100% Airmatic Riding Short

How much effort do you give? This is a question 100% has been asking for years, but it’s only more recently that they’ve applied it to mountain biking. To be precise, their line of MTB-specific apparel was only launched in 2016, a few years after the iconic brand experienced a general revival that saw it begin to expand its product line beyond t-shirts and goggles. It’s an interesting story for a company that started out in 1982 with a cable guide for motocross and the need for a name that would stick, so we decided to check out the goods for ourselves to see how it would stack up. Read on to find out!

100% Airmatic Jersey Highlights

• Polyester anti-microbial knit main body with mesh paneling.
• Engineered neckline for added style and comfort.
• Enduro-quality fit for comfort and performance riding.
• Fully sublimated fade resistant graphics.
• Drop tail provides full coverage in riding position.
• Internal goggle wipe keeps your eye protection clean.
• S-XL
• MSRP: $59 USD

100% Airmatic Short Highlights

• Lightweight polyester/elastane 4-way stretch construction.
• Zippered pockets for security of essentials.
• Hidden Snap Closure offers a clean look.
• Velcro waist tabs increase adjustability for the perfect fit.
• Stretch-mesh back panel promotes airflow and motion.
• TPR back tab for pulling or hanging ease.
• Includes detachable liner: Quick absorption, anti-microbial, poly / elastane mesh. Flat-locked seams maximize comfort & minimize chafing. Premium CyTech chamois. Polyester anti-microbial knit main body with mesh paneling.
• Sizes: 28-38
• MSRP: $129 USD

Initial Impressions

There’s always been a lot of cross-over from MX to MTB, specifically when it comes to helmets and googles and such. And if you’ve ever been to a DH race or a bike park, you’ve no doubt noticed the pajama parade in the lift line, which wouldn’t look out of place at A1 for the Supercross season kick-off. Thankfully, when 100% set out to create the Airmatic line of all-mountain apparel, they gave it a distinctly fresh, non-MX inspired look. Sure, the colors are still bright and some of the designs are louder than the others, but this stuff doesn’t look or feel like hand-me-down moto gear at all.

The Airmatic is 100%’s mid-range line, but closer inspection revealed that they still did not skimp on the features. The short is made from a lightweight 4-way stretch polyester fabric, with 2 pockets, waist adjusters, 2 snap buttons on the fly, a stretchy yoke in the back panel and a very elaborately constructed chamois liner included in the price.

The short is certainly lightweight but does not feel particularly fragile to the touch, and the quality of the construction is apparent throughout.

The jersey is made from a similar material to the short, albeit a bit softer to the touch. It lacks any kind of pockets, but does offer side venting panels and a built in goggle/sunglass wipe. Extra consideration was given to the collar which features an extra-soft strip intended to avoid any chafing of the neck area.

On The Trail

The cut of the Airmatic gear is probably best categorized as “athletic” – not too tight, not too baggy. The lightweight materials are comfortable on the skin, and the ventilation features on the jersey are a welcome addition for the warmer months. In terms of overall sizing and fit, both the jersey and short are “just long enough” – long enough to cover your builders bum, and long enough to avoid the dreaded knee gap.

In a move that is sure to please the millennials, the combination of a high waist on the liner and a low cut on the short means that you automatically get that hey-look-at-my-Calvin-Kleins baggy pants look, which you may or may not be stoked on depending on how old you are and/or how many burgers you have recently consumed.

On the bike, the Airmatic gear knows to make itself forgotten. It does not bunch up, move around, or otherwise get in the way of your exertions. The fabrics stay fairly cool even as the mercury rises, really only becoming overwhelmed when things get abnormally hot and humid. The waist adjusters make it easy to dial in the short for a snug, secure fit.

Both short pockets are zippered, and big enough to hold a phone, your keys, and even a wallet in a pinch. The left-hand side pocket sits a bit too far down the leg for our liking, any heavy items placed here will bounce around a bit on the trail. However, it’s a great place to stash you lift card, making it easy to lift and place your leg against the card reader in the lift line.

The short liner features flatlock seams and an elaborately designed chamois. Whether or not it’s any more comfortable as a result we cannot say, but we’ve been pedaling around in it a lot and it definitely gets the job done. The liner lacks any kind of silicone grippers at the hems, but we’ve not noticed them riding up on the leg more than most others.

Things That Could Be Improved

As mentioned above, the left-hand side pocket could be positioned a bit differently to help it deal with heavier loads when needed. Also, the TPR tab in the back of the short seems unnecessarily big to us – to the point where you can feel it dig into your back when driving to the trailhead, for example. It’s there to facilitate pulling on or hanging your shorts, but to be honest, this is not something we generally struggle with, at least not to the point of requiring such a serious piece of kit to deal with it.

The overall length of the short is almost perfect, but we would have added 1/2-inch or so to the hems. As it stands, the short does cover the kneepads in all but the most extreme of positions - a little extra length would make sure. Finally, we would have loved to see one of the pockets be made water resistant to help keep our phones safe from passing showers or getting drenched in sweat.

As for the mismatch in waist height between the liner and the short, you can view it as a feature or a thing to be improved – we’ll leave that up to you and the rest of your posse to decide. Yo.

Long Term Durability

We’ve put the Airmatic short and jersey through the proverbial wringer this summer, using it for everything from epic all-mountain rides to long days in the bike park. Both items have come out the other side none the worse for wear. Crucially, the fabric has held up well, and so has the craftsmanship. The jersey has a few blemishes around the area of the hydration pack waist strap buckle, but otherwise the fabric does not seem overly prone to snagging or running threads. We’ve avoided any major yard sales with this outfit so far, but a couple of minor tumbles went by unnoticed. The white sections of both the jersey and the short have taken on a slightly grayish hue after about 20 wash cycles or so, but to be fair, we have not gone easy on them. We wash all our dirty bike gear together at 30 degrees Celsius (i.e. pretty cold!), you could probably do better if you wash more stuff separately and use one of those color protection sheets in your laundry. Or just don’t buy white clothes for playing on bikes in the dirt…

What’s The Bottom Line?

100% are new to the mountain bike apparel game, but that hasn’t stopped them from putting together a line of gear that looks good and performs on the bike. With lightweight yet sturdy materials, high quality construction and a set of fresh graphics, the Airmatic short and jersey have proven themselves worthy companions for a summer of shredding. We may not always give 100% but when we do, we always look good doing it!

More information at: http://www.ride100percent.com.

About The Reviewer

Johan Hjord loves bikes, which strangely doesn’t make him any better at riding them. After many years spent practicing falling off cliffs with his snowboard, he took up mountain biking in 2005. Ever since, he’s mostly been riding bikes with too much suspension travel to cover up his many flaws as a rider. His 200-pound body weight coupled with unique skill for poor line choice and clumsy landings make him an expert on durability - if parts survive Johan, they’re pretty much okay for anybody. Johan rides flat pedals with a riding style that he describes as "none" (when in actuality he rips!). Having found most trail features to be not to his liking, Johan uses much of his spare time building his own. Johan’s other accomplishments include surviving this far and helping keep the Vital Media Machine’s stoke dial firmly on 11.

Photos by Johan Hjord and Nils Hjord