Understanding Klim's 2025 range of motorcycle suits

We love Klim. We’re not doolally fan boys; we don't love everything they produce, but the American company does make some great gear. They tend to use the best components. They put it together really well. And it does what it's meant to.

But they do a lot of suits, and understanding the difference between the various models is not straightforward. But we have been working with Klim for a few years now. We have spent quite a bit of time with various members of their marketing, design and product development teams, and so we reckon that we now have a pretty good understanding of how the various pieces of their particular jigsaw fit together.

And we think that it's more important with Klim than with almost any other brand that you know what you're buying in to, because their gear is often different to what we see from the European producers. Plus there are lots of differences between their suits. Sometimes the differences are subtle. Sometimes they are not.

The reason we felt compelled to put this video together, however, is because it has become apparent to us that a lot of people simply don't understand the Klim range; and as a result they often end up buying gear that is totally inappropriate for their needs. In truth, we see this in all areas, irrespective of the brand, but it's particularly prevalent with Klim.

I think one of the problems is that Klim is perceived to be the brand to buy when you own and ride an adventure bike. And it's true that, perceptually, Klim stands on a bit of a pedestal in the adventure market. But at times that causes people to make rash, ill-considered and ill-informed decisions.

The breadth of the Klim range is huge. It's not always easy to come by, and as a result people do end up buying the wrong stuff. All too often it becomes clear to us that somebody has spent a considerable amount of money on an Klim outfit, largely on the basis that the suit matches the colourways on their adventure bike. And for these people the assumption has often been that because Klim is associated with adventure riding, the suit they have bought must be okay for adventure riding. And obviously that’s not always the case.

The other problem here, of course, is that there are so many definitions of adventure riding. For some, adventure riding is about extreme, off-road riding in inhospitable parts of the world. For some, it's about long-distance touring. For others, of course, it's little more than a styling exercise; about looking the part when you fill up your aluminium panniers with the weekly shop from Waitrose!

Anyway, what we're going to do today is talk through what we see as seven of the key suits in the Klim range. We're not trying to sell any of them to you. In fact, that's never our way. What we are going to do is give a brief outline of every outfit. We'll touch on strengths and weaknesses. We'll talk about what kind of riding each outfit is intended for, and for what kind of rider it is suited to. The rest is up to you.

Here goes.

The Klim Badlands

The Badlands is Klim's halo product. It sits at the pinnacle of their 'off-road' collection. They have thrown everything at it; it is in their world the best of the best. It is a technical 'tour de force'. A feat of tailored engineering.

It is constructed from a 3-layer Gore-Tex Pro, laminated fabric that in the A3 Pro variant delivers, almost uniquely for a Gore-Tex garment, an AAA rating for abrasion resistance under EN17092. Now that seems to impress a lot of people, but our view has long been that protection from abrasion is nowhere near as important as protection from impacts, especially if you're riding off the beaten track.

This suit has every bell and whistle that a product designer could have dreamt up. But we don't offer the Badlands because we think it's simply too much of a suit for most riders. It’s too heavy, too big and too boxy. Although it might simply be, of course, that our customers are not the kind of riders the Badlands is aimed at.

Here at Motolegends, we greatly value comfort. Of course, we are mindful of everything else that's important in a suit, but to ride well, and to ride safely, you have to be comfortable on the bike. And nobody would ever suggest that comfort is what the Badlands is all about. It is heavier than any suit we've ever come across. And its looser fit certainly makes it less than ideal for road riding, in our view.

Last year we had a meeting here in Guildford with a couple of Klim's product designers, to talk about future projects. In that meeting one of the guys referred to the Badlands as the suit for the 'world adventurer'. And for us that made a lot of sense. If I was going to spend many years navigating the globe, I would want a suit that was tough enough to withstand whatever might be thrown at it in every conceivable situation, and in every imaginable climactic conditions. And for that undertaking, the Badlands might just be the perfect travelling companion.

