Modern Vespa

I have just purchased my very first scooter and I am looking for a jacket to go along with it. I am not the most heat tolerant person in the world so I was thinking that venting is a very good idea. The jacket I have picked out is the Corazzo Speedway with the mesh stripe. Since I live in Toronto there will be some chilly spring and fall riding days in my future in addition to the hot humid summer weather. Does anyone know if it is possible to close up the mesh stripe on cold or rainy days?

http://corazzo.net/?q=node/207

Don't know if it's possible to close it up other than wearing a windbreaker underneath. I've worn my Speedway mesh in 60+ degree F temps and I thought it was a little chilly with just a t-shirt underneath. There's a few mesh/vented jackets out there that have separate cold weather liners you can remove but most of the one's I've seen aren't much more than a nylon shell.

Either way, I think you're better off getting a cool/cold weather jacket. As longs as you've got mesh on the outside, you're just letting cold air blow on to the next layer underneath and you're going to feel it anyway. A jacket that's non-vented and insulated is better for the cold, I've found.

Hey, fellow Torontonian, welcome to Modern Vespa! I have two Corazzo jackets. What I have been doing is when I know the daytime high is going to be hot, I will wear my Corazzo Speedway Mesh jacket. If the morning temperature is quite cold, I'll wear a fleece under it. When I ride home from work I go without the fleece. This has been what I have been doing since I got the Speedway mesh. There is no way of "closing" the mesh to prevent airflow.

By the way, come join our local club for rides and local scooter information too. The link is in my signature.

Thanks for the info Benny, that is exactly what I was looking for.

PS: I will sign up for the scooter club as soon as I get my M2 and my wife can come along.

Glad to help, hope to meet you soon. You don't have to wait to sign up for the club, there are social events too!

i have the same jacket and when i find it a bit on the brass monkey side i revert to my old ways and... wear a nice cardigan under it.

i have many forms for 'cardie' and they serve me well in all types of inclement weather.

zip front old school Marks and Sparks cord fronted brown is my favorite but ive just acquired a nice button front jasper conran cashmere (oh! hark at her) green cardie which is nice and thin but warm as toast.

Get a cardie you know you want to...

I think we need to see some pictures of these snappy cardigans!

Ah there lies the rub... there is very little photographic evidence to substantiate my physical characteristics, i have been snapped a few times but very rarely are the images verified by a professional christos x tracker.

some say that i am merely a folk legend, a shadowy figure of the night, that lurks in the undergrowth waiting for the moment to pounce on unsuspecting clergy.

others will try to convince you of my existence but i would be very wary of these fakers and hoodwinkers.

and the rest will just tell you that i am an idiot

[quote="christos x
some say that i am merely a folk legend, a shadowy figure of the night, that lurks in the undergrowth waiting for the moment to pounce on unsuspecting clergy.

[/quote]

cardi-man strikes again!

i had a lovely old chocolate brown suede-front that i'm still trying to replace.

It is very difficult to find a decent cardie these days without looking like some skinny jeaned wearing floppy fringed fool... charity shops were the best place but alas no more.

Jumble sales i reckon are our only hope

All this talk of Cardigans....
I am having Mr Rogers flashbacks....

Beautifulday in the neighborhood...............

Gentlemen, knitting is the way forward, add it to your skill list. Perhaps then we can become a terrifying pack of cardigan wearing scooter hooligans...

so sad, so true .... the faithful cardi has been hijacked by the emu crowd and now you can't be seen in one unless your pants are falling down and your fringe is hanging over one eye.

we could always try and start our own revival of the 80s cardi:

On thing I have learned is that it is better to have a cold weather jacket and a warm weather jacket rather then trying to get one jacket that does everything. IMHO a pure mesh jacket is the way to go in the summer. I've never found a "regular' jacket that vents enough to deal with summer heat. On the other hand anything more then small vents become cold air leaks in the winter.

Layering is also smart and I'm a big fan of fleece but in cold weather no knit or fleece will block highway wind as good as a proper outer jacket.

Just my $0.02.

So, what are some good options for a cool weather jacket? Say 40° to 60° F.

I ride year round (except when there is ice on the road), which is Virginia means everything from soupy swamp weather to below freezing with wind. I use a Powertrip mesh jacket that they don't carry anymore in the summer. I found it to fit much better and be better made then my old Joe Rocket Pheonix mesh. As it gets colder I'll throw a light fleece under that. When it gets colder still I transition to my Stone Lake leatherworks jacket. Great jacket with the highest quality leather I've seen and they cut them to fit you. As it gets colder still I start adding layers on the inside (Under Armor Cold Gear, heavy polartec fleece, etc).

The Corazzo jacket the OP linked to looks fine for most weather that isn't too extreme and reminds me of my old Joe Rocket touring jacket (now retired).

The Corazzo 5.0 is a good choice for temps in the 40-60's speaking from experience with it. Of course, works good in lower temps too with a layer or two...

I ride in our Toronto winters with a scarf and fleece on under my Corazzo 5.0. With a flyscreen on my GTS and heated hand grips I am actually quite comfortable.

I know it's early to think about this but I plan on riding as long as I can this year. Did put a windshield on the GTV, have heated gloves and the only thing I'm not sure on is the Tucano (had one for the LX and it rocked). So with the 5.0 I hope I can scoot in Jan and Feb here.

Mountain Equipment Co-op,
www.mec.ca
is a good source for quality layers for the winter. Wear mesh protection under a windproof outer garment.
Rode an X9 from the 3rd week of March on a half hour commute into Kingston (SE Ontario). The weather went from o.k. to -10C.
No heated grips but snow boarder gloves worked somewhat o.k. (didn't suffer frost bite)

I know that this is probably too late but there are 2 different versions of the Speedway Corazzo jacket; one mesh and one non mesh. Both have the pit zips and the non-mesh has a zip vent on the back too. The difference in the 2 versions is that the horizontal stripe is all mesh on that version and solid on the other.

I have the non-mesh, all I could find in my size, and am waiting for the mesh version. I will probably just keep one of them but I like the idea of the mesh for current Toronto weather (okay, not today).

Hey, by the way, I believe we met today for the first time! Benny here, I recognize your scooter and the your description of owning a Corazzo Speedway (non mesh). Hope to see you out on another ride soon. You can never had enough Vespas on a group ride. 8)

Not sure if you are still in the market for a jacket, but I have an Olympia Airglide 2. I too am not so heat tolerant and while it doesn't look like it, it has a lot of mesh and is very well vented (I've ridden in 90+ NYC heat & humidity and been fine - stoplights aside )

The nice thing is the removable waterproof insulated liner. I've worn the jacket as low as 30 degrees and in torrential rain, stayed warm and dry on all occasions.

(I do like the Corazzo jackets, might get a Shop Jacket... just because I can )

I have actually decided on a jacket. I went with the Corrazo 5.0. After hearing that there was no good way to close off the vents I made the decision. It is not in the budget to have multiple jackets in the near term so I decided to get one that would take me through spring and fall comfortably and be almost tolerable in the summer. My wife also really likes the reflective stripe up the jacket. You can't possibly miss that in a headlight.
Maybe next year I will look into something a little more breathable.

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