Joe Rocket Ladies Lira Motorcycle Jacket Review (One Year Later)

January 9, 2019

Joe Rocket Lira Jacket Review: Sporty and Stylish

I’ve been wearing the Joe Rocket Ladies Lira jacket as a commuter and casual sport-riding jacket for almost a year. The jacket was comfortable off the rack, and it has only gotten better with age, as any good leather jacket should.

With understated, traditional lines, the Joe Rocket Ladies Lira jacket has a clean, flattering cut, that hits slightly below my hip bone. For me, it is the perfect length.

The Lira doesn’t get in the way and pooch out in front when leaned over on a sport bike, yet has just enough coverage to prevent a gap between jacket and pants in the back.

The Lira is a mid-weight leather jacket with classic style and subtle detailing. Top-stitching along the shoulders and upper arms gives it the look of vintage-style padding. White piping runs from cuff-to-shoulder and back down the sleeves, adding just the right accent to the jacket. The abbreviated low-contrast brand badging on the upper chest and back whisper your allegiance to Joe Rocket.

The Joe Rocket Ladies Lira comes with a removable quilted vest—always appreciated as it extends the utility of the jacket through multiple seasons—and it zips in and out quickly with one continuous zipper from hem to hem.

Pockets are appropriate for the jacket—enough to carry the essentials, but not load you down. In addition to the ubiquitous outside zippered hand pockets, and the inside Napoleon pocket, you can slip your smartphone into one of the two inside hook-and-loop closing patch pockets.

Zipping in the vest does not obscure access to the vertical pocket, and because the vest has its own hook-and-loop closing pockets, you haven’t lost any storage when temps drop. In a pinch, you can also make use of the right-side patch pocket under the vest by simply pulling the smooth-gliding YKK zipper up a few inches to reach inside.

All zippers on the Ladies Lira jacket have narrow leather pulls to make them easier to grasp with gloved hands. This works pretty well, though a wider pull on the zippered hand pockets would be welcome. More often than not I’ve zipped down a side vent by mistake when reaching for the pull on the pocket.

Ventilation in the mid-weight Lira is via a pair of zippered vents on the sides and lower back of the jacket. With the vents unzipped, air flows in and through the perforated inner lining of the jacket, exiting out the low back vents. The inner patch pockets obscure some of the flow, still, unzipping all four vents does allow air to move through the jacket and this is welcome on hot days.

Although the Lira jacket has no protective armor as sold, it does have pockets at the shoulder, elbows, and back so that you can add CE protection. I have Alpinestars’ new Nucleon KR-Celli CE Level 1 back protection ($45), as well as Joe Rocket’s CE-rated shoulder and elbow armor ($25 per pair). Both are easy to insert into the dedicated pockets, and we highly recommend this addition. While it makes the fit of the jacket a bit less casual, we don’t take safety casually!

Several design elements aid comfort and movement in the Joe Rocket Lira. Gussets at the back of the shoulders provide a bit more range when reaching forward towards the bars, and side zippers at the lower waist allow two extra inches should the bottom edge of the jacket be constricting. There are also snap adjustments at the true side waist to customize the fit.

The Joe Rocket Ladies Lira jacket is a classic-styled women’s motorcycle jacket that can straddle a variety of genres from cruisers to sport bikes, making it an excellent choice for anyone who has more than one bike in the garage.