But for weekends in Wales, or touring in Spain, not so much perhaps.

The Klim Carlsbad

The Carlsbad sits one rung below the Badlands in Klim's off-road hierarchy.

It's a two-layer Gore-Tex laminated suit, so like the Badlands, it won’t ever wet out, and its waterproofing will be guaranteed for life. It is much lighter than the Badlands, and much easier to wear. It is well vented, but is somewhat stripped-out in a way we like. That is to say that there's no thermal liner and no kidney belt, for example, meaning that you can decide what is and isn't important to you.

The Carlsbad has been around for a while, and indeed a revised Carlsbad is on the horizon. Where it is starting to show its age a little is in the stiffness of the outer material. It's how laminated garments used to wear. The fit is big and boxy, like the Badlands. Now that's very much the American aesthetic, but it's undoubtedly more appropriate in a proper, off-road suit because it allows you to move more freely around the bike.

The Carlsbad is AA rated for abrasion resistance under EN17092, and comes equipped with a full suite of D3O, Level 2 armour. Protection-wise that's almost the perfect spec. in our book.

In keeping with its off-road focus, the trousers are very wide. And this is what you would expect. After all this is what some people might wear over something like an Alpinestars Tech 7 boot. But what that means is these trousers sometimes work less well over a pair of Daytonas. And I mention this because we know a lot of people here in the UK look at wearing a Carlsbad for commuting and touring. That's sometimes down to the jacket's generous fit which some people require, but you should bear in mind that for road riding the pants may not always work as well as the jacket.

Finally, and I am going to mention this just once, but we do not infrequently find that when the length of a Klim pant is correct, the armour sits too high. We have discussed this a lot with Klim. We hope that they recognise this, and that behind the scenes they are doing something about it. It's one of the reasons why, if you want a Klim suit, we think you should come and visit us. We will tell you if the armour is wrong, but the good news is that, although it will never be inexpensive, we can normally unsew and move the knee pockets down.

The Klim Baja S4

For us, a proper adventure or off-road suit does not have a laminated membrane, or indeed any kind of fixed, waterproofing liner. And that's because if you're riding anywhere really hot, or if you’re generating your own heat off road, a membrane will make it harder to sweat and stay cool.

Some might point to the benefits of direct-to-body venting on a laminated suit. But the fact is that no amount of venting will compensate fully for the lack of breathability conferred by a membrane. It also has to be accepted that vents only work when you're moving at speed; and if you're riding off road, down small tracks, or slowly through a town, vents won't do much. Nor will they if you wear an airbag, or ride a bike like a GS with a big screen.

What also has to be acknowledged is that a lot of adventure and off-road riding in America is different. Over there they have thousands of miles of tracks in the way that we don't so much over here. And so when you're spending many hours riding these kind of trails a laminated outfit perhaps makes more sense.

Over here, the classic 'adventure' suit is characterised by a removable waterproof liner which, when done optimally, can be worn either inside or outside the protective layer.

Slightly ironically perhaps, Klim doesn't do this type of 'adventure' suit. They offer laminated suits like the Badlands and the Carlsbad. Or they offer suits like this one, the Baja S4, which come with no membrane at all.

And I have to say that this works for us. Because it then means that you can bring your own, preferred layers to the party, as you see fit.

Now, we will come on to talk about other Klim outfits without membranes. Specifically in the road category there's the Induction Pro and the Marrakesh. In fact, the Baja S4 is quite similar to the Induction Pro. What differentiates it really is its fit.

Now the Baja S4 has been in the Klim range for a while. There's a new version for 2025, although in truth it's not very different to its predecessor.

The Baja S4 sits at totally the other end of the spectrum from Klim's laminated off-road suits. If the potential problem with those suits is breathability, the only question here is whether the Baja S4 flows too much air.

