Richa Brutus Gore-Tex Jacket and Pants Review in BMW Owners News

By Reece Mullins #143779 BMW ON July 2025

I was recently at Fort Benning, Georgia, attending an Infantry Mortarman basic training graduation for a friend’s son when the opportunity to conduct a product review presented itself. As I consider myself a motorcycle fashion diva, this was right up my alley and of course, I said yes. Several weeks later, a new riding jacket and pants arrived on my doorstep. Anxious to get right to it, I immediately dug into the box with the help of our cat Victoria, and started studying the gear, removing tags and reading the enclosed material.

As this is the first product review I’ve ever conducted for products that I didn’t personally pay for myself, I feel a strong obligation to get it right for our membership; to not compromise my standards of honesty and to maintain my integrity throughout the process. Basically, to stay objective and not get caught up in that “new gear” smell. I think I was able to accomplish this, and I hope to offer something worthwhile from this product review.

The gear I received was the Richa Brutus Gore-Tex jacket and trousers. From the measurements I submitted, Richa got things right and the gear fit perfectly–little too perfectly with the quilted jacket liner zipped in, so if you live and ride in colder climates, I recommend sizing up to accommodate layers. But before I could even remove the tags, my wife Rhonda, the critic whose opinion matters most said without hesitation, “I like the way the suit looks on you.”

Now understand, I’ve been in a baggy BMW GS riding suit since 2019 as I am a big fan of the roundel and its location on the sleeve of my gear. I even had the unfortunate opportunity to crash test a GS riding suit back in 2022 when I hit a deer late one night during my commute, so it took a bit of mental adjustment on my part to make the change to new gear.

Compared to my BMW GS riding suit, the new Richa gear is lighter, more comfortable and had a better fit. You would think that would be a plus, and eventually it would be, but at first my mind was still associating big and bulky with protection. This meant the Richa gear
offered a false sense of vulnerability that I quickly moved beyond. As I continued to do my research on the protection the new gear offered, my confidence grew in leaps and bounds. From one of the tags I cut off I read, “The D30® protectors are made of smart shock-absorbent material containing molecules that flow freely under normal circumstances. The protectors are soft and flexible and give a perfect fit on the body. However, on impact, the molecules lock together to offer outstanding shock absorption.”

With over 70 years of experience, this Belgian company with numerous outlets throughout Europe and long-standing contracts with police departments and other professional motorcycle riding organizations was quickly gaining my trust and admiration.

I found the Richa Brutus jacket and pants to be very comfortable with lots of pockets, zippers in all the right places and styling that has prompted many unsolicited  compliments and queries regarding the brand and where to purchase it. I was starting to feel a little like a supermodel.

Because I was planning to attend the MOA Getaway at Fontana the fourth weekend of April–an annual tradition for me and Rhonda–I felt confident I would get some great time in the saddle on those technical roads, and well, in the rain. Overall, I found the Gore-Tex to be impressive. I even spilled some coffee on the pants then watched it do something I didn’t expect–bead up and roll right off. This was a harbinger of things to come because someone did a rain dance at the Getaway, then again two weeks later at the Smoky Mountain Magic Tour hosted by Vance and Mari Harrelson. There was ample opportunity to test the waterproof capability of the ensemble at both events. Even during the most significant downpour I encountered my last 20 minutes of riding on my way home, the gear remained so waterproof that I didn’t even have to stop and don the bright orange outer layer that came with the gear. The suit itself maintained the non-permeable requirement to stay dry, which I found very impressive.

Talking about features, I’ll highlight a few.

• Overall, I found the gear comfortable and stylish.
• The armor meets industry standards and includes knee, elbow and shoulder armor while hip, chest and back armor are available but sold separately and in varying degrees of crash level protection for different riding requirements.
• Zipper vents are easy to access and utilize even when riding. Four leg vents and two chest vents with torso vents on the sides make air flow even on hot, southern Alabama rides not only bearable, but comfortable. Some vents, like the venting system on my BMW GS riding suit, have a zip and fold feature, but unlike the GS jacket that requires a pre-ride adjustment that is impossible to work with gloves on, the Richa Brutus pants and jacket have imbedded magnets that “snap” the flap in place. The only drawback with this feature is that it’s not safe to use for riders with pacemakers installed.
• The zipper pull tabs are easy to access, and the top and bottom come with two connecting waist zipper options, a short connector and a long connector. Both can be challenging to zip into with the gear on, but once you get the hang of it, it zips up easily keeping the gear in place should you go down on pavement at speed.
• Neck and wrist closures are comfortable with what appears to be a soft neoprene type material to prevent skin abrasions over long rides.
• Lots of “zippable” pockets available to secure wallets, phones, key fobs and other essential riding accoutrements

I’ve been in constant contact during the review with my point of contact from Richa USA. Michael Schuiten and I exchanged quite a few emails during the month-long review. I had lots of questions and he was always timely and forthcoming in his email responses. There was one issue that did come up in the review process. While at the Fontana Getaway and riding technical roads, the movement of my butt on the seat, along with the anti-skid material sewn into the trouser bottom, caused the seam of the crotch to start to come apart.

Concerned I had found a flaw, in a relatively short amount of use, my new love affair with the otherwise perfect gear rapidly started to wane. Here I was, faced with the ethical dilemma of my loyalty to the membership and the prospect of alienating a potential sponsor and advertiser with the club. As you can probably guess, I sided with the membership, maintaining my professional integrity. I took a picture of the threads pulling apart and sent it to Michael. Michael got back to me after doing some quick research, and though my email simply requested a solution to be in place before I would endorse the product, Michael took the time to explain what the problem was. Apparently, the pants shipped to me and were part of a discontinued 2024 line that had been pulled off of shelves and replaced with pants with a double stitch and an overlapping seam in that area. Michael also said he would be sending me a replacement pair in the black and gray color option, which Rhonda liked even more than the original all black pair.

I did not expect such a top-tier level of customer service and told Michael that our membership typically maintains a close relationship with our moto-product providers and many of us know our favorite vendors by name.

In my opinion, Richa is a mission focused, customeroriented company willing to do what’s necessary to “make it right” while putting their customers first. I have no hesitation in fully endorsing Richa and their products. For more information, visit richausa.com to check out their full product line and corporate history.

Reece Mullins entered the riding community for the first time in 2008 at the tender age of 41, after retiring from the Army and buying his first bike, a 2005 charcoal gray R 1200 RT named Ursula. Now at the age of 57 on his third RT, a beautiful sport-blue 2022 R 1250 RT named Anja, Reece spends a lot of his free time volunteering for the club he has loved since first joining way back in 2008.