Leather Jacket

Found a place in main street Wollongong ( 258 Crown ) , think its called
Mode Leathers, anyway they put a button on top flap of my leather jacket (
$5 ).

Now why I was waiting I looked at his jackets and they looked quite
reasonable. He has some on special for $350 , has double zips so if you
continue to put on muscle it will accommodate your increased size. He said
something about leather from buffalo ( most probably a load of bull ) and
its a bit longer in length and warmer then current jacket.

The choice is go to bike shop and pay through the nose , go to this unknown
place ( he actually makes custom jackets as well ) or keep the old but
tighter jacket ?


Credit cards are dangerous at times

Will_S

 

Is the $350 jacket armoured? If it is that sounds like a pretty good price.

Fraser

 

It's a bike jacket, not a flak jacket.

Theo

 

Lol. Foam armour. Just the thing for bouncing down the road in.

Fraser

 

Wouldn't it be better to expend your energy and resources in figuring out
how to not bounce down the road in the first place/

Theo
Gettin sick of secondary safety measures.

 

Many a true word ...

 

Gravity is a very strong force. Feel the force man.

Only a fool thinks he is destructible on a bike and wearing secondary safety
measures makes a lot of common sense. I assume you don't like common sense ?

 

not from you

 

I'm having watercrackers with blue cheese and red wine for lunch. I'm

Yes I do. Do you know what common sense is Will? And does it include wearing
armoured jackets to impede your mobility? I think comfort is a far more
important safety issue than 'bouncability'.

Theo

 

In aus.motorcycles on Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:52:40 +0800

Dunno they are mutually exclusive...

I do think there is some Volvo Syndrome amongst riders. For example
the people who were utterly shocked and amazed that a helmet's chinbar
didn't save the face and jaw of someone who was stunt wheelying, and
pulled the bike over on top of himself. When 160+kg of bike landed on
it, it gave way.

Their reaction was not "what can you expect, if you risk you sometimes
lose" but "it is shocking that the Oz standard for helmets is not
better so that someone can be safe doing that".

I like comfortable kit that is also reasonably protective. I don't
intend to bounce down the road, but have definitely done it more than
once. Mostly my fault, a couple of times not my fault. Armoured
knees would have been very helpful at one time....

Those who want heaps of armour and leather so they feel safer doing
high speeds or major stunting need to go wake up. Doesn't make
secondary safety bad, just means it's better not to need it.

Zebee

 

In aus.motorcycles on Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:37:57 +0800

Do you know that not all jackets impede mobility?

THe Aerostich suit I wear for touring (and sometimes commuting) has
quite a bit of armour. It is also well fitting and comfortable and
doesn't impede anything that I can figure out. The only complaint I
have is that the left wrist zipper sometimes undoes a bit and my left
wrist/arm gets colder than the right. The large high tech pads
covering my knees and shins and my elbows andmost of my arms are quite
easy to deal with.

Zebee

 

you bitter little person

 

You're right, as bloody usual.

It's time helmets included a large sticker that says "This thing is probably
going to save your head at impacts of not more than 20 km/h", which is the
standard.

But how uncomfortable would armoured knees be? First time I put my current
Dri-rider jacket on, (which now leaks like a bloody sieve), I found the arm
pads restricted my movement. They came out immediately.

Too many people think seat belts and helmets are as good as or better than
accident avoidance.
"I'm very safe with my $1200 helmet and my armoured jacket sitting at the
traffic lights in 40ºC, compared to that idiot in the open face, jeans, and
denim jacket. Why do I feel faint?"

Theo

 

I must confess I haven't seen or tried one.

Theo

 

In aus.motorcycles on Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:57:44 +0800

It Depends.

I removed shoulder pads on the Dri Rider because the suit was designed
for someone not Zebee-shaped. Whereas the pads in the Tiger Angel
are fine.

I've been very impressed by the aerostich. The arms are a bit big for
me, but the armour hasn't caused any problems at all. And it's bigger
than in other suits I've had.

Zebee

 

In aus.motorcycles on Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:59:35 +0800

Neither had I seen one till a few months ago. Was a guy at Mt White
had one, and was really impressed. He showed me a scuff mark and said
"turn 1 at Eastern Creek"

They've been getting rave reviews from Yank bikers and mags for
years... I looked at the website again and decided I liked the idea
of a couple of zips to climb in and out as I like the idea of armoured
knees - I dunno mine will manage another couple of bitumen
rearrangements - and the annoyance of climbing in and out of wet
weather pants never mind armoured ones is high.

IT is as easy as they say - right leg in, right arm in, left arm in, 3
zips, done. (all Hokey Cokey jokes have been done, I can assure you.)

End result is comfortable on the bike, although I feel like a spaceman
in an eva suit off it They are supposed to become a bit less stiff
after a while. The armour pads are quite big, most gear has shaped
pads that are just big enough to cover a joint and a bit around the
joint, the aerostich pads are large square things.

I rather like that, as I was bitten by armour that moved! These
aren't going anywhere. They are soft normally and harden up on
impact. They don't get in the way on the legs at all, I thought they
might on the arms but the sleeves have enough room that they are a bit
odd at first but don't really get in the way.

I wear it for commuting too, as it is still easier to get into and out
of than wet weather pants. I think it might get a bit too warm in
summer, say over 30. It was OK at about 25-26 with the underarm zips
and back zip open and me moving. (enough so that when the temp
dropped at night my back was cold till I zipped the back zip up...)

It's not really a go shopping suit though as it's not good to walk
about in (the spacesuit effect) and it takes the whole of my topbox!

I haven't had it in serious rain yet, they say if you are in more than
a couple of hours of heavy rain you might need to put some seam sealer
on the zips.

I liked the size range too, makes the stuff we get here pretty sick!
I have a standard size, which is bloody unusual....

Zebee

 

once again not a bit of truth from you

 

I'll have to check it out, we had Perth rain on wed avo. My dririder jacket
is still drying out and my (10 yo) dririder pants leaked at the crutch. I
think we got 25mm in the 45 mins it took me to get home.

Theo

 

I assume you are not riding home and just hope the gravity doesnt bring the
wine and crackers back up

Yes I know what common sense is and sadly when I ride I tend to forget all
about it


I dont want armored jackets, my current Rivet has a few scars and has saved
me from losing quite a bit of skin but then I dont wear it all the time. I
rarely wear the matching leather pants anymore but if anyone else wants to
go the whole hog I wouldnt scoff at them or make comments like you did.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Fri, 24 Aug 2007 14:49:05 +0800

www.aerostich.com

I got the roadcrafter 2 piece, I think the 1 piece is likely a better
bet if you have a jacket you'd wear when you didn't want the
armoured bottom half. The 2 piece is a bit heavier and a bit bulkier.
I wish now I'd got the one piece, as I think I'd be unlikely to need
to split them.

Mine's bright red I decided on that because a friend had
a bright red Dri Rider Alpine jacket and pants a few years ago and I
was impressed by how easy it was to see in fog and rain. As I'm now
on a fog-and-rain coloured bike....

(Plus the light colour is better in the heat. That's my excuse!)

The one I saw was grey with yellow (mine's red with black), which
didn't look too bad.

Zebee