Need some leathers

[Berin]

I hope to be on some quicker machinery than my GS this year, and I'm planning a couple of trackdays too, and so I'm looking for some leathers. I'll use them on the track and also for road riding, but not touring.

I'm thinking 2 piece rather than 1 piece, for practicality, but are 2-piece allowable (and sensible!) for trackdays.

I really don't want to go for the power ranger look, and I don't think that I'll be improving my lap times with a hump thingy...

So:
Are MTM best, and who are best now that BKS are owned by Frank Thomas?
Which are the good off-the shelf makes?
And two piece or one piece, what you think?

Ta

 

[oblertone]

I would think ...

... that you may be overwhelmed by the choice on offer were you to post your required sizes on here. Many tossers have redundant leather apparel having gone all 'Adventure'

 

[niko]

have a look at hideout leather ,they will talk you though what you want/need

 

[Giles]

Track day organisers insist that 2 piece leathers have a full (as opposed to a 1/4) zip attaching jacket and trousers. I've never seen this policed though.

One piece are best for track days, but a pain for touring.

I have a mtm BKS suit (through work!) that is a two piece. Its the best suit i've owned. I had a crowtree mtm suit as well but nowhere near the quality of BKS. If you can afford it, a good mtm suit will last you a life-time. Don't be put off by the Frank Thomas connection, my understanding is that this is off the peg stuff. Take a day trip to Exmouth and you will probably be measured up by Brian himself.
A very good (if expensive) investment.

 

[wknight]

Go for BKS

I can also endorse BKS leathers and have used them on track with no problems because the zip goes all the way around on my 2 piece suit.

The BKS are amazing, so heavy, but once you have them on they bend in all the right places and you can wear them all day and not realize they are on. You can customize the leathers to your requirements and I have two liners, summer and winter.

yes they are expensive, but when you consider what you can pay for off the peg leathers, a little more gets you a unique suit and mine stlll looks like new and its almost 2 years old.

 

[shugie]

BKS make very nice stuff, although I got mine before the Frank Thomas event, whatever that was. It is heavy, but really well made, and it fits superbly. Brian has a good eye at measuring even the "fuller" figure.

Worth the money for the made to measure, because nothing off the peg will hold the armour in place quite as well, and once worn in it is surprisingly comfortable for such heavy kit.

 

[Berin]

thanks guys - lots of endorsements for BKS, any feedback on Crowtree or Hideout mtm?

I think I'll go for 2 piece if that's OK for track days (I'll only do 2-3 a year)

 

[dannyboy]

thanks guys - lots of endorsements for BKS, any feedback on Crowtree or Hideout mtm?

I think I'll go for 2 piece if that's OK for track days (I'll only do 2-3 a year)

crowtree leathers are the best,you get exactly what you want all you have to do is ask and they will try to help,i have raced at club level for many years and my suit has coped with quite a few tumbles,they offer repair service for their own kit so well worth checking out

 

[crampie]

Hi Berin

We now stock Spyke leathers (and Shark helmets) at our store in Devon, contact Matt on 01752202828 who'll be delighted to talk you through the range.

Regards
Ocean Plymouth

 

[Berin]

Just popped into MPS at Benson while my KTM was being MOT'd - they have some off-the shelf BKS branded leathers in there, 1 piece or 2 piece, at £300, which is half price.

I think it's this one. I tried one on at the fit seemed quite good. At £300, is this a bargain or will I hate it after 6 months and go and get mtm anyway?

 

[Giles]

Its probably a bargain.
Food for thought though .. Over the years, I have bought, for example, hundreds of cheap tools that have lasted a year or two, but have soon either broken or bent or whatever. The half dozen quality hammers, socket sets, planes ... still look new, work well and are a pleasure to use even though i remember balking at the price at the time.
And so it is for you! £300 for a very good off the peg suit? It probably will last you quite a few years. Its just a case of whether you can justify and afford a far more expensive mtm affair. If you can justify / afford it, do it, and you will never regret it.

 

[Berin]

My thoughts generally are "buy cheap buy twice"... I'll try them again, then maybe contact BKS or Crowtree to see what they can do

Its probably a bargain.
Food for thought though .. Over the years, I have bought, for example, hundreds of cheap tools that have lasted a year or two, but have soon either broken or bent or whatever. The half dozen quality hammers, socket sets, planes ... still look new, work well and are a pleasure to use even though i remember balking at the price at the time.
And so it is for you! £300 for a very good off the peg suit? It probably will last you quite a few years. Its just a case of whether you can justify and afford a far more expensive mtm affair. If you can justify / afford it, do it, and you will never regret it.

