made to measure leathers

[Kwacker]

Has anyone had leathers made for them and if so how are they?, how much were they?, and where did you get them?

Kwacker

[G Man]

My made to measure leathers arrive this week from BKS leather .... I will report back and post pics

[RemaL]

G Man said:

My made to measure leathers arrive this week from BKS leather .... I will report back and post pics

great, looking at getting myself some BKS, Crowtree or similer

[black-k1]

Had some BKS leathers made about 12 years ago. They are superb. Cost about £1150 for a 2 piece suit with the extras that I wanted but I look at less the £100 per year for such a high quality suit as a very good deal. Would I do it again? Yes, without question! (I actually think they'll do another 12 years by the look of them but they appear to be … er …. shrinking around the middle so may need replacing a bit before the suit is completely used up. Obviously I can’t be getting bigger around the middle so the leathers MUST be shrinking!! )

Edited by black-k1 on Sunday 27th April 18:16

[slim_boy_fat]

black-k1 said:

Had some BKS leathers made about 12 years ago. They are superb. Cost about £1150 for a 2 piece suit with the extras that I wanted but I look at less the £100 per year for such a high quality suit as a very good deal. Would I do it again? Yes, without question! (I actually think they'll do another 12 years by the look of them but they appear to be … er …. shrinking around the middle so may need replacing a bit before the suit is completely used up. Obviously I can’t be getting bigger around the middle so the leathers MUST be shrinking!! )

Edited by black-k1 on Sunday 27th April 18:16

Shrinking leather syndrome its a well known problem, i have had it myself.

I got my leathers made by BTK, very nice 1 piece suit with armour etc. They are very have, must have about 6 cows in them.

[fergus]

Kwacker said:

Has anyone had leathers made for them and if so how are they?, how much were they?, and where did you get them?

Kwacker

Apart from BKS (who are now owned by Frank Thomas), which are around £900 on 'average' (but fantastic quality), most of the other usual suspects (Crowtree, Manx, MW, etc) are between £500 to £700. Beware that if you want a suit to look like an off the peg die-easy or alpinestars, etc, this will add about £200-£300 to the price due to extra panels needed. It is often worth going for a 'club racer' spec suit if you do trackdays/race, as they'll build another panel over the backside. My crowtrees have 3 layers and have saved my ass (literally) on a couple of occasions, where otherwise I'd have been needing to sit on a ring cusion for a while

[G Man]

fergus said:

Apart from BKS (who are now owned by Frank Thomas)

Not true the owner of BKS sold the rights to the off the peg business to Frank Thomas, the tailor made stuff is BKS through and through.

As told by the guys at BKS 3 weeks ago

[RemaL]

G Man said:

fergus said:

Apart from BKS (who are now owned by Frank Thomas)

Not true the owner of BKS sold the rights to the off the peg business to Frank Thomas, the tailor made stuff is BKS through and through.

As told by the guys at BKS 3 weeks ago

and so glad of that

Edited by RemaL on Monday 28th April 18:57

[sprinter885]

Many people rate Crowtree Leathers http://www.crowtreeleathers.co.uk up here in Louth, Lincs for quality of service & kit. A lot of bike journos have used them & made to measure is their normal service with own graphics etc possible.

[Rawwr]

Don't forget Hideout!

[Steve_T]

G Man said:

fergus said:

Apart from BKS (who are now owned by Frank Thomas)

Not true the owner of BKS sold the rights to the off the peg business to Frank Thomas, the tailor made stuff is BKS through and through.

As told by the guys at BKS 3 weeks ago

Yep, I called them a while ago and they confirmed if you buy a custom suit from them, things are the same as they always were.

[RemaL]

Steve_T said:

G Man said:

fergus said:

Apart from BKS (who are now owned by Frank Thomas)

Not true the owner of BKS sold the rights to the off the peg business to Frank Thomas, the tailor made stuff is BKS through and through.

As told by the guys at BKS 3 weeks ago

Yep, I called them a while ago and they confirmed if you buy a custom suit from them, things are the same as they always were.

the good thing about BKS for me is that it's only 80 miles down the M5 from me, easy for me to pop down and get made up and also great reports from people who have bought from them

[308mate]

Do you reckon any of those companies would do repairs to my Spidis?

Nothing wrong with them except the zip in the jacket - not replacing them for the sake of a zip!

[Rubin215]

308mate said:

Do you reckon any of those companies would do repairs to my Spidis?

Nothing wrong with them except the zip in the jacket - not replacing them for the sake of a zip!

Whoever you do get to do the zip, make sure they know what they are doing.

The easy (and cheapest) way is to just run the leathers (plus new zip) through the machine.
However, this is unlikely to use the same holes as the original job (different pitch on the machine, stretched leather etc) so gives you an extra set of perforations alongside the new zip.
How easy is it to tear a perforated sheet of paper?

A proper job will be hand stitched (and unfortunately much more expensive due to the time it takes) and will use the same holes as the original so will be just as strong as before.

[Kwacker]

Thanks for all the info.

I've had a look at a lot of web sites now and funnily enough I like the most expensive suit so far. But that doesn't mean that it will be the best. So I think I will have to ride out and visit one or more to find out what you get for your money.

Luckily for me I have a great wife. She is going to buy me the leathers for my birthday. So I think I'll go for the expensive ones. Will let you know how I get on.

Kwacker