Rukka is now offering a climate control vest for motorcyclists

When you’re riding a motorcycle, you’re out in the elements. When the weather is hot, you’re hot. When it’s cold, you’re cold. But, Rukka is looking to change that.

Heated motorcycle gear has been around for a while, as well as cooling vests, but Rukka’s M-Clima vest (originally designed in Spain) is the first piece of gear we’ve seen that does both jobs.

Currently, most cooling vests on the market work by using a material that soaks up water and forces slowed evaporation. One of the immediately obvious disadvantages of this arrangement is that the vest can leak water all over your crotch, causing bystanders to suspect you’re incontinent.

The Rukka vest avoids this shameful disgrace by relying on good old-fashioned air cooling, not liquid cooling. Well, sort of. The M-Clima vest uses a blower fan to pump air around your body, which enhances your body’s own built-in liquid-cooling process (aka “sweating.”). Instead of stewing in your sweaty leathers, the M-Clima vest circulates air, which aids evaporation, and keeps you cool. It’s the same sort of idea as wearing a mesh jacket, except you can wear the M-Clima under a leather jacket with no vents.

The M-Clima can circulate seven litres of air per second, and will even work its air circulation system off the bike, with two hours of battery reserve. This will be especially welcome to riders who are tired of sweating to death as soon as they get off their motorcycle.

Then, there’s the warming function of the jacket. It’s basically the same as most other heated gear out there, but instead of wires, it uses flexible semi-conductive silicone panels that heat up when connected to the motorcycle’s 12v power supply.

There’s also a remote that allows you to change the vest temperature without fiddling with inside-the-jacket controls, and

All very useful stuff if you ride motorcycles in a climate that swings between bone-chilling cold and scorching heat, like Scandinavia (where Rukka is made) … or Canada. Alas, as far as we know, nobody’s officially selling Rukka gear in Canada right now, and even if they were, we understand the M-Clima vest is pretty pricey (we’ve seen prices around $1,200 in the US).