Icon's PDX Waterproof Rain Jacket is stitched together well, stands up against heavy deluges, is highly visible in the dark, and has cool styling. The hoodie is a nice touch, too.
It was a dark and stormy night. No, really, it was. The clouds rolling in off Mississippi’s Gulf of Mexico were purple and grey and the raindrops were exploding on my visor. I got caught in the storm riding Victory’s 2009 Cory Ness Jackpot while working on my
Victory on the Bayou article. Luckily, I had a set of Icon’s PDX Rain Gear with me that enabled me to ride through the storm.
Nobody likes to ride soaking wet. A reliable set of rain gear should be in every biker’s gear bag. And if you live in an area where you know it’s going to rain, investing in a good setup instead of relying on a black plastic garbage bag you customized roadside by ripping holes in it for your arms and head makes sense. The
Icon PDX Waterproof Rain Jacket and Waterproof Bib are tailored to keep you dry so you can keep your focus where it should be – on the road.
The PDX Rain Jacket features a comfortable insulated mesh liner that is sewn into a tightly-woven nylon waterproof shell. Icon R&D has put their mojo on it, and the textile shell repels even the strongest rains. Hang it up after riding and 10 minutes later it feels dry again. The jacket is cut large to fit over your riding jacket, and an XL easily slipped over my
Alpinestars ATL Leather Jacket.
It has a double closure system on the front to guard against water seeping in between the teeth of zippers. Besides a full-length waterproof zipper that runs down the front, it also has a small overlying flap that protects the zippers. Five Velcro fasteners keep the flap in place. The sleeves have a narrow elastic band at the wrist which seals down via its own Velcro strap to keep wind and rain from racing up them.
Icon's PDX Rain Gear saved me from a thorough drenching when I traveled back to my old home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast that I thought had been leveled by Hurrican Katrina.
The Icon PDX Rain Jacket zips up high so that the straight-cut collar covers your neck. It comes with a draw string around the neck that works well to keep wind from creeping in. It also has a built-in hoodie that you can unroll when you get off the bike to keep your head dry. To keep it from acting like a parachute when you’re riding, it rolls up easily and fastens down by running a Velcro tab that’s built into the hoodie through a loop inside the jacket.
Since it’s a rain jacket that’s designed to wear over your other gear, there’s not a lot of pockets. The PDX jacket has one zippable pocket on the inside next to the left side of your chest. It also has two standard hand-sized pockets on the outside of the jacket.
The jacket I tested came in DayGlo orange. OK, maybe it isn’t fluorescent, but you’re definitely not going to miss me in my PDX Rain Jacket. Which is a good thing considering that when it’s dark and raining, anything to make motorcyclists more visible to cagers is a boon. It also has highly reflective Icon logos on the arms, back, and chest. Sporty little ‘Vortex’ and ‘GPR Stabilizer’ logos add to the jacket’s attractive styling. It’s cool that Icon didn’t just make a rain jacket, it made a jacket you wouldn’t mind wearing by itself as a wind breaker. Both fashionable and functional, a combo you don’t always get in rain gear.
The Icon PDX Waterproof Rain Jacket is high-quality rain gear. It’s stitched together well, stands up against heavy deluges, is highly visible in the dark, and has cool styling (love the hoodie). It costs more than other rain gear with a sticker price between $105-$115, but riding wet sucks, so it’s worth the investment, especially if you live in wet climes like our native Oregon.
If you're going to spring for the PDX Rain Jacket, go ahead and get Icon's PDX Bibs to go with it. They sport the same durable construction, slip on easily, and stand up well against rain and wind.
It doesn’t make much sense to keep your torso dry while your lower body gets soaked, so the
PDX Waterproof Bibs are the perfect complement to the rain jacket. It features the same soft insulated mesh liner and water-repellant textile shell as the jacket. The weave is strong and tight and does a bang-up job of deflecting wind and rain.
Full-length zippers run up the sides of both legs, which made it easy to slip the PDX Bibs on over my riding pants. The leg’s zipper system has a protective flap over it that’s held down by six Velcro closures for extra water protection. The lower inside panels of the bibs are reinforced with cloth patches where a rider’s legs come in contact with a motorcycle to keep the nylon shell from melting in case you touch a hot pipe.
They bib-style pants are held up by two suspenders. The only drawback to this is that you have to remove your jacket to get the pants on, but it’s a minor inconvenience. Two Velcro fasteners at the waist assist the fit, while stirrups at the bottom of both pant legs keep the pants from catching wind and riding up. The stirrups are removable, in which case a single snap closure will help keep the bottom of the pants from going bell-bottom on you.
The pair I tested came in black, and an XL easily slid over my riding pants. Two long, narrow cargo pockets on the thighs with Velcro flap closures add a little style, as do a couple of strategically-placed Icon logos. A small reflective Icon logo is stamped on the flap on the right-side cargo pocket, while a larger reflective silver Icon logo is printed across the butt.
If you’re going to spend the dough for Icon’s PDX Rain Jacket, then I’d recommend springing for the pants, too. Yeh, at $115-$125 a pop, they are on the spendy side. But they’re made well enough to possibly be the last rain gear you’ll ever need to buy. The PDX Bibs are easy to slip on, the mesh liner is comfy enough if you decide to wear them commando-style, and the textile shell isn’t going to let any unwanted elements in. Did I mention that riding wet sucks? Get a set of PDX Rain Gear and you won’t have to worry about getting caught out in the rain again.
Get your Icon Rain Gear where the best deals are, the
Motorcycle Superstore!
Icon PDX Waterproof Rain Jacket MSRP $105-$115
Icon PDX Waterproof Bibs $115-$125
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