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How Tight Should A Leather Jacket Fit?


i_needit

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I went to cycle gear today and picked up a Dainese Zen Leather Street Jacket. When I talked to the guy I tried on the 46/56 and he said it was to loose, so I tried on the 44/54 and he checked it out told me to take a deep breath with my t-pro back pad and I should not be able to have no more .5- 1 inches of loose material. So I jumped on my bike and went for a little ride, kinda felt like a pimple ready to pop. I can take very deep breath and I can move but it is a strange feeling. This is the first time I have ever worn a leather jacket that is supposed to be my size. So will really how it is supposed feel? Do you guys get more comfortable with this feeling and will the leather give a bit?

Thanks

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The jacket will give a bit as you wear it, but it should still be a fairly comfortable yet snug fit.

My first couple of leather jackets were fairly loose, the last one allowing me to fit a warm sweater underneath, which it needed. However, neither had any armour in them, and for armour to be effective, the garments the armour is in need to fit snugly so that in a crash, the armour can't move off the part of your body it's supposed to be protecting. My current jacket is very snug, and I couldn't fit a sweater on under it. However, I've ridden in temperatures down to 5 Celsius, and it was warm enough with just a t-shirt underneath.

OTOH, what you wear on a bike should NOT restrict or hinder your movements. You want something that's snug, not tight, and that fits well everywhere, without bagging, and that's not so tight that you're constantly aware of it.

When I tried on my jacket in the shop, I felt like I was being choked, as it was tight across the bottom of my neck. This has eased with time (as long as I do it up properly) and I am pleased how comfortable and snug the jacket feels when I'm riding - sort of like it's hugging me. :fing02:

Oh - and if you treat your jacket with a good leather conditioner, it will help the leather to lose some stiffness, and retain some waterproofing. I've tried LOTS of products, and the best one so far is Nikwax - it's easy to apply (spray a bit on and wipe it over the jacket), is economical (one bottle is supposed to treat two garments, but I've done my jacket three times so far and have used less than a third of the bottle!), and leaves the jacket feeling supple and it sheds rainwater well.

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you will thank yourself if you leave room for a sweater. Unless it is your dedicated hot weather gear.

.....speaking of hot weather gear, have you seen the latest from BMW?

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I agree with Tim......leave room for a sweatshirt. Also, leather tends to shrink just a little bit as it ages.

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you will thank yourself if you leave room for a sweater. Unless it is your dedicated hot weather gear.

.....speaking of hot weather gear, have you seen the latest from BMW?

I just saw the new BMW gear. Very nice, and very pricey. I think about $750.00 for the jacket and $400.00 for the pants? Would someone who knows alot about gear (which leaves me out) offer an opinion as to the cost/benefit of this new gear? Of course, the BMW logo would have to be removable. :fing02:

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It came with a very thick liner, the front is perdorated and it does move some air, but still its all leather and it is hot, today I went out for an hour and when my t-shirt dried it was crusted with salt stains.

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you will thank yourself if you leave room for a sweater. Unless it is your dedicated hot weather gear.

.....speaking of hot weather gear, have you seen the latest from BMW?

I just saw the new BMW gear. Very nice, and very pricey. I think about $750.00 for the jacket and $400.00 for the pants? Would someone who knows alot about gear (which leaves me out) offer an opinion as to the cost/benefit of this new gear? Of course, the BMW logo would have to be removable. :fing02:

BMW gear is good, but way overpriced IMO. They seem to price their equipment to be just above everyon'e typical "that makes sense" pricing point that it comes up to be some sort of "luxury" buy for most. I' m wearing a new low priced Tecknic Chicame jacket and pants this summer, and I don't think anyone can convince me that a BMW jacket (that tend to mostly look boring and plain anyway) should be priced almost four times over it. It's hard to find a truly bad jacket out there because of the competition between makers that have bouyed up the quality up in the past years. Who expected that KBC and HJC helmets would still be around and actually competing with the Japanese brands for market share.

Getting back to the leather jackets/suits sizing, I did notice that most brands do size their items small where I find my size a bit tight. specially the Euro brands. Snug is good, but not to the point of not being able to breath and not enjoy your rides. I suggest that you go to the next size.

JMOs

Beck

95 VFR

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BMW gear is good, but way overpriced IMO.

