Rukka Hybrid-R review | Top-end Gore-Tex motorcycle kit tested

Date reviewed: February 2026 | Tested by: John Milbank | Price: £1,499.99 (jkt RRP), £1,099.99 (trs RRP) | bikerheadz.co.uk

Let’s be very clear: the Rukka Hybrid-R on review here is expensive kit. I’m in the very fortunate position of testing a huge range of gear from different brands at wildly different price points, but it’s important to understand that everyone has their own budget, so regardless of whether I could afford something or not, I don’t tend to put much weight behind what something costs when I review it. Value is a highly subjective figure, so my job is to find out what a product’s good (and bad) at, so you can decide if it suits your needs.

I’ve been wearing the Rukka Hybrid R for three months in some foul weather on a 2019 BMW R1250GS and a 2001 Honda VFR800 to find out if it’s as good as its price ticket would lead you to hope…

Pros & Cons

Why you can trust this review

No manufacturers or distributors ever have any influence on the reviews I write or film, I won’t ever do any paid reviews, and I’ll never agree to affiliate links. All products are tested fairly and equally, and if anything changes over time, I will update the written reviews.

Your purchasing choices should always be your own – Bennetts BikeSocial is just here to help ensure they’re informed choices.

Construction and fit

The Rukka Hybrid-R’s outer shell is laminated with a three-layer Gore-Tex Pro waterproof membrane, which is made up of the outer material (layer one), the membrane itself (layer two) and a protective scrim layer (layer three), which is basically a fine mesh bonded to the inside face of the membrane to protect it from wear and tear.

Rukka offers a five year warranty on its products in Europe, but in the UK you can extend it to six years via the distributor TranAm Bikerheadz, as long as you bought it in the UK. However, the Hybrid-R is also covered by Gore-Tex’s lifetime ‘Guaranteed to keep you dry’ warranty, which states that ‘If you are not satisfied with the waterproofness, windproofness or breathability of your Gore-Tex product, we will repair it, replace it or refund your purchase price.’ Obviously if the kit is simply worn out through use it doesn’t apply, but if you look after it and many years down the line the seam-taping failed, for instance, Gore would almost certainly sort it out. This is one of the reasons Gore-Tex products are so expensive, and the company is very strict on the quality control of brands that use its technology as it doesn’t want to be associated with anything potentially troublesome or shoddy. Just make sure you keep that proof of purchase safe.

Accordion panels at the backs of the shoulders, rear of the trouser waist and tops of the knees combine with stretch sections at the chest, inner thighs and behind the knees to reduce flapping and allow the jacket and trousers to hug your body well while still allowing easy movement.

Fit is of course entirely subjective, but I’m 5’10” and around 14 stone (but trying to lose some weight). The size 52 (large) jacket and 52 (XL) trousers fit me very well, and while the Hybrid-R does feel a little stiff at first, it soon softens up and is comfortable both on and off the bikes. You know you’re wearing it, but it’s not a chore to be in.

The Hybrid-R trousers feature Rukka’s ‘AirCusion’ seat, which is a 3D mesh that does add a little comfort to any ride through a very slight air-gap, and can also reduce that cold, wet bum feeling you sometimes get on a bike. A patch of Keprotec helps prevent your bum sliding around on the saddle.

The collar is a comfortable neoprene, and hidden inside the back is what Rukka calls its ‘Anti Theft System’ stretch Gore-Tex storm collar. In really bad weather you can roll it out and fasten it around your neck to completely seal yourself from the elements.

The additional storm collar is really valuable, but the way its stowed is my main gripe with this kit as the standard collar is fairly large to accommodate it. I’d much prefer a shorter collar for finer weather, with the ability to fit the storm collar when I want to, maybe keeping it in a pocket (though sadly there’s no map pocket on the Hybrid-R, which would have been ideal).

Combined with a heated bodywarmer equipped with a heated neck – or a thick neck tube – the Hybrid-R’s collar can make it awkward to move my head around.

