✪ TRIED & TESTED: TEXTILE SUITS ✪

Oxford Products Continental Advanced jacket & trousers Tested by: Dave Manning Jacket: £200 Trousers: £170 www.oxfordproducts.com

Textile jackets and trousers are our go-to riding kit for this time of year, but this suit has been tested in pretty much all weather conditions, over thousands of miles, on a number of different bikes. Here’s what we think...

Full-on ‘adventure’ kit isn’t cheap nowadays, yet Oxford Products have managed to create a jacket and trousers combo that, together, retails for well under 400 quid, which is quite an achievement compared to other suits on the market.

So, quite naturally, you’d assume that the cheaper price would result in some corners being cut and the spec being lower than other products? Well, if you did, you’d be wrong, as the Oxford Continental kit is a complete four-season affair, being of three-layer construction that is, essentially, three jackets in one. The nylon outer jacket has pockets for the supplied CE Level 1 shoulder and elbow armour as well as a pocket for a back protector, while

there are a pair of large front pockets covered by a Velcro’d flap, with a pair of vertically zipped pockets behind them, and a map pocket at the rear.

While a pocket secured purely by Velcro doesn’t sound especially waterproof, even during some extreme downpours my wallet only got marginally damp. Equally, the two zipped hip and large Velcro’d thigh pockets in the trousers also appear to successfully keep out the moisture.

The two inner liners have two purposes – a thermal liner and a waterproof layer, with each being separately removable, and for the cooler months I found it extremely warm, only adding a fleece or a long sleeve tee shirt beneath, and while I’ve not worn it in weather warm enough to demand ventilation, there are zippered vents on the front, in the lower and upper arms, and two in the back panel too. And it’s a credit to the build and design of the jacket that none of the vents leaked... at all!

The waterproof layer closes with a slim YKK metal zip, while the outer uses a larger plastic zip, again YKK, and the collar uses a neat adjustable press stud which can open wide enough even for my fat neck. In fact, this is the first jacket I’ve had that stays closed without feeling overly tight, yet I had no issues with water running down the back of my neck at any point.

The trousers come complete with (removable) braces and back panel, and can also be fully or partly zippered to the jacket. I found the braces to be both comfortable and practical, allowing the trouser waist to be loose enough for comfort while riding the bike, yet preventing them from falling down while walking around or stood on the pegs.

The trouser cuff is plenty wide enough to be worn over trials or enduro boots, yet doesn’t flap around and get caught on anything, while the jacket cuffs are quite narrow, so much so that you’ll always be wearing gloves over the jacket.

Oxford have their own testing facilities now, in the factory to the west of Witney, Oxfordshire, and it’s clear that this has improved the quality of their products.

Although it’s a bit of a faff getting the jacket on and off – thanks to the triple layer configuration, and you have to ensure that you pull the innermost layer off with the arms – once on, it’s impressively comfortable, and much warmer and more waterproof than I expected!

They’re available in all black, black and fluorescent yellow, grey and (as seen here) desert colourways.