And the answer is that it doesn't if you are doing the right kind of riding. In their marketing blurb, Klim state that the Baja S4 is born for open deserts, towering sand dunes and humid jungles. And that's about right. This is a suit for those riding in the most extreme of conditions. Riding through the toughest of terrains. And riding in the hottest of climates.

I recently served a gentleman in the shop who had come off sportsbikes, and had converted to an adventure bike. He had been to another retailer, and bought himself a Baja S4 for his daily commute. He was very excited, so I didn't have the heart to tell him that he had almost certainly made a huge mistake; a mistake that I hope we would never have allowed him to make.

The Baja S4 is a very serious, off-road suit. It is not a road-riding outfit. For some people, this will be the perfect get-up. If I was going to be crossing the Sahara or riding the Baja 1000 this is the suit I would want.

As with all of Klim's off-road outfits, and as you would want, the fit is quite baggy and loose to aid mobility on the bike. But the Baja is undoubtedly comfortable, and that's partly down to the fact that a good proportion of the chassis of the Baja is constructed from the same stretchy fabric that is used on the uber-comfortable Marrakesh.

Now the Marrakesh flows a good amount of air, but most of the chassis of the Baja jacket and pants is made from a micro-mesh material that flows huge amounts of air. That's fantastic when you're trying to stay cool, but less fantastic perhaps when you're trying to keep warm.

The suit is rated AA for abrasion resistance under EN17092, and comes fitted with a full suite of D3O armour. But it's only Level 1, and we don't really understand that. In some respects one might suggest that the Baja S4 is the most serious off-road suit in the Klim range. As a consequence we think it merits Level 2 armour, and if we were going to use the Baja S4 in the manner it's intended for that's what we would want; and so we would upgrade it.

The Klim Kodiak

The Kodiak is Klim's top, laminated, riding suit. It's a 3-layer, Gore-Tex outfit, and so from a waterproofing perspective it doesn't get any better than that. Rather like they did with the off-road Badlands, Klim has thrown everything at the Kodiak. And it is quite a piece. It's well vented, has more pockets than you'll ever be able to locate, a Maverick, down jacket as a thermal liner, a kidney belt and so on. It's as though the team at Klim sat down to brainstorm all the bits you could build into a jacket. They then went ahead and incorporated them all!

Sometimes the whole is more than the sum of its parts, and sometimes it is less. All we can say is that whilst the Kodiak jacket is incredibly well equipped it is not necessarily a particularly easy one to wear. It's a great bit of kit, but just maybe there's a little too much going on.

Now some people will be disappointed that the Kodiak is only single-A rated for abrasion resistance, although then again there are lots of people who just don't understand EN17092, and what it really means. Now the reason that the Kodiak is A rated is because Klim added areas of stretch in some areas to make it more comfortable. Whether when they designed it they knew this would cause the rating to be compromised is not known, but it's a shame in that many people would expect a jacket like this to be AA rated.

Of course, Rukka's superlative Nivala and Comfo-R suits are also both single-A rated, but the saving grace with Rukka's outfits is that they come with Rukka's huge, bespoke, Level 2 armour. This contributes to both impact protection and abrasion resistance, such that one can state with a degree of confidence that an A-rated Rukka outfit is going to be more protective than anybody else's AA-rated suits.

But I am not sure that one can say quite the same about the Kodiak. Yes it comes with Level 2 armour where many AA-rated suits have only level 1, but it's standard-sized D3O, not the humongous stuff that Rukka uses.

Whatever its potential failings the Kodiak jacket is very impressive, but the trousers are somewhat more flawed. And for us the main issue is that the trousers are simply too wide for road riding. This comes, we feel, from Klim's assumption that, even in a road suit, a rider will wear a big, adventure boot. Now in their world, stateside, that might be reasonable, but it's less so over here. In Europe, one might expect a road-riding trouser to work over something like a Daytona Roadstar, or even an ankle boot. Well arguably the Kodiak pant doesn't.

