REV’IT! Sand Pants Review

REV’IT! Sand Pants Review Summary

Review Summary

Pros

Cons

REV’IT! Sand Pants Image Gallery

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The new REV’IT! Sand pants are here and they’re a perfect match for the REV’IT! Sand jacket (review).

The Sand pants are also styled and tailored for comfort and the duo makes an excellent all-season outfit.

Like the REV’IT! Sand jacket, the new Sand pants are an evolution of the Dakar pants we reviewed a couple of years ago that matched the Off-Track jacket.

The complete Sand outfit is just slightly less feature-rich than the top-of-the-line REV’IT! Cayenne Pro system and surely it will crib sales from same — although the Sand outfit may attract new customers too.

The new Sand jacket and pants should be even more of a hit with Adventure Touring and Touring riders than the Off-Track design.

The pants are definitely styled with the Adventure Touring rider in mind but, like the Sand jacket, there’s a lot more than just style here, with ride-tested details that have been developed with owner feedback.

REV’IT! Sand Pants Styling and Exterior Details

The Sand pants in the silver, gray and black colors shown here literally scream “Adventure Touring”.

They’re a perfect match for the Sand jacket and, in fact, the pants probably have more of an off-road appearance than the jacket — at least in the lighter colors.

The Sand pants are also available in black, which mutes the look somewhat and may be preferred by some riders. It’s all up to you…

I picked the lighter color because I think it will work very nicely once the warm weather gets here — if it ever does!

The comfortable fit and the tailoring of the Sand pants and the jacket make for an excellent all-season pairing.

One of the first things noticed about the silver-colored pants (I’d call it “stone” color) is the black material that contrasts with the light.

The black accordion pleat at the knee is made from the same protective Cordura used in the rest of the pants, which is unusual.

It isn’t easy to form an accordion pleat from heavy material like this.

A special type of fabric also lines the inside of the legs, and this area is designed to provide more comfort when sitting or standing on those off-road excursions that require standing up while riding your GS.

The crotch has an extra section of material sewn in to create extra room and this does seem to make a noticeable difference.

The lower legs use the low-effort YKK Vislon zippers and are covered by a large flap that secures with hook-and-loop to the outer pant leg.

The lower part of the legs feel slightly wider than normal and this is probably to accommodate a big set of off-road boots like the Sidi Crossfire boots (review) or the less extreme Sidi Discovery boots (review).

But there are four sections of hook-and-loop attached to the pant leg, each different lengths from short to long at the cuff. This allows a huge range of adjustment for the pant leg width.

The combination of the low-effort YKK zipper and wide opening with the large range of adjustment makes the pants easy to put on over boots.

Pockets

Each leg of the Sand pants carries a large cargo pocket and the pockets are easily accessed by a large fold-over flap designed to keep out moisture while providing easy one-handed access.

The pockets also feature dual reflective strips that are bonded to the material without stitches.

The cargo pockets have a secondary pocket underneath with the YKK Vislon zippers placed towards the inside of the rider’s leg.

These zippers have long pull tabs and the low-effort Vislon zippers provide easy access to the storage space within.

The pants also have hand pockets on either side, closed with the YKK Vislon low-effort zippers. The hand pockets are lined with what appears to be water-resistant material.

Protection

The Sand pants have “Prolife” CE protectors in the knees, perforated EVA foam in the hips and double material in the seat.

The knee protectors are located lower than I’d like, but that’s normal for me, so I removed it and use the Bohn Cool-Air Bodyguard armored underpants (review) underneath, as I do with most of my motorcycle riding pants.

Zippers and Snaps

All of the zippers used on the external shell of the Sand pants are the YKK Vislon type, discussed in the Sand jacket review. These zippers were designed for one-handed ease of use and to work in rough conditions.

Both liners in the Sand pants use YKK Vislon zippers also, in a smaller size than the large, beefy zippers used in the pants shell.

Each liner has a full-length waist zipper and a full-length zipper at the pants cuff; the latter is very unusual and found on high-end pants.

Zippers used in this fashion ensure that the liners will absolutely stay put when the pants are put on or removed, and this is an excellent feature.

One feature that I do think is missing from the Sand pants is a metal hook and loop catch for the waist.

We think all motorcycle pants should have a hook in addition to a snap or other type of closure, because a hook system provides more confidence that the pants will stay on in a crash.

Compare the single snap used on the Sand pants in the upper photo to the hook and snap used on the Firstgear Escape pants in the lower photo.

My suggestion to REV’IT! is to be sure to include a hook on every pair of motorcycle pants as an added safety feature.

UPDATE From “R.E.” (August 2012): “REV’IT! have updated the Sand pants design since your review; a metal hook has been added in addition to the snap closure for the fly.”

