Alpinestars Switch Drystar Pants :: MotorcycleGear.com

Alpinestars Switch Drystar Pants

  • Constructed from brushed, PU coated polyamide fabric for increased abrasion and water resistance
  • Waterproof and breathable Drystar® liner
  • Secure sliding hook closure
  • Elasticized rear yoke
  • Pre-curved legs for superior fit and riding comfort
  • Alpinestars leg adjustment system allows fine tuning of lower hem length and knee protection height
  • Two external chino style pockets
  • Extended zippered boot gussets
  • Belt loops
  • Removable thigh warmer
  • Impact protection provided by removable CE certified knee protectors
  • Internal hip pad compartments with ergonomically tapered PE comfort padding
  • Integrated high visibility reflective piping improves rider visibility in poor light conditions

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Sizing Information

Well, Lucy, it seems we have “some splainin’” to do with this style! The pants are sold in ordinary US Alpha sizes and Alpinestars offers a chart to estimate the waist size for each alpha size. The conversion estimates are about what you’d expect for each US alpha size but the actual pants are a LOT smaller than what Alpinestars estimates. With a sizing issue as bad as this one, I might opt to just not sell them, but I find the design and style of the overall pant to be pretty good, so I’m going to give it a shot. We work pretty hard at our sizing advice and we hope that the advice is taken in good spirit. In other words, if you use our advice, we hope like heck you are happy, but with a size issue like this, there is a lot of room to go wrong! Anyway, we’ve developed a chart showing what Alpinestars advises and what we observed during our test. We hope to get more definitive size measurements from Alpinestars soon so we can fill out the table for you more thoroughly. Until then, you can extrapolate just as well as me.

The overall fit of the pants is trim through the seat and crotch… sort of like slim fit jeans, and they are fairly low rise as compared to other motorcycle pants which typically come up much higher on your waist. If you like a slim fit/low rise style, then you may well like these very much.

The inseam of the pants can be altered by way of a zip-off extension on the pant legs (hence the name “Switch Pants”?). Judging by the measured inseams, the pants are typical for a “regular” inseam without the extension and are about like a “tall” with the extension.

Alpha Size Alpinestars Waist
Size Estimate
Our Waist
Size Estimate
Measured Inseam
No Ext/With Ext
Small 31 to 32.5 ? ?
Medium 33.5 to 35 32 30.5/34
Large 36 to 37.5 33 32/35
XL 38 to 39.5 34 33/36
XXL 40.5 to 42 ? ?
XXXL 43 to 44.5 ? ?
XXXXL 45 to 47 ? ?

Need help measuring? Get it here.

Our Two Cents

The Switch Pants by Alpinestars are part of their “City Collection”. The pants are highly functional and well made and the overall styling is “low key”. Basically they look like high quality jeans or hiking pants, so you’ll feel comfortable wearing these on or off the bike. These pants can be paired with other Alpinestars jackets by way of the full-around zipper or the pants have belt loops you can use with your own belt (a handy feature I wish was on all MC pants). The pants are built with a waterproof/breathable liner for inclement weather. The pants will work best in cooler or cold weather since they are waterproof and have no provisions for venting. Speaking of cold weather, you get a removable quilted liner that goes down to just above the knees. This liner will offer some good insulation in cold weather. The pants come with high quality knee armor and some thin hip pads (hip pads can’t be very substantial or they’d be uncomfortable when sitting). One slick feature I explain above is the zip-off pant extension which allows you to make the pants have a longer effective inseam (see more above). Although the pants have short gusset zippers at the ankle, they are not full length side zippers like you’d find on over-pant designs so these pants are made to be worn over underwear and not over street clothes. I suppose you could do that if you bought a size larger than recommended, but the overall fit is pretty trim, so having street clothes underneath would only work for those who were pretty skinny.

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