Shhhh

I am trying to get a big pay day!

 

I've had Excelled leather, 2 of them which were great until they "shrank". My Schott is the best. I also have a Raider that I like.

 

70's.... Patched up jeans and jersey shirts numbers no team names..
80's.... What didn't I wear?

 

 

Just think, you might be wearing diapers soon.

 

With your grumpy disposition, I figured you were an old fart like most of us. J/K

 

Over the decades since purchasing my riding leathers I have discovered that by pure dumb luck I wound up with some of the very best brands in the business.
I purchased a Langlitz jacket, off the rack in a bike shop in the mid-70's. $89.95 IIRC. It has served me well for 45 yrs or so, and 350,000 documented miles on two wheels. That doesn't include all the time I spent in that jacket driving, clubs, bars, shopping, throwing it around...just wearing to keep warm, not riding. You get the idea. It came with a zip-out liner which I quickly tossed in favor of more flexibility to easily "layer" garments under the simple satin lined leather shell. The old jacket is showing it's age these days. The leather is splitting on the shoulder/upper back area in several places. The rest of the jacket is well worn, but just fine. I reserve wearing it for special events.
Like the Langlitz jacket, I stumbled onto a fabulous pair of top-quality chaps around 1980 when I splurged on a pair of satin lined Hein Gericke chaps I found at a small Harley dealer in Everett, MA. Still wearing those, as necessary.

 

My daughter reminds me of that occasionally

 

Certainly not wishing anything like that to happen, but when the time comes, can I have first crack at the shovel. I could be your kid as well...

 

When I first started riding, I wore my stepdad's leather that HE wore riding Harleys around central CT when he was younger. Legend has it that he got it while he was in the Marines, but no other info was forthcoming. It was styled very much like previous posters' Avirex leather Flight Jacket, but it was brown, and I have no idea who made it. It was well-worn when I got it, and I rode with it for years. I donated it to a disadvantaged lady friend who had coveted it early on. She seriously needed a jacket.... I wore a Bell open face hat back then. Now I'm in a Shoei full face that needs replacing because of age.

I'm wearing a Howard's motorcycle leather these days. I got this jacket many years ago, probably 35, 40 years. They're out of Spofford, NH and Yarmouth ME, and they're still around. It has worn incredibly well, and is rugged as all get-out. I crashed wearing it and all it got was some mild scratches on the back. I broke some bones in my foot on that one, so it fared better than I did! It needs some TLC and moisturizer of some sort, which will happen over the winter. It has character - I went on a run over the summer and one of the younguns commented on it, saying, "I bet that jacket could tell some stories!" I told him if my jacket could talk, I'd have to kill it. His eyes got big and he walked away.... It is a wee bit tight in spots, but I can still squeeze into it.

I wear a Vanson mesh when it gets hot out. This one I got out of a Honda dealership, and has padding in all the right places. I was there getting an oil filter for my gennie and spotted it on the discount rack for an insane low price. I asked the salesman about it and he said it had a blemish, so it was discounted. I looked at it VERY carefully and couldn't find a darn thing wrong with it, so I bought it right then and there. Been riding that over 20 years.

Some folks squawk about ATGATT. To each his/her own. Nobody plans to crash. I do ride sometimes in jeans and a T, so BDTD. I'm not a fan of roadrash or traumatic brain injuries, so I tend to take precautions. YMMV