I prefer a heated vest without a heated collar, and rarely use a neck tube (you don’t need one with Rukka’s storm collar), but this definitely feels more of a winter collar design than a summer one.

And ‘anti-theft’? The only reason the old, detachable collars might have been stolen is because if someone lost theirs, Rukka didn’t offer replacements. Now it’s fixed in place, so you can’t lose it. Or get it out of the way.

Above the elbows and beside the knees are reflective panels of fabric, and the tops of the arms, back and lower legs all have reflective print.

With features like Gore-Tex Pro, Outlast and superb D3O armour, this is a premium product with a premium price. Whether you can justify it for the amount you’ll use it is something only you can decide.

Sadly the Hybrid-R is not available in women’s sizes, but the Nirvala is, and in the ladies version it’s certified to Level AA (the mens is only A).

A wide range of sizes are available, but prices do go up for the largest:

The Hybrid-R trousers are available in Regular and Short leg lengths across all sizes, and Long in size UK34 to UK44.

Protection & Certification

With a main construction of 100% polyamide, and polyamide with 8% elastane mix in the stretch sections, the Rukka Hybrid-R features 1500D Cordura at the key impact areas of the shoulders, elbows, hips and knees.

These Cordura panels aren’t overlaid – they’re structural inserts – but this is still a heavier-duty material than you might find in some other products rated to the same AA Level under EN17092.

It is important to understand what this actually means though. Under the current certification standard there are three main levels / ratings to consider when buying riding kit: A, AA and AAA.

It’s very simple to understand: The more ‘A’s the better.

It’s true that there is a little more to it than that, and we’ll be celebrating one of the key benefits of this Rukka kit in a moment, but what you need to know is that in order to achieve one of these ratings a brand must have its kit independently tested for abrasion resistance AND seam strength AND tear resistance to different levels in various zones across the jacket and trousers. If the garment doesn’t pass everything, it can’t achieve that rating. So for instance you could have thick leather in a key abrasion area on a garment, but if it’s attached to a material that tears relatively easily, the testing will show the potential risk.

Personally, I choose to only wear kit that’s AA-rated and above as there are no comfort penalties in well-designed gear using considered materials, and it’s certainly no more expensive.

Safety standards aren’t about telling you what to wear, or some kind of bureaucratic nonsense: they force manufacturers to prove that what you’re buying meets a minimum set of protective standards.

Protective motorcycle kit isn’t about good abrasion resistance, seam strength and tear resistance OR good armour; it’s about a combination of the both, and what nobody can tell by touching and feeling in a shop is what EN17092 tests for.

This shows the size of the D3O XTR Air limb protectors fitted to the Rukka Hybrid-R, compared to those out of another set of kit that also meets the minimum requirements for the larger Type B size

The Rukka Hybrid-R has a significant impact protection advantage over many mid-tier and lower-priced kit in that it incorporates D3O’s outstanding XTR Air limb protectors at the shoulders, elbows, hips and knees. This armour meets the requirements of the highest Level 2 impact protection, and is much larger than the minimum size requirements for the largest Type B protector. It does get thinner at the extremities, but that extra size also keeps in in place well.

Based on independent testing, the XTR Air is also much more protective in the key areas than it ‘needs’ to be in order to meet those minimum impact requirements.

MotoCAP is a government-funded testing facility that provides unbiased and carefully-calibrated data on the protective performance of motorcycle riding kit. It hasn’t tested the XTR armour, but it has done the LP2, which is a smaller version of XTR that D3O has confirmed is the same thickness in the impact zone.

Within that tested area the D3O LP2 elbow armour was found to reduce impact force to 10.9kN. The maximum transmitted force for a Level 2 protector is required to be 20kN (it’s 35kN for Level 1). So the D3O LP2 (and hence XTR) armour can offer almost twice as much protection as that which only just meets the requirements.

