Best high airflow motorcycle trousers 2026

Here at Motolegends we talk a lot about 'high-airflow' jackets.

And that's because, when it comes to biking, we are fans of layering. And, for the avoidance of doubt, in the context we're talking about here, layering is not about wearing a base layer, although wearing an effective one will undoubtedly help layering to work better.

Nor is layering about throwing a fleece on under your textile jacket. That's what we call ‘throwing a fleece on under your textile jacket’.

When we apply the concept of layering to motorcycling the starting point will always be a highly breathable outer protective layer. And this has to be the starting point as the essence of any layering system is that it also has to be able to cope with the very warmest conditions, as well as the very coldest and the very wettest.

With the best will in the world a jacket with a built-in waterproof membrane won't work when it's hot. It will never breathe or vent to the degree that is necessary to cope with high temperatures. When it's hot the protective layer needs to be a highly breathable one, in order to allow evaporative cooling to take place. Evaporative cooling is the body's natural mechanism for cooling itself down. Another word for evaporative cooling, of course, is sweating.

Layering on the bike will always entail a breathable outer layer.

Given the pre-requisite of a highly breathable outer jacket, what we then do is add layers as necessary in accordance with the prevailing conditions. So that might be a thin windproof layer if it gets a bit chilly. A mid-layer to capture and hold on to heat from the body if it gets colder. And a lightweight waterproof jacket to go on over the protective jacket when it rains.

This is layering. It means that wherever you ride, whatever the prevailing conditions, you can ride comfortably. Not too cold. Not too hot. And not too wet.

Now there are lots of highly breathable jackets out there that lend themselves to layering, but for layering to work effectively the protective jacket must be able to cope as well without layers as with them.

The stretch in the Marrakesh easily allows layers to be worn under it.

Some jackets, like our favourite, the Klim Marrakesh, accomplish this particular trick by being very stretchy. The same goes for Klim's Induction jacket.

Other jackets, like the Rukka Vihti, for example, make use of side adjusters to allow their internal volume to be expanded or contracted as required.

Some people think you can layer with a traditional mesh jacket, but usually such jackets don’t lend themselves to layering because they are designed to be worn close to the body, and contain next to no stretch. As a result, rarely will a traditional mesh jacket be comfortable worn over a down jacket, for example.

Layering is harder when it comes to trousers.

One of the problems when it comes to layering is that it’s a harder concept to apply to pants than it is to jackets. And that’s because there aren’t as many mid-layer options for pants. You can wear merino leggings, but nobody yet does a super-thin windproof legging. And the only mid-layer down trouser we know of is the one from Rukka called the DownRide-R.

Now in some ways it might suggested that keeping our legs either cool or warm is not as important as keeping our core cool or warm. And that is true, but in that one adopts layering particularly in order to cope with warm weather there is a demand for trousers that are going to be comfortable when it's hot.

And so that’s what we’re going to talk about next.

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Trousers for riding in hot weather

As with jackets, the key issue here is to wear a trouser that does not incorporate a membrane. Once the temperature gauge hits 25 you don't want to be wearing a waterproof trouser. That doesn't mean you can't. All the time we come across people who do. But that doesn't mean that there isn't a nicer, more comfortable way to ride. There is. And basically that's in any trouser without a membrane.

And don't be taken in by those who would suggest that the direct-to-body venting on a trouser with a laminated membrane compensates for the membrane. Direct-to-body venting is a myth; a notional benefit dreamt up by marketing people. The reality is that when it's really hot, the worst trouser you can wear is a laminated one!

Still, not to worry; there are lots of lightweight trousers will that flow good amounts of air.

A single-layer jean will certainly flow a lot more air than a Kevlar one.

Jeans would be a good starting point, although obviously a single-layer jean rather than a Kevlar-lined one. Any pant with a lining, even if that lining is there solely to add abrasion resistance, is to be avoided.

