Klim Badlands Pro V5 Gore-Tex Trousers - High Rise / Monument

At this point I should probably stop pretending I’m shocked by Klim prices. I have enough of their stuff now to know the routine: look at the price, decide it’s ridiculous, buy it anyway!

The V5 Badlands Pro trousers are substantial. They feel heavy when you first pick them up and there’s getting around that, but once I’m on the bike I don’t notice it. The armour is huge compared with most riding trousers (Klims new EXP stuff is physically larger, in larger pockets, and designed to protect more of you vs even last years 'standard' D3O), but it sits where it should and doesn’t make them uncomfortable.

I bought these because I wanted one pair of trousers I could put on for a full day on the bike without having to study the weather first. I don’t want to stop under a bridge and start pulling waterproofs over everything because it’s suddenly raining. With these, you just shut the vents and carry on.

On that subject, the vents are surprisingly effective. They’re obviously not mesh trousers and I wouldn’t choose them for crawling through traffic in 35-degree heat, but once you’re moving they flow a reasonable amount of air. For our British weather, where it can be warm, cold and pouring with rain during the same ride, they make a lot of sense to me.

I like the Asphalt and Hi-Vis colour as well. There’s enough yellow to make them a bit more visible without looking like a pair of council-issue waterproofs.

So - in summary. They’re not light and they certainly aren’t cheap. No pair of motorcycle trousers needs to cost this much, frankly. But I also know that when I’m heading out for a long day and the forecast is completely pot luck, these are the ones I’ll reach for.

So there we are. Klim have got me again.