To put it another way, it’s calculated that the test used to compare impact protectors would transmit 100kN if the striker directly hit the anvil, so Level 2 limb armour needs to reduce transmitted impact energy to 20% of what it could have been, but D3O’s XTR could be getting it down to around 11%.

This is all the armour that comes with the Rukka Hybrid-R

Every piece of limb armour fitted to the Rukka Hybrid-R is larger than it needs to be. It’s also marked as T-, which means it’s been tested and certified to perform just as well at -10°C. The only missing information is how it performs at +40°C, which if tested would give a T+ marking on the armour.

The Hybrid-R also includes a removable D3O XTR Air Level 2 full back protector and Level 1 chest protector. Level 2 chest protectors transmit the same force in the narrow-object impact testing, but also include a force-distribution test. Very few jackets currently have Level 2 chest protection.

The only way you’ll get much better back and chest impact protection than this is likely to be through using a fully-certified airbag. Just know that they’re not all the same though, and in some scenarios with some airbags, passive armour might actually perform better. You can find our guide to the very best motorcycle airbags here.

The short version is that I’d rather crash in this AA-rated kit than something of the same EN17092 Level AA thanks to the excellent armour.

Pockets

The Rukka Hybrid-R has two main vertically-zipped pockets on the waist of the jacket, and one on the left hip of the trousers. The jacket pockets take my keys and wallet no problem, but my Google Pixel 7 Pro is a little too big to fit in any of them. It’ll go into the waist pockets if I wedge it in vertically, but then it digs into my leg when riding.

Inside the jacket is what’s described as a pair of water-resistant pockets and a mobile phone pocket. These are definitely useful to have, but the mobile phone pocket is inside the left main inner pocket and a bit awkward to get your phone into. The main pockets themselves are quite big, which is fine but given their shape they do seem to have actually been designed to accept a pair of divided chest protectors, and your kit drops a fair way down. Still, I do appreciate them.

I’d definitely like to see a bit more storage on the trousers, even if it’s only for when I’m walking around off the bike and don’t want to wear the jacket.

The jacket’s removable thermal liner has two zipped outer pocket and two deep inside ones (with no zips), all of which will swallow my phone no problem.

Fastening

The Hybrid-R jacket has a water-resistant YKK main zip with a storm flap over the front and another beneath with a channel to guide away any water that makes its way past.

The trousers have a YKK zip fly with a gusset behind that’s shaped to make it easier for men to get their equipment over the top during a panicked ‘comfort break’ on a cold day. The waist is secured with a Velcro belt that slips through a plastic buckle to keep them in place.

The jacket and trousers can be joined with a chunky 3.4 length zip around the waist, and there’s an elasticated strap that can be passed under the crotch to keep the jacket pulled down with any other trousers (though I’m not keen on this idea).

The Hybrid-R trousers also have a comfortable pair of removable braces, which are great for a really comfortable fit.

The jacket collar is secured with Velcro, and the cuffs have a zip and a separate Velcro cinch that doesn’t bunch up with the zip. They’re also the excellent dual-cuff design, but we’ll cover that later.

The trousers have a zip in the bottoms of the legs to open them up wide, with a full gaiter behind. They slip easily over most touring boots, including my excellent Daytona Roadstars, and can also fit over the highly-protective Sidi Taurus. Annoyingly, the Velcro cinch strap on the bottoms of the trousers pulls the zip with it, making it more awkward to get a good seal.

Adjustment

The Rukka Hybrid-R jacket has a three-position popper adjuster on each bicep and a Velcro adjuster on each side of the hem, while the trousers have a pair of Velcro belt adjusters at the front (one holds the trousers closed).

The adjustment in the outer cuffs is enough to get a fairly thick pair of winter gloves underneath, and the zip certainly helps in securing them, though as always do check your kit all works together before buying.

