Alpinestars Megaton Drystar Jacket

These jackets are sold in US based “alpha” sizes, so selecting a size is basically pretty easy. For most people, you would choose the size you normally wear in men’s clothing. Alpinestars publishes a super-complicated size chart which can be used to pick a size based upon your chest and waist. We’ve condensed their chart down to make it easy to read (see below). The size Medium and XL fit Huey and Dewey very nicely!

The taper of this jacket is about average (meaning how much smaller the waist/belly is than the chest), and will be great for nearly any type of street riders. Alpinestars’ sizing chart lists the recommended waist range and the jacket has a lot of waist size adjustment. Judging by the way the jackets fit and the numbers in the chart, we feel the “waist” sizes they list could more appropriately be considered belly size ranges. Your actual jean size waist could be smaller than what is indicated and you’d still be OK.

When you evaluate the fit of this jacket, you will want to be forgiving if the jacket feels a bit snug with both liners in place. These liners take up room and so if the jacket is not snug, then the jacket will be too loose without the liners. My advice would be to try it on both ways (with and without liners) before you draw any conclusions.

Need help measuring? Get it here.

GOOD-NESS! there is a lot of jacket here! I pity the individual who had to work out all the bells and whistles in this one! When I began writing this review, I was expecting to see a $400 price tag, but I’m pleasantly surprised by this one. We sell a few jackets by other makers that offer the multiple-liner arrangement like this one. The REV’IT! Sand 2 comes to mind and it is decidedly more expensive. The $299 price here is more commensurate with what you’d find in a FirstGear or Tour Master product and the overall build quality of this jacket is a notch above those IMHO… more like a REV’IT! But the price is very reasonable… in fact it compares with the price of much less complicated styles in the Alpinestars lineup that I just reviewed today (Quasar and T-GP Pro). Anyway, I don’t want to belabor the point… I just want to say this jacket is a lot of bang for the buck.

So what am I referring to? It is the “all-season” nature of the design. The jacket is a solid textile but has vents for warmer weather. And for colder weather, it has a removable thermal liner. And for wet weather (cold or hot), it also has a removable rain liner. I took a good number of photos to illustrate how this all works together and to show you the individual liners, so take the “View Larger Images” link above to see all those. You’ll be a bit overwhelmed when you first take this jacket completely apart and put it back together, but keep in mind that you won’t be doing this often. You’ll find yourself using a single configuration for a good bit of each season so it won’t turn out to be as much “fiddling around” with zippers, snaps and such as you might fear just taking it all apart at once. I found the whole thing to work as well as any I’ve seen. There is a bit of color coding of zippers to help you keep it all straight.

So aside from the BIG 4 in 1 setup, the textile shell is a straightforward textile design. Like other Alpinestars jackets, it has CE armor and a foam back pad and chest pads. The back pads and chest pads are nothing special, but can be upgraded to something more robust if you wish (see the links below). The jacket has a good storage pocket arrangement inside and out. Thankfully the pocket arrangement inside is duplicated on both liners, so no matter how you have it configured, you’ll have the same storage options.

Overall, I like this jacket and think it is a great value. There are some folks that like the idea of owning one jacket that will “do it all” and they will be very pleased. Paul, 09-17-13

Did you find the sizing advice and review helpful? We could become friends…