SOUNDING like it’s named after the room where you keep the wine, the Alpinestars Celer jacket looks tastier than a 1975 Romanee-Conti Burgandy, and at £449.99, it’s a lot cheaper too.
The recently updated Celer landed on my desk the other day. I haven’t had a chance to use it much yet, but I thought I’d give you my first impressions.
The Celer is constructed from a combination of 1.3mm-thick leather and abrasive resistant stretch panels. It has a selection of closable vents, and includes a hump on the back. That’s not say it isn’t for the posers, because all of the above is wrapped up in a well-styled package that comes in several different colour options aside from the red, white and black you see here.
There’s armour in all the places you’d expect – with CE approved shoulder and elbow protection plus external injection molded pads on the shoulders and elbows. The chest area is also padded, and although I’m not sure how much difference that’s going to make in a high-speed off, it should be enough to ward off the sting of an occasional stone flicked up from the road.
The Dynamic Flow Control venting by the collarbone looks like it’s capable of allowing lots of air in. The vent at the small of the back is meant to allow heat to escape; although with a back protector in I think it’s questionable how much benefit this will actually offer.
I wore the Celer as I typed this and aside from looking faster, was impressed to find that the quilted thermal liner had me sweating. It’s not going to keep you toasty in the depths of winter or on a fast road when the temperature drops, but it will help extend the usable life of this jacket beyond the end of summer. The liner also presents the only niggle I've got so far; I have to be careful taking the jacket off when the liner is in because, unless I carefully hold it when taking my arms out of the sleeves, it feels like I'm about to rip off the tabs which secure it to the arms of the jacket.
The fit is sleek and snug but unrestrictive, and can be tailored thanks to the Velcro wrist and waist tabs. The wrist closures in particular provide a superb, svelte fit although at the expense of space for my watch, which is made to dig uncomfortably into my wrist.
I’ll be posting a full review soon.
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