“The Klim Artemis Ladies is my absolute favourite adventure riding suit – by far. Thank you, Klim, for putting so much thought and effort into producing a serious do-it-all adventure suit that’s ready to take on the world.”
Snapshot
- Price: £820 (jacket) / £471 (trousers)
- Time tested: 4 months
- Miles tested: 8,000 miles
- Testing conditions: USA and Canada
- Functionality: 5/5
- Durability: 5/5
- Value for money: 5/5
Klim Artemis Ladies Adventure Suit Review
YES! Thank you, Klim! Finally… Someone has made an adventure suit for women riders that ticks every single box.
The Klim Artemis is Klim’s top level adventure bike suit – although it’s worth immediately putting out there, this is easily a great touring or commuting suit too.
And, importantly, Klim say the Artemis has been “engineered for women, by women”.
I’ve read that many times before from loads of different companies and have always strongly doubted its authenticity. I’ve tried so many women’s riding suits over the years and it’s sad to say, but the mass majority of them are watered down men’s versions. Weird, right?
For example, a motorcycle apparel company will produce a men’s and women’s version of the same suit. But why does the women’s one have smaller, inaccessible pockets? Why has it done away with the tabs for a neck brace? Why does it not have as much ventilation? It’s as if companies make the suit as basic as possible, tighten it at the waist and say there you go ladies, all done.
But (and this is why I’m so over the moon) with the Klim Artemis – it’s no marketing gimmick. This suit was clearly designed by a woman and given the absolute best treatment and thought in the design and production process. This is a proper, serious and focused adventure suit and I absolutely love it.
Let’s go through the features first and then get into what’s so good about it.
Features
Waterproof – The Artemis is a Gore-Tex Performance Shell lined suit. Meaning, the outer layer is waterproof. It doesn’t use a removable waterproof inner layer and water runs off it and it doesn’t get sodden. Klim guarantees it’ll keep you dry.
Protection – It uses Karbonite Ripstop overlays in the elbows, shoulders and vulnerable areas. It comes with integrated D3O level 1 shoulder, elbow, hip and knee protectors and a Viper 1 back protector.
Ventilation – You’ll two chest vents, two forearm vents, two bicep vents and two back vents on the jacket with ventilation through the back protector area. On the trousers are two thigh intake vents and two thigh exhaust vents. You can also hook the collar back on both sides to help with air flow onto the chest.
Pockets – There’s an abundance of pockets including one large rear pocket, an upper arm stash pocket, two zipped hand pockets, three internal zipped pockets and a concealed document pocket behind the back on the jacket. The trousers have two thigh pockets.
Fit – The Artemis has a selection of straps and adjusters on the bicep, forearm, waist, hip, waist and ankle.
What’s good?
Overall, I love that this is an exceptionally well thought-out and designed suit. It’s the ultimate all-round suit and that not only makes it perfect for adventure riding, off-roading, touring and commuting – but the ultimate suit for round the world travellers and long-distance riders. Here are my favourite aspects of the Artemis.
Style and comfort
Firstly, the look and fit are excellent. As well as a great selection of colours, the jacket has a feminine cut and hugs your curves. The straps on the body help refine this even more. Even as a larger chested woman, the jacket doesn’t ‘fall off’ the front and contours the body. The suit is all-day comfortable to ride and travel in and I’ve been in mine for a solid eight hours a day, every day for the last four months and love it. Such a comfortable and well-fitted suit is usually very hard to come by.
It’s also surprisingly light for such a premium suit. The Artemis doesn’t feel bulky, clunky or cumbersome (a common trait for a lot of adventure suits). At the same time, it’s also very flexible.
One important thing to add, which makes a huge difference to comfort, is the padding. All of the padding is in the right place! As it should be, right? But this is my first suit where the padding actually sits where it should without having to constantly pull up, adjust and wiggle the armour into place.
Protection
The Klim Artemis is serious. It’s a premium suit with quality materials that make themselves evident the first second you thumb it out of the packaging. But it’s not just the high quality material, it’s also the two-layer Gore-Tex Performance Shell. This type of waterproof suit never gets sodden and I have been able to do away with the throwover waterproof I used to carry.
Ventilation
Usually, with Performance Shell suits, the ventilation isn’t particularly good, but Kilm has added a lot of zipped vents to the Artemis to keep you cool in hot conditions. The ventilation system is brilliant and will keep you cool for the majority of climates and conditions.
The Artemis is an excellent jacket for hot weather riding, but it begins to wane when the temperature starts to go over 33C. That’s when you start to feel the heat. We had a quite a few rides in extreme temperatures of 40C+ (46C was the highest) and the suit and I did struggle.
To be fair, that’s not a comfortable temperature to be riding in anything other that specifically designed mesh gear for extreme heat, and the Artemis suit is an all-rounder. But, I mention it in case you’re planning on spending the majority of your time in the high 30s and seriously hot terrain.
On the other end of the spectrum, when the temperature drops, this suit is still in its element. The fit isn’t restrictive in the slightest and you can easily tuck a heated jacket and thermal layer or a compressible down jacket underneath.
Extras
Klim has done an excellent job of packing the Artemis with features. There’s all the cool stuff like integrated protection and cooling mesh fabrics around the armour that you can’t see, and then there’s also all the brilliant day-to-day functionality such as pockets!
Everyone loves a good pocket on an adventure suit. But for some reason, on the last few women’s adventure jackets I’ve tested, the pockets have been tiny – and impossible to undo with one hand. No such issue with the Artemis, it has loads of pockets throughout the jacket, on the sleeve, thighs and internally as well as on the back.
It also has thoughtful finishing touches like tabs on the collar so you can pull back both sides of the collar. Another quick note on the collar – I love the fact that it’s low. Often, jackets have high collars which feel very uncomfortable on my neck but this one is perfect.
What’s not?
All of my niggles are with the Artemis trousers. They’re not problems as such, more things I’d change if I could.
Firstly, the pockets on the trousers are in the same position as the trouser vent. This might sound silly, but I often open the wrong one either when riding or walking and you don’t want to pop your phone into your vent! Also, because of the position of the pocket, if you keep anything large in there you feel it on your knees when riding.
I’d also love it if the trousers had a little hip pocket for keys etc.
Secondly, the trousers are hipsters. They don’t come up high and I personally prefer high waisted trousers so when lent over you don’t get a draft. But this design comes down to preference. Although, when I first tried them on I was surprised they sat so low, but I was even more surprised at how comfortable they are! Try them on, get a feel and see what you think.
And finally, the trousers could do with more of a flare at the bottom as the zip for getting your boots over is short.
Round-up
The Klim Artemis is my absolute favourite adventure riding suit – by far. It massively exceeds the competition by a long shot. It looks good, feels good, fits perfectly, is all-day comfy, highly protective, fully waterproof, vented, packed with features and what I love most is that it has been designed specifically for women without watering it down like other manufacturers do.
If it wasn’t for the sublime ladies cut, it would be a men’s suit. Thank you, Klim for putting so much thought and effort into producing a serious do-it-all adventure riding suit that’s ready to take on the world.
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