Now, this is a bit of a rant and am happy to be proven wrong so feel free to chip in, So, after pointing Dan out a suit he fancied this morning I decided to pop in to a couple of dealers today myself as mainly I'm shit with money and I also fancied having a 2 piece Astars as the 1pc suit I use for track is awesome (RC1 in black) So, after looking at what current designs there are and trying for fit I found the GP pro jacket to be just right for my build and I really liked it. However I started to notice that all the livery on the suits (Astars logo on chest, arms, neck etc etc) is now all printed on and no longer sewn leather/rubber logos or embroider, seems that way across all the new 2012 I believe (well what they had anyway) Now firstly my RC1 suit has rubber type logos sewn on and parts embroided, my dainese racing pelle jacket has leather dainese letters along the arms, titanium shoulders and also more leather letters sewn on along with embroidery. So I kinda expected harder wearing detailing if you looking at £350+ just for jackets obviously escalating up the scale of the range. So I looked closer on a couple of them and you can see where some of the edges of the lettering is picking away already, asked the store owner and he said nobody had mentioned a problem to date but Alpinestars would replace the jacket if things started going wrong. Now don't get me wrong, I Don't entirely know the technology they're using but I've worked in print for a few years now and I can just tell that the lettering isn't keyed that strongly and frankly I would expect after a years use your gonna be missing letters, parts of logos etc etc I was told that as long as it wasn't scuffed/scratched off and it didn't come off due to aggressive cleaners they'd take it back under warranty and look at it........ But c'mon, it's a sodding bike jacket, how many times are you gonna lean on the forearm areas? Lean up against a wall and rub the logo/lettering at the base of your back? I'm telling you now if it's coming off at least two jackets I can see in store (all be it in small areas on the edge of lettering) how long is it gonna be before you end up with 'Alpin tars' on one arm and 'pine ars' on the other? I'll be emailing Alpinestars directly myself and try and get the 'official' take on what they'll cover cos I do want the jacket but I'd also want to know the extent of warranty because if they've decided to cut costs but printing logos on nowadays and still charge £350+ then I'd want a cast iron response that if it comes off they'll sort it FOC. So, has anybody got one of the new range and if so how's the lettering holding up?
Not like Astars to skimp on quality I have the leather Dyno jacket which is sewn on leather logos and embroided sleeves and i have had it 5 years . Its stinking with road grime but not a stitch come loose , zip broke , nothing it has been amazing
Totally agree with the above post i was looking at the jackets too and they want top dollar for not so good quality.Had a pair of super tech r's boots paid £250.00 for them at the nec wore them once then ebayed them as the toe sliders were an awfull fit and didnt follow the countour of the boot so hated them, will stick with sidi boots now
I would not be so confident in what you have described to be honest Shame as those jackets look stunning on line
To be fair mate, my supertech R boots are so good I bought them again in the GP track style I do use the magnesium toe sliders though so the standard ones are always brand new in the box. It's just the new suits/jackets that I'm talking about in fairness to them, my gp tech gloves are brilliant, boots great, RC1 suit awesome..... But although this new jacket fitted lovely I'm just not entirely sold on this printed logo and lettering thing on what's meant to be 2nd or 3rd top of they're range..... I think even the top stuff is printed......
Oh I'm sure the build quality is still good, it's just that if theyve decided to hammer the new jackets with logos all over why make them of a lesser quality that'll crack and come off? I'm half in mind to buy the jacket and ask them what'll remove the lettering from the start and that way it'll look good for longer
I imagine it will be the same style of print that they used on the sp2 gloves? Ive had mine nearly 3 years. will post a pic up in a sec.
you can see the lettering on the little finger has started to go but the actual print on the cuff is still good. Gloves get worse treatment than a jacket, bunged in your helmet, chucked on the floor ect,ect...
mmmm My Tech R boots are awesome had them 2 years ( the ones with the vented leather,look better than the new ones ) My GP Tech gloves ( ones with the plastic cuffs like used in BSB ) have held up very well over 2 years but there is no printing on them like Blue's
Well, it was meant to be sarcastic If the mods want to fill in the cracked off missing letters that's fine mate, I suppose it does make it a bugger to search for
