Are you in the market for a new leather suit?

When it comes to custom leather suits, the majority of riders living in my area buy Vanson products. Why? To my knowledge this is only real option here in New York. Ten years ago, when I came from Italy I brought with me a Dainese one-piece leather suit: I think that the name was Tech 2. If my suit perfectly survived a crash in 2001, I can not claim the same about the modification added by a local shop to make it more confortable after gaining 35 pounds over the years. My beloved yellow and black Dainese became so out of wack, that 2 ½ years ago I was forced to go custom. I ended up with a Vanson blue-yellow-white suit that has served perfectly his purpose until my recent crash, last month. When I was taken out from behind, I fell on my shoulder and skidded for a while with my forearm taking the brunt of the abrasion from the asfalt. While skidding I felt a burning sensation on my arm to the point that I inserted my left hand under it to move it away from under my body. What happened is that with the impact my right sleeve flipped around the elbow and the inside part of the sleeve in fabric/kevlar fell apart causing a deep abrasion on my arm from which I am still recovering. Most of the blame goes to my superficiality: last year I lost the extra 35+ pound so my custom fitted suit became very loose and this is what caused the rotation of the sleeve. My idea was to wait the end of the new season to be sure that I was able to maintain my reigained shape in the long run. And yes, I have not gained weight but I have not finished the season without crashing either, so it comes my arm road rush abrasion. What I have learned is the following: a suit has to fit perfectly your body in order to provide the best protection; the perforated leather keeps you cool during hot summers but it does not resist prolonged abrasions (it rips apart); the fabric/kevlar inserts should be limited as much as possible because they do not provide real protection, but only confort.
Here it comes the reason why I am probably going to stick with the heavy, old-fashion Vanson versus the other appealing brands available in the market: next week I am going to the local shop that sells Vanson to send my teared and baggy suit to be fixed and customized to my “new” body. They are going to repair it, wash it, insert new lettering (at least the name of the last addition to my family) and send it back to me in a neat box. Perhaps it is going to be a bit expensive, but Vanson is the only company that is providing such a type of service: the alternative it would be to buy cheaper, standard size, brand-name leather suit with the risk to go back visiting my upholstery shop in the neighbor for unwanted repairs until the Dainese’s trailer stops by at my home race track.


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