A single-layer jean will flow decent amounts of air. You could easily ride in temperatures of up to, say 30 degrees, in a single-layer jean and not feel inappropriately dressed. Although if you were working hard off-road in such temperatures you might find that they became a little sticky.

A lot of people do single-layer cargo pants these days, but in many cases a cargo pant is little more than a jean with large pockets on the thighs. There's no problem with this, but most won't flow any more air than a denim jean.

The Klim Switchback has incoming and outgoing vents to flow extra air.

One trouser that we offer that will perform a little better than a denim jean is the Klim Switchback. It doesn’t feature mesh panels, but you do get decent-sized incoming and outgoing vents on the thighs. Coming from Klim it has quite a relaxed adventure fit, but that's no bad thing. When it's really hot you don't want to be wearing a pant that is too clingy. A looser fit will allow the air to circulate more freely around the legs to cool the skin down.

Spidi’s Stretch pants are going to be very breathable in warmer weather.

But there are other pants out there that are even lighter and more breathable. Obviously we don't do all the brands, but in our particular firmament there are trousers like the Spidi Joggers, the Spidi Supercharged pants and the same brand’s Stretch Tex trousers. Pants like these are lightweight; they are breathable; they will be comfortable in warmer weather. Being based in Italy, Spidi understands all about riding in hot weather, but none of these pants is quite what would we would term ‘high-airflow’, which is what you want when it's really hot.

Pants where the membrane can be removed will often also flow a lot of air.

Next up, in our view, would be those trousers that form the lower part of what we would term a 'proper' adventure suit. Now, in our world, a proper adventure suit is one where the waterproof layer can be removed. And when you do this you end up with a trouser that will flow air nicely; way, way better than a waterproof trouser. But normally a feature of such adventure trousers is that they are copiously equipped with vents. And they are thus equipped because the notion is that an adventure suit is what you might wear for crossing a desert.

Many brands, if not most, do ‘proper’ adventure outfits with removable membranes. Ironically, given their positioning, Klim is one of the few brands that does not! Anyway, we alone do 'proper' adventure suits with matching pants from Halvarssons, Held, Dainese, Richa and Rukka.

The only thing you need to be aware of is that these pants are often designed to go over large adventure boots, and so can be quite baggy. They don't tend to look right worn on their own, and because of the boots they're expected to go over they can appear rather strange when worn with an ankle boot or trainer.

From trousers like these we move on to what we might term genuine 'high-airflow' trousers. Such pants will be made from a fabrics that are more loosely woven; this material will allow more of the oncoming air to reach the skin. The more open weave will also allow the sweat in its vaporous form to escape the body more easily, which it needs to do for us to cool down.

And, for us, this means the Klim Marrakesh, the Klim Induction or the Rukka Air Vihti pants. As I have suggested there may be others out there. We have not trawled the internet to find everything that’s available, but we do go to all the major trade shows, and we have never come across trousers that flow air like the ones we have mentioned here. But, as I say, they might exist.

The Marrakesh pants flow lots of air and are super comfortable.

Of the three, the Marrakesh pants are the nicest to wear. They are the lightest and the most comfortable. For most of us they will flow more than enough air.

One downside with the Marrakesh pants is that their Level 1 Ghost armour is starting to look a little inadequate. We also tend to take the view that in a slightly looser trouser of this ilk flat Ghost armour moves around too much. We do offer an exchange scheme for Level 2 Diablo. The other downside with the Marrakesh pant is that it comes in only six waist sizes. That's not enough; many people end up falling between sizes. The Rukka pant that we'll come on and talk about comes in 11 sizes.

One of the positives of the current Marrakesh pant is that, whilst still looser in its fit, it's not so wide that the pants look wrong with an ankle boot. Simply put, the Marrakesh pants are the most wearable of all the high-airflow pants that we offer.

The Induction pant flows more air than the Marrakesh and has better armour.