Water- and Wind-Resistant Liners

Like the Sand jacket, the Sand pants are “4-in-1”. The two liners can be used simultaneously or individually. So the pants can be worn with no liners; with the water-resistant Hydratex liner only; with the thermal liner only; or with both.

Again, both liners are fitted with their own individual waist and cuff zippers, which is an unusual and highly recommended feature.

The thermal liner does seem thicker than thermal liners used in some previous REV’IT! clothing; whether this is really the case or not is open to measurement.

But the dual liners do pose a slight downside, because they take up about a one size difference in bulk, which we think is the cause of the sizing issue discussed below.

Waist and Fit

Once I got the sizing issue resolved and found a size that fit, I was a happy camper (as we say in the U.S.!).

The waist uses a type of adjustment system very similar to what is found on the Sand jacket. I do wish that REV’IT! used a stretch material in the waist however and I think all motorcycle pants should have stretch material built right into the pants itself.

At least once I found a pair that fit, the waist is slightly oversized, so I can utilize the side adjusters to adjust the fit to my size.

The pants do feel very slightly tight in the hips, about 8″ below the belt line, and there could be a touch more vertical room from the belt to the crotch.

But otherwise they do fit more comfortably than any other REV’IT! pants I’ve tried and I’ll probably say these are about the most perfect fit I’ll find off the rack — notwithstanding the sizing puzzle I’ll describe next.

The jacket weighs 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs.) and the pants weigh 1.8 kg (4.0 lbs.) with all liners installed, which makes for a nice lightweight combination.

Sizing

I think the REV’IT! Sand pants are marked at least one and possibly two sizes larger than the norm, when compared to all of the other pants reviewed on webBikeWorld.

Unisex REV’IT! gear (like the Sand pants) are labeled with letter sizes — the letter sizes are used for their Unisex clothing.

REV’IT! uses standard letter markings up to XXL, then XXXL (3XL) becomes “XYL” and XXXXL (4XL) becomes “XZL”.

REV’IT! men’s and women’s specifically-sized clothing is usually labeled with European numeric sizes — but these are different than North American numeric sizes. You may have purchased jackets or leathers with European sizing.

A European size 54 is somewhat equivalent to a U.S. size L and a European size 56 is similar to a U.S. size XL.

OK, so that brings us to the Sand pants. The pants shown here are labeled as size XXL, so I’m assuming these (and the jacket) are classified as Unisex.

I normally take a size L (36Wx30L street pants). But the size L Sand pants felt more like an M with a 34 waist.

Next, I tried the Sand pants in size XL.

I was surprised to find that these also were too small for me; I estimate they have about a 35″ waist with both liners installed.

So that brings us to the XXL pants shown here, which fit just about perfectly, with a little room for snugging up the waist.

Based on other motorcycle pants I’ve tried, the size XXL Sand pants seem to be the equivalent to a U.S. size L.

Although the retailer size chart shows the XXL pants as fitting a 42.5″ to 43.7″ waist, or European size 58.

Take a look at the photo above — that’s a 36″ waist in what is said to be an XXL pant with a 42.5″ to nearly 44″ waist!

For comparison, the size XXL Sand pants fit better and more snug than the size Large Firstgear Escape TPG pants (review) I reviewed about a month ago

Also, the XXL Sand pants fit like an old pair of size XL REV’IT! Ultimate pants (review) I still use quite often in cold weather.

I checked with the retailer and also with Rev’it, who then checked with REV’IT! headquarters in the Netherlands and everyone confirmed that there have been no reports of sizing issues by retailers or customers.

Both retailers agreed that REV’IT! sizing may be at least one size smaller than expected, so the answer is to measure your waist, check the size charts and discuss with the retailer prior to ordering.

After wearing the pants over the last few weeks, I believe that the difference may come from measuring the outer shell sizing for use in the REV’IT! size charts.

If correct, this then would not take into account the twin liners inside the pants, which take up about one size range.

Thus, if the pants are starting out one size smaller than expected, then there’s one size taken up by the liners, voilà!– there’s the two size difference I noticed!

By the way, the Sand pants are also available in short and tall sizes and lengths. The regular length size XXL shown here fits my 30″ inseam perfectly, with enough extra room to accommodate the riding position.

I hope this explanation is more clear than my original!  As always, it’s important to try before you buy and confirm with your retailer about sizing and exchange policies.

I’d like to hear from owners of Sand pants with your feedback on how the pants fit and if the size was as expected.

Remember, my experience is based on one pair of pants by one rider, so it may not be representative of other owner experiences.

Once I got the sizing issue figured out, I discovered that the new REV’IT! Sand pants are just as comfortable and easy to wear and use as the Sand jacket.

The pair make an excellent choice for all-season use and the pants should make an excellent match for other REV’IT! jackets also.

And by the way, the sizing topic noted above should not discourage prospective owners; the Sand outfit is definitely a new favorite and I’m sure it will see many miles as we head into warmer weather for 2010!

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