Viaterra Spencer Jacket and Pant Product Review: 3 Months Update

What I liked

The first thing I liked about the Spencer is its breathability. The gear was used in peak Mumbai traffic and the famous summer but the overall feel and irritation that comes along when wearing a riding jacket and pants were minimal. The credit goes to those large mesh panels that have been placed on the chest, arms, and back. These panels maximised the airflow even while riding in peak-hour traffic when the average speed is considerably lower. In fact, the overall feel improved further on an empty stretch when you have the option of opening the throttle.

Coming to the second aspect – the fit. Over the last few years, I have used gear with a little loose fit and armours that were not fully touching the body. But thanks to the focus fit design approach, Spencer’s fit is tight and the armours fit extremely close to the body. This is the same for the jacket as well as the pant. The placement of the armours in this way is important because, in case of a fall, these armours absorb the impact and won’t let it pass entirely to the rider’s body. That’s why the jacket and the pant felt so good to use.

Now, the Spencer jacket has an odd pocket design. Most of the jackets in the market have pockets at the end of each side whereas on the Spencer, the pockets are placed near the centre section and I loved it. Why? I don’t have to stretch my arms to the side to take out my wallet or phone. I feel those pocket designs have a high risk of dropping things as they are barely visible when you have the helmet on. I have used Spencer’s pockets multiple times and there’s a sense of security with them. Here, you need to use the right hand to access the left pocket and the left hand for the right pocket. Moreover, the waterproof phone pocket worked well in light and moderate rains. But I didn’t get a chance to use the gear in heavy rains.

When I started using the Spencer gear I was in the gaining phase, which means I was a little heavier. But since then, I have lost 4 kg and my body is leaner now, and I still wear the gear because of its adjustability. The jacket and pants have straps that can be adjusted depending on the rider’s body structure. This is an extremely useful feature and I’m in love with it. The Sas-Tec armours are also quite flexible, allowing me to remove and reinstall them easily. I tend to wash my gear fortnightly and this will enable me to spend as little time post-wash.

What I didn't like

I love the concept of focus fit. But there’s one problem that bothered me a lot while putting on the pant. Since the armours sit very close, your feet always touch the knee area of the pant as that area is quite narrow. And that is a bit irritating because it happens every single time. Vikrant suggested a workaround and that is to first wear the socks and then slide the legs. This works fairly well, but yes, I don’t have the habit of wearing socks before wearing my pants. So it is still out of my comfort zone.

Plus, I have noticed another particular problem with Spencer. Whenever I ride through dusty locations, the zippers don’t work the way they are supposed to and it takes some effort to operate them.

What's coming next

The monsoon season is about to get over, so the riding hours will increase. Starting next month, I have plans to ride long distances on my Royal Enfield Interceptor and the Hero Xpulse. So, I’ll be spending multiple days with the gear and I’m honestly quite intrigued to see how this Viaterra gear will perform.

Photography by Kaustubh Gandhi