Saying goodbye to an old friend…In 2012-2016 we were on an around the world trip and found our supposedly high quality 4-season jackets failing badly. Too hot when mildly warm, too cold when mildly cold and separate wet weather layers which don’t work as they make you sweat. The separate waterproof liners were a pain to use too as they were fitted on the inside of the jackets, so the outside of the jacket still got soaked. As we were camping, our jackets wouldn’t dry for days once they got wet and started to smell badly. To make matters worse we had only done the ‘easy’ bits until then, the hard ones (clothing wise as well) were yet to come. It was clear we needed something better, much better. I’m glad to say we found it with the Rukka Cosmic!
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I can honestly say that in my 40+ years of motorcycling in all sort of weather, I had never seen anything that worked half as good as the Rukkas. From heavy rain in Sweden and Finland which lasted for days, to hail and frost in Switzerland, followed by hot and humid in Greece, which was exceeded in the extreme in Kazakhstan where we had 48 degrees C! Kyrgyzstan and China gave us frost, followed by what I can only describe as insane weather in India and tropical monsoons in Malaysia. No matter what the weather gods threw at us, the Rukkas simply handled it. I know this all sounds very hard to believe, I still find it hard to believe myself too but I simply have to as I’ve experienced it myself. Before we had Rukka I’ve never had motorcycle gear that worked half as good. It’s a type of comfort that’s very easy to get used to!
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To say we love our Rukka Cosmic is an understatement. They are comfortable, practical, the ventilation actually works and they look good. We don’t like motorcycle gear which looks like it’s been made by a colourblind designer who had a spasm and then made a clown suit… We liked the Cosmic so much that when the zippers eventually wore out, after many years of hard use, we had them replaced and just kept using them.
A year or two later though, having done another handful of trips with them including a mid-winter trip to Scotland, it became clear that despite our best efforts the jackets were past their best. The fabric had wore very thin in places due to the extreme UV radiation they had endured, the black fabric had faded to grey. They eventually lost their waterproofness too, a result of Kazakhstan heat and dust combined with Indian soot, followed by Australian dust and high levels of UV radiation, not to mention 200.000+ km of wear and tear. As we liked the Rukka Cosmic we had even tried NikWax to keep them alive a little bit longer, which probably helped a bit but I guess the fabric was just too far past its use by date to make it work like new again. In the end we had to admit that we were loosing the battle and what we really should do was replace them. As they say, all good things must come to an end. |
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Replacing them though turned out to be the biggest problem we’ve had with the Rukka Cosmic! We would have simply bought new ones had the Cosmic still been in production, but they were out of production. As I really liked the sand colour we briefly looked at other brands too but found nothing we liked. Over the past months I’ve been at the receiving end of well meant advise, ranging from Klim to all sorts of hardcore enduro gear. But I’m not a hardcore Enduro rider. I’m a motorcyclist, I just love riding to beautiful places. I ride an EXC450 because it’s such a great travel bike which keeps me out of trouble when my talent has run out and I don’t have to stop when the tarmac ends. Chris Birch seems a nice enough guy and his instructional videos have helped me an awful lot as a late starter on off-road riding. But I’m not, and never will be, an off-road ace and feel I shouldn’t dress like I’m pretending to be one. Apart from that I also regularly ride my trusty Triumph Bonneville T100, the same one that took me around the world under insane conditions and not only survived it, it is still going. The bike is black and chrome, riding that with a jacket that resembles a paintball event is ridiculous.
