Halvarssons H80 suit review

The H80 is, in many ways, quite a special outfit.

Supposedly, it has been produced to celebrate the company's eightieth anniversary, but whatever the truth of that is it cannot be denied that the H80 has an impressive spec..

The problem with such a spec., and we have seen this from other motorcycle apparel brands, is that when you throw absolutely everything at a jacket or pant you can end up with just too much going on. We've seen this from Klim; we've seen it from Rukka; we have even seen it from Richa. You can end up with a jacket/pant that ticks a lot of boxes, but that ends up being too heavy, too stiff and too uncomfortable to actually ride in.

Now that's always going to be a personal choice, and what we see not infrequently is that motorcyclists are prepared to sacrifice wearability if an outfit ticks enough of the boxes on their wish list.

But what we are going to do is talk through the jacket and pants in some detail. We'll then circle back at the end with a view as to whether, in the case of the H80, more really is more. Or whether more is actually less!

Waterproofing and the H80

Here at Motolegends we talk a lot about laminated vs. drop-liner garments. Now we take a different view to many pundits and retailers out there who, in our view somewhat unthinkingly, cannot see beyond laminated garments. We, by contrast, think that drop-liner garments are better than laminated ones for 95% of motorcyclists.

At times, people get confused by the definitions, and this isn't helped by things like the Youtube review I watched recently where the business owner referred to a drop-liner jacket as one where the membrane is removable.

Drop-liner garments, of course, have fixed membranes. They're just not 'laminated' to the outer fabric; they hang independently behind the outer chassis. Drop-liner membranes cannot be removed.

Anyway, somewhat uniquely, the H80 is a bit of a hybrid. It's part-laminated and part drop-liner.

Let us explain.

The H80 is primarily equipped with a drop-liner membrane. Drop-liner membranes are massively reliable; the one potential downside with a drop-liner garment is the fact that it can 'wet out' if subjected to heavy and prolonged rain.

That can't happen with a laminated garment because the rain cannot pass through the outer shell.

But here's the thing. The outer chassis of the H80 is backed with a second membrane that is laminated or bonded to the inside of the outer shell. But this membrane is not taped at the seams. The important implication of this is that the H80 will never 'wet out'. Now after many hours in heavy rain, some of the wet stuff may well find its way through those untaped seams, but that's not a problem because there won't ever be enough of it to cause wetting out. And, of course, any rain that does find its way through those seams will be prevented from reaching the rider because there's then a drop-liner membrane that will prevent it from doing so.

On one level, therefore, the H80 potentially offers the best of both worlds. The absence of wetting out that comes with a laminated garment, combined with the total reliability you'd expect of a drop-liner one.

There is, though, a downside with this rather unique construction. And it's to do with breathability.

Again, we'll circle back to this at the end.

The H80 jacket in detail

The H80 is no lightweight. It is an incredibly robust-feeling jacket. And that is perhaps only to be expected, given its AAA rating under the EN17092 abrasion test.

Now, as many people will know, we are not chasers of AAA-rated motorcycle apparel. It's just not necessary for road riding. The AAA standard was designed for the track; not for the road. Those who created the EN17092 standard always acknowledged that AAA garments would represent a trade off in terms of comfort and wearability. And they nearly always do.

And that may well end up being an issue that some people will have with the H80. To mitigate this, Halvarssons has imbued the jacket's outer chassis with a good deal of stretch. And that is certainly going to make the jacket nicer to wear, but there's no escaping the fact that the H80 is, to put it mildly, a jacket of some substance!

Now even though a lot of motorcyclists obsess about EN17092 ratings, for us the armour that a garment carries is far more important than the abrasion resistance of its outer chassis. And in this regard it's good to know that the H80 comes equipped with Level 2 armour in the shoulders, elbows and back. The chest protector is Level 1. And it's not just any old armour.

Okay, it's not Rukka-style huge, but the armour is from Rheon; and it's about as flexible and breathable as Level 2 armour gets.

