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My first leathers - do I need to go crazy?

82K views 108 replies 58 participants last post by  schmii 
#1 ·
I'm looking for my first leathers. I have the money so that's no prob but I have a dilemma. I have been looking at the JR GPX 2 piece which is reasonable at 849 retail before any discounts and the Alpinstars 2 piece for 1449.

The JR has soft armour and the Alpinstars has hard motogp armour.

What I'm asking is do I really need to spend that much more for what essentially is hard armour? Personally I'm partial to hard armour but I'm look for some opinions here.

In the event of a get off will the JR suit be up to it?

Thanks
 
G
#2 ·
well, you gotta know, it doesn't matter how long you've been riding or how many set of leathers you've owned, if you fall you fall, and when do you do, you will wish you have the best leather and protection out there. i would go all out on safety stuff since you got the cash, btw, i picked up my alpine star suit for 999
 
#3 ·
you get what you pay for, go all out.
cheap leathers will bust apart in 1 crash, and wont protect you as well
good leathers will last a few crashes, and have good armour. if you are even buying leathers, think about why you are doing it. might as well have something worth wearing
 
#5 ·
You can buy "good" once or you can buy multiple sets of "ok". Up to you...

Its not just the hard armor which sets the astars apart. The quality of the leather, stitiching, durability of the leather...
I'd rather see about getting the astars on sale or something like that. Isn't RMS having some kind of big sale on clothing?
 
#6 ·
johan got it.
stitching will come apart in 1 crash on a lower suit, and leather will possibly wear thru faster (thinner leather, different kind, different process for making) also higher priced suits usually fit better, have better finish. spyke is kinda a mid range suit, its not cheap, and it lasts pretty good, but it doesnt have the same quality finish of other higher brands.
 
G
#10 ·
I can never find info on Vanson Leathers -- at least not suits. Any websites with info on them? I even went to the Vanson website and it only showed jackets and pants.

Also a quick fitting question -- how long should the sleeves be? I think mine may be a little short, as they only tuck about 2cm under the gauntlet of my gloves (but the gauntlet and arm-armour meet up perfectly for max protection).

Flowrider -- bering new I figured that I may as well have the best gear from the start; heck if I go down chances are it'll be a worse situation than if I was experienced. I picked up a Spyke 2pc for the same price as a JR since it was on sale. If you're not in a hurry to buy, try shopping around for sales.
 
#11 ·
check on the Spyke suits at RMS - I know they've been clearing them out for awhile now

I picked up my Spyke 2 piece Sintesi suit (complete with hard armour) for $475 last year during the end of season sale

if they have something that fits you, it's well worth looking into
 
#12 ·
Thanks guys. That's what my brother has been telling me as well. Sales should start fairly soon, then blowouts then whatever is left goes to the motorcycle show to get rid of. I'm guessing the shops want as little inventory as possible over the winter. I may just wait it out or by some leather pants to get by on cuz for some reason I just don't feel that safe riding with jeans.

Breton, the only dealer that I know of that carries a lot of Vanson stuff is Burnaby Kawi.
 
#13 ·
Good leathers are the way to go but don't forget that with some of them you pay extra for the name. But separating the "name" stuff from the good stuff is not that easy.

Having said that you can go by the thickness of the leather (Vanson wins this test hands down easily) and the weight (heavier means higher density leather which is good). After that be sure to get a model with hard armour at least at the kness and elbows and good memory foam armour at the other key spots.

I've got nothing against Alpinstar but it sure seems like $'s for the name to some extent. The better Joe Rocket models seem like more value and less name but you gotta get the better ones. And as for Vanson, well, it just don't get no better.
 
#15 ·
Tee tee what JR suit do you think is 'good enough'? The GPX is what I'm looking at. I can always switch the upper armour with the hard armour that's in my textile JR Harddrive jacket. Then I suppose I would only have to get hard knees
 
#16 ·
flowrider said:
Tee tee what JR suit do you think is 'good enough'? The GPX is what I'm looking at. I can always switch the upper armour with the hard armour that's in my textile JR Harddrive jacket. Then I suppose I would only have to get hard knees
Looking at the JR site I would say that the GPX suit is their basic road suit. Nice for touring and providing basic safety just in case but if you look at the Speedmaster suit you get 1.7 mm hide vs 1.4 in the GPX and the hard armour comes with it. But it IS $1600 Cdn.

You might try looking at some other brands as well. My HJC came with hard armour and it can be had for around 8 to $900. But I must admit it has more Power Ranger in it's looks than the nicer suits so if you don't get one I'll understand... :D
 
#17 ·
TeeTee said:
Looking at the JR site I would say that the GPX suit is their basic road suit. Nice for touring and providing basic safety just in case but if you look at the Speedmaster suit you get 1.7 mm hide vs 1.4 in the GPX and the hard armour comes with it. But it IS $1600 Cdn.

You might try looking at some other brands as well. My HJC came with hard armour and it can be had for around 8 to $900. But I must admit it has more Power Ranger in it's looks than the nicer suits so if you don't get one I'll understand... :D
oh I get it alright. I'm looking at basic black only.
:thumbup
 
#20 ·
Well right now I am looking at the Alpinestar 2-piece GPU or TZ1, the retail at RMS is $1250 and $1400 respectively. What else is good in that price range, if TeeTee says I'd be paying more for the name than if I bought another brand... Live everyone else, I wanna get something good without breaking the bank :)
 
#21 ·
I'll weigh in on this as I have a little bit of experience in testing suits out. I have 3 and all of them have been down.......Funny think is one's low end JR highside (was 400 taxes in) That one lasted a few crashes but I was lucky I was going fairly slow. The leather tore up in chunks on the arms and a lot of stiching came apart. I would rate it as garbage, the parts that tore up were goatskin and I actually came out with hole in the shoulder in one crash. Came with hard armour. Next is a JR Speedway suit. Wore much better than the highside but the stitching still came apart in a few spots. Had soft armour and did it's job.

I have to say soft armour's a hell of a lot more comfortable than hard armour.

Next up I finally learned my lesson and bought a Vanson suit. I bought used so It was surprisingly cheap. Finish is ugly like all Vanson's but the quality is top notch. The leather crashes very well and this model came with hard armour everywhere including the shoulders. You can search hard for a used one your size (kinda deceptive since they're often custom made- the guy I bought from must have had a huge gut) or you can get them to make one to your specs. These have been down twice and are only a bit uglier and completely functional. I'm very happy with it and wouldn't buy cheap again.
 
#22 ·
Just as an update I've purchased the Alpinestars TZ1 suit from Pac Yam (Thanks Amber :thumbup ). Just finished a long ride to Sunpeaks around to Whistler and back. A little stiff but the leather is starting to slowly break in. Way better than the first day already.

So far so good. Haven't crash tested yet so that's good.
 
#25 ·
Not to sure about the GPU but the TZ1 is lightyears ahead of the JR GPX. Way less seams to blow open and the leather just feels thicker. The TZ1 uses all cowhide while the JR GPX uses some goatskin which is softer and doesn't abrade as well. The clincher for me was the armour. The TZ1 has all hard armour while the GPX uses dual density soft foam. If you buy the TZ1 you will need to buy a back protector however. Funny though, If you buy the TZ1 as a jacket only it has a back protector.

Try them both on and see what you think. Go and see Amber at Pacific Yamaha. She's great and knows her stuff.
 
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