So I looked at Belstaff’s Long Way Up jacket, which at least has the colour right and doesn’t look like its designer had a spasmic episode when he or she designed it, but I don’t think it’s a match for the Cosmic. And anyway I’d feel like a knob wearing a jacket which says ‘Long Way Up’ while going down to the shops. I also wanted a jacket with the 3-layer Goretex Pro laminate, as to the best of my knowledge it’s the only material which has the water repellent layer on the outside and thus doesn’t soak up moisture like jackets with an internal waterproof liner do. They don’t drip for hours after a wet day either, changing your tent into a swimming pool in the process. While just a couple of minutes of dry riding at the end of the day makes them dry altogether. It didn’t take long before we realised we just wanted another Rukka! We wanted to have that ‘it doesn’t matter about the weather’ feeling again. It’s motorcycle clothing that just works so we can concentrate on riding and thereby make any day on bike a good day. We work hard in our own business and make long hours, finding time to get away is precious even if it’s just for a long weekend. We don’t always have the luxury of waiting for the perfect weather, the last thing you want then is motorcycle gear that doesn’t work to spoil it all. Quite honestly we often find ourselves on the road when the weather is less than favourable, simply because that means less traffic on the road! |
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The Cosmic replacement became the Ecuado. It’s a very different jacket from the Cosmic, and not just in colour. Gone are the zippable thermal liners and zippable storm collar. The brilliant storm collar is replaced with a build-in storm collar. It’s build into the normal collar, undo one simple press stud and you can roll it out (great idea as it’s never still at home when you need it!) Although the thermal liners had worked well in the Cosmic, we found it’s just easier to use your own clothing underneath the jacket. You’re already wearing the clothes appropriate to the temperature before you leave and the Rukka jacket simply adds all you need for the bike ride. Not having separate thermal liners saves you carrying extra gear around on a trip too.
The magnetic closing flaps on the Cosmic have press studs and a waterproof zipper on the Ecuado. Not sure which is better in the long run yet but I’m sure we’ll find out :-) What remained are the 4 pockets on the front, which is great. There’s also the same large pocket on the back. The double cuff system is luckily still there too as it works brilliantly. With a ‘normal’ cuff you can choose between gloves over the cuff (and water running in when you’re standing still for a traffic light for instance) or gloves inside the cuff and water blowing in when riding. The double cuff means one cuff goes over the glove and the other under it. Brilliant idea! The ventilation was one of the many strong points of the Cosmic. So good in fact that we could still use the jackets in 48 degrees C. The reason it works so good is because with Goretex Pro there is no separate waterproof layer inside the jacket to block the airflow. When you open a zip, the air blows straight through the jacket, where you want it. |
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How could that be improved upon? Well, the ventilation on the Ecuado is even better…! It has something like 10 zips to let air in, all waterproof zips of course and with a bug blocking screen behind each and everyone of them. I left home a bit over-dressed one morning as it was cold and foggy outside, but quickly realised I needed have bothered with extra layers of clothing. A few hours into the ride the sun broke through and things started to warm up rapidly… No need to undress by the side of the road though, opening the vents simply took care of it, even in slow riding through traffic.
The new 3D protectors are thinner and more flexible in the new Ecuado. There’s two in the chest area now as well… well, there were two, there’s one now as I used the other as an internal pocket for my wallet. The outside pockets are waterproof but I’m old school and like to keep my wallet inside my jacket.
We will do a review after we’ve used the new Rukka Ecuado jackets for a while but so far we already love them. They’re comfortable, which to me is not just a big safety factor but also makes each ride so much more enjoyable.
You may wonder what happened to the old Rukka Cosmic? Well, we couldn’t just throw them away after all we had been through. They now have a prominent display place in our workshop, an ‘offering to the gods of travel’ kind of thing, together with photos we’ve taken while on our round the world trip. They truly feel like an old friend, just like my trusty Triumph Bonneville T100. The bike they all said wouldn’t make it, but did and thereby showed me the world, literally.
The new 3D protectors are thinner and more flexible in the new Ecuado. There’s two in the chest area now as well… well, there were two, there’s one now as I used the other as an internal pocket for my wallet. The outside pockets are waterproof but I’m old school and like to keep my wallet inside my jacket.
We will do a review after we’ve used the new Rukka Ecuado jackets for a while but so far we already love them. They’re comfortable, which to me is not just a big safety factor but also makes each ride so much more enjoyable.
You may wonder what happened to the old Rukka Cosmic? Well, we couldn’t just throw them away after all we had been through. They now have a prominent display place in our workshop, an ‘offering to the gods of travel’ kind of thing, together with photos we’ve taken while on our round the world trip. They truly feel like an old friend, just like my trusty Triumph Bonneville T100. The bike they all said wouldn’t make it, but did and thereby showed me the world, literally.
