Got some new gear!
 

Taxes came in. Time to finally get all of my gear so I can ride AGATT.

Decided not to get a 1-piece suit because I plan to wear my gear everytime I ride and that means commuting to work as well. Didn't want to hassle with the 1-pc.

So I bought some Frank Thomas leather pants for 10% off. Nick at Cycle Gear threw in some Dianese puck sliders for free. Bought some Frank Thomas boots and Frank Thomas XTi gauntlet gloves as well. Crazy thing on the gloves is they are webbed on the pinky finger and the finger next to it. Took some getting used to but it allows me to focus on better braking. Kevlar reinforcement is nice as well as having wrist straps.

Only negative I have is that my Joe Rocket jacket zippers are opposite of the FT pants zippers. Going to see if I can't have someone switch them for me so I can zip the two together.

Aside from that minor detail, I love the gear. Fits great and I feel 10x safer on the bike already. My wheelies improved as well for whatever reason. Probably a mental thing hah! I need to buy some tank gripper pads because with the leather pants on, I can't grip the tank like I could with ...*gasp* ....denim. I hate the look of the tank grip stuff but you gotta do what you gotta do right ;).

Anyways, here's a pick of me in my new space suit. :)

Attachment 29842

When I was getting leathers I tried on the FT stuff and it didn't have the same quality as like a Dianese suit did.
Yea I know you get what you pay for so I shopped around and found a RS Taichi suit on ebay.
I even got luck enough to test out the suit about 4 weeks after I got it.:(

Most of those jackets with zippers come with the section that comes off so you can zip the jacket and pants together, right? Could you attach the zip off from the pants to the one from the jacket, and use that as an adapter?

Yes obviously its not going to be as high of quality as some of the cream of the crop companies, but for street riding and better protection than mesh of denim, you can't beat the bragain IMHO. I've had a buddy go down in his FT gear and it held up great. I have a friend that sells some "questionable" 1-pc Himalaya suits by Susanna INtl. (http://susannainternational.com/Pages/Secure/0210.htm) and they have held up from numerous track accidents. They retail for like $220 lol. So yeah, you can buy some higher priced stuff and it works great, but just because something is cheaper doens't mean it won't do the job. ;)

Sorry you went down but glad you are OK!

Yes, but see my post about my issue with the JR jacket mixed with the FT pants.

The JR zipper is also the thick large zipper teeth. The FT pants has a 360* fine tooth zipper but has an additional center zipper that has the large teeth to match jackets like the JR. The issue for me is the JR zipper "start section" is opposite of the FT "start section" of its zipper. Hope that made sense lol. Either way I think it can be resolved by having a seamstress swap them over or make a new zipper going in the same direction.

I've got an old Strike two piece suit. I wore the jacket yesterday without the wind blocker and the day before with it. Yeah, you're right - it's the way they drive (zippers) but overall q of the stuff is good. Doesn't look new for long but that can almost be a good thing some times. I bought a pair of FT leather jeans at Cycle Gear when they had them on close out and with my breaking the mgr's arm - out the door for half what they're selling now. Great fit, very tough, all the skids in place and they stay in place. I think these were Strike II jeans. I've also got MotoGP and Cortech jackets.

If I'm riding to work or leaving work to do errands for the company I wear relaxed fit jeans so I can were some knee/shin armor under my jeans and a jacket and be completely protected. Lots of Hiking boots are just as good as cheap bike boots. Gloves, Bucket, Jacket, Legs, Boots. ATGATT

It shouldn't affect the two zip off sections. If they were attached on the backsides, the non-zippered sides, then you could still attach them to their respective sections. I'm having trouble coming up with a good description of what I'm trying to convey.

Basically, you have your JR zipper attached to the jacket, then a section that connects to that zipper that zips off. I know all my JR gear have the zip-off part. I'm thinking the FT pants have a zip-off part too that disconnects from the pants. If you mate the backsides of each of those zip-off parts, you'll have a piece that connects the jacket and the pants.

Joe Rocket jacket
VVVVVVVVVVVV
^^^^^^^^^^ <-- zip off part from jacket
************ <-- stitches to connect the zip-off parts
VVVVVVVVVVVV <-- zip off part from pants
^^^^^^^^^^
FT pants

I got 2 pair of joe rocket leather pants the other day for 70 bucks. Then I got a Power trip leather jacket for 93 shipped. It has ce armor in it too. Power trip is made by joe rocket and is good quality.

Ive got a Dianese back protector I wear. Got some good kevlar reinforced gloves too.

Now I just need some good boots. Mine got trashed in my crash.

I also got a 1 piece suit from the 90's. its old school but it will do the job.

Yup need to buy a back protector too. On my list :)

marmaladedad, I will look at them closer and see what I can do. I tried to zip them together but it wouldn't hold good because the two ends were opposite of the starting sections.