Frank Thomas leathers

Are they still shit?

Bloke at Grafton M/Cs seems to think they've got their quality problems
sorted and they're good kit nowadays.

Tried on the Strike Titanium jacket & trousers, seem to fit ok, should
be fine after the leathers broken in. Cheapish too, £350 the pair.

From the catalog I see there's also the Titanium Pro 2 piece, bit
dearer, better stitching, YKK zips and "pre-curved sports fit" (which
sounds like so much bollocks but I know actually makes them damn comfy
to wear on bike, or it did on my last 2 piece) but no removable liner
(so bloody cold in Spring/Autumn/Winter morning commute).

 

frag banged the rocks together and they said :

Bad form, etc, but to clear any possible confusion up.

Contrary to some people who buy stuff and then ask if they're shit, I
haven't bought anything yet.

 

frag says...

He's talking shite. One of my best mates is an ex rep of theirs and he
wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. Returns rate for stitching failure
is horrendous.

Avoid, in the same way that you should avoid Dainese, and you of all
people know how shite they are.

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE (Black with added black bits)
Suzuki Bandit 600S (Green with added shit bits)
Yamaha SR250 Delusion (It's "Special")
I ride way too fast to worry about cholestorol.

 

My work trousers are a pair of FT. They have done 2 years of 5 days a week,
8 hours a day ( rough average taking the summer rush then winter no work
syndrome in to account ) and have been fine. No knackered stitching, no
falling apart. OK for walking round car parks in.

For red hot days I have a pair of FT Titanium kex. Horrid to walk in, but
bloody comfy on the bike, and on a day like today, perfect, 'cept I've been
working :-(

I've just bought the 'Cafe Racer' jacket, to replace an old, and frankly
skanky thing and I'm quite chuffed with it.

For excursions to tracks, my one piece is an old FT thing. It has held
together quite remarkably well. Again, I cannot walk properly in it, but by
'eck it's comfy on the bike.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with leather stuff. The quality seems up with the
competition and is better than Akito and some of the other low end stuff
I've seen.

In my opinion the bloke at Grafton is right.

<ducks below parapet>

 

frag says...

Don't buy the FT gear, you'll be disappointed.

Try the Teknics or Arlen Ness ranges. Bloody good value for money and
quite stylish, have a guess at who stocks them.

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE (Black with added black bits)
Suzuki Bandit 600S (Green with added shit bits)
Yamaha SR250 Delusion (It's "Special")
I ride way too fast to worry about cholestorol.

 

No stitching problems with mine. How long has he been an ex rep?.

Just out of interest, how bad have FT products been in the past?. The
current range seems quite reasonable.

 

How many yards of tarmac have you surfed while wearing it?

 

How many crashes has your FT gear survived?

 

I had a FT one piece waterproof oversuit that lasted nearly 8 years
before it gave-up. On the other hand I had some gloves from them that
fell apart in not many days.

 

Moon Badger says...

About a year, nothing has changed except some of the range in that time.
I still know one of their reps, and he said the same a few months ago.

It's always been questionable, they've long been known for a horrific
returns rate and suspect build quality. The only reason dealers stock
the stuff is the massive discounting they are offered and stock
cleansing prgrammes, which mean they don't have to sell everything they
take in - at the end of the product's lifetime FT will take it back and
replace with the new range.

The recent "A cheese sandwich is more protective than this armour" story
in RiDE magazine was all about an FT suit.

I had one customer who employed a young lass to come in for 2 days work
a week, they threw Frank Thomas out when they realised she was spending
all her time at work sorting out the FT warranty claims.

If you get the chance, go to the FT offices and see what you think when
you go through the front door. I've been there - there is absolutely
nothing that lets you know what this company does in their reception.
Normally at a bike related firm's offices you'll find a few photos on
the wall that have been signed by spnosored riders, maybe a race-bike or
two, some laminated magazine reviews of their products on a coffee
table, perhaps even a manequin kitted out in the company's gear, at
Frank Thomas they have nothing...absolutely nothing. I can only assume
it's because they have nothing to be proud of.

