Dainese Air Frame D1 Jacket

I love in Western Texas and spent many an hour researching options for what to wear in the hot weather without compromising too much on protection. I decided on this jacket and I have no regrets.

Fitment: Bottom line, this is a great jacket if you want a euro style fit but usually have trouble because of broad shoulders or slightly arms. I am 5' 10" and 190lbs with a fairly athletic build. I have somewhat broader shoulders so I usually have trouble with euro style cuts in a jacket because they normally don't allow me to move my shoulders much and quickly become tight or bound with movement. That is not the case with this jacket. I ordered a 54 and it fits well and allows for movement. It is fairly tailored in shape but still fits loose enough to not be constricting. The arms are generous enough so that if your upper arms and forearms are a little bigger than normal it can still accommodate. The sleeves are the right length and it is just long enough at the bottom to provide some overlap over pants. It also has the waist size adjuster straps to help fine tune the fit.

Features: The quality of this is outstanding, obviously high end. This is a fairly simple jacket. It has the zipper to zip into Dainese pants, but no belt loops. It also lacks any compartment for carrying the rain liner like you see on some jackets. It has the two pockets on the outside and one on the inside. The inside pocket isn't supported by any stitched in panels so it moves around a bit with the mesh, but it is plenty strong enough for a cell phone. The soft fabric sewn in at skin contact points (as mentioned in the video) are a really nice feature and increase comfort quite a bit.

Airflow: This is where the jacket really shines. It flows air very very well. There have been times where I am sitting at a stoplight in breezy conditions and I can feel the breeze so well that I have to check to make sure I didn't forget to zip the jacket up! I cannot overstate how well this jacket flows air.

Protection: Its a mesh jacket so it is what it is, but the abrasion panels seem to be fairly strong. It does have good sized shoulder pads and the elbow/forearm pads extend from the elbow down to just above the wrist. It also has the pocket for back protection but you have to buy that separately. I feel safe in this jacket.

Summary: This jacket is outstanding. If you are concerned about hot weather and protection and are wishing for the jacket that does it all, go for this one. You will not be disappointed.

After having the original Air Frame jacket,, I picked this jacket up as my new hot weather jacket. I like what they did to update the styling just a little as the original one was boring by comparison. Protection is top notch and the air flow is great.. I run a D30 back protector rather than the Wave G2 Dainese back protector, and it should be noted that I own both of them. The Wave is bulkier and doesnt flow much air.. which is why I bought this jack to begin with. For the price it can't be beat.. .unless you want to pony up the cash for a Super Speed or the MIG, you will be very happy with the Air Frame D1. I have a full review on my YouTube channel you can find at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbaa_-x4zXk

Very light, lot of airflow! Very stylish (Black/White/Red), seems to be durable, the only complaint would be regarding the protections, they bother a little because they are fastened on velcro, not inside the fabric. Compared to my other Dainese leather jacket, wore a little bigger than I expected.

This jacket has great airflow. It has great elbow pads but I wouldn't trust the shoulder pads. They are velcroed on and move a lot. If I was to hit the ground, I believe they wouldn't protect me much. When it rains, you will feel every drop of rain hitting your arms.

It flows air great. It's made of good quality textile. It holds the armor in place nicely. This is the minimum acceptable amount of protection from a jacket. For what it is, it's excellent. I'm 6'0" 165 lbs and wear a size 40/50.

I have a perforated leather jacket by Dainese (Zen Evo) that I absolutely love the fit and style. Although it's perforated and has a little airflow, it's not usable for summers in NC. I am 6'1", 185 pounds with an athletic build and have a size 54 in the Zen Evo, so I got the same size for the Air Frame D1.

Overall, the fitment is a little bit looser than I would have liked, I would not have gone down a size. If it's too tight, it may restrict proper air flow from the front of the jacket and out the back side.