The Klim Latitude

The Latitude is Klim's second-tier, road-riding suit. It's a Gore-Tex laminated suit, but it's two layer rather than three layer; and two-layer outfits tend to be a bit more comfortable. But it's not just the fact that it's two-layer that makes the Latitude easier to wear than the Kodiak. It's also the fact that there is just less going on. It's a lighter jacket, it's softer; it's going to be both nicer to ride in and walk around in.

But whilst there's less going on, you still get all the stuff you need. A zillion pockets, lots of vents, a myriad of adjusters and so on. The Latitude is not short of features.

In some ways the Latitude suffers a little in comparison with its predecessor. There was a version of the Latitude before the current one. Because that version was sized in European sizes, it came in more sizes. And with Klim that’s significant because most of their suits come in just six sizes. Impressively, the old jacket was also available in long and short configurations.

Like the Kodiak, the Latitude is A-rated. And again, it's the stretch areas under the arms and in the shoulders that are responsible for this. But whereas the A-rated Kodiak comes with Level 2 armour, the Latitude only comes with Level 1. And that's a shame because Level 2 armour would have gone some way towards mitigating its EN17092 accreditation.

Like the Kodiak, the legs on the Latitude pants also work better with off-road boots than with on-road ones. But the 'flare' is less exaggerated than it is on the Kodiak.

Overall, we really like the Latitude. For us it easily outsells the Kodiak, and that may be because, here in the shop, people can get to try the two suits on, head-to-head, so to speak. And in such a test, the Latitude is likely to come out the winner, as it’s just nicer to wear.

The Klim Marrakesh

The Marrakesh is our favourite motorcycle jacket. Not just our favourite Klim jacket; not just our favourite airflow jacket, but our favourite jacket full stop. It’s not the most protective jacket we sell. And there are jackets that flow more air, but there’s nothing that can hold a candle to the Marrakesh when it comes to comfort. And the stretch in the fabric means that it’s the perfect protective outer when it comes to layering.

Comfortable as it is, the chassis of the jacket combines heavy-duty 1000 denier Cordura with Elastane; and so it’s perhaps not surprising that it passes the EN17092 test for abrasion resistance at the AA level. The Level 1 Ghost contributes to the jacket’s comfort, but we would almost certainly want to upgrade it to Level 2 Diablo. There’s only an upside here. There’s an additional cost involved, but we do offer a generous, part-exchange scheme when you buy a new Marrakesh jacket.

For us the Marrakesh works best when combined with layers, to enable you to ride comfortably in every conceivable climactic condition. You wear a Klim Zephyr for windproofing. A Klim Maverick for insulation. And a Scott on the outside when it rains. One jacket and three little bundles, and you can ride comfortably anywhere in the world, and still be protected from whatever the elements throw at you.

There’s a matching pant too; and it’s equally comfortable. It will flow a bit more air than our Rokker jeans, but they don’t look as good, in our view. So they might be a little out of place in a nice restaurant in the way that a pair of Rokker jeans might not.

One thing we would say is that because there’s no contrast detailing on either the jacket or the pant, wearing the two halves together can make it look as though you’ve gone riding in your pyjamas. That might just be us, of course, but we do often pair the Marrakesh jacket with Klim’s Outlander pants or their Switchbacks to create a more casual look. (Or of course a pair of Rokkers)!

There’s one other issue with the pants. Klim has narrowed the leg such that they will only work over an ankle boot, although one gentleman in the shop recently did manage to get them over his Road Stars! We find the narrow leg a tad disappointing because we think the Marrakesh pants can work really well off road. But we suspect that Klim did this on purpose!

The Klim Induction Pro

The Klim Induction Pro is a Marrakesh that has been injected with steroids to beef it up a little. It does the same kind of job as the Marrakesh, and in a number of respects one might suggest that it does it better. But not in every respect; and that’s because it just isn’t as comfortable and because it’s far more ‘motorbikey’. And not everybody wants to look like a courier or Deliveroo rider when they pop in somewhere for a cup of coffee.

