's commuting on the freeway) and enough room in the hips and her inseam. Although we couldn't get her into the Ventura pants like I wanted, we did get the unisex Horizon Pants, XXL Standard (see photo gallery) on her and they fit perfectly.

What Fit?

The Horizon in XXL (standard length) were perfect (see photo gallery). As you can see, they fit her real curves nicely. The inseam is just right, the armor fell at the knees in the right place (although they are adjustable). They also come in standard, short and long. They don't have full length zippers, so they're supposed to be worn as pants. You could wear them as overpants without the thermal liner. You'd just have to take off your boots every time you needed to change in and out of them. Chris is wearing them over jeans in these photos.

Unfortunately the Ladies Tornado 46 was a little too tight (without the thermal liner, over jeans), so we tried the men's 48 (over jeans, without the thermal liner). The rise (bottom of the crotch to top of the waistband) was way too short so she couldn't even get them on comfortably.

We also figured out that the Horizon and Axis had the best female fit, meaning a slightly higher rise in the waist, room in the hips and thighs but a nice tapered fit at the knee. The problem with the Axis was that the legs didn't taper enough at the knees and just weren't as protective and fully featured as the Horizons.

The Jackets

Although she didn't leave with one of them, here are two jackets that she tried on. Unfortunately I didn't have other colors in her size so you can see the difference between the two. She's wearing size 42 in both which translate to a 14-16 or L/XL. They're very similar, but slightly different in terms of price point and features.

The one one the left is the Ventura. Read my review here. The one on the right is the Indigo (also available in hi viz). The Indigo doesn't have some of the features of the Ventura, and it's also a little bit longer in the torso and falls below the hips.

Both of these would be great options for commuting, touring or everyday riding.