Newbie rider - Newbie clothing

[sampy3]

Hi folks,

Am sure some of you are fed up answering these questions from Newbie riders - "been covered before in another link you bloomin' idiot!"

However, I've been doing my research - after wearing the most middle class clothes ever worn during my CBT (ski jacket and marksies chinos I'll have you know!) I decided I needed some proper gear. After looking around, textiles vs leathers, brand and a bit of salesman bothering, I came across ra-moto online. The quality looks good, however...it seems a bit good to be true. 1 and 2 piece tailor made suits for approx £200. Just wondering if anyone had any experience with their stuff. The last thing I want to do is buy something turd and only find that out when (I'm well aware I'm going to drop whatever I buy several times!) grating my a**e on some of Scotland finest bitumen. I've no vested interest in them - I'm an engineer so this isn't a sneaky way to get round your advertising policies! A quick Google search will find them anyway.

If anyone here has any info about them, please let me know!

Cheers,

samp

[Ste]

[sampy3]

Hi Ste,

Thanks for the reply. Eventually sport bikes - I grew up watching road racing in Ireland - interest grew from there. Hoping to do some track days etc. Short term, with test passed and for a bit of getting used to riding (LOL) I'm looking at a hornet or similar. I'm thinking if I buy decent gear it'll do for a good while. I'm not fussed on using it as a commuter - fair weather for a run out on a good day/tooling through Europe on track day holidays.

[Matt B]

£200 for tailor made suits, direct from Pakistan, never heard of brand, quality unseen. Wouldn't touch it with Ste's bargepole.

You are likely to end up with the kind of premium quality leathers than can be easily ripped and pulled apart at the seams. Not something I'd want to be using using on a track day, let alone the road.

You want a decent one piece suit then you need to dig a bit deeper or find one second hand. Go try some on first though, fit is a minefield with 1 piece suits.
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stinkwheel: He had an animated .gif of a cat performing fellatio. It's not socially acceptable. It can have real life adverse effects on other people.

[sampy3]

Hi Matt,

Yea agree with you on that one - would rather not find out about poor quality the hard way! Thought it was too good to be true but wanted to know if anyone had any experience. I've had on alpinestars 2 piece suits and thought they fitted well. Not too sure on using 2 piece instead of one piece for track days. 2 piece would be good for the Sunday ride when stopping for a well deserved coffee

Thanks for the advice - think I'll stick to the alpinestars for now!

[Ste]

Two piece is fine for track daying. And they're better for the road if you're more inclined to wear them rather than a one piece on a hot sunny weekend.

[Rogerborg]

I wouldn't discount them out of hand. A lot of leather gear is made in Pakistan. Maybe they just like killing cows to piss off the hindus? And to be be fair, they are marketing them honestly as rip-offs replicas.

Notes of caution:

They do have a comprehensive custom-fitting form, but what happens if they just send you a generic suit, or a badly made one? You can bet that their recollection of the sizing you specified will be different to yours.

They don't appear to give any promise about leather thickness or, critically, stitching. Although curiously they do offer kangaroo. How would you tell the difference?

Price is plus postage, and you'll get mugged by HMRC as well.

With all that said, you could buy from a UK retailer and end up with exactly the same gear from the same supplier, at a fat markup.

But at least you'd get to finger it first and see if the leather and stitching are worthwhile. If they're not, then you're buying a chocolate teapot.

On balance, I reckon I'd give them a miss until I'd had a good rummage through the local retailers and Gumtree/eBay for used suits near enough to try out.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[sampy3]

Yea it would be good if someone had already taken the plunge and could give some feedback! They do mention thickness of the leather - think its between 1.2 and 1.3mm. But that means hee-haw if the stitching is muck!

Again, thanks for the advice. I might take a punt at their gloves. They're about £40 or so so not the end of the world if they arrive and are s**t! If I do, I'll fire up a post about them and you can slate me for being a mug!

[talkToTheHat]

If you want custom fitted kit, look at Scott Leathers. Good but spendy. Otherwise find your way to a big store full of kit, J&S or similar and try lots of kit on. Frank Thomas, RST, IXS, Alpinestars, Furygan depending on your budget. There's plenty of very cheap motorcycle kit out there, and it's better than nothing, but having experienced first hand the way a pair of £40 trousers were only just enough in a 25mph off, Ive been staying clear of really cheap no-name stuff.

