Adventure motorcycle gear has to cover a lot of bases. Your excursions may include on and off-road stretches, you’ll probably have extra storage needs, and weather conditions will vary. You can’t outwit Mother Nature, but you can outfit yourself with serious ADV gear. The Klim Artemis jacket and pants are the brand’s flagship adventure gear for women, and both pieces are thoughtfully designed and deal with the variety of conditions one expects on a two-wheeled adventure. This is premium gear, chock full of features, and comfortable right off the rack. The jacket and pants combo is ready for all-day rides, and their purposeful style is aesthetically pleasing.
From a safety perspective, the Artemis gear has you covered for both abrasion and impact protection. Gore-Tex is the main construction material in the Artemis gear, along with high abrasion-resistant SuperFabric and 630D Cordura fabric at strategic stress points and potential sliding zones. Less vulnerable areas use a lighter fabric to keep the gear more pliable. Leather patches on the inner knees provide grip on the bike and protection from engine heat.
D3O CE Level 1 armor is installed at the shoulders, elbows, and back for impact protection. The D3O armor is flexible, doesn’t inhibit movement, and creates a protective feeling as soon as I slide into the jacket. Additionally, the armor is vented to keep air moving when the zipper vents are open. The armor is easily removable and upgraded to CE Level 2, which we recommend (but haven’t tested).
The Artemis pants have the same D3O CE Level 1 protection at the knees and hips. I’ll admit that one of the first things I do when I get a new pair of pants is remove the hip protection. It’s usually uncomfortable, horribly unflattering, or both. That is not the case with the Artemis pants, as I am not even aware the armor is installed while I’m riding.
However, the first time I sat down with my legs bent at a 90-degree angle—in a restaurant booth—I started fumbling around to see If I’d left something awkward in my pants pocket. The obstruction that got my attention turned out to be the hip pads. In my case, the hip pads sit at and extend just below my hip bone, overlaying the crease between my hip and thigh. Straddling a bike doesn’t cause a conflict but sitting on a chair or in a booth does. Luckily, it is easy to slide them out of their dedicated interior pockets.
If your riding adventures extend into the evening hours, you’ll appreciate the reflective strips deliberately positioned on the gear—and not just on the upper back of the jacket. The reflective strips also show up on the upper and lower sleeves, and on the back of the upper thigh and pants cuffs, creating a recognizable ‘map’ of reflective material that our brains read as ‘human’ in low-light conditions.
I generally plan my adventures for the warmer months of the year, and the Artemis jacket and pants are well-prepared to keep you cool. There are eight zippered vents on the jacket and four on the pants. The YKK zippers have smooth action, so I can easily zip and unzip the vents on the sleeves, thighs, and chest with one hand while riding. This is totally handy for changing conditions.
With all zipper vents open, the Artemis gear flows a nice amount of air when you’re moving. The jacket is hot when waiting for a stubborn light to acknowledge our presence and start counting down to change on hot summer days. A few seconds after the light turns green and I get moving, the air immediately flows through the open vents and cools me down.
In addition to the vents, the jacket has collar tabs so you can pull open the collar and anchor the edges down. This flows more air and keeps the collar from flapping around. You can also make use of the two-way zipper, unzipping from the top and bottom of the jacket, while keeping it secured around your middle.
The Klim Artemis jacket’s front zipper placket can be secured via four strips of Velcro to seal the jacket in inclement weather conditions—a very welcome feature. However, when I am off the motorcycle and have the jacket unzipped, the Velcro tabs on the sleeve cuffs catch on the placket’s Velcro when I reach for my wallet in the Napoleon pocket. This Velcro skirmish occurred repeatedly, and the cuff Velcro is the offending party. Unless you cinch the tab adjustments on the sleeves to their tightest positions, some Velcro will always be exposed and ready to catch on things.
One of the best things about ADV gear is the number and variety of pockets, which always make me feel a bit like MacGyver as I start outfitting them with essentials. Of course, we expect there will be two zippered hand pockets. However, Klim has extra features I hadn’t even thought to wish for—inside the right hand-pocket is a partitioned space perfectly sized for a ChapStick, as well as another that is sized for a pass case.
This interior divider is made from a slightly stretchy fabric to keep the items stationary, with enough room to get them in and out. I also appreciate the tether clip on the elastic band inside the left hand-pocket. Yes, the pocket is zippered, but if I’ve forgotten to zip up before I take off riding, I’m glad for the backup clip to keep my keys from getting away.