 

[Berin]

Crowtree seem to have closed down

 

[Crapaud]

I once spent a fortune on mtm leathers but they don't last forever.
I found that they tended to shrink over the winter months and were too small for me the following season.
Bought a few sets over the years and now have decent 1 piece and 2 piece racing leathers. Used one piece at last track days but really wished I had worn 2 piece as so much easier to take top off in hot weather.

 

[Berin]

Options for mtm now seem to be:

Hideout
Scott leathers
BKS

BKS are the most expensive, Scott the cheapest. The BKS suits mtm are about £1500, the Scott about £800 and Hideout about £1250.

What am I looking for to see where the money goes?

 

[GDS968]

I have had a scott suit for a number of years now, very good quality and off the peg prices for a custom made suit!

 

[Giles]

Crowtree seem to have closed down

Yes - i think he (can't remember his name) tried to sell his business, but couldn't find a buyer.

What are you looking for?

Thickness of the leather, quality of the stitching, quality of the armour, back protecter, quality of things like zips (nearly always the first to go...), choice of liners, choice of style ... the list is endless.

To keep the cost down you can do it all black and have minimal fancy coloured pannels if thats your bag.

My BKS suit is a plain black two piece (full zip jacket to trousers). It has aerated legs (lots of little holes!) breast pockets and a summer and winter wind block liner. (very good winter liner - warm fleecey material.)
It fits me like a glove and you only have to pick it up and feel the weight of it to realise the quality of it.

If you do go mtm, make the cuff on your watch hand an extra cm or two

 

[zoltan]

This may interest you:
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2265384#post2265384
The jacket is not for sell , but it looks like this. I was fortunate the get this suit , but to have the alterations done is just to expensive ( £150 for the trousers ), I hope to sell the trousers and just have one made to measure.
The quality is just amazing , this is my second BKS . New they are extremely stiff , the leather must be at least 2 mm thick , and they are 8 kg in weight including the armour.
BKS is now part of Thomas Group , but the custom leathers are made in Devon . The "off the peg" stuff is not made by them ( they have some items off the peg , gloves and some suits, but as Brian from BKS told me, is for clients who want something urgently).

 

[Berin]

This may interest you:
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2265384#post2265384
The jacket is not for sell , but it looks like this. I was fortunate the get this suit , but to have the alterations done is just to expensive ( £150 for the trousers ), I hope to sell the trousers and just have one made to measure.
The quality is just amazing , this is my second BKS . New they are extremely stiff , the leather must be at least 2 mm thick , and they are 8 kg in weight including the armour.
BKS is now part of Thomas Group , but the custom leathers are made in Devon . The "off the peg" stuff is not made by them ( they have some items off the peg , gloves and some suits, but as Brian from BKS told me, is for clients who want something urgently).

Cheers, a little short in the leg for me other wise would have done. Decided to go for mtm - I had off the peg dry suits (diving suits) for ages and then got mtm, massive difference in fit and function.

So, decision now is BKS, Scott or Hideout, I think. Scott are much cheaper, and it sounds as though that's die to the leather thickness, if BKS are 2mm that much thicker than everything else I've seen.

 

[st247]

It's well worth while checking out SCOTT. I've had a one piece and two piece suit of them. The one piece I never tested but floged to the lad over the road. He tested it at about 40 on the road and got away without any injuries.

My experience with SCOTT has been very good. I had a pair of there Venom jeans made but struggled with the legs being slightly wisted. I took them back and they had a look, decided they couldn't repair them (i believe it was due to a slight difference in two of the panels) so made a new pair, no charge, no quibble. This was despite them being over two years old.

I also had a Retro Jacket made, they made it to my spec, slightly longer and matched it to the Venom jeans (full zip). It's without doubt the best jacket and trousers i've had and now my favourite gear.

And the best bit was that they only charged me the standard price for them, not a MTM price. They say that if your close to a standard size they class it as custom fit rather than MTM.

I'd be more than happy to wear them on a track day and feel a lot safer than in my Texport 1 piece.

Give them a ring as they do sometimes venture south. They also make kit for the Met police and I believe Durham constabulary are considering going back to them. They also supply leathers to a lot of the IOM and Irish road racers, so you'd have to think there up to the job.