Yes, I've had a fly zip fail on my RST R14 trousers after 8 months of regular use (days of a year old but wore textiles during the winter) and the taped seam on my IXS trousers faield, but both were sorted under warranty, the RST repaired and the IXS replaced. I had a tiny issue with my Shark helmet sorted under warranty too. This is what a reputable supplier will do. They will back up the quality of their goods.

You can play the mail order game, sending things back that don't fit, but it can be a nightmare. particularly if you are trying to get a jacket and trousers that go together. I prefer my kit to zip together, particularly my winter kit as it cuts out the draft down my asscrack. It's supposed to be safer and it's usually requirement on most trackdays that you wear a one-piece or a two-piece that zips together.

I'd recommend textiles as your first jacket and trouser combination. Less messing about and worrying about the rain. Less care issues, cheaper.

Don't skimp on gloves, when you have your first little drop, it's likely your hands are going to hit the ground. They're really vulnerable and if you've not done picking gravel out of your hands or knees after a playground/pushbike/street football/alcohol induced fall, then you're beyond saving.
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Bandit. does. everything.

[sampy3]

Aye road rash is not a great thing to be honest. I've come off my road bike a few times - not the same I know but it's still bloody painful!

Yea I see your point with warranty and being able to go to a shop and speak to someone if there are any issues. Unless you know exactly what you want and that it fits, distance buying is probably not a good idea.

Thanks again for all the help - wasn't expecting this much response so cheers - much appreciated!

[ZX-7R]

I wear Ixon gear,and its pretty good for a cheaper brand.I buy my gear from the Infinity warehouse in Camberley,which is about 10 miles from me.

I wear the leather jeans year round and vary between my leather and waterproof textile jacket depending on the weather.

Can get jacket and jeans for under £300 from that store.
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Current Bike - 2000 ZX-7R

[Alan1986]

Thought I would post in this thread rather than starting my own,

My questions do relate to newbie riders and newbie clothing,

I bought some gloves from a Honda dealership the weekend which I am happy with,
Whilst I was there I eyed up the helmets, jackets, bike locks, covers etc
Working out a budget,

Helmets at the Honda dealership start from around 90 cheapest with a limited choice, they can order a size in though,
Price going up to 500 poundish,

I basically think I won't be buying all my gear from that place as I am budgeting,

What are J & S accessories like?
Seem like a budget place, well have lower costing items in my price range and also higher,

I have seen helmets online for 30 quid,
I am happy to spend 100 maybe 140 if I like the helmet,
But 30 quid for a helmet?
Basically is there stuff shitty quality?

Obviously helmets all go through tests to ensure they are safe but I won't be buying one for 30 quid,

I'm rambling anyway,
So anyone use J&S? Might look at the jackets there also as they seem to have a big selection (also cheap/naff?), drove passed the store by mine years ago and looks a big place so I should have a good choice, trying on jackets, helmets and so on

Be like the scene from pretty woman but me walking out trying on mismatched biker gear and no one sitting watching..

Apart from the salesman trying to flog me a 500 pound helmet
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Cbt Done, Currently wobbling around on a Cbf125 and love it
DAS some time soon

[ZX-7R]

[Alan1986]

Might give sports bike shop ago,

They do free returns on helmets if it doesn't fit,
Bit unsure of my size, I think I have a large head

Just looking at the helmets now. They have a sizing guide on there so I'll probs wrap some wire round my head tomorrow at work, cut it to length and measure it,

They do returns on jackets as well so that's good,
I was looking at stores I could goto as I wanted to try the gear on and make sure it fit properly, but sports bike shop will do
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Cbt Done, Currently wobbling around on a Cbf125 and love it
DAS some time soon

[MedicalBiker]

SBS are amazing with their returns and how quickly they dispatch their goods as well. Virtually buy all of my things from there! Better price than in most stores too

[Shaft]

[Bridgehouse]

[Rogerborg]

[Matt B]

[Az]

[Alan1986]

It is the J&S in Digbeth that I drive passed quite alot,

I'll start by measuring my head in abit and plan to either goto the suggestions around the Midlands the weekend or order online,

Can flap around for ages trying to choose so just need to get the stuff now

Edit
Just measured me ead,
It's just under 60 f##king centimetres, that sounds big to me,
Looks like I'll be mainly trying large helmets out then

How can my head be bigger than half a metre!?
____________________
Cbt Done, Currently wobbling around on a Cbf125 and love it
DAS some time soon

[talkToTheHat]

J&S are a bit of a behemoth, they own BKS and Frank Thomas, as well as pushing their ultra cheap J&S branded kit.

