Jacket review: Richa Daytona 2 tried and tested

Leather motorcycle jackets that look good on all types of bike are, oddly, relatively hard to find. Sporty is easy, and so is out-and-out retro, but finding a timeless and well-spec’d jacket that I’d feel as at home with on my SP-2 or 996 as I do riding the DesertX or my VFR800F is a little harder. But this Richa Daytona 2 pulls it off.

After much hunting around online, I eventually stumbled across Richa’s Daytona 2 leather jacket. Not only does it look suitably well detailed and classy, but it also doesn’t shout ‘look at me!’, feel overtly retro, modern, sporty or any other niche you care to mention.

Is the Richa Daytona 2 comfortable?

Slipping into the enveloping buffalo hide Daytona 2 for the first time, I was immediately impressed with how supple and forgiving it felt. There was none of that new-jacket bedding-in period shenanigans, no forced stretches or niggly areas of cardboard-like rigidity to break in.

I’m a lumpy collection of body parts, but there’s also not a single area of fit that jars. The neoprene lined collar doesn’t dig in, the sleeves are the right length, it sits right at the hips and has enough malleability to cope with my middle-aged spread while still allowing me to breathe.

Available in sizes 36 to 54, it caters for a wide range of human forms. I suffer badly from cake retention, and wear the 52. I’d say the fit is exactly to size, and well-formed for my ill-formed shape.

There’s also waist adjustment available via tabs which secure to poppers, and the cuffs are zip-closure, giving a degree of flexibility for coping with various glove options. As well as the zip at the cuff, there’s also a poppered tab that gives further adjustment options.

Is the Richa Daytona 2 practical?

For chilly days, there’s a zip-in quilted liner which adds a little bit of bulk, and a little bit of warmth, too. It’s not going to allow you forge Scott-like into the icy wastelands of the Arctic, but it takes the chill off on cold Spring mornings and evenings, and takes no time at all to add/remove at will.

The jacket itself boasts a lovely tartan liner and while I’ve not ridden in anything about 21°C yet, it’s definitely comfy as low as 10°C without the liner fitted. There are four external pockets, all zipped and all big enough to swallow and iPhone8 or a wallet or keys etc, while there’s also three internal pockets capable of the same.

Does the Richa Daytona 2 look good?

I can’t tell you if you should like the looks, but I love it. Simple, timeless, chameleon-like in its multi-bike suitability – it’s an instant classic in my eyes. If you like the looks, but want something that feels more overtly like a retro jacket, go for the Brown option instead.

Is the Richa Daytona 2 good quality?

After a few thousand miles, the only clues to it not being brand-new are the flies which have sacrificed themselves to it. You wouldn’t expect any wear and tear yet, and there’s none to report – while I can say that all the zips and pockets are getting regular use and none have stuck or failed – which often happens fast if it’s going to.

The leather looks and feels beautiful, it cleans up well, and there are no areas where it looks like the factory skimped on time, effort or care.

Does the Richa Daytona 2 offer good protection?

Finding a timeless design and decent protection is actually surprisingly, and disappointingly, difficult. I found a mass of jackets that looked great, but which were all only A rated for safety. Great if you want to walk to the pub, or hop across town on moped, but I wouldn’t want to risk much more than that.

The Daytona 2 meets the more acceptable AA rating, which the bare minimum I’d recommend for normal road riding. AAA would be even better, but there are very few leather jackets offering that.

Armour comes from highly respected gurus of comfortable high-quality inserts, D3O, and you get elbow, shoulder and back protection as standard. There’s also a short zip to give you connectivity to your trousers, if you wish.

I usually wear an airbag gilet over the top to give me a bit extra protection when I’m tanking around the countryside, but the level of protection on offer means I’m also perfectly at ease wearing it standalone.

Is the Richa Daytona 2 good value?

The thinner members of the biking population can get the Daytona 2 for £339.99, those of a more rounded disposition (size 52 and 54) will have to stump up a little more (£373.99) to allow for the extra buffalo and cotton that was sacrificed in producing your jacket. But even at the higher price, the Daytona 2 represents excellent value for money amongst its peers and competitors.

The verdict

There’s really nothing I can suggest to improve the Daytona 2 – beyond getting it up to the AAA CE rating to really deliver ultimate peace of mind. You’re getting a quality looking, quality feeling leather jacket that’s well lined, well spec’d, thoughtfully designed and well put together – with a decent AA CE safety rating – and all for a price that is entirely fair. It feels like it’ll last a decade, and I can’t imagine I’d be any less keen to wear it if it does.

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