The best leather jackets......

[The_Dover]

spool don't double stitch on anything of theirs I have seen.

[Fishy]

Revit gear looks pretty good, some fag was wearing it on the Coro loop last weekend (thought it was a fashion shoot I reckon).

Oy, I have the same suit as Eddy!..... pretty eh!.

[terbang]

Arlen Ness gear always looked ok.

Well what do ya know, Steve (ZRXer) wears an Arlen Ness jacket. The Haemotoma (bruise on his gut) looked bearable. Havn't seen his jacket though..

[The_Dover]

do they do them in normal sizes too? to conserve the number of cows slaughtered for one mans vanity............and protection of course.

[SPman]

Get whatever is most comfortable for you.

I was looking at Spidi when I got mine 5 yrs or so , ago, but the Spyke suit I tried was just so much more comfy - I bought that.

Saved my hide on a couple of occasions since, so I'm well pleased.

[dawnrazor]

just to clarify here, I'm not looking for a fashion parade...I was meerly trying to do a little market research and find out what other people are buying and waht they make of them.

I find product reviews in kiwi and aussie bike mags to be piss poor at best, and sponsored at worst - so never trust those guys.

So far, I will look at some rev'it gear (thanks Dynamytus50), but not RJays (thanks again Dynamytus50) although they where not on the radar.

Dianese make nice stuff, but there isn't a retailer in NZ to the best of my knowledge and I'm not paying big money for a jacket I have never tried on to some website in belgium. Also all Dianese gear is not created equally, which could explain the single/double stiching issue. All the Dianese gear I've seen is double stiching.

I will have a look at Alpinestars, but to be honest - they seem a little over priced. Obviously I'm after some quality gear here, something I plan on keeping for as long as an ever increasing belly will allow.

I'm just not all that familiar with ALL the different makes and brands peculiar to this part of the word. If I was in the UK I'd look at Hein Geiken, or Ixon or Furygan or so on and so forth. I just want to be sure I have tried on all the options.

At the end of the day, I will OF COURSE buy the jacket that fits the best, is the most comfortable, has the best build quality etc etc etc, but I won't know that unless I try on a few options.

Its an unfortunate that pretty much all biker gear here can be divided into two camps - the bleeding expensive and the bleeding shite - not a great deal in the middle.

cheers

[The_Dover]

oi, I said revit was good, not that pig.

[dawnrazor]

oi, I said revit was good, not that pig.

actually you both did, thanks to you as well dover, Not sure about Arlen Ness though it comes very close to the harley shit, seriously I had aN Arlen Ness cordura jacket, just sold it - it was good but I wouldn't be in a rush to go back there.

[TerminalAddict]

well I fucken love my sexy red quasimoto jacket.

if it had a cunt I would fuck it

[The_Dover]

if it had a cunt I would fuck it

didn't it come with a free quasi?

[dawnrazor]

well I fucken love my sexy red quasimoto jacket.

if it had a cunt I would fuck it

If it had a growler as you say, I'd be more concerned where the leather came from. Silence of the lambs anyone!

[TerminalAddict]

didn't it come with a free quasi?

face it mate .. you want me

[geoffm]

My first set of leathers were tailr made Scarlatti ones (made by Graham De Jong - last heard he was in Mt Roskill). I had them for years, with some high speed bins on the track.
After they "shrunk" I cheaped out and got a set of AGV leathers because they were cheap, and I couldn't afford the made to measure again with house payments etc. The finishing isn't as good (some of the threads weren't trimmed that well, etc), but they seem to be ok otherwise.
Dainese are grossly overpriced IMO for what they are. You can get locally made to measure gear for less, in your colours and made to fit. Try MSW or Scarlatti (The Hughes Design Co) if they are still around.
Geoff

[Paulus]

Dainese dont do double stitching which means if the stitching gets damaged or rips while your on your ass sliding down the road your on your own..

I just took the liner out of my Dainese Pro-Tech suit and checked. Double (sometimes triple) stitched on many seams. Single on some but they don't seem to be key ones at holding the suit together in an accident. They make a lot of suits though and I believe a lot of the low end ones are now made in Vietnam not Italy.

If you are sport riding seriously then I'd go for a one piece suit over a jacket any day. It will definitely protect you better and you'll feel safer too (kind of like you're in your own personal fortress). A friend just bought a new Spyke one piece from Cycletreads and it seems well made and was under $2k.

BTW if you are after Dainese (I'm not saying you should) and want to try them on then Peter Stevens Motorcycles in Melbourne has an awesome selection. Something to consider next time you're in Oz anyway.

[Paulus]

The ones i have seen certainly didnt, how much did your suit cost? is it one of their top of the line ones?

It was their top one back in 2002. Ghostrider used to use it in the 2 earliest movies. It was 1000 Euros with free shipping included from Bimoto in Belgium (on clearance). Ended up costing about $2200 here all up.

Pics of it when it was new: