Buying Leathers: Help me out

I am in the market for some 1 piece leathers and wanted some opinions on what people thought about their leathers. I ask because I had a set of Joe Rockets (size 48) back in the day, and had no complaints. I tried on some Frank Thomas XTi today and the fit sucked (too much room in the arms, when in the crouch position the knees looked and felt like I had a bulldozer blade on my knees) and the Joe Rocket GPX suit fore arms were too long and the wrist cuffs dug into the skin- and this was a size too small!

I tried on a Alpinestars RC1 Jacket and the size 46 (I'm usually a 48) fit well, so does this mean a size 46 suit will fit me well?

I would like to go with either a Joe Rocket Speed Master or Alpinestars RC1. I don't want to wind up going through the hassle of mail order exchange nightmare by ordering the wrong size. Tell me about your leathers experience- who you bought them through, what you bought, how they fit, what you like/dislike.. On a note: this isn't for VFR riding, it's for track day rides on my RVF and 954.

your help is appreciated, and maybe it will help others to buy themselves a set.

 

In my experience, Alpinestars gear holds true to your regular clothes size. I wear a 34 pant, my leather pants are 34 also.

I would suggest you head to CycleGear and try on the stuff. Based on the store here in PA, they have a ton of brands and sizes in stock. There are a lot of locations in CA so there should be one close to you.

http://www.cyclegear.com/store_locations.cfm?State=CA

As far as performance, I've been using the same two piece Alpinestars suit for probably 10,000 miles and around 15 or so track days. I've been down many times and I'm still using the same leathers. I've had the pants repaired twice due to falls but overall they're still holding up great. The jacket has some marks on it but has never torn or let loose. I've used two sets of gloves from them also but overall, I love the stuff and won't even think about using another manufacturer when I decide to get new gear.

 

The Leathers I tried on were at Cycle Gear (they apparently don't stock Joe rocket/A-stars unless someone ordered them and then returned them), I live right in between two of them. I know for a fact that I will need at least a a size 46 or above, even though I wear a size 38 pants. I think it has to do with my built in insulation.....
It looks like I will have to go to LA or SF store that has them on the shelf, but that's a 4 hour ride....

 

How much do you want to spend?

If money is not an object, Vanson is the way to go. There is no off the shelf product better.

A close second is Kushitani. The also will make leathers in any color you can imagine. The link is on their website. http://www.kushitani.com/eo2.htm

I've heard RS Taichi is awesome stuff but I've never seen them in any dealer anywhere.

The guy in my squadron that races & does track days swears by Arlen Ness leathers & will wear nothing else.

As far as the rest of the pack, you really can't go wrong with any of the common brands. AGV & Tecknic have the cheapest "real" leather race suit. JR has one that is about $15 more than the AGV, but I think it's the same one you said doesn't fit you.

The process is the same for any motorcycle garment. Go to your local shop & try on the item you want. Make some comment about not liking the color & go order the one you want from the internet. I have a dealer that will pricematch just about anything. I got them to do this buy telling them straight up that I can beat the price on the internet & now they will work with me on anything I want.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

All my leathers are Vanson (1 solid and 2 perfed jackets, 1 textile, 1 perfed "technical" leather/Keprotec, and one solid leather pair of pants) and I couldn't be happier with the fit and quality. You can find stuff that's more stylish or trendy but I bet if you *knew* you would be going for a slide, and had a choice to put on a set of Vansons or anything else (perhaps Bates might be a match) after comparing in person, you would most likely choose the Vansons. Very confidence inspiring- I swear I ride better in my full Vansons just because I can concentrate better on *riding* and not worrying as much. The people I know who have the full custom suits would not trade for anything else.

I looked over quite a lot of RS Taichi gear when I was in Japan in March ("Bike Street" in Tokyo/Ueno area)- bought some of their gloves- they are very well constructed indeed. But the off-the-shelf leathers are definitely sized with Japanese people in mind- in other words our fat gaijin butts will require a full custom job. Nearly all the Taichi sewing is now done in China. And a lot of the styling screams boy racer...maybe not so cool in a couple years.

Kushitani makes good stuff too, perhaps a little better (more Vanson-like) than Taichi. It's sewn in Japan for the most part as well. The leather seems more supple than Vanson, so perhaps it breaks in faster. Styling is a little more conservative than Taichi but still less classic than Vanson.

I saw some top of the line Dainese suits in Italy last week, beautiful- but thin and expensive. Really nice designs and very, very modern- but not confidence inspiring.

 

Kushitani and Spidi along with Dainese are my picks. I know next time I will custom order for this long arm monkey. I mean at 6' 1" 180 lbs you'd think they would have something that fits off the shelve. NOT!! close, but NOT! I have found that a perfect fit is the only way to go if you want your A game.