Umbilical Sport Champion Leather Square Jacket Review Review

Umbilical Sport Champion Leather Square Jacket Review (# 7)

Summary:

I had my share of motorcycle accidents over the years..."but I didn't see you, you came from nowhere"...is the one thing that I remember hearing from many of the other drivers.

Umbilical Sport may have found a solution for this, a leather jacket with built-in signal lights, running lights, and break light. In this review we'll go over the installation, the lights, and the jacket itself.

Fact:

Umbilical Sport Champion Leather Square Jacket Review

Jacket is made out of combination of leather, netted-leather, and stretchy cevlar.
It has 2 front pockets, one inside pocket, and a removable liner.

The jacket shoulders have the signal lights attached, and on the back is an oval shaped window with the running lights, break light, and signal lights.
The jacket comes with removable elbow, shoulders, and back protectors.

Point Of View:

Motorcycle jackets are a dime a dozen, and since the point of this jackets is more the signal and break lights rather than the jacket itself, let's look at these.

The Lights

This is where the fun starts, the concept is very cool, as you ride your motorcycle signaling and breaking, the jacket mimics the motorcycle lights.
First I was not sure if the jacket lights will be visible during the day light, so right after I installed the wiring harnest (which took all of 15 minutes) I took the bike for a quick ride. The lights are visible in day-light, not as bright as your motorcycle lights but visible.

Now this is where the jacket really "shines"...evening/night riding, the lights look very cool, and visible from as far as your motorcycle lights can be seen.

When riding without applying the breaks or signaling, the only visible light is the blue running lights on the back of the jacket. When breaks are applied, red LEDs cover almost the full area of the back oval window. When you signal or have the hazard lights on, the orange signal LEDs will light on the back of the jacket, as well as on the arms/shoulders.
Since the lights are LEDs, they are fairly bright and do not stress the motorcycle battery.

The Jacket

The jacket seems to be made out of thinner leather than other leather jackets I've seen. The outside of the leather jacket is made out of 3 materials, leather, netted-leather, and stretchy Kevlar on the inside of arms. The jacket comes with pretty well made elbow, shoulders, and back protectors, and has adjustable side zippers to widen the bottom of the jacket. The inside of the jacket has a removable cold-weather liner that can be taken out in fair weather.
All in all this is an "ok" jacket, it is well made but the leather is not as thick as I would like to see on a motorcycle jacket, and when riding in a chilly weather it is not as warm as I would like it to be.

Pros:

Very easy to install.
Visible during day light.
Improves riding safety.

Cons:

Thinner leather.
Not warm enough for cool nights.

Conclusion:

The best thing about this jacket are the lights, they function well and have a high "cool factor". The jacket itself is fairly comfortable and worm enough for anything over 60 degrees.