I bought my Bering Norris Evo jacket a few years ago in a panic. On short notice, I had been asked to cover the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 launch for T3 and realized that I didn’t have gear that looked ‘adventurey’ enough for photos.
So much of moto-journalism involves playing dress-up. It’s kind of embarrassing. Normally, on a bike like the Pan America, I’d wear my Aerostich Roadcrafter R3 or my Hideout jacket and pants – because I have no intention of going off road on a motorcycle that powerful, heavy, and expensive. But neither of those really fit the rugged aesthetic that we’ve come to expect from adventure bike photos in magazines. Arguably, my HJC RPHA-70 didn’t fit the aesthetic, either, but I wasn’t going to go out and buy a super-expensive lid just for the sake of one article.
With only a few days before the launch, I searched online for an affordable, good-looking jacket that came from a company I had actually heard of and which could be delivered quickly. Cue the Bering Norris Evo, a jacket that has since become a go-to for short, urban/suburban jaunts.
Some numbers
Price: €199 (available for £157 on Amazon)
Sizes: S-4XL
Made in: China (No. 148 on the Democracy Index)
Some background
Bering is a French company, headquartered in the western suburbs of Paris. It’s been in operation for about 30 years, and has earned a reasonably good reputation offering gear across the price spectrum. Its most expensive jacket, the Austral Gore-Tex, will set you back €800; its least expensive jacket, the Nelson, costs just €130.
As best I can tell, Bering is like Oxford or Weise or a number of other gear brands in that it doesn’t actually manufacture any of its clothing. It designs it. Those designs are then sent to a supplier somewhere in the world who actually makes the product and ships it to Bering, who then ships it to wherever it is that you end up buying it. Like Oxford, Bering does its own in-house testing of products before shipping them out to retailers, ensuring they are up to standard.
The company also offers warranties on its gear, so you can have a reasonable expectation of quality. I can’t remember what the warranty was on my jacket. I’m sure it’s expired by now, but that’s fine. It’s still in good condition and I’ve not had any issues.
For its part, Bering describes the Norris Evo as “the ideal urban motorcycle long jacket for riders seeking simplicity and dynamism.” Which means that it’s not intended to be adventurey at all and, arguably, my criticisms should be viewed with that in mind.
Features
The Norris Evo has a comfortable and removable polyester lining. With it attached, the jacket has six pockets: four external and two internal. Remove the liner and you’re down to five pockets, none of which are particularly large.
The jacket itself is made of “Fibre Tech 600D,” which means nothing to me. That is to say, “Fibre Tech” means nothing to me. I’m pretty sure it’s just Bering’s in-house name for polyester. The 600D simply refers to the polyester being 600 denier, which is a weight that’s pretty common for “hard-wearing” items of clothing.
An aside here: Until just now, I’d never gone to the trouble to learn exactly what denier is. Turns out, it’s a measurement of weight – nothing else. And it’s a very strange and seemingly arbitrary measurement of weight.
The denier of a cloth is how much it would weigh in grams if you weighed a single thread that was 9,000 meters long.
So, if you had the material used to make the Norris Evo, and spooled out a thread that was 5.59 miles long, it would, apparently, weigh 600 grams (or 1 lb, 5.16 oz).
Generally speaking, heavier fabric is harder-wearing. But, if you think about it, “heavy” does not necessarily equate to “abrasion-resistant.” The polyester-based material of the Norris Evo feels rugged but it might disappoint in a spill at speeds above 40 mph. However: see the above note about Bering’s intended use for this jacket.
The non-removable lining of the jacket is a thin mesh made of “REPREVE® Recycled Polyester Fibers,” according to Bering. There is a press-stud waist adjuster on each side, as well as press-stud adjusters on the cuffs. There is also a teency-tiny amount of reflective material that is so unobtrusive that I am surprised it actually meets French standards (motorcyclists are required to have a certain amount of reflectivity in France). The front opening is secured via both zipper and press-stud buttons. Those buttons keep closed a windproof flap that helps prevent air and some rain from coming in through the (not waterproof) zip.
