A massive thanks to 'Ben P', who was under no obligation at all to write this excellent review.
'I bought Klim’s Badlands Pro suit in the middle of January 2012 and have tested it over a harsh
4,000 miles of winter riding. I must confess, I hadn’t heard of Klim before reading an article in
Ride magazine and that sent me straight to adventure-spec.com. What impressed me about
the Badlands Pro suit on their website was the aesthetics and the attention to detail. Having
owned other all-weather suits from BMW and Rukka, I was looking for a better design/fit, better
comfort and less restriction. The Badlands Pro appeared to combine protection (CE approved
armour, Cordura, Armacor, Scotchlite reflective panels) with function.
I have been wearing the Badlands Pro suit at least 3 days a week and covered over 4,000
miles. It is the best fitting suit I have ever worn. The trousers are ‘baggy’ and do take some
getting used to but after a few outings, it all starts to make sense. They are supremely
comfortable on and off the bike, with room to move around unrestricted. The jacket (which
is a shell) provides movement in the shoulders, a snug fit on the sleeves and waist and an
integrated back protector with elastic waist band (which makes things feel so much more
secure, and keeps out the draft). Over the last 4,000 miles, I have been riding in -6°C (which
at 70mph produces a wind chill of about -25°C) and as high as +20°C. I have been through
rain, snow, sleet and hail. As the weather gets worse, the suit only seems to get better.
So to jump head (and come back to the detail later), the Badlands Pro is a 5 star suit. A true
example of form follows function. It is totally waterproof and windproof (tested at motorway
speeds in 3 hrs of rain/sleet), it’s immensely comfortable and it is a great looking suit. It has
been very well designed: the panel construction, integrated reflective panels and stitching show
great attention to detail.
Moving on to the function, there are some very nice touches. There are some little straps on
the shoulders (that I originally, and wrongly, thought were for a hydration line) that hold the
collars back to open up the ‘neck’ of the jacket during hot weather. And it is a surprisingly
effective solution as I found out riding through London at 20°C in March while still wearing
some of my winter clothing. The venting system is excellent, it feels like the results of some
very hard work in design and testing. Airflow is channelled through the jacket via the sleeves
and armpit and is exhausted at the back of the jacket through the back protector. When fully
unzipped, the jacket feels more like airtex than Gore-Tex. The trousers are also fully vented, so
effective in fact that I have had to close them soon after I opened them.
There is a really clever pocket by your left wrist that when I first put on the jacket, I completely
overlooked. Yet, it is brilliant. It is small enough to keep loose change, keys, credit cards
etc and provides really quick, easy access in those situations when you need things without
fumbling through pockets, like motorway tolls, spare change, keys for the bike. Going up in
size, there is a large full width pocket at your back that is a great place to stash pretty much
anything from newspapers, maps, extra gloves to snacks, water etc.
There are some very minor changes that I would suggest: the standard knee armour is a little
small so I have swapped it for some Forcefield armour. And a little more reflective banding on
the front of the jacket would probably enhance the already good night vision. But that said, the
Badlands Pro suit has been built with quality, designed for function and finished in style. I’m
looking forward to many more miles, come rain or shine.'
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