Draggin’ Jeans – HoleShot Motorcycle Jean Review

Draggin’ Jeans – HoleShot Motorcycle Jean Review
Final Say
If you are a rider that does a lot of commuting or around town errands, these jeans would be ideal. They let you walk around downtown without drawing attention to yourself while still staying protected at the same time.
Pros
Comfortable even in the 90s. Good airflow.
Break in really fast and easily.
Comfortable right out of the box
Cons
Pockets are not very deep
The color blue is a little brighter than I would like
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Draggin’ Jeans – HoleShot Motorcycle Jean Review

I’ve been riding for years and have tried out all sorts of protective gear, especially when it comes to riding pants. I’ve worn full 1 piece suits, textile overpants, leather pants, vented pants, and motorcycle jeans. Some of those outfits make you look like an astronaut who missed the shuttle launch and decided to ride a motorcycle instead. This is especially true if you find yourself wandering through a grocery store in full motorcycle gear. You get some strange looks.

The HoleShot jeans aim to solve that problem once and for all.

Draggin Jeans is an Australian company that has been producing products since 1997. They have been trying to solve the problem of keeping people safe while still allowing them to look casual. This is a very worthy cause! If safety gear looks cool (or doesn’t look like safety gear), then people are much more willing to wear it.

Initial impressions

Draggin’ sent me a pair of HoleShot jeans for review last month and I’ve been riding around in them all over Idaho. We’ve been having a heat wave here lately so anything that will let me stay out of leather pants is a plus.

The first thing that struck me about the HoleShot is the price. It retails for $450, which is about 2x-3x as much as many other offerings in the motorcycle jean department. To be blunt, I was skeptical whether the jeans would be worth this price.

After riding around with them for a month, I KNOW they are worth it!

Initial impressions

Draggin’ sent me a pair of HoleShot jeans for review last month and I’ve been riding around in them all over Idaho. We’ve been having a heat wave here lately so anything that will let me stay out of leather pants is a plus.

The first thing that struck me about the HoleShot is the price. It retails for $450, which is about 2x-3x as much as many other offerings in the motorcycle jean department. To be blunt, I was skeptical whether the jeans would be worth this price.

After riding around with them for a month, I KNOW they are worth it!

The first thing that strikes you when you receive these jeans is the weight. They are HEAVY, and with good reason. They are fully lined all the way through with a ‘mesh sports liner’. That gives you 7.45 secs road abrasion resistance, more than enough for anything you would encounter on city streets.

When I felt the weight of these jeans I assumed that would make them incredibly hot and uncomfortable. Boy was I wrong. I tried them on and after a few moments I realized that they breath incredibly well.

Like I mentioned, where I live has been going through a heat wave while I’ve been trying out these jeans. Although it’s never fun riding around in 95 °F weather, some gear can make riding in that heat intolerable. The HoleShot jeans were just the opposite. They breathed really well and allowed me to stay relatively cool while riding. I’m very curious how they will hold up in cooler weather because the air-flow was so good. Expect an update from me on this article when the temperature starts to drop.

Not perfect

These jeans have excellent protection and breathability, but there are some things I’m not ecstatic about. Unfortunately, many of those qualities have to do with the look of the jeans themselves.

First, the jeans have a look I lovingly refer to as ‘old man jeans’. They look like a pair of wranglers my dad would wear in the summer. From the bright blue color to the thread design on the back pocket. The look is very ‘classic’, and not very modern at all.

I was hoping they would look more like a pair of Diesel jeans, or maybe Gap jeans with a darker wash, especially with the price they are. Alas, they don’t. I don’t think they look bad by any means, but they don’t look like most of the other jeans I wear on a regular basis that sport a darker color of blue. Granted, that is just my own personal style preference.

The other thing that doesn’t make too much sense is the pocket sizing. The front pockets on these jeans are very shallow, barely big enough to hold my wallet. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note phone and it is much too big to put in the front pocket of these jeans. I know it is a larger phone, but I would have been happier if the pockets were a bit deeper.

It also has an ‘extra wide’ coin pocket in the front. I’m not sure the purpose of it. Because it is so shallow, I feel anything placed in that pocket would simply fall out while riding.

Amazing quality

The thing I am most curious about is how these jeans will hold up over time. They look and feel like they are EXTREMELY well made. However, the true test will be how well they stay together over time. I’ve already tested them for a month, but how will they hold up over 2 or 3 years? I imagine quite well.

They do have indicators that speak to the quality. The first is strong YKK zippers. I didn’t know or care too much about zippers until I started riding motorcycles and had so many generic zippers break on me. I am a huge fan of YKK because they last a long time and don’t typically break. I’m glad to see them incorporated into these HoleShot jeans.

There is also lots of double/ stitching and reinforced stitching through these pants. There are even some areas of the pants that have triple stitching like where the zipper connects to the pants. This is a VERY good sign.

Video Review

How they fit and extra bits

These jeans are extremely comfortable right out of the box. I would compare them to Levi’s 501 when it comes to the fit. Not too baggy around the legs, but also not so tight that they are constricting. I actually really love wearing these jeans and the inner mesh liner makes them extremely comfortable. The ‘break in’ period was practically non-existent and these have quickly become my primary riding pants.

They also have little extras incorporated throughout the design that show these were created by people who actually ride motorcycle. One of those extras is the feet loops. I’m not sure what these are really called, but on the end of each pant leg where your foot comes out there are loops to put your heel through. This keeps the jeans down so they don’t ride up as you slip them into a boot.

Most of the time I didn’t utilize these loops because of the types of boots I wear force the jeans to ride outside the boot. Those loops are easy to tuck away if you don’t need them though. If you are wearing race boots or any boots where you tuck your jeans into them, these little loops would be awesome.

I also really like the length of these pants. I’m 5’10” and about 160 lbs and I have pretty long legs. I typically wear 30w32L size jeans because I like my jeans with a little extra material near the feet. This is especially helpful for riding jeans because when you are on a motorcycle you bend your knees which tends to make your pants ride up your shins. The extra length on these HoleShot pants ensures they stay where they are suppose to. If you have extremely short legs though, you might find there is too much material bunched near the boots.

The HoleShot jeans also come with optional armor inserts you can place in the knees and the hips. They are relatively easy to put in and add that extra layer of safety that makes you feel comfortable riding around.

Get a pair of these jeans

If you are a rider that does a lot of commuting or around town errands, these jeans would be ideal. They let you walk around downtown without drawing attention to yourself while still staying protected at the same time.

The jeans offer so much protection I would even feel safe wearing them during aggressive canyon carving. The armor, and CE level abrasion resistance is fantastic. Plus they would help you stay cool even if you are riding in hot weather.

They do have that larger price tag, but I really think these jeans are worth it. If Draggin’ ever comes out with another version that offers a darker wash and fixes the pocket issues, I’d be tempted to pick up another pair.

Pros:

  • Comfortable even in the 90s. Good airflow.
  • Break in really fast and easily.
  • Comfortable right out of the box
  • The hooks for the feet can be tucked away if you don’t need them
  • Feel very safe and protected in these

Cons:

  • Pockets are not very deep
  • The color blue is a little brighter than I would like