But the bottom line here is that, on paper, suits don't get much more protective than the H80. An AAA rating for abrasion resistance and Level 2 armour all round is about as good as it gets.

Thermally, you get a removable inner destination jacket that achieves its insulating properties by means of Halvarssons' own hollow-form fibre known as Innoborne; a material that does a similar job to Thinsulate and Primaloft.

The H80 has a second way of keeping you warm. It is totally lined with Outlast. Now Outlast is clever stuff. It stores heat in paraffin molecules; and serves to pass back warmth to the body when you feel cold, but also to remove heat from the body when you feel hot.

Outlast has been around for a long time. A lot of manufacturers incorporate it into their removable liners, which is what Halvarssons used to do. But we have a slight problem with a fixed Outlast liner. And it's that the fixed Outlast liner will impact on venting. It will simply get in the way of any oncoming air that attempts to reach the body through the jacket's zipped vents.

In terms of the vents you get two on the chest. The sleeve zips, when undone from the top can also act as vents. There are also two exhaust vents at the back of the jacket.

There are two zipped hand-warmer pockets. There's a large map-style pocket on the back of the jacket. There's one pocket on the inside of the jacket.

So what else is there?

You get a removable zip-off storm collar. A Klim-style hook that enables the collar flap to be held open in hot weather. A connecting zip. Lots of reflective highlights. Gore-Tex style cuffs. And a couple of Velcro flaps to cinch the jacket in at the hem.

The jacket is certified as airbag-ready; and that comes down to the stretch in the outer fabric. But for reasons that I will come on to explain, wearing an airbag with the H80, especially in warmer weather, has the potential to make the act of motorcycling about as uncomfortable as it gets. Indeed, go down this route and there comes a point at which somebody might have to ask themself whether this motorcycling malarkey really is for them!

The H80 pant

The H80 pant mirrors the jacket in terms of its use of materials and construction.

So waterproofing that comes about by means of both a drop-liner membrane and an untaped laminated one.

The stretchy outer fabric rates AAA for abrasion resistance under EN17092; the armour in the knees and hips is Level 2 Rheon.

You get a removable inner thermal trouser that uses Innoborne to hold on to body heat. The main pant itself is also Outlast lined.

There's leather between the legs for better grip on the tank. You also get leather in the seat to help prevent sliding around in the saddle.

The pants are equipped with two external zipped pockets. You also get two zipped vents on the thighs.

There's an adjustment mechanism to help relax, or cinch in, the waist.

Now, as with the jacket, this is a heavyweight piece. When you're off the bike these are not going to be the nicest pants to walk around in. And if you unzip from the jacket you are going to need a sturdy pair of braces to hold them up. The good news is that the H80 pants come with braces. The bad news is that they're nowhere near up to the job. You should maybe look at Richa's braces with their jaws-like clamps, but a trouser of this substance really deserves something better than clip braces. One cannot help but feel that the standard braces could ping off and take somebody's eye out! As my dear old mum used to say whenever I had any kind of over-sized implement in my hand.

In terms of sizing, there was a time, before Halvarssons acquired new owners, that all their trousers came in short, regular and long leg lengths. Sadly that's no longer the case, but they do at least come in a short leg in addition to a regular length. That's certainly better than what is offered by most of the Italian brands.

In terms of waist sizes, the pants go from a 30" waist, (48), up to a 44” waist, (62). That's kind of what we would expect, but somewhat disappointingly the two largest waist sizes are not available in a short leg. In our experience, a lot of people with waists of that size are quite short. The truth is that when people put on weight around the tummy, their legs tend not to lengthen in proportion. Halvarssons has simply got this one wrong. A shame.

Where do we get to?

In terms of the way it’s constructed the H80 suit is interesting and pretty unique.

You get some of the comfort, and all of the reliability, of a drop-liner outfit without the likelihood of wetting out. Indeed, with its two membranes this is going to be a very waterproof outfit indeed.