+1. Good stuff, but I think they charge premium prices b/c people will pay it. You figure if a guy will drop $20k+ on a new Beemer touring bike, he might buy a "matching" BMW jacket for $400 when a jacket on sale somewhere else will do the same job for 1/2 that price.

Back on-topic...My leather jacket fits rather loose at the moment, but it's comfortable, well broken in - and I can fit a couple layers on under it for winter riding, even after installing the zip-in liner with full sleeves. Also, many jackets have straps at the waist to adjust the fit there.

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No expert, But agree with the othe folks, here.

As a helmet, you want it semi tight, but room to breath, at least. Break-in will play a big roll.

The less flap, in the jacket, the less skin to lose, is the general rule.

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you will thank yourself if you leave room for a sweater. Unless it is your dedicated hot weather gear.

Haven't needed one on my Macna, and it's winter here. The most I've needed is to wear a long-sleeved merino top instead of the usual t-shirt.

The only thing that's got cold riding has been my fingertips, and my chin (when I wasn't wearing a silk balaclava).

The jacket is touring length (unusual for a leather bike jacket), showerproof, and has removable waterproof and thermal liners, both of which are very thin. I noticed the waterproof liner on its own increases the warmth of the jacket. Both liners fit between the permanent liner and the leather.

Any water that gets through the leather (none so far) drains out the back and bottom through mesh bits.

In summer, the bottom of the sleeves unzip (from either end - they're double-ended) to let air flow through the mesh underneath, and the front panel (about 6" wide) zips off. This goes up and behind the neck, and the airflow is incredible - better than my Teknic textile jacket with all 8 vents open! :unsure:

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I have 2 leather jackets, one for winter and one for summer and a leather one piece suit for the fun stuff. The jackets are both the exact same model the summer one is a medium which fits closely over a tshirt and the winter one is a large which allows me to put on a lot of layers underneath. As the leather breaks in and softens up it will actually stretch quite a bit, both of my jackets are far looser now then when I bought them. The suit is still a little tight but I'm still breaking that in.

As someone else already mentioned the jacket needs to be fairly snug in order for the armor to properly do its job.

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how tight should leather fit? :fing02:

hhhm, gimme a second to conjur up a mental picture..................

hear you go!!!

SCAN0048.jpg

:goofy:

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A leather jacket, worn in the US-fashion (i.e., with Levis) will ride up in an accident if loose at all--and possibly even if tight. It should be zipped together--with leather trousers. I don't know why US peeps don't seem to think their lower bodies are worth protecting...

Not everybody wants to wear ATGATT, but you're kidding yourself if you think jeans are giving you any kind of protection.

Ciao,

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I have 2 leather jackets, one for winter and one for summer and a leather one piece suit for the fun stuff. The jackets are both the exact same model the summer one is a medium which fits closely over a tshirt and the winter one is a large which allows me to put on a lot of layers underneath. As the leather breaks in and softens up it will actually stretch quite a bit, both of my jackets are far looser now then when I bought them. The suit is still a little tight but I'm still breaking that in.

As someone else already mentioned the jacket needs to be fairly snug in order for the armor to properly do its job.

Yep...pretty much what I do on jackets......Large for Winter or year round (room to layer), Snug Medium for Summer (no breeze flap)..... :fing02:

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how tight should leather fit? :unsure:

hhhm, gimme a second to conjur up a mental picture..................

Hmmm... that's pretty tight - she must've needed a trouser horn to get into that.

I have one she could use... :warranty:

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I like how those fit on her, I would also like to peel them off her. I don't wear leather bottoms, I have motoport ultra 2 pants. But I do need to have the zipper installed asap.

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I don't wear leather bottoms, I have motoport ultra 2 pants. But I do need to have the zipper installed asap.

I have some leather pants, but don't wear them - I've got some Spidi GranTurismo pants, that are textile with leather on the seat and inside lower legs. The armour, fit, and comfort of the Spidis is much better'n my leather pants or any other pants I tried on, and they're "four season" pants. Like you, I need to do something about the zip-together thingo (technical term). The jacket has two zips provided (long and short), and the pants have a long zip, but with different sized-teeth to the jacket. I can't decide whether to take the other half of the zip off my old jacket, or add one of the new jacket's zips, or what. Doesn't help that there's a gap of a couple of inches between the zips. But (however) it does help that the jaclet is long in the back, so there's no chance of a gap, due to the overlap.

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