A proportion of the outer shell of the Induction Pro jacket uses the same, super-stretchy 10000 denier Cordura used on the Marrakesh. But a much larger part of the jacket’s surface area comprises a micro-mesh material that, frankly, flows a lot more air than the Marrakesh’s material.

The problem with most bikers is that if you present them with something that can be turned up to 11 they’ll want it; and indeed in terms of airflow the Induction Pro is but the Marrakesh turned up to 11. But the truth is that Klim created this jacket for riders in states like Texas, Florida and Georgia. It was not designed for the UK, so it raises the spectre as to whether it simply flows too much air for us pasty-faced Brits. And yes it probably does. If you can can get cold in a Marrakesh when the sun disappears behind the clouds, you could get hypothermia in the Induction Pro!

But then again if you’re journeying to the south of Spain or Italy; or if you’re riding in Morocco, India or Australia, yes the Induction Pro might well be the way to go.

There’s another thing we like about the Induction Pro. It comes with shaped, Level 2, D3O. And that, it’s got to be said, is going to make it more reassuring to ride in than the Marrakesh with its Level 1 Ghost. But to counter this, if you upgraded the Ghost in the Marrakesh to Level 2 Diablo, you would even things up somewhat. And this would level out the pricing too.

Both the Induction Pro and the Marrakesh rate AA for abrasion resistance under EN17092, by the way.

The problem for some will be that the Induction Pro just isn’t as nice to wear, and as easy to live with. And we see that a lot in the shop here in Guildford in the reactions of our customers. We put them in the Induction Pro and sing its praises, but most people still want the Marrakesh. It’s heart over head in a way.

Right now, there isn’t a matching Induction Pro pant. But there is the standard Induction pant. It’s pretty similar, but comes with Level 1 armour. The leg of this pant is wide enough to go over an off-road boot, as we have come to expect of Klim.

We really like the Induction Pro. We prefer it in some ways to the Baja S4 because of its better armour. But it’s not realistically an alternative to the Marrakesh, and that’s because it’s so much more extreme. If that’s what you want, so be it. But remember; sometimes less is more. And what you want is not always what you need.

Klim at Motolegends

If you are interested in buying a Klim suit, you should come and see us. And that’s for a number of reasons.

We know the Klim range inside out. We know the strengths and weaknesses of every product in the range. And as a result, we are probably better placed than anybody to advise you on the suit that’s going to work best for the kind of riding you do.

And we understand how Klim should fit, and how it does fit. Come visit us, and after a shortish conversation we’ll be able to tell you what suits will work for you, and which ones won’t. And we won’t let leave here until we we’re sure a suit works on you.

We’ll sit you on the bike, zip the suit together, make sure that the arm and leg lengths are right, and that the elbow and knee armour sit in the right place. And often it doesn’t; but for every problem there’s a solution, so don’t worry.

But the main reason you should come and see us perhaps is because we have more Klim stock here in Guildford than probably any shop in the world. Currently, there’s over a million pounds’ worth in the building.

Now the problem with Klim is that they have, in our view, too many internet dealers that are very adept at uploading Klim’s gear on to their websites, but that are less adept at stocking it in their shops.

Turn up at some of these dealers expecting to try on a suit, and you will normally end up disappointed. They won’t have many sizes in the jackets. And they certainly won’t hold all the trousers in all their leg lengths. Some of these retailers may well feature a wider range of colours on their websites than we do. We do fewer colourways, perhaps, but we try to hold on the shelves all the sizes.

And, of course, nobody offers the full range of suits in the way that we do. Okay, we don’t offer the Badlands for the reasons we have alluded to, but we do sit on significant amounts of the other six suits.

So, if you’re serious about a Klim suit, if you want to make sure you get the right one, and if you want to make sure that it fits the way it should, come and see us in Guildford.

“We are the Klim people”.

You can buy Klim motorcycle gear with free next day UK delivery online, or visit our store in Guildford to try on a suit.