Hot-weather motorcycle gear in Canada: mesh jackets, summer pants and gloves, and what protection you keep

Mesh is the answer to a hot ride, and it is also the part of the jacket that gives the least abrasion cover. The good news is that a mesh jacket can still carry an EN 17092 class and CE armour, so you do not have to ride in a heavy textile jacket in July. The catch is that most listings do not say. Of the 378 jacket pages in ALLR’s Canadian catalog that match “mesh”, 274 (72.5%) state no EN 17092 class; 68 state Class A, 32 AA and 4 AAA (ALLR data, counted 2026-10-21). This guide covers what to look for in a mesh jacket, summer pants, gloves and cooling layers, with live CA$ landed prices. It is the warm-weather twin of our cold-weather gear guide.

What you give up with mesh, and what you keep

Mesh moves air through the jacket, so it is made of an open knit or perforated panel rather than a dense woven fabric. Two points from the sources are worth knowing before you buy:

• SATRA’s description of EN 17092 says all removable liners, “for example, waterproof or thermal”, are removed for the abrasion test and the weakest combination is tested. A mesh jacket with a zip-in waterproof liner is therefore rated without the liner, and the liner does not add abrasion class. See the AAA, AA and A guide for the full class table.
• SATRA’s EN 17092 page describes abrasion, seam strength and fit and ergonomics assessments, but it does not give a ventilation or breathability requirement, so a class tells you what the garment survives, not how cool it is. Cooling comes from the design, which makes the product description the place to look.
• The MotoCAP technical guide covers the size, location and closure of vents, leather perforation and mesh materials as factors that affect crash protection, as well as how construction affects comfort in different weather (Ultimate Motorcycling summary). The same summary notes that knits perform worse than wovens or leather in an outer layer, so a mesh panel is where abrasion cover is thinnest.

A practical reading: the high-wear zones (shoulders, elbows, hips, knees) are usually where makers put denser fabric, and the mesh sits in the chest, back and upper arms. If a page shows mesh across those impact zones and states no class, treat it as a summer layer for low-speed riding, not as a crash-rated jacket.

Mesh jackets and pants in the Canadian catalog

Armour is stated more often than class. Among the 378 mesh jackets, 89 state Level 1 armour and 69 state Level 2; for the 92 pants, 21 state Level 1 and 20 Level 2. Medians for classed mesh jackets are CA$293.39 for Class A (n=64) and CA$345.65 for AA (n=31). Only four jacket pages state AAA, too few for a reliable median, so we do not quote one.

Example hot-weather gear with landed prices

Note the range: the jackets above run from CA$250 to CA$300, and the same maker’s pants cost about CA$230. A full mesh jacket-and-pant set from one maker (Icon, for example) therefore lands near CA$500 before tax. Browse jackets, pants, gloves and base layers, or maker pages for Icon, Richa and Alpinestars.

Gloves, shirts and cooling layers

• Summer gloves can still be EN 13594 Level 1 with knuckle protection (KP), as the two examples above state. Our gloves guide explains the levels.
• A protective riding shirt such as the Merlin above replaces a jacket for short trips, but check whether the page states armour, as this one does not. The riding-shirts catalog lists the stated classes.
• These manage temperature, not impact or abrasion: the Alpinestars cooling vest above states no class and no armour. Treat it as an addition under a jacket that already has a class.

Buying summer gear from outside Canada

ALLR’s landed estimate adds shipping, estimated duty and a brokerage allowance to the item price. For jackets, pants and gloves of textile it uses 18% duty, and for leather jackets and pants 13%, from the 2026 Customs Tariff schedule; it does not include GST, HST or PST. Goods originating in the US, EU or UK are listed as “Free” in the tariff’s preferential columns for the lines we checked (helmets, gloves, boots and trousers), but ALLR’s estimate does not model that relief, so a pair of US-made gloves may land lower than the figure shown. Use the import duty calculator for a single order and our Canada buying guide to compare local, US and overseas stores.

Check the landed price

Each product page ranks stores by landed price to Canada; the method is on the methodology page. For a first full kit, see the beginner kit under $1,000, and for boots our boots guide. Rain is the other summer problem; see the rain gear guide.