[Rae]

Women’s Shift Siren Textile Jacket
& Stealth Gloves

Ladies, the long wait for quality gear made just for women is over!! We know that every woman rider out there has been frustrated at the lack of gear custom designed with women in mind and Shift Racing Gear has stepped up to the challenge and created several items to insure our safety and comfort all while keeping in mind affordability. Read on to find out the latest in Shift gear for women!

Just a little Background…​

Shift Racing was created in 1997 in Morgan Hill, CA and has become an international brand. Their focus is to bring new and exciting items to the motocross and motorcycling worlds with products that incorporate everyday riding necessities made from the finest materials and methods with modern fashion to create a high quality product that you will enjoy wearing, can feel safe wearing and can bring home at a price you can live with.

A little bit about the materials used…​

Jacket

The Siren Textile is made from 100% polyester. We all know that polyester is perhaps not the most breathable of fabrics, but when your skin is on the line, sometimes a little warmth is worth the satisfaction of knowing that if you hit the ground, this jacket will be right there for you. While it can be a tad warm on those 100 degree summer days, it is perfect in the evening when those temperatures drop just enough to make it a chilly ride home. And when you zip in the liner for those colder months, this jacket becomes a year round hit, cool enough for summer and warm enough for winter, at least in Florida where we tested it out! If you live in a colder clime and don’t feel a textile will be warm enough, check out ShiftRacing.com to see the full selection of outstanding ladies leather jackets!

Gloves​

The Stealth Gloves are made from a combination of leather and textile gloves and incorporates Lycra for added comfort and a snug fit. The gloves strap around the wrist with a Velcro and rubber fastener that is both comfortable and easy to work with. The palm of the glove and side wall are padded leather, while the top of the hand is textile with Lycra finger walls and thumb section.

Let’s Talk About Safety!​

To give you a little background on what we are referring to when we refer to CE Armor: The CE Mark is a conformity designation required for certain products to be sold in Europe. It is obligatory for certain products sold in the European market. Many riders in the United States look for this designation when purchasing gear, though it is of little legal outside of Europe. Most importantly, CE armor is designed to absorb a single hard impact and must be replaced afterward.

Why is this so important? When it comes to a crash, whether at the track or on the street, having CE approved Armor in your gear can save you serious injuries, whether road rash or broken bones. Keep in mind, no gear can completely guarantee that you will receive no injuries, but if you are riding safe gear can definitely make the difference on the length of your hospital visit!!

Jacket

At first sight/feel of the Siren Textile you may question the lightweight feel of the jacket itself. Rest assured, however that all of the armor incorporated in this jacket is completely CE approved and tailored specifically to us ladies. Because of this feature, the Siren Textile is easy to wear and carry around for every day use, unlike some of the bulky, heavier jackets that can become a burden.

The Siren Textile Jacket also incorporates reflective piping and logos, increasing your visibility to others on the road and is one more way that Shift Racing looks out for the safety of riders on the road. As you can see from the picture, ingrained in the fabric of the jacket itself are numerous Shift logos that create a shimmer of reflection, thereby increasing your visibility when hit by the headlights of other vehicles on the road around you.

Gloves

Good riders will tell you leather is the way to go, and while we all know this, there are those times that we are not prepared to wear all leather. Let’s face it; summer heat is one of those times! Recognizing this, Shift has created the next best thing. The Stealth gloves have an incredible leather palm and reinforced heel section for those times that you may need the added protection but they also include textile to allow for air flow. The Lycra finger sidewalls are a wonderful addition as well. By using the Lycra, the fingers of the gloves are a nice tight fit, preventing the gloves from rolling up in your fingers or even on the palm. If you have ever had a glove roll up on your hand, and then slip free, causing the throttle to twist a tad harder than you planned, you know why this is so important! Our only concern is that while these gloves do have Direct Inject knuckle guards, they have no other form of armor.

Fit​

Jacket

The Siren Textile jacket has pre-curved arms, much like you find on leathers. This accommodates the CE armor and serves to provide less fatigue while riding as you’re making adjustments and fighting your jacket. The arms of the jacket are neither too bulky nor too snug. They fit right in the acceptable and pleasant range for a women’s jacket and create a look you can live with. Basically they don’t make your arms look like you should try out for a football team as many other jackets in the market do.
The collar of the jacket is comfortably snug without seeming confining or too loose. It is padded to allow maximum comfort and the padding also ensures that you have no irritating rubbing on the inside of the neck area. You can fasten the collar with a snap button or leave it open as you prefer. Unlike many others of the same design the Siren jacket does not flap annoyingly in the wind if you choose not to fasten it. The collar size itself is made perfectly to a woman’s scale.

As we work our way down the body of the jacket, you come to the torso section. The Siren Textile fits in such a manner that it accentuates the bust area while cinching in the waist and curving back out as you reach the hips. It is a perfect design for a woman, allowing us to proudly display that we are women while firmly covering all necessary assets. For those women that would like a little extra boost to their curves, the Siren can help! The Siren also has a hidden built in zipper in the hip area to allow for some extra room if needed.

