It’s been a minute since I’ve had time to breathe, let alone update this site, so I thought I’d get back into the swing of things with a good, solid gear review.
In April, my dealership, BMW Motorcycles of Escondido, graciously agreed to partially sponsor a recon trip The Two-Wheel Cowboy and I took down to the southern tip of the Baja peninsula.
They donated a set of the amazing MotoZ Tractionator GPS tires and their installation as well as giving me a screaming deal on some Klim gear. I love the whole team up there, all of ’em.
Incidentally, if you’d like to see some photos of the Baja Trip, there are a bunch here: Baja Collection on Flickr
The first item up for review is, as the title notes, the Klim Switchback Cargo Pants. I cannot bring myself to say “cargo pant” because in my world, “pants” are plural. I don’t know why, and I know the singular makes more sense, but I beg your indulgence.
Let’s get the facts and figures first:
The Basics
It’s important to note that I obtained these pants only a day or two before leaving on a two-week trip that would involve riding long distances almost every day, as well as some off-road riding. I had no way of knowing if they’d be uncomfortable over time, and just took a leap of faith in Klim.
Comfort
Klim is billing the Switchback pants as an “on and off the bike” garment. It is very easy to remove both the knee and hip armor without doffing the pants themselves, so one can quickly transition from street to home or camp if one finds the armor bulky (I don’t, I forget I have them on most of the time) yet doesn’t want to go through the hassle of changing pants.
The fit is much like a normal pair of cargo pants.
Construction
A veritable plethora of pockets adorn these pants, and the fabric (Klim Karbonite Micromesh with “durably Nylon chassis” and a DWR treatment) is an interesting mix of water-resistant and breathable.
The stitching is solid and durable, and the belt loops are particularly robust, which is great:
The armor is D30 LP1 at hips and knees (nothing along the back,) and there are four air vents – one on each lateral thigh, and one on each lateral calf.
The pants are available in two colorways, gray/black and tan/brown. I truly loved the brown, but it would look a little ridiculous with my hi-viz, gray, and black Klim Avalon jacket, so I went with the basic color. But the brown, though!
The knees are fully articulated:
Along the cuff, there is an elasticized, reflective, snap-closed garter:
Cost
Klim is advertising these on their site for $249.99 – $269.99. In the realm of Klim, that’s practically dirt-cheap. They come in Regular sizes 32 – 40 and Tall sizes 32 – 38.
My Impressions
I’ve been riding since 1996, and I’ve had more than a few pairs of riding pants over those years; however, the Switchback are my new favorite, hands-down, no question about it.
I’ve been enjoying these pants for just over a month now and I’ve come up with a substantial list of what I like and don’t like about them. The “pros” list is four times longer than the “cons:” Not bad! I’m so grateful to BMW Motorcycles of Escondido for the fantastic bargain and to riding buddy Wade for introducing me to them.
Here’s what they look like on me, in full riding gear:
I really like how I do not look like the Michelin Man in them.
Fit
To make things more meaningful in terms of fit and comfort, I have a waist that varies from 34 – 36′ and about 43″ hips. I wear a 34 in these pants, and I can fit a thick pair of leggings underneath, so the waist likely runs fairly big.
First things first: Klim does not make these in women’s sizes, which is really disappointing. I believe they’re missing a huge market for these pants because of a.) the slimmer fit, b.) the overall comfort, and c.) the abundance of pockets. That having been said, the men’s size does fit me fairly well, better than I would’ve expected. Then again, I only have about a 9-inch difference between hip and waist.
Sidenote: Everyone I’ve seen in these pants looks fantastic. Seriously. These are attractive, flattering pants on both men and women.
You can see the fit is snugger than a lot of riding pants:
Except in the ass, because … I have no ass.
They wear more like a normal pair of, as the Cowboy likes to say, “trousers.” They aren’t yoga pants, but they’re darned comfy and I don’t mind wearing them around after the ride. Heck, sometimes I find myself forgetting to take them off when I get home.
At first, I thought I might need to wear riding shorts or leggings beneath them to avoid having my skin chafe, but that wasn’t an issue at all. I’m very particular about what I put up against my skin, and these were in no way itchy, harsh, or unpleasant feeling.
In the full-gear photo above, the bottoms of the legs look puffy because I have the lower vents open, but with the vents closed, they fit very close to the calf. The adjustable garter helps keep the hem snug.
There is not a lot of difference between waist and hip, so people with a higher hip-to-waist ratio may not find these comfortable.
Wade is thicker through the thigh area and finds the legs a bit tight, though this doesn’t in any way stop him from wearing them.
The main closure is a button, not a snap, which I very much appreciate. Not on the petite side, when I wore snapped pants my belly would occasionally pop them open.
There is a very slight amount of stretch to the gray fabric areas, which makes me a little nervous. While it makes things more comfy, I wonder how long these panels would last scraping along the pavement.