I have a windshield on my Star 1300 and it blocks most of the wind, but I can still feel some good air flow going through this jacket. When I'm cruising at a decent speed, I hardly know I have a jacket on if the temps are below about 80/85. When stopped at lights or in traffic and the temps are high and sun out, you will get hot, but as soon as you're moving, the air flow through the jacket really helps cool you down, especially if wearing a tech or wicking type of shirt underneath. I've worn this on trips around town, commuting, and longer highway journeys and really like it. The more I wear it, the more I appreciate the mesh, airflow, and design of the jacket.

I was looking to replace my well-used Joe Rocket Phoenix (size L) that is over 5 years old. Deciding to step up to a respected brand with a little more durability, Dainese caught my eye as the sort of jacket that fit the bill along with nice styling. My Joe Rocket flows a LOT of air but after many years of use the pocket zippers failed.

I ultimately landed on this jacket (size 54...I tried 52 but it was too small) because #1 of the air flow reviews, #2 the visibility aspects (hi-viz version), and #3 the styling.

Out of the box it looks great! However, the fit isn't as good. This jacket does not have wrist adjustments (Joe Rocket does), is a tad baggier in the bicep area (flaps at speeds over 40mph), isn't as reflective as I was hoping, and is at least 1" shorter in torso length!

Using the special reflective bits in the material over other parts of the jacket would be nice since they are black so it's not like there's white piping everywhere distracting from the aesthetics of the jacket. If you wear a backpack they are pretty much blocked from view.

The cuffs. They REALLY need to be adjustable. No matter how I try to keep them in my gloves a bit of the jacket cuff will still pop out, especially if I'm wearing my watch. This was NEVER an issue in the Phoenix jacket. Thus is why I noticed it.

The length. Wow, another failure for me. I'm 5'10" and more leg than torso and I still find myself pulling the Dainese jacket down. That 1" makes a difference.

The front zipper. I don't care that it's "European", every article of clothing I've ever owned had the zipper on the right side. Now it's almost always a two-handed operation to release the zipper from the left side of the garment. Oh, the teeth are the small type. I hate it.

The liner is wispy compared to the heavy-duty Phoenix one. Since I use my Mountain Hardware jacket for cooler weather I don't bother with the liners. They are very inconvenient and don't protect nor look nearly as good, especially when off-bike.

The armor is Velcro'd in but seems secure enough. The Phoenix uses nice, snug pockets. Just sayin'.

For the back protector I bought the Dainese Pro Armor, G2 size. Love it!

Does this jacket flow air? Heck yeah it does! I wore it a couple of times in 100-F heat and it did a fine job.

Would I recommend this jacket? Nope. However, if you're REALLY short torso'd and have big, thick wrists then this is your summer jacket for sure.

I ordered this to replace my summer riding mesh Spidi Sun Jacket, which I've had for many years but which was recently lost to an accident. I've had numerous Dainese products including 1 and 2 piece leathers, jackets, and gloves.

First, my initial impression was that I appreciated the understated style as it would work for any of my 3 bikes (Hyper 939SP, CBR and Husky 510SMR) as well as a cafe or sport/touring bike. So, kudos for the style.

I also like the removable liner which pops in and out easily and which would fold up really small for easy storage. The downside is that you can fee the snaps when the liner is in and it's more noticeable when the liner is out.

My biggest is was that right out of the box my primary zipper was sticky/kinked which made zipping and unzipping more difficult--and it looks like it's not a defect, it's just how that zipper is--which shouldn't happen on a Dainese product.

All zippers felt flimsy and the pull tabs are small and hard to find and pull with gloves on. A nice, large YKK with tabs would be appreciated.

There's also no snap over the zippers at the cuffs, just "locking" zippers that don't really seem to want to lock.

The armor is secured by velcro, not sewn into the jacket or even pocketed, so they can move around and the pads themselves are not the most comfortable as you can feel the lip of the protectors and they tend to shift around as you move.

There is no back protector included, and while typical of Dainese, it is disappointing. There are no chest protectors either.

The neck opening was also a bit too large, and never seemed to sit well and couldn't be cinched up to the second button without causing folds in the material which caused bunches which are unattractive.

All of this would be fine in a non-Dainese jacket, but given my prior experience with the brand, and my expectations, I was very disappointed, and I'm looking for an alternative.