Hello! I’m RyanF9 and today we destroy the famously-popular Firstgear Kathmandu.
So am I ready for adventure or what? I’ve spent my 500 dollars – ish – to get a do-it-all touring jacket. It makes me look like Ewan McGregor and according to Firstgear, I’m now ready to ride to the capital of Nepal…
But for most adventure riders, the splash zone of a local waterpark is a more relevant scenario than a Himalayan rainstorm. And so we’ll test the Kathmandu’s waterproofing when Shamu does a belly flop in a minute. This jacket has a HyperTex membrane – AKA poor man’s Gore-Tex – but I trust it. So much so that the essential ADV selfie device is staying with me. Also the under-the-helmet rain hood – AKA operation dickhead – might as well go up…
Hit it Shamu! ***Waterproofing test – I’ll yell this line just before Johnny sprays me***
So I stayed dry, no surprises there. I kinda knew from experience that HyperTex is very waterproof and it’s only in terms of breathability that Gore-Tex is much better. That’s why I had no qualms about putting my iPhone on the line, which also stayed dry. Firstgear put waterproof zippers under waterproof flaps to get into each pocket, that’s amazing attention to waterproofing, it gets a passing grade.
But, what if I ride my adventure bike to a war zone? That’s a question we’ve received literally … never. But this is Rambo’s corner so we’re going to test it anyway. 500fps with a BB, a lead pellet and a penetrating pellet,which is the equivalent of hitting a sharp rock while cruising at 550km/h – a situation we’re all very familiar with. The jacket has to stop 2 or better to pass.
BB! Hollow point! Pointed pellet! Let’s go take a look… Ah yeah, so this went through to BryanF9’s skin, so that didn’t, take a close look at this, ah yeah…
So the Kathmandu stopped X/3 shots, meaning it passed/failed for puncture strength. Time to head over to the batting cage to test impact protection – the Kathmandu has an EVA foam back pad and D3O in the elbows and shoulders, which is this viscoelastic stuff; soft and pliable against the body but turns rigid when say… a baseball bat hits it? (walking over to table, where D3O and bat are)
Aw so we tripped the 100g sticker, meaning BryanF9 probably has a broken shoulder. I sort-of expected that since this is only the CE level-1 D3O. But it certainly doesn’t bode well for the chest test because Firstgear doesn’t give us any armor at all up there…
Yep – broken ribs, punctured lung – no surprises.
Now the spine protection is interesting. Firstgear just gives us this flimsy EVA foam pad, which I certainly wouldn’t expect to pass. But they’ve also included a hydration pack with this jacket, so I think Firstgear has earned the right for that to be filled up. I’m not sure how much the water bladder will do for impact protection...
Wow, so we busted the hydration bladder for sure. But let’s see how BryanF9 did… damn – less than 100Gs on the spine… looks like that hydration bladder saved your back, buddy.
Now for abrasion strength, we have 300 and 420-denier rip-stop nylon making up the shell of this jacket. I’d love to grind through the 300D stuff because this belt sander would rip it apart like tissue paper. But Firstgear did put the 420-denier nylon on all the major sliding zones so it’s only fair that we test one of those areas.
Alright, so 35 seconds gives us a passing grade… barely. Anything above 30 seconds is above average in our experience. Looks like the Kathmandu just squeaked through.
In summary, we saw a passing grade for spine protection and abrasion resistance, and a failing grade for shoulder and chest protection. Now because BryanF9 doesn’t have any arms, we’re heading to Golf Town to test the elbow armour.
A lot of adventure riders say to me, hey Ryan, I’m concerned that my jacket won’t be good enough if I get attacked by Tiger Woods. And that’s a valid concern, so here we go… (start swing)
Pulling out my noodle arm here… nope 100G sticker got triggered, just like we saw with the D3O in the shoulder. So it turns out the Kathmandu is not a good adventure jacket if your adventure includes playing Nicky Nicky Nine Doors on Tiger Woods. Off to the burn unit then…
So the Firstgear Kathmandu was very difficult to light on fire, meaning it has an excellent heat resistance and would make a perfect jacket if your adventure includes… say … a long quest to throw a ring into the fiery depths of a volcano. Of course it only comes in regular and tall sizes so Frodo might be (bleep) anyway.
FortNine’s ninth test is – as always – build quality. Where we ask the ominous question what still works? On here the adjustment strap was burnt but still does it's job, the under the helmet rain hood is still in perfect shape, the cuff adjusters and pockets are still functional, YKK zippers are notoriously sturdy, over all pretty good. So the Kathmandu gets a passing grade for build quality – nice work Firstgear.
Sit-rep! We saw a total of four failures today – puncture strength, shoulder protection, chest protection and elbow protection. That gives our Kathmandu an overall score of 5/9, 44.4444 percent because it’s never nice round number here at the FortNine testing lab…
Unless, of course, something actually scores 9/9. And next week we are testing a very popular Icon supersport helmet so who knows, maybe we’ll have our first perfect score. Until then, take care everyone!