Trail Master Transition Series 2 Jacket

I started a thread about all around dual sport clothing some time ago, and after much poking and prodding and deliberating purchased this jacket:

Tour Master Transition Series 2



You can get it in more subdued/other colors, but I like to be seen... they even have the Highway Crew Neon Green color if you really want to shock peoples' eyeballs...

This jacket is, frankly, hot shit.

The outside temp was just touching 95 a few days ago when I lost my GPS. I spent hours plonking along in 1st staring into the grass alongside the road looking for my expensive little Garmin, and even at those slow speeds the venting system in this jacket was enough to keep me from sweating my bag off. At about 25 mph or faster, the venting is good enough that the air coming in the front of the jacket and out the back basically leaves you in a little bubble of air with most of the jacket hovering around you. In other words, almost as comfortable as the crazies who tool down the tar with nothing but a tank top on and a chick pressed against their back.

Zip the vent zippers up, plaster down the velcro covers, and the jacket is instantly rain proof and warm. I got caught in the torrential downpours here today while coming out of the dirt roads on the west side of Glacier Park. With the front vents battened down and the rear vents still open, I stayed warm and dry AND didn't get wet from all the humidity build up in the jacket. Score!

I haven't had a chance yet to ride it in truly cold weather, but looking at the liner that comes with this jacket - or substituting your own high quality fleece - I think this jacket would even be the cat's ass for snowmobiling.

The protection is, I think, about as good as you're going to get in a jacket that you also want to be comfortable in all conditions. You could throw hard armour into the thing or ballistic nylon panels or whatever, but then I think you'd lose a lot of the flexibility of this jacket for anytime/anywhere. I've taken a few tumbles with it on, and the armour stays where it's supposed to stay. When a 50+ year old body can go flying over the bars into a log or two and come out fairly happy and unbroken wearing this jacket, aside from the always present luck factor, I think this is a jacket that provides all the protection you could reasonably expect from such a multipurpose jacket.

The pouch in the back works just fine for storing a spare tire, some irons, a small pump, and maybe a bit of lunch. You could stick even more in there, but you can feel the presence of things in the back pouch somewhat, and I'd just as soon put those things elsewhere.

Pockets? Oh yeah, lots of pockets.

What would I change? Hmmm... a one handed clip for the keychain leash in the sleeve key pocket. And some sort of external pouch arrangement for a handheld GPS would be nice, but to be honest, I don't know where you could put it.

All in all, one hell of a comfortable, do it all, dual sport jacket. I recommend it very highly and will be looking for another one as a replacement if and when I ever manage to wear this one out.

I agree, this jacket is sold as a Street touring jacket, but it works great for dirt, adventure riding, I stopped wearing it on the street and got something more "sporty" for the street, but wore this on a Dual Sport ride last year and fit right in with the others there and the expensive purpose built suits they had. The pants they make work good for this as well and fit over motocross boots.

It is a great jacket for sure!

I have one also great jacket and price.

vwsandman wrote:

The pants they make work good for this as well and fit over motocross boots.

I looked at their over-the-boot pants but decided against them... can't remember why, but probably had something to do with protection. My criteria is, as I try to be ATGATT, it has to be something I can throw on to ride to the store without putting on all the underlying pads. Or maybe it had to do with size. I'm inseam-challenged... compared to my waist size. Come from the clan of men who look like shaved bears and all that stuff.

Anyways, I eventually went with the Fieldsheer Mercury pants. They have worked out very well also, although their venting is not quite as impressive as the Transitions jacket. The adjustable placement for the knee armour is very handy for odd sized folks.

Mercury pants




I do wish they had attachments for heavy duty, timberbeast-type suspenders, however. As a member of The Men Without Waists club, I appreciate features that allow you to deal with the problem of your pants starting to migrate towards your ankles, whether they're flyfishing waders or whatever.

Triumph Raptor Vented #2 Jacket. Europeans design the best jackets. They take their motorcycling very seriously.

Wore a transition 2 for a couple of years, good protection and venting. I have to disagree with the waterproof bit. This jacket ships with a waterproof liner, that must be in for it to be waterproof. I have ridden in all conditions with this jacket, and water will get in quickly. When wet this jacket weighs 3 times more. IMHO, a jacket with a waterproof fabric built in is much more waterproof. That said, I am looking for another transition for the summer riding season as it is a great all purpose jacket. For the rainy season, I like the Teknic Monsoon with goretex, absolutely waterproof!