Ventilation

Rukka has gone to a lot of effort to add ventilation to the Hybrid-R, with plenty of vents behind water-resistant zips, all of which feed air direct to the body thanks to there being no waterproof membrane hanging behind them:

• 2x 85mm shoulder vents

• 2x 150mm chest vents

• 2x 200mm back exhaust vents

• 2x 130mm bicep vents

• 2x 110mm rear bicep exhaust vents

• 2x 255mm waist side vents

• 2x 160mm thigh vents

• 2x 160mm rear thigh exhaust vents

Sizes measured on EU52 jacket and trousers

Overall the venting is good for such high-performing waterproof kit, which is certainly helped by the exhaust vents on the rear allowing air to blow through more easily. But not all of the vents open up particularly wide in use, and the chest ones can be restricted not just by the armour, but also of course your bike’s screen.

Realistically, this isn’t kit you’ll want to wear in the peak of summer, but that’s a compromise worth making to be so dry and comfortable through the rest of the year. For really hot conditions, I thoroughly recommend investing in some mesh riding kit, the best of which you can find here.

The only improvement I think Rukka could make here is to offer a mesh zip section up the chest of the jacket, as is found on the Oxford Hinterland 2.0 here.

Warmth

You don’t get any thermal liner for the trousers with the Rukka Hybrid-R, so I wear a set of base layers (the Zerofit Heatrub are excellent). A ‘destination’ jacket is supplied though, which doesn’t fix into the main jacket but can be worn on its own when you get to your destination.

It’s nice to have, but unfortunately it’s not got down insulation like the optional ‘Downride-R’ (£199.99 for the jacket and £149.99 for the trousers), and it’s only insulated on the chest and back, not the arms or sides. You might want to look at a down jacket from outdoor stores like Decathlon, but do check that you can wear it comfortably under the Hybrid-R’s collar. I’ve been using the down jacket that was supplied with the Rukka Kingsley I reviewed here, and a Keis V501 heated vest when it’s really cold.

The grey seen here on the inside of the liner is the Outlast

Liner

The Hybrid-R has a soft, comfortable, fine mesh lining that doesn’t get stuck to you in the heat and also benefits from having Outlast bonded to the back of it, a temperature-regulating fabric that uses wax to store your body heat and act as an insulator. It’s claimed to reduce sweating by up to 48%, but is very hard to quantify in riding kit as you can’t take it out for a direct comparison of the same garment. All I can tell you is that the Hybrid-R feels good in the weather I’ve tested it in so far, but I will of course keep this review updated.

Here you can see the accurate seam taping and the scrim layer over the membrane

Waterproofing

You won’t get wet when riding in the Rukka Hybrid-R.

That’s the short version. The detail is that despite only featuring water ‘resistant’ zips, none of the vents have leaked at all in my testing, probably thanks to the careful positioning and the storm guards built in behind them.

With a perfectly-taped Gore-Tex Pro laminate construction you can be confident you won’t get any leaks (Gore literally guarantees it), and the length and cut of the jacket, combined with the well-fitted trousers means I haven’t had any water find its way up under the hem and onto my waist or pants. Lamination also means the material won’t hold as much water when it gets fully soaked, and will dry off more quickly after your ride.

During the first storm I rode in I did get some water through on my left shoulder, but this was traced to a production problem with the seam taping in this area and the jacket was quickly replaced. I haven’t had any problems at all with the second one.

The only way to keep your hands properly dry when riding a motorcycle in the rain is to tuck the cuffs of your gloves into the sleeves of the jacket – this way as the water runs down your arm it can’t get into the gloves and wick through the lining.

Most Rukka jackets feature a superb dual-cuff design with a lining that sits inside the glove, then a zipped and Velcro-adjustable outer that secures over the top. And it works brilliantly.

Rukka has a reputation for producing kit that keeps you totally dry in the worst weather conditions and it’s well deserved.

It’s perhaps worth pointing out that the Hybrid-R I have on review is likely not using a new PFAS-free waterproof membrane or Durable Water Repellent (DWR) coating (that’s what makes the water bead on the surface of the material).