One step up from the Marrakesh, in some respects, is the Klim Induction pant. Now some 30% of the area of the Induction pant is made up from the same fabric that is used on the Marrakesh; and it is this that gives the Induction its comfort. But 50% of the trouser employs a much more breathable, open mesh. This flows a lot more air than the base Marrakesh fabric. And what this means is that the Induction will be better than the Marrakesh when it's really hot. The corollary of this is that on an average summer's day here in the UK the Induction might just flow too much air. If there are days where you might feel cold in a Marrakesh pant, in an Induction pant there are days where you might well freeze to death!

The Induction comes with shaped Level 1 armour in the hips and knees, as opposed to the Marrakesh's flat Ghost armour. We think it works better. But clearly Klim felt that the Induction would only be worn with adventure boots, so they have endowed it with quite a wide leg that doesn't always work so well with a short boot.

We often talk about the Induction jacket as the Marrakesh jacket on steroids; and that applies equally to the pants. The Induction, in a number of ways, is better than the Marrakesh; but it's not as comfortable; it is configured more in the style of a traditional bike pant; and as a result it doesn't look anywhere near as cool.

The Rukka Vihti pant has a lot going for it.

Which brings us lastly to the third of our high-airflow pants; they're the Vihti pants from Rukka.

Now somewhat anecdotally, although we have tested them on our air machine here in the shop, we think the Vihti pants flows marginally more air than the Marrakesh pants, but probably less than the Induction pants.

Undoubtedly, it's the heaviest, and therefore potentially the least comfortable, of this particular triumvirate. But there's a good reason for this. And it's that the armour in the Vihtis is much bigger and better than the armour in either of the two Klim pants.

Rukka’s armour is like nobody else’s. It Level 2 and huge.

The armour in the Vihti pant is Level 2; but here's the thing; it way exceeds the Level 2 pass mark. More importantly, perhaps, the Rukka's armour is freakin' huge. And what that means is that if you do hit something there's more of a chance that the armour will be where you need it to be.

There's one other thing. Armour can play a massively important role when it comes to abrasion resistance. You would have to slide a racetrack-style distance to wear through Rukka's armour. In the real world you would never slide far enough to do so.

There's another advantage with the Vihti pant. It comes, as we have said, in 11 waist sizes as opposed to Klim's six; and that means it's going to better fit more people.

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In summary

We've talked through a whole gamut of trousers that will be comfortable to wear in hot weather.

There are other brands out there that we don't work with, but we know all the brands, and we are in a position to work with any of them. We know everybody's ranges, but the high-airflow pants we have discussed here are the ones we rate most highly, and are the ones we have chosen to offer.

So where do we get to?

The Marrakesh pants are the nicest, and flow good amounts of air.

Well, without doubt, the Marrakesh pants are the most comfortable, and probably the most stylish ‘high-airflow’ trousers; and in most circumstances they will flow enough air. They will work well with ankle boots, but won’t work with off-road boots. The paucity of sizes is a problem for us as a retailer, but clearly that's not an issue if the Marrakesh pants do fit you. One positive with the Marrakesh pants is that, because there's no zip at the hem, they can be shortened and hemmed like a regular jean. The Level 1 Ghost is a weak point; and certainly we would usually recommend upgrading it to Level 2 Diablo.

The Klim Induction pant flows more air. They're comfortable, but not quite in the same league as the Marrakesh pants. They come with better and bigger Level 1 armour. The Induction pants will flow more air than any of the pants we've looked at here. But they are the baggiest in terms of fit, and really work best with off-road boots. The number of waist sizes, as ever with Klim, will limit the number of people they will work for.

Which leaves the Rukka pants. They sit somewhere between the two Klim pants in terms of airflow. They will work fine with with touring or ankle boots, although they will still cope with anll but the largest adventure boots. They come in lots more sizes than the Klim pants. From both an abrasion and an impact standpoint the Vihti pants are the best. If there’s a downside it’s that they’re not very cool. And they are, because of the armour, not hugely comfortable. Overall, they’re just a bit Rukka!

The final decision, as Bob Monkhouse used to say, is yours!

For more information and to view online, click high-airflow motorcycle trousers.