Joe Rocket

Message

Henriettaah · Thu May 25, 2006 5:29 am

Is anybody here familiar with this brand?

Anybody wear it?

Anybody gone down the road wearing it??

I'm interested in buying one of their textile jackets, but have heard rumours about the stitching quality.. do these have any substance to them, or might they simply be urban rumours, possibly put in place by competitors??

x

-Holiday · #2 Unread post by **-Holiday** » Thu May 25, 2006 5:32 am

i have two JR jackets.

I have not been down in eithe of them.

i think thier stuff is decent. Is there better stuff out there? Yes. Worse? Yes.

BUt i wouldnt say there are any serious deisng flaws or stiching problems with thier products. A lot of people use JR stuff, so it cant be that bad.

If you want top of the line gear though you should look into Aerostich, or something along those lines.

Thu May 25, 2006 5:37 am

Henriettaah! Where ya been??

I have JR jackets and textile pants. Seem fine. All the shops around here carry that brand. Yes, you'll find lots of people wearing it. And yes, I've heard LOTS of rumors about the brand but not found any substance to the rumours yet.

Bachstrad37 · Thu May 25, 2006 5:42 am

Aerostich is located about 5 blocks from where I work here in Duluth, MN. They treat their employees well and the end product is of very high quality. Aerostich is big with Gore-Tex and fleece. Long distance riders really like their products. They're not much on leathers tho.

As far as Joe Rocket goes, I have no experience. I've tried a few of their jackets on and think they're a bit better than ICON. You might want to take a look at Vanson, too. Their stuff is top notch and is up there with Aerostich.

Sev · #5 Unread post by **Sev** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:06 am

I've yet to find someone that has directly had a Joe Rocket jacket with poor build quality. Which is to say, that it's always a friend of a friend of someone you met on the internet that says they have poor stitching, or that they will fall apart.

Sort of like that story about the guy who went sky diving without his parachute, urban legend until I see actual proof.

So I own a Joe Rocket Jacket. I spent a large chunk of money on an Alter Ego, and I love it to death. I have yet to go down in it, but it is built solidly enough that I'm not worried about what might happen if I do.

#6 Unread post by **t_bonee** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:14 am

My wife has a JR Rio jacket. No problems with it so far the quality. She hasn't been down in it.

kabob983 · #7 Unread post by **kabob983** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:17 am

I've heard these rumors too. although I believe there is some validity to them (in my mind at least). My friend has a JR mesh jacket and he hit some rubble in the road and lowsided at about 25-30 mph. While he sustained no bodily injury the low(ish) speed accident ripped one of the seams in the arms apart for probably 5 or 6 inches. Had that been a higher speed accident I can imagine him having sustained more damage to his skin.

The jacket did it's job but didn't survive, he had to toss it out. I'd have thought that at that speed the jacket shouldn't have been too badly off.

I will mention though that I've heard ALOT more complaints about their older products (which this jacket was older, he's had it for quite a while) and that their newer stuff has much better stitching quality. Once again, that's a rumor though, so I don't know.

Personally I go with what I know works. Alpinestars, Spidi, Vanson, Dainese, etc. And usually I prefer the protection of Leather to the coolness/weight of mesh/textile. It's a tradeoff, comfort for safety.

dieziege · #8 Unread post by **dieziege** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:28 am

He expected a mesh jacket to survive a fall? Wow.

I wear a JR mesh jacket (Phoenix 4.0), and I don't think it'll do much for me in a fall except hold the pads more or less in place. The fact that someone fell off at 25-30 and didn't bleed wearing a mesh jacket is pretty amazing to me. I guess they are better than I thought.

To the OP's question... JR is a value brand...but it seems to offer decent protection. This isn't first-person experience, but I know someone who's daughter had an "interaction with a stupid cager" moment and lowsided at about 45-50 wearing JR jacket/pants... he says he saw the whole thing in his rear view (they were on a family ride), and she was walking around as soon as she came to a stop. Bruises but no bleeding was the report. He is a strong JR booster and influenced my decision to buy JR gear.

ninja79 · #9 Unread post by **ninja79** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:45 am

I own Joe Rocket Phoenix jacket & pants. I trust it to save me at 40-50mph. (I read reports that people test-drove the jacket at this speed). I don't know how well it would work at 80mph, so I just bought a leather jacket, and will probably be getting new pants soon. I keep hearing that Joe Rocket gear is poor quality, but I haven't had problems with mine. The pockets on the pants ripped cause I was putting keys in them, but that's it.

kabob983 · #10 Unread post by **kabob983** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:33 am

[quote="dieziege"]He expected a mesh jacket to survive a fall? Wow./quote]

True, mesh isn't the sturdiest material, but I would have thought it would survive longer than that. But I guess you're right, it is mostly an armor holder.

Personally though I'd rather just take the heat and wear leather. As someone on this forum said earlier (not sure who it was, but I like it) "sweat rubs off easier than road rash."