But whilst this hybrid construction might appear to offer the best of both worlds, the way that Halvarssons has achieved this does come at a price. And that price is breathability. And that’s because with two membranes it will be much harder for our sweat to pass out into the ether; especially given a particularly heavy-duty, AAA-rated outer shell. What this means is that the H80 is going to be far from the most breathable outfit on the market. Truth be told, it’s going to be one of the least. And in this the H80 is not helped by the fact that it is fully lined with Outlast that will similarly impede the flow of both vapour and air.

There is a reason that there are very few Gore-Tex AAA-rated garments. And that reason is that Gore demands very specific levels of breathability from a fabric. What they know and understand is that if a garment is not sufficiently breathable, you will simply get wet from the inside. You need to start with a material that is particularly technical if you want an AAA-rated garment that meets Gore's breathability requirements.

Our suspicion is that Halvarssons has not fully thought through, or has chosen to ignore, this part of the equation. In fact, the membrane itself in the H80 scores highly for breathability, with a rating of 20,000 g/m2. But that becomes almost meaningless if the sweat in its gaseous form that passes through the drop-liner membrane can't go any further because it has to negotiate a second membrane, an Outlast lining and a super heavy-duty outer shell.

And so one has to state, somewhat unequivocally, that this is an outfit that is going to be far more suited to the cold and the wet, and far less suited to the warm and the dry. Simply put, in temperatures anything above 20 degrees the H80 is going to be pretty uncomfortable, in our view.

Now we all have our own thresholds, and I am sure that somebody will write to me to let me know that they crossed Death Valley at the height of summer in their H80, and didn’t shed a single drop of perspiration. But for most of us here in the UK the H80 is going to be very much an October to March jacket; and not much more.

But if you have something lighter and more breathable to wear for the warmer months, then the H80 might well still be a good option for you, because in other respects it's a very impressive outfit.

We mentioned in the introduction that Halvarssons has thrown everything at this jacket. And they have. Indeed, what we can very much see is that, with its stretchy outer fabric and shorter cut it is based, in design terms, on our favourite suit, the Rukka Nivala.

And some people may even think that Halvarssons has bettered it.

After all, it's got stretch, Level 2 armour, Gore-Tex cuffs and so on. Importantly, it is AAA rated for abrasion resistance in contrast to the Nivala’s single-A accreditation.

But these things are never quite so straightforward.

The Nivala comes with much larger armour that way exceeds the Level 2 pass mark. It comes with better down-filled thermals. It is way better vented than the H80. Whilst its Gore-Tex membrane means that it’s going to be much more breathable than the H80. The membrane is also guaranteed to remain waterproof for life whereas the Halvarssons’ waterproofing is guaranteed for just three years. Likewise the Halvarssons warranty against manufacturing faults is the same three years, in contrast to the Rukka Nivala's six.

In terms of the quality of its construction, the Nivala is a proven entity in the way that the H80 simply isn’t. Over a period of more than 10 years the Nivala has demonstrated its reliability amongst the world’s most demanding, high-mileage riders. The H80 hasn’t.

But it’s when it comes to price that there’s the greatest expanse of clear blue water between the Halvarssons and the Rukka. The Nivala jacket costs £1500, the H80 jacket costs £700. The Nivala pant is £1100; the H80 pant is just £540.

In absolute terms, if you have to have the best a man can get, you’d go for the Rukka without blinking. The abrasion resistance of the outer chassis aside, it is a better outfit in just about every regard.

But the H80 is still a heck of a bit of kit and, to put it bluntly, you could buy two H80s for the price of one Nivala; and still have enough left over for a decent pair of gloves.

And so if you like to tick a lot of boxes, and if you want the greatest bang for your buck, the H80 tramples all over the Nivala. And for some people that will make the choice a very simple one.

You can buy the Halvarssons H80 jacket with free next day UK delivery online, or visit our store in Guildford to try one on.