Luhta, the parent company of Rukka, states that ‘we have paid particular attention to the exclusion of PFC/PFAS chemicals in the waterproofing and repellence treatments of fabrics and accessories, and thus we oblige our partners to use PFC/PFAS free alternatives in water repellence treatment and technical films’. Its supplier, Gore, talks about its expanded polyethylene (ePE) membrane replacing PTFE, but the Hybrid-R is not a new product, so it’s likely still using the ‘forever chemicals’ being phased out across the EU.

Of course, Gore will almost certainly be maintaining its guarantee to keep you dry, and there’s a lot of innovation ongoing, so I’m pretty confident that we won’t see future products performing significantly more poorly.

Cleaning

Riding gear that’s used through the worst weather is going to need to be cleaned, not just to avoid it looking ropey or smelling, but to allow it to maintain its waterproof performance.

After a ride you can rinse or brush your kit to keep it at its best, and it shouldn’t be stored near a radiator or other heat-source.

Take out all the armour, close all the zips and Velcro, then Rukka says to wash each item on its own in the machine at 30-40°C with a liquid detergent. Don’t use powder detergents, fabric conditioners, stain removers or bleach.

Rinse it twice and spin it as little as possible, then Gore says to tumble dry it on a warm, gentle cycle, or dry it on a washing line. DON’T use high temperatures.

Once the kit is dry, tumble it for 20 more minutes to reactivate the DWR. If you don’t have a tumble dryer, you can iron it on a GENTLE setting, but with a towel or cloth between the garment and the iron (don’t use steam).

If water isn’t beading after this, the DWR is likely worn out, but you can buy top-up sprays from companies like NikWax.

Do always check the labels inside any kit, but these were the instructions offered by Rukka and by Gore.

Three alternatives to the Rukka Hydrid-R

Bennetts BikeSocial reviews a huge range of kit at very different price points, but if you’re in the market for top-tier gear, here are some others to consider…

• Halvarssons H80, £1,239.99 (total RRP) | We haven’t reviewed the Halvarssons H80 yet, but we hope to very soon as this is an AAA-rated suit with quality Level 2 Rheon armour. It’s said to be for all-year-round riders, and first impressions when I saw it at a presentation in late 2025 were very good indeed. Keep an eye on BikeSocial’s independent product reviews as I hope we’ll be able to start testing it soon.

• BKS Made-to-Measure or Hideout, from £2,990 (total) | These two UK companies offer entirely hand-made, tailored textile and leather kit that can be put together to suit your needs (and shape) precisely. Both offer gear that has the large D3O Level 2 armour in, and they’re certified to the much tougher EN13595 standard, which is more demanding for abrasion resistance and other construction elements. Hideout is based in Essex, while BKS Made-to-Measure (not to be confused with the completely separate company ‘BKS’ sold off-the peg in some stores) is in Exmouth. You can find owner reviews of Hideout motorcycle kit here, and of BKS Made-to-Measure here.

• Belstaff Long Way Up, £2,100 (total RRP) | With some huge discounts currently available for this Gore-Tex Pro jacket and trousers, an AA-rating and large D3O armour, this is well worth considering. It’s not perfect, but it is well worth trying on. Read the full review of the Belstaff Long Way Up here.

These are just three of many alternatives – you can find all the textiles we’ve tested here  and be sure to regularly check for the discounts available through Bikesocial membership.

Rukka Hybrid-R review: Verdict

Clearly this is high-priced kit, but if it’s out of your reach we’ve reviewed a lot of gear that’s more affordable to a wider audience – just check out the hundreds of unbiased, in-depth product reviews at Bennetts BikeSocial.

The Rukka Hybrid-R combines many premium materials, superb armour and some excellent design touches. If you only pop out occasionally on a nice weekend, this expensive gear won’t offer you very good value. But if you’re a rider that covers a lot of miles in all conditions I’d absolutely recommend trying it on as you might find that the investment offers the value you’re looking for.

If you’d like to chat about this article or anything else biking related, join us and thousands of other riders at our friendly and helpful BikeClub forum.