Lastly, I have not yet discovered the full temperature range for these pants. In Baja, we saw 100 degrees and, earlier today, it was 40 degrees in Julian. Was I warm at 100? Of course. Was I hotter than I would be in my fully-ventilated Klims? I don’t think so, in part because I didn’t have hot air constantly blowing against my skin, and the sweat evaporated through the fabric, anyhow.
In the cold, they’re wonderful. My legs were not at all chilly today, despite not having any leggings on beneath them.
Off-road, they breathe well enough at lower speeds not to swelter.
Features
Not merely comfortable protection, the Switchbacks come with a lot of great features, too, which is icing on the cake.
The hand-warmer pockets are cavernous, measuring about 8 inches deep, and do not have any type of closure:
The most frustrating thing for Wade is the cargo pockets: Since the upper legs are tight for him, he can’t make very good use of those pockets without the knee armor pocket popping open (we’ll go over that in a bit.) Personally, though, I love the thigh pockets! I have a little more room there than Wade does (lacking those USMC thigh muscles, as I do) so I make liberal use of them. Both are accessible while riding, though I find the zippered left pocket easier to navigate simply because it’s my clutch hand.
The zipper pull for this pocket is big enough for me to easily grab, open, and close with gloves on whilst underway, but I could see how people with larger fingers or thicker gloves might have a little trouble. However, all zippers are YKK, so they’ll last a small eternity, which is nice.
On the opposite leg, we have the dual-snapped cargo pocket, which is the same size as the left, just with a different closure. I find the snaps are a little difficult to re-snap while I’m riding.
Measuring 7 inches deep and 7.5 inches wide, these pockets easily swallow my large Pixel 3 phone, GoPros, batteries, lip balm, wallet, keys, whatever things I might find myself wanting to stuff somewhere. The cargo pockets are not waterproof, but they do repel rain nicely (covered below.)
Beneath these pockets is where we can access the knee armor:
The knee armor is adjustable to a small degree as they’re sold, but it could be significantly increased by adding more Velcro
The hip armor is easily accessed from just inside the waist band:
The rear pockets are about 7.5 by 7.5 inches, with a zippered closure on the right side and no closure on the left:
Functionality
Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up, just for giggles.
First, the hem and their garters: Wonderful idea. However, there are a couple of niggling issues, including the strap not always wanting to retract back into its hidey-hole when undone. Not a big deal. There are three snap locations from which to choose, but I could stand one more tighter in. Still, they fit snugly enough to keep from catching on my larger-than-usual, spiked ADV pegs, unlike my Klim Voyage Air pants. It is not fun, going to put my foot down quickly and having it get all hung up on the stinkin’ peg.
The elastic seems fairly sturdy, as does the stitching, but there is something about the overall quality of the strap that just doesn’t feel as robust as the rest of the garment. This may just be me, but Wade shared a similar thought.
The reflective material is adhered well, and while I’m not sure how effective it would be at increasing visibility, particularly with side cases mounted, it certainly can’t hurt and is a nice touch.
These are designed to be over-the-boot pants, not under, but with some careful arranging, they do fit inside both pairs of boots (Sidi Adventure Rain and BMW Kalahari from 8,000 years ago) without me wanting to claw them out.
Despite not being billed in any way as wet-weather pants, they do repel water quite nicely. I found myself on a 45-minute freeway ride in rain that was not quite “frog-choker” level, but it was steady. The only part of me that was wet was my behind, largely because I sat down on a wet saddle to begin with. I would not put anything water-sensitive into any of the pockets, however, Just in Case.
The GS affords a fair amount of protection for one’s legs, however, and I suspect that also had a significant impact. Speaking of the GS and its fairing, the thigh vents are juuuuust about useless for me. I’m sure heat escapes better when they’re opened, but I definitely do not feel any type of breeze.
Further, I wear a holster bag on my right side, which completely covers up the thigh vent there. My choice of motorcycle and accessory, however, is not Klim’s fault.
There are zipper “garages,” which I personally do not like or use, but some folks appreciate them.
I like the variety of closure options on the pockets a great deal: Snaps, zippers, none. While I don’t have any issues with the size of the zipper pulls, people with larger hands or thicker gloves may. The vent zipper pulls are about 3/4 of an inch long, while the zippered pocket pulls are just a touch smaller at about 3/5 of an inch.
The calf vents are more effective on the GS than the thigh, but of course my boots block most of the flowing air. Still, some wanders up the leg and I do feel a cooling effect.
Would I like to see them go higher up? Sure, but it maybe that would impact something I’m not thinking of.
Water Resistance of Each Fabric
I did a quick experiment with water resistance by pouring a fair bit of water onto both the gray and black fabrics and both letting it sit for awhile, and rubbing it in a bit. While the water did permeate each fabric a bit, the insides of both pockets were completely dry. You can see the water beads up nicely when splashed around in the videos.
Conclusion
These are spectacular riding pants; I recommend them wholeheartedly and without reservation for anyone they fit well.
My one concern, which could be utterly without merit, is how well the gray fabric would hold up in a high-speed slide on pavement, and I hope never to find out whether that warrants concern.
They are, as far as I can tell, “do everything and be comfortable” pants. I am smitten.