Airbag 1 Piece for someone 6’-2”?

[airsafari87]

I’m after a new 1 piece to use for a bit of racing and road riding this year and I’m preferably wanting an airbag suit.

I’m 6’-2” and 100kgs in the knack by the way.

I’m not wanting to spunk £££’s on a suit so have been looking at the RST offerings.

I tried on a V4.1 Evo suit today in my size (46) and while it fit me lovely across the chest, waist etc … perfectly it was splitting me in 2 even when I was stood up with a bit of a crouch.

Unfortunately there wasn’t one of their Pro Series Evo suits to try on, but I’m hoping that the less aggressive cut of that will give a bit more length in the chest to crotch?

Anyone else of similar stature wearing one of these suits? Can I expect them to break in and stretch much?

Any other options other than RST up to a max initial purchase price of £1500 that have airbag suits and can be recommended?

And before it’s mentioned … no I won’t be getting a BKS M2M suit.

[Steve Bass]

Have you thought about an air vest you could wear under your current leathers??
This is the route I'm thinking of taking, especially if I can recharge the system myself.
I think the Alpinestar Air7x(??) seems to be well regarded.
Apparently only needs 4cm of room in your existing leathers to fit....

Edited by Steve Bass on Sunday 16th February 19:45

[patchb]

I’m a bit taller at 6’4” and a bit lighter at 92kg but my alpinestars one piece fits lovely, very comfy once on and does feel quite a lot better quality than my RST 2 piece suits - having said that I think the RST suits are great and did consider getting one of their 1 piece suits last year as they had them in a colour that I really liked and they also fit well.

Dainese seem to be targeted at shorter and slightly more porky people in my experience (Ducati owners ) and I tried a furygan suit that was the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever tried on!

[airsafari87]

Steve Bass said:

Have you thought about an air vest you could wear under your current leathers??
This is the route I'm thinking of taking, especially if I can recharge the system myself.
I think the Alpinestar Air7x(??) seems to be well regarded.
Apparently only needs 4cm of room in your existing leathers to fit....

Edited by Steve Bass on Sunday 16th February 19:45

I haven’t, and it wouldn’t work under my current aplinestairs leathers anyway, they seem to have shrunk over winter???

Even before they had shrunk they were tighter than a nuns anyway.

[Steve Bass]

airsafari87 said:

I haven’t, and it wouldn’t work under my current aplinestairs leathers anyway, they seem to have shrunk over winter???

Even before they had shrunk they were tighter than a nuns anyway.

Ah yes, the annual winter shrinkage

[dibblecorse]

Do you have an ACU licence? If so you get a better price than the public on their M2M, honestly, just call the RST race dept, get measured up and enjoy, best decision I made and I paid the non ACU price, plus you get it as funky as you like

[2ndclasscitizen]

Ixon do airbag-compatible leathers and tend to be a bit cheaper. Will need to check the pricing on the airbag though.

[Paft Dunk]

I’m 6’-2” and 85kgs

Alpinestars was also the best off the peg for my height. And I’ve been in various, non-airbag race suits of theirs for years.

I tried the RST off the peg EVO airbag suits and sure I could get in them but definitely not as good a fit as the AS. I also tried non EVO ones but they are baggy as anything, it’s not a race suit.

I also went RST MTM and it was a revelation! Couldn’t believe a suit could be comfy (I can actually sit down in it!) and it made me realise I’d been so used to poor fitting one piece suits I thought that’s just how it was. Improved my ability to move around on the bike as a was no longer fighting the suit, so it had a positive effect on track.

My ACU license had expired so I paid full whack but still think it’s a fair price to pay.

Edited by Paft Dunk on Monday 17th February 03:41

[dibblecorse]

Paft Dunk said:

I’m 6’-2” and 85kgs

Alpinestars was also the best off the peg for my height. And I’ve been in various, non-airbag race suits of theirs for years.

I tried the RST off the peg EVO airbag suits and sure I could get in them but definitely not as good a fit as the AS. I also tried non EVO ones but they are baggy as anything, it’s not a race suit.

I also went RST MTM and it was a revelation! Couldn’t believe a suit could be comfy (I can actually sit down in it!) and it made me realise I’d been so used to poor fitting one piece suits I thought that’s just how it was. Improved my ability to move around on the bike as a was no longer fighting the suit, so it had a positive effect on track.

My ACU license had expired so I paid full whack but still think it’s a fair price to pay.

Edited by Paft Dunk on Monday 17th February 03:41

So thats 2 votes for RST M2M :-)

[airsafari87]

dibblecorse said:

So thats 2 votes for RST M2M :-)

I’ve dropped RST an email to enquire about them.

I don’t have a current ACU, is the non ACU price still around £1800?

[Salted_Peanut]

Paft Dunk said:

I also went RST MTM and it was a revelation! Couldn’t believe a suit could be comfy (I can actually sit down in it!) and it made me realise I’d been so used to poor fitting one piece suits I thought that’s just how it was. Improved my ability to move around on the bike as a was no longer fighting the suit, so it had a positive effect on track.

Expensively, there’s no going back once you’ve experienced made-to-measure.

[Paft Dunk]

Was £1650 for plain and £2000 for screen printed in Sept 2024.

[KTMsm]

Wouldn't it be possible to buy a larger suit than required and then get that tailored to fit ?

[Paft Dunk]

Good idea, might work.
I’ve tried that in the past. Had about 2 inches added to the middle of a Held suit that I purchased based on looks and not fitment. Was still a compromise.

There are other MTM vendors of course, an interesting one was DRC Leathers, if you dropped the airbag their custom suit was under £1000.

[Salted_Peanut]

KTMsm said:

Wouldn't it be possible to buy a larger suit than required and then get that tailored to fit?

Yes, I bought leathers from eBay that were slightly too big, and then Hideout tailored them to fit me perfectly. The result was superb.

Provided you use a good motorcycle tailor, such as Hideout or Hill4Leather, getting clothing tailored to fit is an excellent option. Whether you buy lightly used or new-old stock, getting it tailored to fit is an affordable way to achieve made-to-measure comfort. Why buy expensive new gear that almost fits, considering you can get NOS or end-of-season clobber tailored to fit perfectly?

[airsafari87]

To close this one out.

I ordered the RST V4.1 Evo from Sportsbike shop in the next size up from the one I previously tried on in store.

Fits so much better and once broken in it should be spot on for me.

[black-k1]

KTMsm said:

Wouldn't it be possible to buy a larger suit than required and then get that tailored to fit ?

My son had my 25 year old M2M BKS leathers adjusted to fit him after they ... er ... shrunk on me. He is a couple of inches taller and about 10kg lighter than I was when I had the suit made. It cost about £200. They're not as good a fit as proper M2M but they are as good as, if not better than anything off the peg.