Of course we've all seen bikers with horrible colour coordination skills (this is common amongst Kawasaki riders who come to the Light (Honda) but can't be bothered to change their green leathers to something more appropriate ) But what about matching brands? How important is it if you wear say Alpinestars leathers, to also wear Alpinestars boots and gloves? As an aside, I am wearing Frank Thomas leathers, Alps boots, and currently Hein Gericke gloves. I've just ordered 4 pairs of gloves from sportsbikeshop and need to pick a pair, which prompted this whimsical post. The only saving grace for me is everything is black and white. Poll just for fun
Probably no surprises but my leather jacket, jeans and gloves are Dainese and mean and moody black. 1pce is, erm, also mostly black but Alpinestars. I do have other gloves from A*, Rev'It and Held all err, black. Boots are Daytona Roadstars and I just can't not wear them with everything, even though they look slightly odd with the 1pce. Had em for years and I've beaten them, thrown them under a Mondeo and they just have battle scars.
I've got all different brands as long as it's comfy and has decent safety I'm happy. Tend to stick to black but I did have a brain fart a couple of years ago and bought a dainese leather jacket in the sales with a bit of pink in hardly wear it but I had it on when I totalled the sp.....it probably decided death was preferable to being ridden by a doris in pink
Clothing is mostly RST but have a set of Heine Gericke textiles from commuting days. Gloves are a mix, but Knox are my current go to set. Leather stuff tends to be black, textiles tend to be brighter. Boots are Alpinestars for when wearing leathers, but Dainese for jeans.
Scott Repsol one piece which I got for the Repsol blade. Got RST 2 piece black with those thin red strips for the matt black 18 blade but still wear both lots. The black and red MJK set I got about 15 years ago is the most comfy and still fits (alleluia). Held winter gloves, RST summer ones and Sidis. Like to be comfortable as well as protected.
Dainese one piece for me with Alpinestars boots and gloves, lid X lite carbon. Image is very important in my view as like to look good on the bike, I've always wanted set of Repsol leathers but very few companies do 'off the peg' Repsol leathers and made to measure is way too expensive.
My leathers are colour matched in so much as they're black but that's primarily due to the fact in circa 25 years of riding I've never once washed any of my biking gear, aside from my helmet. My current leathers are about 10 years old and every bug I've ever connected with in that time is still attached to them, some of them are like old friends now. It's all RST gear, it's comfy, well made and I have confidence it in should I throw myself down the road. Helmet is by Shark, I do replace that every few years. I've tried a few different brands but Shark just seems to be the one that fits me best. Current helmet is all black but I have had various colours in the past, cheapest version of the particular helmet I'm after is what sways it, I don't really worry about the look. No idea what make my gloves are. Pretty certain when I bought them, (again, circa 10 years ago), they had a Ride magazine best buy and I do tend to put a bit of faith in Ride reviews, rightly or wrongly. Boots are RST, all black, obviously. I begrudge having to polish shoes for a wedding or funeral, hell would freeze over before I cleaned my biking boots. I do recall when I was back in my teens I had black and pink riding boots, can't remember why exactly but I suspect it'll have been due to getting a good discount. My biking gear reflects my wider fashion sense in so much as I don't really care what it looks like, or how old it is, so long as it does the job and is comfortable. Only time I tend to get any new clobber is when the wife gets me something for my Birthday or Xmas.
Is that a H&B sports rack you've got on there ? The other issue with clothing is T-Shirts and fleece jackets ! I still wear a lovely blue PATA Yamaha Racing fleece, even though I sold the last Yamaha a couple of years ago now. Still have Yamaha Factory Racing T-Shirts as well. Until very recently still had a 93 Marc Marquez T-Shirt - kind of wore that one out. Just had to peel the Suzuki stickers off the AGV K6 though
Yes, excellent bit of kit, highly recommended it. Two bags strapped down was enough for 2 weeks in Spain
I mostly have Alpinestars gear, boots are Dainese. Not colour co-ordinated. I bought a textile jacket red black and white, except the white is now more dirty grey …will avoid any white in future clobber.
alpinestars in black with red and white trimfor everything including base layer but i have noticed of late the one piece suits from them tend to have longer arms than they used to so sometimes getting a good fit with gloves is a bit fiddly
I’m gonna take my suit to a tailor to get the sleeves and legs shortened an inch. My last suit was bespoke but then I was 7 stone bigger
I started out with the best intentions, with various Alpinestars & Dainese combos but my body was having none of it. When your clothing starts leaving marks on your not-quite-twenty-something form, you have two choices: eat considerably less and hit the gym, or buy more comfortable clothing. I’m now on my third set of comfortable clothing and none of it matches - even the bike is embarrassed
Had my Wolf Kangaroo skin one (black)piece leathers for some years comfortable and much lighter than conventional leathers this is matched with X lite 803 helmet. Alpinestars SMX boots (white/black) and numerous pairs of gloves.
Fieldsheer boots red mid 90's, 2 pairs Held gloves black and red/black, Arai RX-7 black, Arai Quantum F blue, FT Kangaroo one piece black/grey, MJK one piece red/white/blue mid 90's. So colour schemes Red-White-Blue or Black-Red just like all my blades.
I was told you couldn't get MJK here anymore, mines about the turn of the century.. is that right? I know the place near Bedford where I got measured up isn't there any more. Lovely leathers.
@bladey I believe MJK was a Dutch firm and the U.K. distributer was Flitwick Motorcycles, also the agent for Held? Got my MJK leathers through Kent Motorcycles in Cliftonville (Margate) about 1996ish. Red-White-Blue RRN Fireblade style.
You're right, Flitwick Motorcycles it was. Mine are red and black. I give them some leather cleaner once or twice a year and they're as good as new. Only fitted ones I've bought. Worth it though.
Jesus don't get me started with this one!!!! I have tended not to match everything up colour wise but I do prefer same brand gear. So I've had alpine stars, Spyke leathers in the past and always had same brand gloves and boots. I've been using Ixon leathers now for around 5 years and I swear by them, had 4 sets now and currently have two pairs of Ixon gloves. Ixon don't do boots though so now have TCX boots for the simple fact that most motogp riders who wear Ixon leathers wear TCX boots so whats good for the goose........ As I said, never really had leathers that match the bikes colour but my most recent purchase is a set of Ixon leathers in red black and white. I like them and they look the part on the Panigale but fuck me they are BRIGHT!! So.....most of my helmets are Race replicas and they tend to be quite 'busy' by way of design . I've decided I need to tone things down a bit and bought a plain gloss back AGV K1, not the most expensive helmet in the world but it looks nice and aggressive, ACU approved and glasses compatible which none of my other helmets are. If I get on with it I'll probably sell a few helmets and get a Pista......or maybe I won't. So now I'm matching leathers and gloves to bike, black TCX boots and Black AGV helmet. Complete matchy matchy wanker but could be worse with an over busy race replica helmet. To summarise......just wear what ever you want and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. If you look good you feel good and that helps with confidence and is all part of the enjoyment of motorcycling and getting all the gear that goes along with it!
