Do you have the apex jacket Abercrombie? If so, what do you think? Would u buy it again? I'm seriously looking into this and I found a vendor who is willing to sell it new for 710 shipped.
I was looking at the badlands jacket, but I thought it may be too much for sport ridding.
I do have an Apex jacket In hi-viz that I recently purchased just this last month along with a pair of Torrent pants. Unfortunately I haven't been out on a bike in nearly two months so I've been unable to perform a thorough test.
My first impressions of the Apex is that it is going to be a great jacket and looks awesome. The jacket feels like it is built to be bomb proof and it fits great through my shoulders and arms but has a little extra room in the torso area. I am sized right between a large and X-large so this is a common fitting problem for me if I want a little extra room for a mid layer underneath. Klim uses the D30 armor in this jacket which is very comfortable, flexible, and reported to offer awesome protection. The leather covered shoulder and elbow areas over the 840D fabric look great and should provide great abrasion resistance.
I have been Wearing the Klim Latitude coat and pants for the last three years. I originally had the first version of latitude made completely out of Klim's 840D fabric which I was wearing when I hit a deer last year somewhere North of 80 mph. My first Latitude 840D suit made me feel 10 foot tall and bullet proof and provided complete abrasion protection on this full speed get off. The suit looked like Swiss cheese after that long slide along the asphalt but provided complete protection. I had great admiration for the looks and protection of that first version Latitude and immediately replaced it with another Latitude coat and pants in the second version. The second version Latitude coat addressed the complaints of the first version. Klim shortened up the collar and only provide the 840D material in the likely abrasion areas to reduce weight and stiffness. The second version Latitude is also a great jacket, but I miss the full 840D Latitude jacket and pants. The 840D latitude was warmer up here in the North and provided better protection against rain and light hail. Klim has since come out with a third version of the Latitude. Petey had this third generation Latitude at Hooterville in October and it is by far the best looking Latitude jacket made.
I also looked at the Badlands jacket and pants and may have considered them if I was only going to use them for off road or Adventure riding but felt the styling was over the top for use on the FJR. I think the latest generation of Latitude jacket and pants would work perfect for both sport & adventure touring if I had to choose one suit. The reason I recently decided to purchase the Apex coat was I liked the look of the shorter bodied Apex over my second generation Latitude jacket. I purchased the torrent pants because they had full length leg zippers and could take them off with out removing my boots.
I bet your sorry you asked for my long winded opinion now but to some things up. I thought the Badlands suit was too heavy and off road looking for use on the FJR. The third generation Latitude Jacket works and looks great if you want one suit that works for both sport & Adventure touring. The Apex jacket is one of the ultimate best looking sport touring jackets in my opinion. The shorter body should provide a little more comfort in the FJR riding position but may give up a little in weather protection. My Latitude pants look great, built tough, offer great ventilation, but do not have full length leg zippers. My Torrent pants look great, have full length leg zippers, are built lighter and less rugged than the Latitude pants. The Torrent over pants do not offer ventilation zippers for some reason, but the full length leg zipper is a two way zipper so it should allow good air flow if you zip the top of the leg zipper down a little bit.
Here is my new Apex coat in Hi-viz. I have an aversion to Hi-viz but advocate it to my MSF students so figure I should practice what I preach.
