EN 17092 is the European standard that replaced EN 13595 for motorcycle riding clothing, and it splits garments into five classes: AAA, AA, A, B and C. AAA is the highest abrasion and impact performance, usually leather suits. AA is the touring middle ground. A is the lower-speed urban tier. B is a garment with A-level abrasion resistance but no impact protectors, and C is a garment whose only job is to hold protectors. The label tells you a garment passed a threshold. It does not tell you by how much.
Where the standard comes from
Motorcycle clothing sold in Europe is personal protective equipment under Regulation (EU) 2016/425, which means it has to be certified and CE marked. EN 17092 is the harmonised standard that lets a manufacturer demonstrate conformity for riding garments.
The class structure is written into the standard's own part numbering, and the European Commission published the references in the Official Journal in 2021. The implementing decision that added them lists EN 17092-2:2020 for class AAA, EN 17092-3:2020 for class AA, EN 17092-4:2020 for class A, EN 17092-5:2020 for class B and EN 17092-6:2020 for class C, and records that these standards were the result of CEN revising EN 13595-1:2002 and EN 13595-3:2002. The same EU list of harmonised standards also carries EN 13594:2015 for gloves and EN 13634:2017 for footwear — a useful reminder that jackets, gloves and boots are governed by three separate standards, not one.
Two consequences follow. A jacket marked "CE approved" without a standard number and class letter is telling you almost nothing. And a jacket certified to EN 17092 is certified as a whole garment, which is why swapping the armour or cutting off a panel voids the certification in practice.
What the five classes actually mean
| Class | Standard part | Practical meaning | Typical garment |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAA | EN 17092-2:2020 | Highest abrasion, tear and seam requirements, full impact protector set | Leather suits, heavy adventure laminates |
| AA | EN 17092-3:2020 | Mid tier, aimed at general road and touring use with protectors | Textile touring jackets and trousers, lighter leather |
| A | EN 17092-4:2020 | Lower abrasion threshold, still requires impact protectors | Urban jackets, riding jeans, summer gear |
| B | EN 17092-5:2020 | Abrasion performance at class A level, no impact protectors fitted | Shirt-style and light garments sold without armour |
| C | EN 17092-6:2020 | A carrier whose function is holding protectors, not resisting the road | Armour vests and under-suits |
The B and C classes are the ones people misread. A class B garment is not a step above A — it is class A abrasion resistance with the armour removed from the equation. A class C garment is not clothing you slide in at all. If you buy a class C armour vest and wear it under a hoodie, your abrasion protection is the hoodie.
MotoCAP, the Australian and New Zealand clothing assessment program, puts it bluntly in its published FAQ: the standard offers five levels but in reality there are three, because level B is the same protection level as A without impact protectors and level C specifies garments that hold protectors.
The abrasion test, and why the class letter is not a ranking of real-world safety
EN 17092 measures impact abrasion on the Darmstadt machine against a concrete abrasion pad. That pad was chosen to represent the European road network, which is predominantly smooth asphalt. It is a defensible modelling choice for European roads and a poor one for coarse surfaces.
MotoCAP uses a different method — the Cambridge impact abrasion test specified in EN 13595-1:2002 — because chip seal, the surface on almost all Australian and New Zealand rural roads, is four and a half times more abrasive than asphalt. The result of that difference is not theoretical. MotoCAP reports that testing has identified 45 garments certified to EN 17092 that received half a star or one star for protection in its own rating. It also reports that plenty of EN 17092 garments score three stars or better, so the certification is not worthless — it simply does not discriminate.
That is the honest limitation to carry into a purchase. EN 17092 is a pass or fail gate. Two AA jackets on the same rack may have passed by a hair and by a mile, and the label will look identical.
Three further things a rider cares about sit outside EN 17092 entirely, and knowing which is which stops you asking the label questions it cannot answer.