Some of the ixs stuff is good, i like their goretex gloves, but thier textile range is overly fussy, with different size zips on each size. I could have got a textile jacket that fit nicely and matched my current trousers, but I'm looking at a bigger pair of trousers as mine are sometimes a bit tight, which would then need an impossible to get hold of zip size converter. They appear to have a million subtly different jackets, most of which are on sale and only in odd sizes.

They stock a handful of HG, i dont know if it's old stock or they're distributing new hg kit. Unsure of current HG quality but traditionally its been dependable.

Loads of RST kit. Occaisonal items exclusive to J&S, i had their two piece touring leathers. Liked a lot, killed the trousers and ran into their touring zips fitting formerly ubiquitous 8inch connecting zips and J&S no longer stocking anything with that zip. Should have gone with mainstream product.

Never had any trouble with warranty repairs/replacements at J&S, they have looked after me so i keep going back.
____________________
Bandit. does. everything.

[Alan1986]

Getting there slowly but surely....

The alcohol was last night, and tonight it's the weekend,

Glad I went in and tried helmets at j and s as I was going to order a large online, my head moved abit in a brand new large helmet so that can't be any good,

The one I bought was 69.99 and a medium,
Bit tight round the cheeks but I keep reading this will wear in, should do me fine while I learn on a 125,

Has quite a good visible area as well, I can only compare it to one I wore at CBT, but the cbt helmet I couldn't see as much as with the one I bought,

I'll probably just go for a textile jacket next month after another payday, budget myself at 100,

My helmet budget was originally 100 to 140 possibly, so glad I never overspent on what I originally set out with,

The savings basically goes back into the biking fund,
Jacket, locks, bike cover and finally a bike. eventually, one day, soon...

I am doing this on a budget and taking everyone's advice into account, the brands I buy may not be the best but they all meet the required safety standard and my wallet

*Quick Edit*

Whilst I was in J&S today looking at the helmets,
Which to be honest was a decent experience, got there around half 9, told them my budget which maybe I shouldn't have but the guy at the place did take me to the cheaper helmets when I told them I just did CBT and so on

So seriously I can not knock them for that, tried quite a few helmets on ranging from 150 quid to the one I got which he said likely suits my needs best as a learner which I am, so certainly happy with them,
Anyways I just got talking and said that I'm looking out for jackets etc over the coming months and will eventually get a bike,

They have 125s in stock a few derbi models, he suggested I looked at the derbi cross city, Apparently they have sold a few... I dont find that style particularly attractive for my needs anyway,
I'm editing my original post as I have never bloody heard of these?
Any opinions?
For some reason my mind is set on a used Honda cbf to learn on, I like the seating position,
These derbis I have never heard of and only looked at today look quite tall and more of a dirt bike,
I am just doing some research now meaning Google and YouTube videos

Appreciate all your input guys, will likely go for a Honda cbf but just wondered what the opinion of these derbi bikes that I have never heard of are

*Another Edit Ey*

After some research it looks like production of the above bike is stopping and J&S have stock, so parts may be harder to come by, might explain why they are selling them for 1100 brand new, I think I'll stick with a Honda cbf to learn on, at Least I hope I can get parts or fairings if I likely drop the bloody thing
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Cbt Done, Currently wobbling around on a Cbf125 and love it
DAS some time soon

[talkToTheHat]

J&S is not the place for 2nd hand 125s. Derbi are part of piagio group, so it's not a random drop of Chinese stock. Still wouldnt buy a new one unless i had specific plans to keep to keep the bike for more than two years, whatever the brand.
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Bandit. does. everything.

[Alan1986]

My mind is settled on doing the DAS

So no sticking to a 125 for me I hope
____________________
Cbt Done, Currently wobbling around on a Cbf125 and love it
DAS some time soon