I decided that I just wasn't going to find everything I wanted in a single jacket so I got two: the Airwave from Revit and the Tekk Toad from Frogg Toggs.

The Airwave is an armored mesh jacket that is pretty much for summer time only. It's fully meshed and does not come with any liners. The advantage of a jacket without liners is you're able to fine tune the fit a little better. Most lined jackets will fit snugly with the liner installed, but when the liner is out it'll fit looser than I like. I have a 42 inch chest and the large Airwave fits snug with just enough room to wear a long sleeve shirt underneath which should keep me warm enough in the cold Florida winters.

The black areas of this jacket at the "impact zones" are 600D polyester, which is on the lower end of abrasion resistance of the materials Revit uses. Full grain leather or 1000D Cordura are much more bomb proof but you pay for it. Since I'm not a pro rider and I don't plan on breaking the sound barrier, I'm ok with the lesser protection offered by a $200 jacket. The silver areas at the chest, back, and inner forearms are PWR mesh which is a proprietary textile made by Revit and is actually rated slightly higher than the 600D poly for abrasion resistance.

The Airwave comes with Knox CE armor in the elbows and shoulders; a back protector can be ordered separately that will slide into a pocket on the back. The armor is essentially invisible; I don't really feel it when I'm wearing the jacket and I can't really notice it when I look in the mirror. The snug fit of the jacket keeps the armor where it's supposed to be; you don't want a loose fitting jacket that allows the armor to move in a crash.

The third pic below was taken with flash to show the reflective areas at the outer biceps and top of the back. One feature that I also liked is the belt loop that can be seen in the fourth pic below. If you're not attached to riding pants with the zipper, you can loop into your belt.










The Tekk Toad is basic raingear and fairly inexpensive at $45. I love that Frogg Toggs makes stuff that is affordable but still pretty good. I'm not sure but I think FT cuts their jackets on the large size so that it can fit over riding gear. This medium has a TON of room and is easily worn over the top of another jacket.

Most FT jackets are bomber cut, meaning the waist is short. The Tekk Toad is longer cut and will therefore completely cover the riding jacket and not look silly. There are two zippered hand warmer pockets but no more; none on the inside.

The front zipper has a dual rain flaps and as you can see in the second pic all of the seams are taped. There is a permanently attached hood that can be folded and stored away in a collar pouch. This seems like pretty serious raingear and I plan on using it off the bike too. FT touts their proprietary material to be breathable yet 100% waterproof; I can't wait to test it out.

The cuffs have velcro adjustments. Black is probably not the best color for wearing in a low visibility rainy environment but I figured there's enough reflectivity to help out.