Buying leathers, particularly second hand

[Derivative]

Probably been posted before, my apologies if so.

Does anyone here have experience with buying second hand leathers (off eBay, Gumtree or similar)?

How does sizing generally work? If I'm 30-32" in jeans am I likely to be the same in bike gear? Do people just buy blind or blag a fitting at bike stores?

Do 2 piece suits zip together across manufacturers or even across different models from the same manufacturer? Like, could I get an A* jacket and arlen ness pants and expect them to work together or would it be pointless?

Does gear stretch to fit the wearer? Is second hand stuff likely to be uncomfortable/baggy because of this?

If second hand gear is shit, I'll just stump up the money for a set of RST stuff, but I'd rather save as much as possible.

[doggone]

You can get really lucky or you could buy several things not quite right.
Generally you can save a lot.
There are a lot of items only get used a very few times because owner got too fat or gave up bikes after a year or less.

Sizing depends on maker, a lot of them are on the small size compared to jeans if anything.

[TheSmiler]

[MadCatLady]

Charity shops are also worth trying. I got my leather trousers for £10 and they look like they had hardly been worn. My OH has got a jacket and trousers from a charity shop too.
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[Itxi]

Got my jacket and trousers from Ebay, nothing wrong with them but I did a fair bit of looking round about how to measure myself for leathers.

But they are different brands and they don't zip together at the back, that's the kind of thing you can fix yourself though, or get a reasonable seamstress to do.

[JP7]

I bought a two-piece leather suit off eBay, I did email the seller beforehand to ask about sizing, and he said the trousers were "true to size", so I had a punt and bought them. I am a 30" waist and bought the 30" trousers, and luckily they fitted perfectly.

You can save a lot of money buying used stuff because as others have said, a lot of it has hardly been worn. At the end of the day, if it doesn't fit properly you can always chuck it back on eBay and buy something else.

[bunglehaze]

Certain brands are shocking for sizing so it is worth popping down what you are looking at as I am sure a few folks here have experience.

What I find usually is that italian sizing is slim apart from alpinestars which can be neutral or a little large on occasion, french (richa/furygan etc) are usually ok jacket wise but the trousers come up at least a size small. Most british brands are fairly neutral sized too.

Different brands dont always zip together, quite often the zips might be exactly the same but one brand uses the top section on the trousers while another uses the same section on jackets - feckin useless IMO and they could easily be standardised.

If you have the connecting piece to the zips though you can sew them together to create an intermediate zip and this does the job, or you can have one of the zips replaced to suit the other garment, usually though the cost of doing this would put you back up into the ballpark of buying a matching set in the first place
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[G]

Fit is important for bike clothing.

I've often bought second hand bike clothing.

Ideally, try it on first.
But with ebay that's certainly not always possible.

My tactic when I wanted some decent suits for racing was to buy 3 off ebay at around the right size or just too big for under £100 each.
I then got the two better ones altered to fit (cost about £100 each), which gave me two made to measure suits for around £300 and one that was a bit too big to sell on again.

[_Troy_]

Keep an eye on Gumtree, always lots of suits on there. A lot of sellers are happy to let you try stuff on before you buy too.

I got lucky with mine, saw them advertised on Gumtree and just went for them. Didn't try them on, took them home and they fit perfectly. £30 isn't bad for a 'like-new' set of Dianese leathers.
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Current bike: ZX6R J1
Previous bikes: CLR 125 | GS500 | ZX6R G2 | SV650

[Kaneda]

It really pays to do your homework I found, firstly finding leathers that you like the look of and fit your price range, then searching on google and review sites as to people's experience as to how the leathers that you're looking at fit a certain body type. Me? I picked up a pair of Hein Gericke trousers for £30, not a mark on 'em and they fit well. Even better was a Frank Thomas XTI jacket for £50, pretty much brand new, fits like it was made for me, and an unexpected bonus- zips to my trousers! (was very, very lucky with that though).

All of the above happened because I HEAVILY researched what I was buying, having said that, if you do pick something up that doesn't fit, you can always sell it back for pretty much what you paid for it

[oldenuff]

There are real bargains to be had second-hand but you need to have a clear idea of what you want to pay and what risk you will take. If it all goes pear-shaped and you have lost £10 it is no big deal but if it is £100 then it is painful.

I bought a cracking leather jacket for £12 and the guy sent matching Goretex gloves for free. Looking at the jacket I guess it spent more time on a hanger than on his back. He sent a note saying the jacket was not a good match for his new bike! I paid £20 for leather trousers and about £35 all in for fabric jacket and trousers for the winter. The only problem was that they had different zips but that did not make all that much difference.

I have had a couple of bad buys but you can always re-sell them. I bought a new pair of boots and although they were ok once on you needed to struggle to get them on. I lost about £2 on the deal. I have learned that if it is too good to be true it probably is a good thing to steer clear of. Having said that I got a brand-new two part tank bag for £12 - list price £130.

You also need patience. There is stuff listed everyday and you will find what you want at the price you want to pay if you keep looking. Set up searches with realistic parameters and you will get a daily listing.

[Shaane]

I'm a 30 waist, 5ft 11, 10 and half stone and a UK48 fits me perfectly if thats any good to you pal?
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[Derivative]

[Cunnington]

I bought a 2 piece set off fleabay, based upon the jacket size that was quoted. The seller either liked his jacket loose or was a bit of a mis-shape - the trousers were a size smaller - L jacket, M trousers.

Was a bit pissed at the time but, in the end, I got a jacket I like for £80.

Unfortunately I'm now an even fatter barsteward, so neither fits.
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[Derivative]

Think I have the opposite problem to most on eBay, I'm a bloody runt. Chest 34". So finding a jacket might be a hassle.

[TheSmiler]

[GREENI3]

[Paris2]

[Derivative]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure a UK42 will be too big.
I'm generally the smallest size available in anything - it's difficult to get suit jackets, for example.

I'll try a UK36, might be alright since it's a jacket.

[c_dug]

The first time I tried leathers I was thrown off by how tight they should be, I ended up with something 2 sizes smaller than what I originally thought was right. They should be taught when worn so that when you go sliding down the road they don't snag and cause you to tumble. That's the theory at least.
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