Cortech Adrenaline Pants

The waist in these pants is made of a wide stretchy band which gives a lot of flexibility. We sampled each size and agree with the waist size advice offered by Cortech for this model (see chart below). These sport pants come up on your waist a bit higher than jeans might, so if your belly is bigger than your waist, I’d encourage you to check your measurement just below the navel with a tape, and then use the chart to pick a size. Generally speaking, the size you choose will be the same as what you normally buy in men’s clothing.

Inseam on these pants is approximately 30” (a bit less on the smaller sizes and a bit longer on the bigger sizes). A sport pant like this is designed to only reach to the ankle, so they will fit comfortably on a person who wears around a 33” inseam. Since they are tucked inside boots, the inseam isn’t super critical, but the pants won’t fit those with longer-than-average legs because the armor won’t be in the right position.

Need help measuring? Get it here.

The Cortech Adrenaline pants are a sport/race style leather pant with full armor. The pants are primarily made to be used with Cortech’s Adrenaline jacket (see below). The zipper connections (either the short rear or long zipper) connect to the jacket making a very nice 2pc sport race suit. When you buy the pants, they come with the mating half of the waist zippers, so you could use those mating halves of the two zippers to adapt any other brand sport jacket as well. You’d just have to pay a tailor to install them in the jacket. The pants are made of heavy weight cowhide which looks and feels great. It is thick but soft and won’t require much break in at all to be comfortable. As we discussed above, the waist is a wide stretch material that will be super comfortable either on or off the bike. There is nothing worse than a completely unforgiving waist belt when you are leaned over on a bike, right? But be advised… the stretch waist means you need to be zipped to a jacket in order for the pants to stay up on your body when standing and walking, so if you plan to use these with other jackets, count on installing those zippers (as discussed above). The pants have very nice and substantial knee armor which is firmly held in place to the leather shell itself (rather than being in a fabric pocket as part of the liner). This type of installation means the armor will more likely be where it is supposed to be in case of a fall. These pants are made with a combination of perforated and non-perforated leather, as well as stretchy fabric from the crotch down to the back of the knees and the calves. There are also accordion style expansion panels at the back of the waist and above the knees. This should allow for good freedom of movement as well as comfort in mild to warm climates (no leather pants are comfortable in really hot weather). They are perforated on the front, while the more impact prone areas on the sides and rear are solid leather. There are Velcro panels on the knees for the attachment of knee sliders (not included), as well as lower leg zippers to help get your foot through. With those zippers closed, the pants will be tucked into your race/sport boots. I personally liked the way the pants fit on me and I like the overall race cut. Please take a look at our photo gallery of feature pictures by taking the “View Larger Images” link above. Oh, and please excuse my ample belly…. I don’t generally serve as a model, but this type of sport pants really don’t go on our Fit Check mannequins very well. :: Paul, 11-07-12