The jacket is styled nicely, and the armor in the shoulders and elbows feels substantial. The back pad is just foam, and won't do anything for you except maybe block some air flow(which it does).

The "ballistic polyester" in the impact areas seems like it would hold up in a crash, but the mesh on the jacket does not give me that impression. The weave is very wide, and while it may let on lots of air, I can't imagine that so little material would do anything in the event of a slide.

The fact that after minimal use I already had threads coming apart in the back didn't help alleviate these concerns.

As far as fit goes, you'd need to order a lower size to get any sort of fit without the liners. When I first put the jacket on, size Large(I'm about 6'2" 190), it had all the liners in and seemed to fit well. But as you might expect, I used the liners almost never, since this is in fact a mesh jacket. So while the jacket seems to have plenty of adjustments, you won't be able to get the jacket to fit snug unless you go a size lower. And since it won't fit snug, good luck getting all that substantial armor to stay in place in a get off (Not that I've tested it, knock on wood)

I ended up selling this jacket, and I definitely wouldn't buy another TM mesh, although they do seem to offer some nicer touring textiles. If you want protection and ventilation you'll need to spend a bit more dough. But as others have said, if this is all you can justify spending and it will keep you from riding in just a t-shirt DO IT! Just do it with a different mesh jacket.