There is a small pocket on the left forearm you can slide a credit card or driver’s license into. The pocket features the asterisk symbol, alerting first responders that an emergency medical card may be inside.
A standard map pocket outfits the lower back of the Artemis jacket. While few people are probably carrying paper maps these days, the roomy pocket fits an extra pair of gloves or other useful items. For serious adventuring, there is a small MOLLE panel on the right chest of the jacket, plus one on the right pant leg, for attaching all-manner of extra goodies, whether small tools or pouches. Smugglers will appreciate the hidden pocket in the jacket liner inside the back protector pocket—maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned this one.
The Artemis pants are similarly well-designed and are cut wide enough to fit over bulky off-road boots. A zipper and three snaps allow customization. There are two generous-length zipper vents on the front of the thighs, with corresponding exhaust vents down the back of the thighs. Don’t confuse the thigh zipper vent with the zipper pocket, which is parallel to the vent but farther around the outside of your leg. I stashed a three-page folded document into a vent, thinking it was a pocket, and didn’t find it for a week. Also, the pants’ mesh liner is very comfortable.
The overall fit of the Klim Artemis gear is relaxed without being sloppy. The jacket fit true-to-size, but I had to drop down a size on the pants. There are personalization options at the waist and hem of the jacket, and side zippers for comfort when straddling a bike. Additionally, there are straps on the lower and upper arms, and just below the knee, for snugging the fit of the elbow and knee protection. Gussets at the shoulders and under the arms keep the gear from binding as you move, an important safety factor, keeping you comfortable for long stretches in the saddle.
A particularly nice touch is the soft collar liner on the Artemis jacket. I sometimes find collars compromised by a scratchy seam along the top that irritates my neck. Similarly appreciated is the soft leather trim at the cuffs.
You don’t have to go on a weekend adventure to appreciate your Artemis jacket and pants. Having trimmed down to a single four-wheeled vehicle family almost a year ago, I was determined to keep up my ride-not-drive to work vow one recent rainy morning, even though I avoid riding in the rain—not hard to do in Southern California. However, I realized I had no excuse with the Klim Artemis jacket and pants at the ready. Time to mix things up on the freeway during a wet commute.
Although most ADV gear has a waterproof liner that zips in and out, the Artemis jacket and pants do not. Instead, the “guaranteed to keep you dry” Gore-Tex shell does just that. Despite water coming at me from various directions—the sky, spraying off passing vehicles, and from puddles I splashed through—none of it got through the jacket or pants, nor was anything in my pockets wet.
I also stayed nicely warm. Conditions were chilly—just above 50 degrees Fahrenheit—but with all the vents zipped tight, the predominantly polyester fabric (both inner liner and outer shell) kept me comfortable wearing a base layer and a long sleeve shirt.
As essential as functionality is, style is also important for women’s riding gear. Most ADV gear for females isn’t particularly flattering—we don’t like walking into the convenience store looking like we’re wearing MC Hammer’s old parachute pants. The cut and fit of the Klim Artemis jacket and pants are as good as it gets in the adventure apparel genre.
By its nature, adventure gear has many features—we expect good storage, ventilation, flexibility for weather conditions, and protection. The Artemis jacket and pants deliver these essentials with top-of-the-line materials and design, with an impressive additional layer of detail. The Klim Artemis jacket and pants are a purposeful go-to set of motorcycle apparel that provides a secure feeling of protection and transparent comfort, and looks sharp.
Klim Artemis Jacket Fast Facts
- Sizes: XS – 2X
- Armor: D3O CE Level 1 elbows, shoulders, and back (Level 2 optional)
- CE Rating: AA
- Colors: Peyote – Potter’s Clay; Monument Gray – Wintermint; Hi-Vis
Klim Artemis Jacket Price: $750 MSRP
Klim Artemis Pants Fast Facts
- Sizes: Reg, 0-16; Tall, 6-12
- Armor: D3O CE Level 1 knees and hips (Level 2 optional)
- CE Rating: AA
- Colors: Peyote – Potter’s Clay; Monument Gray – Wintermint; Stealth Black
Klim Artemis Pants Price: $570 MSRP
Klim Artemis Pants and Jacket Review Photo Gallery