Breathability is not in it. A certified AAA suit can be unbearable in traffic, and heat stress is a safety problem in its own right — MotoCAP added a breathability star rating precisely because the European standards do not cover it, and notes that riders unable to hold a stable core temperature show slower reaction times and reduced alertness. Water resistance is not in it either; that is a separate claim tested separately, in MotoCAP's case by spraying a dressed dummy on a motorcycle for twenty minutes and weighing the underwear before and after.
Fit is not in it at all. The certification is granted to a garment specification, not to that garment on your body. Every abrasion figure assumes the panel is where the road meets you and every impact figure assumes the protector is over the joint. Neither assumption survives a jacket that is a size too big.
Reading a real label without being misled
Everything worth checking is printed on the garment, usually on a sewn-in tag near the main zip or in the inside pocket.
- Find the standard number and the class letter together. "EN 17092-3:2020" plus "AA" is a claim you can act on. A CE logo with no number is not.
- Check whether the protectors are included in the certification. Class B tells you they are not. Some class A and AA garments are certified with specific protectors, in which case substituting different armour changes what you own.
- Look up the impact protector standard separately. Limb protectors are covered by EN 1621-1, back protectors by EN 1621-2. A protector marked Level 2 must transmit less force than Level 1 in the same drop test — a peer-reviewed study on protector ageing reproduces the threshold table as a mean transmitted force of 35 kN or less for Level 1 and 20 kN or less for Level 2, with single-impact limits of 50 kN and 30 kN respectively.
- Note the certification date and the notified body number. Certification is to a version of a standard. An old garment may be certified to a superseded document.
- Do not treat the label as a fit check. A certified AAA jacket with the elbow protector sitting on your forearm is an uncertified jacket in the only sense that matters.
Armour ages, and the certificate does not
The one number on the tag that never updates is the protector performance. A study of accelerated ageing in commercial motorcycle protectors simulated three years of real-world use on three samples and measured transmitted force before and after. Every sample transmitted more force after ageing. One dropped from Level 2 to Level 1. All three still met a protection level, so this is not a reason for alarm, but it does mean a decade-old jacket with its original armour is not performing the way its label says.
Replacing protectors is cheap relative to a jacket and is the single highest-value upgrade available to most riders. MotoCAP's published protector scores also show why CE level alone is a weak guide: in its shoulder and knee tables, some Level 1 protectors outscore some Level 2 protectors, because the rating includes size, coverage and how well the fastenings stop the protector moving.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between EN 17092 class A and AA?
Both require impact protectors. AA sits at a higher abrasion and seam performance threshold, intended for general road and touring speeds, while A targets lower-speed urban use. Neither tells you the margin by which the garment passed.
Is AAA gear necessary for road riding?
For most road riders, no. AAA exists for sustained high speed and is usually heavy leather that is uncomfortable in traffic. The cost is heat, weight and reduced layering room, and gear you leave at home protects nothing. AA with well-fitted Level 2 armour is the common sensible answer for fast road use.
Does EN 17092 replace CE Level 1 and Level 2 armour ratings?
No. They are different standards covering different objects. EN 17092 certifies the garment; EN 1621-1 and EN 1621-2 certify the impact protectors that go inside it. A jacket can be class AA and still ship with weak protectors.
Do riding jeans have to be certified?
Any garment sold in Europe as protective riding equipment falls under the PPE Regulation and must be certified and marked. Many riding jeans are class A or class B. The distinction matters, because class B means no impact protectors are part of the certification.
Why do some EN 17092 certified jackets score badly in MotoCAP?
Different abrasion methods and different road models. EN 17092 uses the Darmstadt test with a concrete pad representing smooth asphalt; MotoCAP uses the Cambridge test validated against chip seal, which is far coarser. A garment can clear one threshold and still perform poorly against the other surface.
For the material-level trade-offs behind these classes, see the comparison of leather and textile jackets; for the lower end of the class range, the guides on Kevlar-lined riding jeans and summer mesh trade-offs cover where class A gear is and is not appropriate. Leg and foot certification is handled in the riding trousers guide. If you are building a long-distance setup around certified gear, the JADO H1 smart riding system keeps navigation and comms off your phone and out of your jacket pocket.
