Updated 2025
Tested: Aerostich AD-1 Light overtrousers.
Where: Spain, Morocco, France, Ireland, Morocco and Spain.
Price: $367 $427 from Aerostich
Weight 1220g + armour. Available in grey, black and tan.
See also: Rukka PVC onesie.
What they say:
Perfect for dual-sport, adventure, touring and daily riding. Fully seam taped, unlined, HT200D Nylon GORE-TEX® jeans-cut pant with full length separating side zips inner and outer weather flaps to help the pants go on and off fast yet keep rain and wind out.
• Usual excellent Aero taped-seam quality
• Dead easy to put on and take off
• The right amount of useful pockets
• Great contoured cut; don’t feel bulky
• Breath well and waterproof so far
• Long, but OK because ankle can be cinched in
• No complicated washing requirements
• Quite pricey from the UK
• Sold only via Aerostich USA
• TF3 armour pads too bulky (others available)
• Bulky to stash when not wearing, but isn’t everything
• Need to be hot-ironed or tumble dried to revive the DWR
Review
About time I reviewed my Aerostich AD-1 Light pants. They’re pitched as lighter weight 200D Cordura Gore-tex overtrousers; less stiff to suit the occasional rider rather than ice-road commuters who’ll want Dariens or Roadcrafters in heavyweight 500D; two names which helped make Aerostich’s name in the US among Iron-Butt long-haul pros. Riding hard, fast and often, a 500D Roadcrafter is the best thing for 85-mph slides down the highway.
But who does that any more? Indeed, unlike many riders it seems, I rarely wear overtrousers at all, unless it’s actually pouring or very chilly. I don’t mind getting wet legs if the end is nigh, but when it isn’t I like the fact that I’m tucked, zipped, studded and velcro’d into my AD1s. Strict trademark laws make casual use of the V-word forbidden in the US. Jeez – and I thought I making a quick joke! Looks like I guessed right: in the US they must say ‘hook-and-loop’ which rolls off the tongue like a mouthful of old wool.
On me the AD-1s fit is just right: comfy and unobtrusive – as high praise as you can bestow on motorcycle clobber. You don’t feel like you’re schlepping around in a pair of baggy, swish-swooshing bin bags. The curved cut of the double-stitched seat and knees all help, and Aerostich do go out of their way to give you more than just S, M, L and XL. With their detailed sizing chart (right) you have little excuse to not get the right fit.
No complaints with breathability or waterproofing either – legs don’t really sweat or get cold. But when they do, one of the best things is with the full-length side zips the ADs are easy to put on and take off; a big incentive when you really ought to pull over and do one or the other, but don’t want to faff about or risk tripping over, banging your head on your rocker cover and waking up in a hospital corridor.
What you get
I chose my ADs in ‘long’ to get right down over the boot. They have two-way 47-inch zips right down the outside of each leg, so if you want to vent you can modulate down from waist or up from ankle (or just use Twitter like everyone else).
At the top you can also reset the waist circumference with studs by an inch on each side (above right). I have my 38″ Ls on the bigger setting and there’s a short elastic triangle at the back to take up the slack when lunch catches you with your trousers down. The zips have a full length rain flap of course, and the ankles have a big reflective panel (above left) allowing you to pull them in over boots or whatever. This is also effective in taking some of the 1220-g weight off the knees, especially as they’re so long (on my 38 Ls the inside leg is 34″). I wish my Klim Outriders did that (before I got it done myself). This support also avoids the need for braces.
This is Aero County, Minnesota so you know there’ll be a few pockets knocking about. Left thigh has a 8 x 7-inch velcro™ flap pocket with more v*****™ over the top to take a map pocket. On the other thigh is a same-sized pocket with a water-repellant side zipper. At the hips are two more velcro™ flap pockets and there’s another v-free open pocket at the back, plus a cunning, easily missed SAS-style zipped stash belt (below).
I’m not a great fan of the bulky TF3 Aero-armour (left), even if it might be technically better than slimmer examples like D30 (right) which will attach to the velcro™ inside the knee, or ForceField lattice armour which won’t. Knee pads are handy for kneeling by the bike of course, not just crashing. There’s more you-know-what™ along the sides of the waist hem and inside the shins, for more armour perhaps.
Recent trips have included coming back across close-to-freezing then rainy Spain one December, a dawn-to-dusk mid-summer ride up the left side of the British Isles where in June the chances of rain were high, a freezing ride across France in late 2021 on the Africa Twin,and see below 2024.
On all occasions the AD-1s did the job unobtrusively, keeping the chill out, the rain off and the stuff in [the many pockets]. A classic unfussy and functional design as you’d expect from Aerostich, and quite probably comparable with any other high-end membrane rainwear out there.
Update 2024-5
After ditching my well-worn Klim Outriders and waiting for some ASpec Linesman pants, I wore my much underused AD-1s (on bare legs) for a fortnight’s riding in Jan-Feb in the mountains of Morocco. It was expected to be a chilly trip up to 3000m and down to 0°C some mornings, but was never that cold in the sun (it was in fact the warmest February ever in Morocco and RTW).
I was surprised how comfy and unobtrusive the AD-1s were. I never felt like I was wearing heavy nylon trousers. Part of this may have been good quality Gore-tex breathing away quietly, but more likely it was those close ankle closures which lifted the weight off the spacious knees while riding, reducing drag when getting on and off. I’m not sure they would have been so comfy in March, or if I had to get physical, but at least you have a full-length zip down the sides so can open them out like a dress and vent yourself into a trance. Having now tried the AS Linesmans, I prefer AD1s for what I do.
October 2024 I rode my 450MT down across Spain and left it in Morocco for the winter. February 2025 was a lot chillier than 2024, and for the first time in a decade, I wore my AD1’s over my trousers every day, even down in the desert. Like I say, I barely notice I’m wearing them. Normally I sell stuff to try new, different or better. But I’m holding on to the 10-year-old AD1’s until they’ve had it.
Thanks for the pants, Aerostich
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