Before we leave the main part of the jacket let’s discuss the bottom back flap. We know that many women have expressed a concern regarding this area. In the sport bike arena, if the back panel is not long enough when a woman leans over the gas tank as sport bikes require us to do, depending on our attire at the time we may immediately create an impromptu entertainment for the pleasure of those gentleman riding behind us. While we all giggle and find this entertaining, when it comes to safety, it just doesn’t meet the requirements we need. In light of this, Shift has tailored their jacket to add that extra bit of length we need to ensure that when we lean forward and if we go down on our backside, their will be jacket there to cover it!

The wrists are also adjustable and have Velcro so you can cinch it up to fit your wrists in an infinite number of sizes as opposed to a snap or a fitted zipper.

The Siren Textile jacket also comes equipped with several pockets to allow the wearer that doesn’t want to carry a bag room to carry wallet, cell phone and any other essentials.

The most important thing to keep in mind when choosing any gear is to make sure you find the brand recommendations for sizing and follow the instructions to achieve the correct size. Shift appears to size their jackets just a little different than the competition and in order to be as happy as possible with your purchase, it is essential to measure yourself before ordering!

Gloves

The Shift Ladies Stealth Glove may be one of those items you need to go up perhaps a size from what you originally measure. We found that the glove tended to run just a bit on the small size if you prefer some room in your glove. We ordered the size that the sizing chart recommended and upon their arrival we noticed the tendency to be on the small side. The glove still fit remarkably well and after wearing them on several rides we find the snug fit reassuring in that these gloves will not be going anywhere once upon your hand. This could be in part due to the Lycra finger walls, but either way, as long as you allow for snug fit when ordering, you will be pleased at the very fitted way they will conform to your hand.

Comfort​

Jacket

As previously mentioned, this jacket was tested in very warm weather, think upper 90’s as well as cooler temperatures in the high 60’s and low 70’s.
We found that when worn during the summer heat the jacket tended to be on the warm side, due to the solid textile design. Being a gray and black jacket it did heat up when sitting motionless. Upon moving however the jacket cooled and reached a comfortable temperature within seconds. When riding, depending on the adjustment of the wrist Velcro and placement of arms, there was a considerable amount of air flow through the arms and up and around the torso and back and exiting through the collar. When one is perspiring this is especially handy as it creates your own personal air conditioning.

During the cooler weather we found this jacket to be ideal, regardless of whether the liner was worn. With the wrist Velcro cinched to allow minimum air flow, and the collar snapped shut, the Siren Textile was every bit as warm and allowed as little air flow as a leather jacket.

The jacket is extremely comfortable fit wise, regardless of temperature and is designed in such a manner that there is no uncomfortable rubbing at key areas like the elbow or shoulder. The design allows for enough room in all areas so you can be assured of a good fit while it does not become bulky and masculine. In short, this isn’t a jacket that was designed for men and cut to fit a woman, it has been created solely for women and fits accordingly.

Gloves

The comfort of these gloves is contingent on how you like your gloves to fit. As we mentioned in the “Fit” section, the Stealth gloves tend to be very snug. That said, the gloves in no way became uncomfortable due to the snug fit, they just required a period of adjustment to become used to.
The leather underside of the gloves is incredibly soft and smooth, and made the gloves easy to wear regardless of the activity you were engaging. They were almost like a second skin and allowed for buckling the helmet, reaching into pockets and many more activities with an ease we just can’t live without. No more fumbling with too long fingers getting stuck in buckles or not being able to feel what’s in your pockets!

The textile fabric is soft and durable and to date is impossible to snag! It allows for air flow and ease of movement while still being thick enough to give peace of mind in the event of a crash.

The Lycra Finger side walls are our favorite feature as they are soft to the touch and allow such freedom of movement!

Conclusion​

Jacket

Overall, the fit of the Siren Textile jacket leaves little to be desired and when worn is extremely comfortable. You hardly notice the weight of the jacket when not riding as it is made with the most advanced methods and materials and provides awesome protection. It does not bunch or ride up while riding while covering all necessary parts of your anatomy. It is a very feminine jacket while not sacrificing its purpose and priced at $149.99 at most retailers it is an affordable summer or cool weather jacket.

Gloves

The Ladies Stealth Gloves are an awesome purchase at around $25 and while they may not be armor plated, the leather undersides and textile uppers ensure incredible protection second only to full leather. A great item and we highly recommend a pair!

Other Options for these products include:

Jacket Ratings
Comfort / Fit :

Coolness Factor:

Price:

Value:

Quality:

Glove Ratings
Comfort / Fit :

Coolness Factor:

Price:

Value:

Quality:

Visit Shift Racing on the web (http://www.shiftracing.com):


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