Shift Racing is intent on world domination. Alright, maybe not worlddomination, but they are intent upon dominating the motorcycle gear market.
Anytime you want to dominate a market you have two choices:
1) Build/create a mediocre product and then take all the money you should have spent in R&D and spend it on the biggest, flashiest, most untrue ad campaign that you and your marketing department can dream up.
2) Build/create a superior product and take whatever money is left over and use it to put that product in the hands of journalists and racers so they can use it and spread the word.
Obviously Shift has taken choice number 2. While this isn't the fastest nor most lucrative choice if you are looking to make a quick buck, it is the choice that will generate brand loyalty and long-term revenue.
Which brings us to the Shift Racing Fuse Hybrid Jacket. Since I started the YouTube channel and I want to do product reviews on it, it makes my job of actually writing a review that someone wants to read even harder. I cover most salient points in the video but I wanted to touch on a few of those points again for any of my readers who either can't watch videos for one reason or another or just prefer to read.
Let's first look at the overall design of the jacket. As you can see from the pictures Shift did a great job making this jacket interesting to look at. They managed to break-up the straight lines, not with multiple bright colors and wacky patterns, but with multiple layers and texture changes.
A hybrid jacket combines both textile and leather to give you the best of both worlds; lighter weight than a full leather jacket but better protection than a full textile jacket. Every point of the jacket that would probably contact the ground for an extended period of time is in leather. All other parts of the jacket are textile for lighter weight and better flexibility.
I'm not a big leather jacket fan not only because it rarely gets cold enough in FL. to actually use one, but also because they can feel bulkier and more restrictive than a textile jacket. Not so with the new Fuse jacket. While slightly heavier than the textile jacket I had from Shift, the Fuse jacket never feels weighty or bulky when you are wearing it. As a matter of fact it is one of the most comfortable jackets, of any type, I have ever worn.
Shift puts a lot of thought into jacket design and it shows in the Fuse jacket. All zippers have a rubber cover on the pull tab part (that is the technical name BTW) for easy gripping when you are wearing gloves. The sleeves are pre-curved enough to eliminate binding when riding but not so much to make you look like you are flexing your muscles when you are off the bike. The leather is all 1.2mm to 1.4mm premium grain leather with CE approved armor in the shoulders and elbows.
One nice feature of this jacket is the back "pocket". Now I'm not sure Shift designed it for this use but it works great as a place to carry any soft item like a sweatshirt or even the zip-out liner. All you have to do is unzip the area that leads to the back protector pocket and the entire back of the jacket opens up to swallow as much soft stuff as you could want. You could probably pack a weekends worth of clothing in there if you really wanted to and didn't mind villagers running after you with fire and pitchforks while screaming "MONSTER". Oh and as a note; DON'T PUT HARD ITEMS BACK THERE! Sorry for the shouting but someone will try to do that, crash, break their back, and then try to say that I TOLD them they could put that thermos of coffee in there. Soft items ONLY.
Right then. Moving along we come to another cool feature (literally) of this Fuse jacket; the collar area. Right up at the top of the zipper there is a textile flap that has a button hole in it. When you button this flap up you partially seal the gap between the left and right collar. Now it is not completely wind-proof but it does help on colder riders. Unbutton the flap and fold it down and you will increase the airflow; which along with opening the front vents, allows a decent amount of air to flow through this jacket. This is due in large part to the generous vent located on the back.
Speaking of airflow and coolness, my temperature range for riding while wearing this jacket without layering too much underneath or feeling that I'm melting is between 70 and 85 degrees. After 85 degrees I reach for my Shift mesh jacket and below 70 degrees I put a few layers on underneath. Now I now that everyone has different temperature ranges where they are comfortable so take the above info as a general idea and not a hard fast rule.
One thing I really like about the sleeves are that they have decent sized Velcro on the cuff in combination with a zipper. I can usually snug down the cuff enough to not let much air up the sleeve when I am wearing shorter gloves, and tight enough to get the gauntlet over without issue when I'm wearing longer gloves.
My only thumbs-down to this jacket is the tailoring on the sides; or I should say the lack thereof. The jacket fits me everywhere just perfectly except the sides are too baggy. Shift could have taken in the panels under the arms a little bit which would have provided a more fitted look. Overall though this is a small quibble as it never really effects anything except your vanity.
View the video review on our YouTube channel here.
