Icon Anthem 2 Mesh Pants

These pants are sold in men’s waist sizes. The pants are already over-sized with the idea you’d wear them over jeans or other street clothes. The actual waistband measurement of each size pant is pretty consistently about 2” larger than stated which should provide enough room for even bulky clothes underneath. The waist has an adjustment tab at the waist closure so you can snug down the waist from its max size about 2” if necessary.

If you plan to wear these pants over shorts, underwear, or similar thin clothing, then I’d advise you to buy one size smaller than your normal jean size. The overall size and cut of the pants is generous, so if you are sometimes between two sizes, then try the smaller.

These pants have two side waist adjusters and also the front buckle closure adds a bit more adjustment. The sizing advice I’m giving is for the pant adjusters in the full open position, so you’ll be able to snug down the waist from these estimates.

We tried the size 34 in this pant on Huey who wears a 34 in jeans and they worked just fine.

Below is the chart Icon provides for the pant’s inseam measurement. I checked with a tape and the inseams measure out correctly for each size pant.

Need help measuring? Get it here.

The Anthem 2 mesh pants are a new revision of the original Anthem Mesh Overpants. These pants can be worn as either an overpant, or as pants over underwear. And the pant’s shell is largely mesh material so they’ll be most useful in mild to hot weather.

A great deal of the outer shell is flow-through mesh material and in the knees and seat, which are likely impact areas, the pants have solid textile material. The pants come with CE knee protectors, and the pockets that hold the protectors are a “three way” design which allows you to adjust how high up in the leg the armor rides so you can fine tune the fit. Don’t get too excited about the knee protection in a loose-fit overpant like this though. Sure, you’ll get some effect from having the armor in place, but the unstructured nature of the mesh materials and the loose cut don’t do a lot to keep that armor in its intended position. And it’s not just this overpant, many overpant designs are made this way, so it is not a pan just to this model. It is really just a design compromise between a comfortable loose pant like this and more sport pant designs that are snug but hold the armor in place better.

This “2” version of the pants adds strips of black leather down the inseam area of each leg, I would presume for “grip” on the bike and perhaps to resist melting from hot engine parts. I’m just guessing though… it could be just a design feature. Although the leather wouldn’t melt like the textile materials as easy, the width of the leather strip isn’t wide enough to prevent melting. Anyway, let’s just say it’s for “grip” and looks.

I like the way the waist is highly adjustable (see my comments on fit above), and the waist closure buckle is very sturdy. One thing that has been designed out is a lower leg zipper. The pants have pretty wide legs and perhaps the side zipper feature isn’t really needed. These should be plenty wide to wear over jeans if you like, although to take the pants off, you might have to take off your boots.

Overall a nice pair of stylish protective pants for hot weather wear. Please take the “View Larger Images” link above to see some good shots of this pant’s features. It is all pretty self explanatory. :: Paul, 03-13-15