Review: Teknic Chicane Leather Jacket

[BlackFZR]

Well, after only having a Winter Jacket, I finally made the sacrafice (and oh what a sacrifice it took..... not ) to purchase a perforated leather jacket for summer riding. I had a few in mind, the new M2R Perforated Jacket, or an Alpinestars Stage Jacket. After a bit further research, I also added the Fieldsheer Flex, RS Taichi Viper and the Teknic Chicane.

All of these generally costed a huge amount of money, with only the M2R available in Australia.

After further store searching on the web, I managed to find the Teknic Chicane for US$149 (RRP US$299) at www.newenough.com, with shipping only costing me an additional US$54.10. Thats a total of US@203.10, or ~AUS$268.00. I placed the order last thursday night.

This morning I managed to find a package on my door with the Jacket in it. Thats right. From the US to Perth in less than 1 week Fantastic turn around.

Given this I opened it up, took the photo's below, and then went for a ride













As can be seen from the pictures, the perforations are all through the front panels, along with a couple in the sleeve, and some larger ones on the back, around the waist.
It has a mesh liner so the the breeze goes through to your skin/shirt, and some CE approved armour in the shoulders, elbows and back. It has an 8", and also full waist plastic zip to join to any pants you may have, as well as a belt lop so that it won't ride up if you are wearing jeans.
The main zip and pocket zips are metal, and there is the fabric flex panels on the inside of the arm. The black-to-white panels on the front are material.
There are also waist velcro adjusters on the lower edge of the jacket for those that lack or own a gut.
Given that I have a rather unusual build (slim with long arms), this jacket fits me very well

The Test
After riding in the jacket for over two hours this afternoon, I hjave to say that it is pretty awesome. You notice the breeze coming throught the perforations at anything above 60kph, and still stay cool stationary at the lights.
The pre-curved arms/elbow point is well positioned for me, along with the armour in the shoulders and elbowsstaying in the correct place (little movement once the jacket is on).
I am not planning to crash test this for anyone.

Overall

Given the cost, speed of delivery, and fit, along with effectiveness of this jacket, i give it 5 /5 .

If you feel that you have to shop overseas, I also can not recommend New Enough........ enough

Keep Black on Black

[Morgs]

So how did you know it was going to fit? This is what always worries me when I buy from the US. What happens if it doesn't fit?

It is very difficult to size things properly, eg I am a 4XL in Dri Rider jackets, (surprisingly only because the arms felt too tight on the 3XL), yet I am a M in Dri Rider gloves - go figure. (and as far as I am aware no-one looks at me and says look at that fat bloke with the little hands!!!)

Nice review by the way, and yes it looks like you got a top deal.

[BlackFZR]

So how did you know it was going to fit?
[/b]

I took some very careful measurements based on the sizing chart, and sent a few emails to the store... they generally responded within 1/2 a day each time

[Semi]

hmm, looks damn good, might have to invest in one. Whats teknic like as a brand?

[kean]

Thanks for that review! Just went to get one

[MYZFR1_Cliff]

Nice reveiw Tim

[FaceThePower]

Nice, I thought you'd do a couple of Wiggles pose like some other dude that bought a yellow jacket some months back
I feel sorry for the local shops - it's hard to beat the overseas competitors in both range, pricing and turnaround time. My new helmet (ordered locally) took 10 weeks to arrive! One other part ordered at the same time is still not here (after 12 weeks). I guess the local shops and their distributors need to be much more proactive to beat the overseas competition.

[Jase_R1]

Great review thanks. I can second the thumbs up as I have the same jacket which i also very recently purchased from the US

[nez]

hmm I was looking at buying the alpinestars stage jacket for my first one but this is less than half the price. decisions decisions

[Semi]

Think ill be getting one of these, hope you dont mind if i get blue as well!

[BlackFZR]

Think ill be getting one of these, hope you dont mind if i get blue as well!
[/b]

Just so long as you don't get the same helmut, jeans, boots, gloves or bike, you should be in the clear

[Jono]

do do do do i wonder what local shops are getting these in?!?! do do do do do do...

[Semi]

do do do do i wonder what local shops are getting these in?!?! do do do do do do...
[/b]

Dont think oz places get teknic gear in, could be wrong though

[BlackFZR]

do do do do i wonder what local shops are getting these in?!?! do do do do do do...
[/b]

I know I can get the teknic gloves from local shops, but even up till a month ago, I was told that Teknic were changing distributors and the new one hadn't been finalised at that time. Are they available again now Jono? Give us all the news, as Teknic have some nice looking gear

[Jono]

YEAPO... Definatly a distributor here now... and a major one...

i have my first lot of gear just trickling in now... dont get too excited as its only tiny at the mo... i have ordered a hell of a lot of gear... just keep an eye out... or pop in and say g;day...

it is awesome stuff crash tested and approved by the rep himself

[Pricey]

Were you riding along stock road? I saw a MCer with a new jacket on that looked just like yours!

If twas you, looks horny!

[quinno]

i just recently bought some setup boots from new enough and i second that- their pricing and delivery is awsome...
(should be reviewing these boots soon)...

I'm also lookin a gettin a summer jacket - did you (or anyone) have a look a the ICON Pursuit perforated leather jacket from newenough.com as well ? i wonder how good it is... along with the icon mesh jacket

[kean]

Wow that was quick! I ordered it last week Thursday, arrived today (Tuesday), that's a new record i believe for round the world postage comes with a bonus clothes hanger too

Thanks again for the review!!

[shrike]

hmm, looks damn good, might have to invest in one. Whats teknic like as a brand?
[/b]

Awesome brand. I have some of their "Violator" (top of the line) gloves and a pair of their denim bike jeans and they're both awesome.

The gloves are now almost 5 years old and I'm lookign to replace them soon because the palm leather is starting to wear a little thinner than I'd like...

The gloves have also been SOAKED and hae never once bled dye.

[Para045]

So how did you know it was going to fit? This is what always worries me when I buy from the US. What happens if it doesn't fit?

It is very difficult to size things properly, eg I am a 4XL in Dri Rider jackets, (surprisingly only because the arms felt too tight on the 3XL), yet I am a M in Dri Rider gloves - go figure. (and as far as I am aware no-one looks at me and says look at that fat bloke with the little hands!!!)

Nice review by the way, and yes it looks like you got a top deal.
[/b]

I had the same thing -Dri Rider DriMesh jacket 6XL and Joe Rocket Alter Ego 3XL, driRider airmesh gloves 3XL, Dri Rider nordic 4XL I actually first saw the JRAE in a shop where I was looking to buy a bike and they wanted $510 RRP for it, they said they would drop it to $460 if I bought the bike and ~ $ 1000 worth of gear - a couple of other shops would do it for $490 but none in stock - at least 1 week wait. I ended up getting it from http://www.dsrpowersports.com/ for $ 360 AUD landed in 6 days I like to support local bussiness when I can but $150 and quicker delivery just can't be beat