Cross zip nation

[Pandemic]

I got ahold of SB today and am ordering some leather samples!

 

[J Leather Investigater]

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[Pandemic]

I like the way that opens with two parallel lines ‘l l’, rather than the ‘X’ where the waist cuts away.

 

[Pandemic]

I know I’m getting way ahead of myself (SB haven’t even mailed leather samples yet), but I’m starting to think about fit.

This is a P519 I’m using as a base for measurements, that fits fairly well in the shoulders and body. I’m mostly interested in body length and arms - thinking maybe a half inch shorter in the arms and a half inch longer in the body? What do you think, gents?

Spoiler: Fit Pics

 

[Marc mndt]

I know I’m getting way ahead of myself (SB haven’t even mailed leather samples yet), but I’m starting to think about fit.

This is a P519 I’m using as a base for measurements, that fits fairly well in the shoulders and body. I’m mostly interested in body length and arms - thinking maybe a half inch shorter in the arms and a half inch longer in the body? What do you think, gents?

Spoiler: Fit Pics

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Personally, I wouldn't go longer on the body length. I might even go half an inch shorter.

I know the trend today is to wear it somewhat longer because people wear low rise pants. But in my eyes those long mc jackets look odd. A mc jacket should have a somewhat boxy fit.

 

[Pandemic]

Personally, I wouldn't go longer on the body length. I might even go half an inch shorter.

I know the trend today is to wear it somewhat longer because people wear low rise pants. But in my eyes those long mc jackets look odd. A mc jacket should have a somewhat boxy fit.

Thanks!

What do you think about the sleeve length?

 

[Marc mndt]

Thanks!

What do you think about the sleeve length?

I think sleevelength is spot on.

 

[Pandemic]

Thanks again!

I usually end-up wearing dress shirts and sportscoats that are too short in the sleeves. I might have to fight my inclination to go shorter and listen to advice this time!

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I wouldn't shorten anything, Justin. IMO a good fit as it is.
HD

 

[J Leather Investigater]

I wouldn't shorten anything, Justin. IMO a good fit as it is.
HD

Also Deborah is going to send you a list asking for 5 body measurements, have someone help you get the measurements, doing this properly will help get a great fit

 

[Monitor]

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Not sure if I'm confusing things - Whats this awesome jacket??

 

[J Leather Investigater]

Not sure if I'm confusing things - Whats this awesome jacket??

Standard and strange offers this double rider in deerskin, i ask sb to make me one in cxl burgundy an here you go! Sb , dr

 

[Pandemic]

And I totally jump on bandwagon! Though with a dark brown horsehide. Horween Lux or Blattwerk, maybe? Looks like they aren’t doing Shinki anymore. SB; dr. Ftw!

 

[Agent Black]

Two more just touched down. A shagged-out no brand lancer that's my instant favourite. It's been down the road a few times. Right hand pocket had a snapped off front brake leaver in it. I'm pleased it's not just me that's ridden off with the disc lock on. Patina on this thing is awesome.

 

[Agent Black]

Second one is my newest Ketts. I've loved them for years as my first leather jacket was a Ketts. Someday I'll start a thread on them.

 

[Edward]

View attachment 267619 View attachment 267621 Second one is my newest Ketts. I've loved them for years as my first leather jacket was a Ketts. Someday I'll start a thread on them.

Nice jackets. Are you based in the UK? These are *very* much in the British style from the heyday of the British motorcycle leathers business, sixties through eighties. the lancer front with mandarin collar I remember as being the quintessential bike jacket across both Britain and Ireland in the late 70s and well into the eighties - you saw a guy on one of these, chances are he did ride.

Ketts, according to my Google-Fi, were active in the 60s to 80s period. Yours is very much along the lines of the Lewis Lightning, first marketed in 1958; it became one of the big standards for British made bike jacket designs, and pretty much every firm out there made one at some point. AFAIK, that back seam which meets the yoke point at the top and the kidney panel at the bottom was also a relatively common design feature on UK jackets. I've never handled a Ketts, but online buzz seems to be they're as good as yours looks - they were, apparently, a direct competitor for the higher end stuff from Lewis and Highwayman rather than one of the more 'budget' brands like Mascot. BE interesting to hear more. There were so, so many British motorcycle leather brands at one time, I even remember most of them still around when I first got into leather jackets in the late eighties, but then they all started to quickly die off. Partly I suspect the opening up of Chinese manufacture as a source after 1990, but also it reflected the decline and death of the British motorcycle industry itself from the tail end of the seventies.

 

[Agent Black]

Nice jackets. Are you based in the UK? These are *very* much in the British style from the heyday of the British motorcycle leathers business, sixties through eighties. the lancer front with mandarin collar I remember as being the quintessential bike jacket across both Britain and Ireland in the late 70s and well into the eighties - you saw a guy on one of these, chances are he did ride.

