Transit 3 Waterproof Leather Jacket

• Transit 3 Features
• Transit Owners Guide
• Corium leather treatment procedure video (MP4)
• Transit Jacket and Pants review by Gabe Ets-Hokin
• Aerostich Transit Motorcycle Suit | Review (Ultimate Motorcycling)
• Aerostich Transit Leathers 271 KB PDF (Tim Carrithers of Motorcyclist)

Why the ‘Transit 2’ had to be discontinued in 2013, and why it is back in 2019 as the ‘Transit 3’.

The first-generation 2008 Transit suits used a breathable-waterproof Gore-Tex Pro Leather. Expensive, but for experienced riders, worth it. This leather was the crowning achievement of a complex global supply chain. The hides came from cows raised in one country which were tanned, dyed and micro-perforated (for increased breathability) and treated (to repel water) in another. The unique Gore-Tex membrane was laminated onto the back side of each hide in a third country and the end result was cut, stitched and seam-sealed into rider’s gear designs in a fourth country.

We sold a lot of them, but then — and much to our dismay — the Pro Leather supply chain ended and this unique type of leather was no longer available. By the end of 2015 most of the popular sizes were gone.

We’d always enjoyed creating, making and selling Transit gear. Fortunately, we were not the only ones who liked this unique high-tech leather. After a years-long effort a company based in Europe created a breathable/waterproof leather called ‘Corium+’ which was engineered to functionally replace Gore-Tex Pro Leather. It was a leather-plus-a-membrane fully seam-sealable perforated, repellant-impregnated material.

This meant that for the first time in six years a Transit 3 was able to be created. The wait was worth it. This time around the breathable/waterproof performance is closely similar to the Transit’s 1 and 2. The Transit 3’s most noticeable difference is how its 1.2mm leather is a bit suppler, and thus easier to break in.

"I just wanted to report that a month or so ago, in Oklahoma City, I put on my new Aerostich Transit suit, and started riding — down through Texas, east across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, to Florida...and then from São Paulo, Brazil, south to Argentina, and west over the Andes to Chile.

"I guess that would be about a 5,000-mile 'test ride.'

"...I found it to be comfortable and confidence-inspiring in all weathers. On hot days, like the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia or the rainforests of Brazil, it was breathable and non-heat-absorbant; when the day was chilly, like crossing the Andes at 10,000 feet in the Southern Hemisphere's springtime, a few layers inside or out made it perfect. And of course when the rains came, like in South Texas or the similar landscape of Northern Argentina, I remained completely dry.

"Congratulations on having developed such an excellent product for the touring rider."

-- Neil Peart of the band RUSH, and author of the 'Ghost Rider', 'Roadshow', and 'Far & Away' books (...wonderful stories about riding and life).

Gore-Tex’s pioneering breathable/waterproof textiles helped Aerostich’s suits become pioneering benchmarks. Beginning in the early 1980s we proclaimed ‘Cooler than Leathers’ in ads about Roadcrafters being lighter and more comfortable...

A couple of decades later Gore-Tex wanted to apply their technology to leather, so a long-range development effort was begun. Leather needed to be specially processed so it would not absorb so much water, and had to be micro-perforated to allow it to breathe better, without making it weaker. Then a breathable/waterproof membrane had to be permanently adhered to each hide. None of this had never been done before.

The job still wasn’t finished, though. Next they had to develop a good way to sew each piece together and permanently heat-tape seal each stitched seam…just as if it were a textile garment. It took many years to create a workable supply-chain that ended up looking a bit like a world map: Hides from cows living in one country were tanned, treated and perforated in another and the breathable/waterproof membrane was applied in another. Patterns were cut and sewn together in another. Everything was handmade by highly skilled people interested in doing what had never been accomplished before.

Then companies like Aerostich had the opportunity to pioneer an entirely new kind of rider’s leathers. The Aerostich Transit suit was introduced five years ago and represented the culmination of all this effort. Our part involved a couple of years of on-the-motorcycle designing and prototyping. And now Aerostich Transit suits are becoming another rider’s gear benchmark.

Here’s another testimonial from another Transit owner, but slightly different than those above:

Make Sure You Get Another One...

…I came to with EMS people yelling at me to wake up a few minutes later. I was Care Flight-ed to Stanford Medical Center Emergency Room...While I was in the ER a doctor and nurse that also ride motorcycles stopped by to say Hi and see how I was doing and asked what happened. After describing the accident both said that it was amazing that I was alive and not hurt any worse than I was. They asked what kind of equipment I was wearing. I told them an Aerostich leather riding suit with armor, full face helmet, gloves and boots. They both said that’s why my physical damage wasn’t worse. The police officer that came to fill out the accident report said the same thing. A couple of weeks later I went by the towing company that picked up the bike so I could get my Aerostich transit suit (which was cut off me at the accident scene) and carried off with my wrecked bike. Of course we also discussed the accident and the guy said to me that he see’s a lot of motorcycle accidents. As I was walking off with my suit he says ‘make sure you get another one of those, it probably saved your life.’

-- David M, February 5th, 2013

Thank you for writing us about this experience, David. And for buying your Aerostich Transit suit. We’re grateful that you were ok, and that your Aerostich gear met your requirements (…and, uh, we don’t actually need more extemporaneous crash-testing experiments). We’re sorry that the EMTs destroyed your Aerostich Transit suit, but are very happy you’ll be riding again in another one. All of us at Aerostich hope you will enjoy the new one for many years and thousands of miles.

-- Mr. Subjective