Need jacket suggestions: Bright green, CE armor and winter.

[PGWIN]

Any suggestions to look at?

I'm looking for a bright green (bicyclist super visibilty green), CE armor jacket that is worthy of winter and ideally has good enough venting for summer days up to 95F (lowest priority), and integrateable with riding pants is a must.

The only candidates i've sean were the Tourmaster EPIC -but several reviews indicated quality was an issue: http://www.webbikeworld.com/r4/tourmaster-epic-jacket/

I'm reallistically looking at $150 for the jacket.  But maybe i should consider a non-bright green and put a hi vis vest on it to open up some options.

Thanks for any guideance.

[happycommuter]

You're really limiting yourself with such a low price.   Even mesh stuff is rarely below that at full retail.  Newenough.com used to have a whole section for kawi green items because they were such poor sellers, but that's gone now.  They do have this green visibility vest (imagine the odd brand tag could be removed) for $15.  Icon has a more substantial version.

Olympia has their Roadcrafter competitor, the Phantom (which is a full suit) in dayglo limon, also the AST jacket version.

The First Gear Kilmanjaro is another great jacket available in this shade, at similar price.

[LOKi]

For winter I would go with a textile jacket. Great for the winter. Keeps the wind off you, water proof and armored. Problem is that wind proof part. Your going to find just about any textile jacket way to  in 95 degree weather. Winter is right around the corner so I would just focus on a winter jacket for now. When summer comes then you can look into a mesh jacket for those really hot days. Even though most mesh jackets come with wind and water proofing liners I would not rely on those for winter.

[ROJ]

My jacket, Joe Rocket Alter Ego, is great in Fall/Winter when both the internal liner and external cover are on. Downside is the brightest colour is comes in is Yellow, and the new ones do not have as much colour on them as the old ones did.

[PGWIN]

Well ok - so i need a summer jacket too.

Thanks - i ordered a Joe Rocket Mesh (Honda) version from NewEnough for $49 (60 to the door) and it has CE shoulder and elbow protectors.  Well this will take care of the summer months. But I'm going to need a bright green cover now.  Though for $50!  I checked a few other sites and same product was $180+.

Now i'll work on the winter jacket w/o distraction - going to that list now.

[PGWIN]

Well i couldn't pass up the deal on the Kilamanjaro 5.0 in Wine/Grey for $109 to the door.

I guess i'll have to get a "high vis green" construction vest to where over it.

Does anyone have any experience with this route?

[Custom82Hawk]

my honest opinion, for the best protection, would be something leather.  it's hotter, i understand that, but i can vouch from personal experience that it does not tear, even at 55+ mph.  i know leather motorcycle jackets are expensive, so there's always the "biker jacket" approach with a "reflective vest" to throw over it.  those vests are fairly cheap cost wise and provide a LOT of visibility.  so yeah, you could get a mesh jacket with padding that will fall apart when you crash and burn at higher speeds and get the road rash that will scar you for life, or get leather and not have all the "padding" and not get any road rash at all.  cause no jacket is going to stop broken bones, but road rash is not fun.