The jacket comes with soft armor for the elbow, shoulder, and back. All this armor is very comfortable to wear, but it is Level 1 and probably also wouldn’t fare well in a high-speed incident.
Fit and comfort
For me, the biggest selling point for this jacket is how well it fits. I’m a lanky guy and I find that a lot of gear – especially that aimed at American riders – is pillowy and awkward. You know the fake belly that a cruiser-focused leather jacket gives you? I hate that. I mean, if crippling anxiety and mystery stomach illnesses are going to make it difficult for me to put on weight, I at least want to be able to show off how trim I am.
That said, the jacket is clearly intended to be worn by someone shorter than me. The waist adjusters sit at my ribs. So, rather than being a ‘long’ jacket, it is just normal; I certainly wouldn’t want it any shorter.
With the lining in, the fit is snug, so I’m not able to wear a crazy amount of additional clothing – a sweater or a fleece, but not both – but I’m cosy enough in cooler weather.
The jacket is all-day comfortable, on and off the bike. Well, in most cases. If you’re riding a bike with a sportier handlebar position it can feel tight at the shoulders and armpits.
Some things I like
In addition to the comfort of the jacket, I’m a big fan of the way it looks. Usually it’s the case that if you’re wearing motorcycle gear it feels and looks like motorcycle gear. You know: it’s not the sort of thing you’d choose when heading to the pub, for example, nor would you really want to be stuck wearing/carrying it around an airport.
The Norris Evo is the exception to that rule, and I love it for that. This is silly, but the sense that I don’t look foolish in the jacket, coupled with how comfortable it is – not limiting my range of movement in any way – helps me feel a little more confident on the bike.
OK, safety-wise, this is not the best jacket in the world. That’s for sure. But they say that the truly best gear is the gear you actually wear. And it’s often the case that the jacket I want to wear is this one (or my 55 Collection Hard leather jacket).
Some things I don’t like
There are no vents. Want air in the jacket? You’re going to have to open it up. Considering that it’s intended for urban use – where you’re going to be warmer because you’re going slower – you’re making a real sacrifice to fashion when wearing this jacket on a hot day.
None of the Norris Evo’s pockets is really large enough to hold a Google Pixel 7. The only pocket that manages it is the one pocket that lacks any particular secure fastening. So, in the back of your mind there is always the fear that your phone won’t arrive with you at your destination.
The pockets are not waterproof, either. They feel like they should be, but I can attest from experience that they are not. At all. Not even a little bit. They are waterproof only in the way that a bath towel is waterproof.
The overall jacket is waterproof for a short time. It will serve you in a light drizzle and might keep you dry long enough to find shelter in an unexpected downpour, but it should not be relied upon for actual wet-weather riding.
Sizing is weird, almost problematic. The cuffs can be adjusted to three sizes, but on the largest setting they are comfortable on my wrists, which – I’m embarrassed to admit – are generally thinner than the wrists of other men my height. At their smallest setting, the cuffs are hilariously tiny. The only person I know with wrists that small is my 16-month-old daughter.
And, as alluded to above, I have my concerns about how well this would hold up in a slide. I wear the jacket when zipping into town, but any time I find myself exceeding 50 mph some part of me thinks: “I am setting the stage for a classic ‘should have known better’ incident.”
Lastly, despite the fact that I did actually buy this product with my own free will, I don’t love the fact it was made in China. Opinions will differ on that point.
Should you buy it?
If you are doing urban riding in spring, winter, or autumn, and you are relatively slender – and you don’t mind the whole China thing – the Norris Evo is a pretty good choice. I won’t go so far as to give it the Recommended tag, but it’s a good jacket.
Well, good within the limited scope of its intended use. If you’re bustling from one end of London to the other, or meandering along the Brighton seafront, it’s a good jacket. If you’re trying to see how fast a 150hp adventure-touring bike can tear through the Welsh mountains, it’s probably not as good.
Thankfully, I don’t know exactly how ‘not as good’ it can be. But it’s not something I use anymore for higher-speed rides.
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