Spidi Globetracker textile suit review

THE day to day life of a bike journo is a pretty good test of motorcycle kit. We ride multiple bikes, in all weather and sometimes in two or three different countries in one month. As it happens, we didn’t need many trips to test out the Spidi Globetracker suit, Strom Dennis and Ciara provided us all the weather we needed to very thoroughly test it!

Pricing £749.99 jacket, £549.99 trousers - spidiuk.com

I’ve been wearing the Spidi Globetracker jacket and trouser combo for about five months and covered probably 8,000 miles in them. I’ve ridden nakeds, cruisers, adventure bikes, and even sportsbikes while using them, testing them out in the wet and windy UK on and off-road and even a trip through the desert in Morocco.

The Spidi Globetracker is a jacket and trouser suit made with Spidi’s H2OUT material and Dermizax waterproof membrane. It’s a zip-together suit, with removable braces in the trousers. Both the jacket and trousers are fully vented and removable liners are present in both garments.

Waterproofing

With the UK moving from one storm front to another for pretty much all of the winter, the Globetracker was put to the test right from the off, with airport runs to the Kawasaki Ninja 1000 SX and Triumph Tiger 900 launches being particularly wet and windy.

In weather like this keeping warm and dry is key to maintaining the kind of levels of concentration required to safely navigate the M40, especially when there is sideways rain and 60mph winds to contest with.

It became clear early on that the H2OUT membrane, which has the waterproof membrane laminated into the exterior shell of the garment, provides excellent protection from the elements, letting in no water whatsoever. Even after spending more hours than I’d like to recall pummelling up and down the motorway in the rain, I never once experienced any leaks in the primary connecting zips or any of the pockets.

All zips on the suit are sturdy YKK made items, with waterproof YKK AquaGuard zips on all pockets and vents.

Protection

Both the jacket and trousers come pre-equipped with Spidi Safety Lab Force-Tech CE armour in the shoulders, elbows, knees, and hips. All the armour is retained in Velcro pockets and is easily removable for washing or inspection. The jacket can be spec’d to include the Warrior chest protector and Compact Warrior and Warrior L2 back protectors which are sold separately. The chest protector fixes into the front of the jacket with button poppers while the back protector sits in a pocket in the rear of the garment.

Vents

With the launch of the new Triumph Tiger 900 came the chance to give the suit a real test, with the ride to the airport seeing winds of 50mph and driving rain, while the temperatures awaiting us in Morocco would be considerably higher.

Vents on the Globetracker are located on the front of each trouser leg, both sides of the chest and one large vent that covers the entire back of the jacket. All the vents unzip and then roll down out of the way where they are held in place by an elasticated strap.

With the mercury hitting the high twenties at midday, the vents on the Globetracker really paid dividends, with the frontal vents on the jacket combining with the large back vent – that makes up most of the rear panel of the garment – to provide a refreshing breeze through the entire coat.

The lining of the jacket, with the thermal lining removed, is covered with a loose mesh lining too that felt nice and airy next to my skin and never once felt claustrophobic in the heat of the desert.

Thermal liners

The Spidi Globetracker suit is fitted with some of the best insulating liners I’ve ever encountered in my time as a bike journo. The trousers have quilted Max Liner that can quickly and easily be unzipped in warmer weather. The jacket is blessed with a thick, quilted and extremely warm insulated liner that can be worn as a standalone item. The liner is bloody good and has been warm all winter from trips to the shops to long winter walks in the country.

Combining the thermal liners with the excellent waterproofing properties of the Globetracker jacket means the suit is a true all-weather garment. It offers all the thermal retention you’d need in the UK and further afield, while being flexible enough, thanks to the excellent vents, to be handy for summer tours when you can’t always trust the weather!

Verdict

I’ve come to take the word waterproof and the abbreviation WP with a large pinch of salt when testing motorcycle kit. All too often the waterproof qualities a company boasts with their product are either not accurate, or the waterproofing effect will diminish quickly after a few months.

I’m happy to report that the Spidi Globetracker is the exception to this rule. The jacket and trousers have never once let me down. The seams, zips, joints and even the vents are, as described and 100% waterproof.

Not only will the Globetracker keep you dry, it’ll also keep you very warm thanks to the trouser liners and, of course, that thick synthetic down jacket liner.

If you are serious about keeping warm, dry and well protected, there isn’t another suit I’ve tested that can match the Globetracker on all of these fronts.

For more information on the Spidi range of motorcycle textiles and leathers, head to: spidiuk.com