Ketts, according to my Google-Fi, were active in the 60s to 80s period. Yours is very much along the lines of the Lewis Lightning, first marketed in 1958; it became one of the big standards for British made bike jacket designs, and pretty much every firm out there made one at some point. AFAIK, that back seam which meets the yoke point at the top and the kidney panel at the bottom was also a relatively common design feature on UK jackets. I've never handled a Ketts, but online buzz seems to be they're as good as yours looks - they were, apparently, a direct competitor for the higher end stuff from Lewis and Highwayman rather than one of the more 'budget' brands like Mascot. BE interesting to hear more. There were so, so many British motorcycle leather brands at one time, I even remember most of them still around when I first got into leather jackets in the late eighties, but then they all started to quickly die off. Partly I suspect the opening up of Chinese manufacture as a source after 1990, but also it reflected the decline and death of the British motorcycle industry itself from the tail end of the seventies.

Yeah Edward I'm from England interesting that you picket that up from the jackets. I know they are considered a "British style" with the side tabs but Perfecto style jackets are probably as common here as well, so I could just as easily have gone for them I just happen to prefer the Brit cross zip and lancer style.

Ultimately I like lancers the best, they look as cool zipped up to the chin as they do open or part zipped, whereas I think cross zips can look a bit geeky I suppose, zipped up but with the collar down. A zipped lancer makes the wearer look "Tooled up" for want of a better phrase, like they are ready for whatever elemental forces get thrown at them.

I'd never thought of my Ketts as a Lewis Lightning clone but I looked it up and it is pretty much identical apart from the Lewis doesn't have a vertical seam.

I'd like to know more about the brand but they don't havr a following like Lewis Leathers. One day I'll start a thread with whatever bits of knowledge I have and other users can fill in the gaps or correct me

 

[Edward]

Yeah Edward I'm from England interesting that you picket that up from the jackets. I know they are considered a "British style" with the side tabs but Perfecto style jackets are probably as common here as well, so I could just as easily have gone for them I just happen to prefer the Brit cross zip and lancer style.

Yip - all to do with how the ton-up boys preferred to lie over the tank, so no centre buckle to scratch it, whereas the Americans with their Harleys and Indians and such favoured a much more upright riding position on the road for the most part... Lewis first had a go with the Bronx in '56 (very much a D-less D pcoket, if you look at it), covering the belt buckle in leather, but to my eye the side straps are a much neater approach.

I'm a big fan of both, really, though you don't tend to see as many repops of the Brit stuff, I supposed with Lewis being such a big brand in that market and still going...

Ultimately I like lancers the best, they look as cool zipped up to the chin as they do open or part zipped, whereas I think cross zips can look a bit geeky I suppose, zipped up but with the collar down. A zipped lancer makes the wearer look "Tooled up" for want of a better phrase, like they are ready for whatever elemental forces get thrown at them.

It's interesting how that really strong style in UK jackets seems to have only 'evolved' in the 70s (Lewis brought out the Monza in 78, from memory), but I've definitely seen lancer-front jackets from Germany with a mandarin collar going back to the 30s. Even regular halfbelts with a mandarin collar from Germany in that period.

I'd never thought of my Ketts as a Lewis Lightning clone but I looked it up and it is pretty much identical apart from the Lewis doesn't have a vertical seam.

Lewis were a big style leader. So too were Rivett's of Leytonstone under their Highwayman brand - the latter actually introduced the quintessential sixties rocker shirt collar and straight zip model several years before Lewis brought out the Dominator and the Corsair in 62.

I'd like to know more about the brand but they don't havr a following like Lewis Leathers. One day I'll start a thread with whatever bits of knowledge I have and other users can fill in the gaps or correct me

I wish somebody like Rin Tanaka would do a book on exclusively Brit bike jackets - there's certainly enough of a range out there, from the top of the tree brands right through to the equivalent of the Sears catalogue (Grattans, Great Universal...) that used to sell bike jackets and such well into the nineties, before the age of ecommerce.

 

[regius]

Hi guys, I wonder if anyone who owned/owns a Vanson Dominator/Hardcore/RocknRoll can advice on fit and pit to pit? It's been a while since my Vanson days, and I used to wear 42 or 44, but not sure which model. Over the phone they say among these three models, a 42 has actual chest of almost 46, not sure if it translates to the kind of measurement we are used to here. Thanks.

 

[MrProper]

Damn. I'm afraid I just fell in love with this jacket. I haven't seen this model on the Aero side yet. Isn't the Ridley a regular model?
Source: https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...e-for-aero-jackets.77738/page-97#post-2684413
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