I wouldn't touch FT gear with a bargepole.


--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE (Black with added black bits)
Suzuki Bandit 600S (Green with added shit bits)
Yamaha SR250 Delusion (It's "Special")
I ride way too fast to worry about cholestorol.

 

Moon Badger says...

I crashed quite heavily on my Bandit last year, apparently I was about
12 feet in the air at one point, I landed and rolled to a stop on
tarmac. I was wearing Akito X-force jacket and trousers, which are some
of the cheapest they sell.

The jacket was very lightly scuffed on the back and right shoulder, I
carried on wearing it once I was back on the road. The trousers had
scuffing to the right hip and if they hadn't been cut off me by the
ambulance crew I'd have been more than happy to carry on wearing them.

Akito gear has come a long way from what it once was.

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE (Black with added black bits)
Suzuki Bandit 600S (Green with added shit bits)
Yamaha SR250 Delusion (It's "Special")
I ride way too fast to worry about cholestorol.

 

It's very rare to see a racer wearing FT, for good reason.

 

Good point actually, I tend not to do road crashing. Don't believe in it.
I'm probably jinxing myself here, but I've not had a road ding since 1997
and prior to that it'd be 1992 I'd guess. Pre FT wearing days anyway.

The 1pce has survived a couple of highsides whilst I've been arsing around,
but no big slides involved, just fly, land and tumble. No seams were harmed
in the making of an arse of myself ;-). If you didn't know where to look,
you'd barely notice the damage.

 

Thats good to hear. Some of their kit was dreadful. I used to have a soft
spot for their gloves though. Dead comfy, surprisingly warm and waterproof
too. Cheap enough to buy two pairs. Oddly, I still have one. Not a pair,
just one.

 

I knew their QC has been a bit iffy.

Ooh, which issue?, doubtless one I missed, as ever. I wouldn't mind a read
of that. If FT are claiming CE compliance for cheese sarnie levels of
protection then they want slapping.

Did they sell a lot or are the returns dept. a bunch of jobsworth cunts. If
the former, and they were getting a high return rate, why wasn't this dealt
with sooner?. Surely a returns rate of 5% will trigger alarm bells long
before.

Now that is a revelation. Until you mentioned it, I hadn't really thought
'Why don't you see an FT sponsored rider?'. Your para above is mildly
unnerving. Posts of 'Its fucking shyte' don't always cut it. That para
kinda does.

Have I just been lucky?, is the dealer just making certain that one of their
more vocal custards gets non-fucked kit?. Is it down to the dealer to give
garments a once over before railing them, returning anything that looks
like it has been stitched by a blind Okapi?

 

I've crashed twice in an FT two-piece leather suit and it came off ok.
The first was at pretty high speed as well.

I actually think it was better than my current HG suit.

 

Hey everyone, first timer on this group. Not even been spying on you
before too! Seems cosy. ;-)

Never had a tumble in them, but I've been wearing my Dainese two-piece
leathers since '94 now, and except for the jacket's front zipper
(which after ten years is quite normal I guess) I'm completely
satisfied with it. Perhaps the quality has gone down since '94... Why
avoid Dainese ?

Eric, Wallonia. V-Strom 1000 (Looking for a SP-2 to replace it, I
shouldn't have try setteling down so early. I'm only 42 for pete's
sake!)

 

Frotfrott' says...

The Dainese suit you have, if made in '94 or before, is of much better
quality than the rubbish they make now.

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE (Black with added black bits)
Suzuki Bandit 600S (Green with added shit bits)
Yamaha SR250 Delusion (It's "Special")
I ride way too fast to worry about cholestorol.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, wessie

I don't think we should discount the "serious illness" possibility too
soon.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer as featured in
Performance Bikes and Fast Bikes

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (Falling apart) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha Vmax Honda ST1100 wiv trailer

 

wessie says...

I tried my circa 1982 Wolf leather jacket on the other day, it's shrunk.

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE (Black with added black bits)
Suzuki Bandit 600S (Green with added shit bits)
Yamaha SR250 Delusion (It's "Special")
I ride way too fast to worry about cholestorol.