Held Hydro rain jacket in yellow

When Scott first told us in early 2024 that they were going to discontinue their Ergo Pro waterproof jackets and pants, we were a bit distraught. These were, after all, the best waterproofs the motorcycle world had ever seen. They were, of course, exceedingly waterproof. But it was the stretchy, yet robust nature of their outer fabric, in our view, that made them so popular.

 

You could buy the jacket and pant to fit snugly over, say, a mesh jacket and pair of jeans. Yet so much stretch did they contain that the same pairing would work equally well over a bulky, winter outfit. They were the most comfortable waterproofs ever, and by buying them a little on the snug side you could avoid all that noisy flapping that went with traditional waterproofs.

 

We knew that we didn’t want to be without Scotts’ waterproofs. We offered the company a huge order to get them to continue making them for us, but it would seem that Scott wanted to exit the motorcycle market completely. And so we scouted around for somebody who might be prepared to make them for us. And that company turned out to be Held in Germany. 

 

And I have to say that we couldn’t be happier. Here was one of the most technical brands in the market; and importantly a company with a Gore-Tex licence. And what that meant was that this was a company that understood the demands of making waterproof gear at the very highest level.

 

Our brief was very simple. We didn’t want them to re-invent Scotts' waterproofs. What we asked Held to do was copy the Scotts as closely as they could. What we did say to them was that we would be happy to improve upon their technical performance, but the basic design had to remain unaltered. 

 

Of course, the first challenge was to find the same outer fabric that Scott had used; or something very similar. We didn’t want less stretch, something less strong or something less waterproof. Held eventually found a waterproof fabric that felt almost identical, but that delivered both a higher waterproofing score and a higher breathability score. 

 

In fact, in terms of waterproofing the new Held waterproofs score 22,500 mm on the hydrostatic head test. That’s an improvement of 25% over the Scotts in terms of waterproofing. The breathability score has gone up, on average, from 2,000 g/24hr/m2 to 2750 g/24hr/m2. And I say ‘on average’ because the black jackets and pants are marginally more breathable than the yellow versions. But that’s an average improvement of 37%.

 

Now, in all the years that we offered Scott’s waterproofs, we never came across a single instance of rain finding its way through the outer fabric. But we did very occasionally, and usually some years down the road, see issues where the water had got in through the taping that has to be applied to every panel join on a laminated garment. So we asked whether Held could use their experience with Gore-Tex products to improve the taping. And that's what they did. They specified a better-quality, silver tape like the one used on Gore-Tex products. And they  gave the factory very explicit instructions about how and where this taping was to be applied.

 

We also agreed with Held that the zips should all be upgraded to YKK waterproof zips. Everybody accepts that YKK zips, although more expensive, are the best. They just don’t fail. They last longer. And their waterproof zips are totally watertight.

We did one other thing to make the Helds better than the Scotts.

 

And so whilst our brief to Held was to copy the Scotts as faithfully as they could, in doing so they have also managed to effect some important improvements. Higher waterproofing and breathability scores. Better quality and more reliable taping. Better quality, more reliable zips. 

 

To us this sounds like a win-win. Exactly the same as the Scotts. But better!

 

We have kept the sizing the same as it was on the Scotts.

 

And what that means is that you should still go down a size on the jacket to what you reckon you are  normally. 

 

As before, the jacket is available in either yellow or black.

 

As far as pricing is concerned, we have been unable to keep the prices down to the Scott figure. And to be honest that’s largely down to the YKK zips. We were given a lower price for off-the-shelf zips, but we reckoned the extra tenner was worth paying. That’s on us, I’m afraid.

 

Finally, just so that you know, these new waterproofs are exclusive to Motolegends.