So, it’s pushing 90 degrees, the sun is shining, and you’ve got the day to hit the road. That well-worn black leather jacket in the closet has gone everywhere with you and in all weather. Plus, it has that tough, abrasion-resistant leather for protection and pockets for those carry-alongs you want handy.

On hot days, it’s always been sufficient to just ride with the main zipper halfway down. Still, your arms and upper back would get soaked with sweat sometimes, and by late afternoon, when the heat really starts to come on, the jacket would have to come off, leaving you with nothing but a T-shirt.

Maybe there’s a better way. The Spidi Multitech Armor EVO jacket might be just the gear option to provide protection, pockets, and lightweight, cool riding. We had the opportunity to take a look at the Multitech Armor EVO jacket through the courtesy of Burn Out Italy.

Indeed, in our test rides that happened during Wisconsin’s first heat of spring, it was evident that the Spidi product ventilates almost as well as wearing no jacket at all, but with important differences.

First, the jacket is constructed of what Spidi product literature describes as high-strength, abrasion-resistant polyamide mesh on the exterior layer and polyester mesh on the interior layer, with Tenax polyamide reinforcements on the arms and back. We noted that double stitching is used on the shoulders, sleeves, and back. To help illustrate how extensive the use of mesh and open areas is, we took our images of the jacket with a bright orange long-sleeved T-shirt underneath.

Second, the Multitech includes EN1621-1 (CE) certified Forcetech impact protectors at the shoulders and elbows, EN1621-1 Lev.1 (CE) certified Warrior Back protector and EN1621-3 (CE) certified Warrior Chest protector. Third, weighing in at only 1.35 kg (2.9 lb.) with all the armor in place, the Multitech feels about the same as a typical light cloth summer jacket.

Finally, the Multitech jacket includes five exterior pockets – a large, snap-closure pocket on the upper right chest; a medium zip-closure pocket on the left chest; a large zip-closure pocket on the lower right front that looks like a sixth pocket but actually opens into the right side slash pocket; zip-closure slash pockets on both sides; and a torso-wide, hook-and-loop closure pocket (perfect for maps for non-GPS types) on the lower back. There’s also a glove or utility hook D-ring on the front. All the zippers are large-toothed, heavy-duty nylon YKK items that engage easily and work smoothly. The zipper tabs all include an inch-and-a-half-long extender strap, making it easier to work the zippers with gloves on.

The sleeves are where the design gets interesting. There are no armpits in this jacket—that’s right, the old problem of the jacket fitting very well, but the sleeves being too snug at the armpit is eliminated by having the sleeve attach atop the shoulder and leaving the entire underarm open to the air. For a jacket designed to achieve maximum airflow, it seems a simple, elegant solution that, if you think about it, probably should be more common. Knit elastic cuffs at the glove end of the sleeve are really comfortable and eliminate the need to open and close hook-and-loop or snaps.

The body of the jacket has three hook-and-loop adjuster straps on each side to get the fit snugly around the body, while the sides are open mesh.  Each sleeve also has an adjuster above the elbow. The back protector, shoulder and elbow protectors reside in mesh pockets, while the chest protector snaps in with two snaps on each side of the main zipper. That makes it easy to ride without the chest protector if you choose, but snapping it in is easy and the chest plate is ventilated.

We found it easy to leave the chest protector snapped in place on one side or the other, and after donning the jacket, just engage the last two snaps, close the main zipper, top collar snap, and twin lower snaps at the bottom of the main zipper, and you’re set.  The collar is a short, stand-up style that doesn’t interfere with the lower edge of your helmet and has a single snap closure at the front.

The jacket can be set up for cool weather riding with an optional thermal liner or the H2Out waterproof lining, each sold separately. In the lower back, where some jackets have a short zipper to attach the jacket to riding pants, the Multitech has a single strap that snaps into a loop to attach to the belt of riding pants. High on the back, a reflective Spidi logo provides some visibility enhancement in low light and after dark.