Tourmaster Centurion 1 Piece Suit

We tried on and measured a size Medium suit and an XL suit. If you take a close look at the max chest listed for each size suit you’ll notice that the suits are sized about one size smaller than other “alpha” sized products. For example, I have a 45 chest and typically wear an XL shirt. The XL Centurion suit fit well on me and that is the size that I would typically wear in men’s appearal. So my advice would be to check your chest and belly with a tape and use the chart to select a size. Or, if you don’t want to bother with that, just choose the size that you normally wear in men’s clothing. The waist has effective adjusters and will snug down even smaller than our minimun stated measurment if needed. Also there are some adjusters on the arms and at the calf. When in doubt, choose larger as you will be wearing the suit over base layers or street clothes and you don’t want to struggle getting it over your shoulders.

Need help measuring? Get it here.

Tourmaster has reinvented their Centurion one piece textile suit for 2023. The original Centurion was introduced way back when we were still NewEnough and discontinued in about 2012. Looking at that first version’s review there is at least one thing that hasn’t changed and that is “There aren’t too many choices out there for one piece textile suits, especially at this price point. I’m honestly quite impressed by the Tourmaster Centurion suit.” Sadly, all these years later there still aren’t many choices for textile suits. And once again we’re impressed with the features Tourmaster has packed into this budget conscious textile suit.

The Centurion one piece suit has great adjustability in the waist and the shoulders open a little wider than most one piece textile suits to it’s easy to get the suit on and then snug it down. Those hook-and-loop waist adjusters can take the waist in from the max stated in the table above by about 8 inches so this suit is very versatile and will fit a wide range of body shapes. One of the most difficult parts of putting on a one piece suit is finding the second sleeve and getting it up over your shoulder while you have one arm in the sleeve already. You’re basically maxing out the opening at that point and this suit has plenty of room so you don’t feel like you will be stuck once you get it on. Another pain point with one piece suits is often the shoulder to inseam measurement. This one doesn’t disappoint there either. It felt like there was plenty of room when standing and it still doesn’t bunch up when seated.

The Centurion is part of Tourmaster’s laminated line of apparel that offers great waterproofing and breathability. On top of overall lining breathability this jacket as a ton of vents that we’ll point out below.

The only call out would be the leg zippers. On a one piece suit like this, we usually think of it as either an adventure/touring rider that is riding long distances or a commuter that wants protection over their “work” clothes. That means they need the ability to quickly take the suit off or put it on while wearing their riding boots or work shoes. This suit doesn’t do you any favors in that department. The cuff zippers on the leg have some aggressive hook and loop panels over an open zipper that comes up about one foot from the cuff. Ideally, the zipper would go further up near the hips so that the opening was large enough to get a large touring boot through without issue. That might be our only real issue with this suit though.

At the cuff in addition to that open zipper, there is another on the front of the leg that opens to a mesh gaiter. If you snug the cuff up around a pair of riding boots this expansion will allow air to come in and up the leg. There is another zippered air intake further up the leg on the medial side of the knee. This allows you to get airflow around the knee armor, which can sometimes be an area where you really need it. The armor in the knee of Centurion is SafeTech CE level 2 which is somewhat thick but flexible and it is stored in a pocket with 3 different height adjustments. Moving up the leg at the back of the hamstring area there is a zippered exhaust vent that will help to pull that air through the suit and keep you cool. The Centurion has EVA foam hip padding but it can be upgraded to Safe-Tech if you choose, see the related products below.

There are zippered storage pockets at the thigh, hip, and belly/handwarmer pockets. On either side of the chest are vents that double as pockets with two-way zippers. There is a Napoleon pocket on the interior of the jacket as well. Under the arms, there are large two-way vent zippers as well. On the back of the abdomen, there are zippers on either side that open to an exhaust vent that doubles as a large storage pocket at the lumbar and up between the shoulders is another large exhaust vent with a double zipper.

Moving down the arms there are long two-way zippers from the cuff to near the elbow for venting and a hook and loop adjustment strap at the cuff. Two arm adjustment straps at the biceps and forearm will keep the included SafeTech CE level 2 elbow armor in place. All of the above mentioned zippers are waterproof and the vents are to the body with the exception of the pants cuff vent which has a gaiter behind it to keep water out, but the air can flow up and over that gaiter so it is still effective.

Let’s talk about the waterproofing. This is part of Tourmaster’s laminated line of waterproof garments which also includes the Highlander jacket and pants and the Mariner jacket and pants. All of these offerings use a 10K waterproof/breathable membrane with DWR. DWR is a Durable Water Repellent coating that causes the water to bead up on the garment’s exterior and run off instead of soaking into the fabric. So think of DWR as the first line of defense, it keeps the water out and doesn’t allow it to soak into the garment and make it heavier with water weight. That DWR will work for light rain but eventually, it is going to soak in if you are in a downpour or sustained rain and that is where the 10K membrane comes into action. The membrane is 10K waterproof and 10K breathable, what does that mean? We had to ask too haha, here is what we found : “In the case of a 10K jacket (or 10,000mm), you could stack a 1 in. by 1 in. column of water 10,000mm high before it even started to seep through the fabric’s other side—that’s almost 33 feet! A rating of up to 10K is enough to handle light to average rain for a short amount of time. Ratings between 10K and 15K can handle a moderate amount of rain for much longer, and jackets rated between 15K and 20K or higher are serious shells for heavy, intense rain over a prolonged period.” So this suit should be good for average to moderate rainfall for a short time. And as important, the suit “breaths” 10,000g of water vapor OUT per square meter of material. This keeps you from feeling like you’re wearing a plastic bag while you ride. If you would like more info on waterproofing I highly suggest the quick read article referenced above and here written by Ryan Wichelns for goEast. It isn’t motorcycle specific, but there are some good takeaways there that will help you understand some of the terminology used in waterproofing these days.

The main zipper of the Centurion suit is a two-way zipper with a storm flap over the top. On the interior of the suit, there is the Napoleon pocket mentioned earlier and Tourmaster has included a SafeTech CE level 2 back protector. At the belly, there is a kind of weird, small pass through pocket intended for heated gear power cords. This suit doesn’t have any thermal lining so it is designed to be used with base layers and heated gear. This pass through pocket is a great idea! Reflective details at the chest, shoulder, forearm, back, waist, knee, and pant cuff ensure that you’ll be visible in nighttime riding situations.

The Tourmaster Centurion one piece textile suit is a welcome addition to the limited market of textile suits. The venting and waterproofing will make this a great option for touring and commuter riders that experience a variety of weather conditions. :: Mike, 12/07/2022