Teknic Spider Review Part I - First Look

The Teknic Spider Jacket is a versatile 3 (maybe 4) season textile jacket from Teknic’s 2004 lineup of motorcycle gear and is one serious motorcycle jacket.
Motorcycle Jacket Reviews

This motorcycle jacket features the 2 stage “convert system” and combines a warm, waterproof outer shell with a cool, free flowing mesh jacket. There is also Knox armor in all the right places. With all that’s included, I was surprised to find out how affordable it was! (More on that later).

Teknic Spider Motorcycle Jacket

I'll give a three part review of this jacket. First, I'll reveal my first impressions of the Teknic Spider as well as technical specifications. Coming soon, I’ll tell you how well it performed in on a cold weather ride. The third part will be sometime in the spring when I can take a ride with the outer shell removed and test out the ventilation.

First Impression:

This is my first piece of Teknic Gear, and I was impressed with the quality feel of the Teknic Spider. There are adjustments for size EVERYWHERE. The sleeves have a couple of snap over flaps, and the waist has Velcro straps so you can snug it down.

With all the different functions of the Teknic Spider, I hesitate to call the Spider just another jacket. It’s more like an upper body protection system. It seemed like there should have been an owner’s manual with this thing!

Even so, it only took me a minute or so to figure out how the Convert System worked. First the tall winter collar zips off, andthe outer shell zips away from the inner shell. Then I noticed a really cool thing: The armor is inside the mesh inner jacket so it stays with you with either configuration. Pretty ingenious design, I thought!

Tall Cold Weather Collar

With the outer shell removed I noticed a large mesh pocket on the back of the inner jacket. According to the spec cards that were attached to the sleeve, this is supposed to be a place to store the outer shell when the weather warms up after a cool morning. I’ll have to see that to believe it, but for now I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.

Back of Outer Shell

I ordered one size larger than my dress coat size (46), and my Teknic Spider fit perfectly. The sleeves are just about the right length when seated on the bike and holding the handlebars. I think there will be room for a heavy sweatshirt underneath as well.

In winter mode, the Teknic Spider weighs about 5 lbs. so you won't save a lot of weight compared to your leather jacket.

I’m going to try riding the 17 mile trip to my day job in low 30 degree weather. I’ll let you know in the next installment how well it performs. If it does well, I may take a longer ride. . . Or I may wait until I have an electric vest to test out before I do that! :-0

Technical stuff:

Shell Removed