Can't decide on what jacket/pants to get

[Harb67]

So I've been meaning to buy some leathers before this riding season starts to replace my over sized textile jacket and blue jeans, and I finally made it out to Iron Pony today. Instead of coming home with some shiny new threads, I came home with an even more profound sense of not knowing what the hell I want.

I've more or less narrowed it down to these two jacket/pant combos:

Fieldsheer Razor Jacket

with

Fieldsheer Sport Pants

Pros:

-Higher quality armor than the JR stuff, and it includes the CE spine protector

-Jacket is perforated in some areas but not fully perforated; a nice happy medium between the two

-Pants have height-adjustable knee armor

-Jacket has removable full liner

Cons:

-More expensive than JR suit

-The jacket has those stupid white accents on the front and back

or

Joe Rocket Blaster 4.0 Leather Jacket

with

Joe Rocket Blaster 2.0 Leather Pants

(all the JR stuff comes in perforated or non-perforated flavors. More on that later)

Pros:

-Cheaper than Fieldsheer suit by about 100$ or more (depending on where it's bought)

-Pants have a better fastening system (buckle vs snaps)

Cons:

-Armor doesn't appear to be as high-quality as the Fieldsheer stuff

-Basic 'back pad' instead of a CE-approved back protector, and the JR CE-approved spine protector is 81$

So yeah; there's some give-and-take between the two. The Fieldsheer suit is more expensive and I'm not totally in love with the looks because of the white accents (if anyone can dye those white accents black, we need to talk ). But, it does seem to have higher-quality armor and it comes with a CE-approved spine protector as opposed to the Joe Rocket suit's basic back pad. I'm leaning a bit towards the Rocket suit at the moment; it's cheaper and even though the armor might not be quite up to the Fieldsheer standards, I could always buy the GP-style armor upgrades and still be saving money over the Fieldsheer suit (unless I went all out and bought the CE back protector as well; then the JR is a bit more expensive than the FS). However, I have no experience with either brand or leathers in general and I think I should ask some more experienced folks before I make a major purchase like this. What suit should I buy?

Also, should I consider getting the perforated or solid Joe Rocket suit if I decide to go with the JR stuff? Does it get hot enough here in Ohio to warrant perforated leathers? I much prefer the look of a solid leather jacket/pant to a perforated one, but I also don't want to cook inside my suit on a ride. I suppose one solution would be to get a solid jacket and perforated pants. I'm mostly worried about the pants getting too hot; the jacket has vents in both perf and solid form, while the pants have no ventilation at all. I really only plan on wearing the pants when I go riding the twisties etc and not when I'm just puttering around town and running errands, so I'm not really worried about how they look given their main use. However, I have never worn perforated leathers (or any leathers for that matter) before, so I don't know if a solid suit would work well enough for our climate, or if I should opt for the perf stuff. Again, any suggestions in this area would be more than welcome.

Thanks for reading, I know that got a little long-winded. Can't wait to finally finish my riding suit Along with the jacket/pants, it'll consist of HJC FL-15 Solid Black helmet w/dark smoke visor, Sidi Vertigo boots (black), and Icon Merc gauntlet-style gloves (black)

Edited March 15, 2009 by Harb67

[ReconRat]

Indeed hard to choose...

And this will just make it worse.

Reviews of motorcycle clothing;

http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-clothing/Motorcycle-clothing.htm

I had to use the search to find the Blaster jacket review; http://www.webbikeworld.com/r3/joe-rocket-jacket/joe-rocket-blaster-jacket.htm;

And the Fieldsheer Razor isn't there, only other;

http://www.webbikeworld.com/r2/fieldsheer/

good luck

[AOW]

If you go over to the boot section at the Pony, you'll see few leather dyes and black leather restorer. I would go w/the restorer to remove those white patches you don't like.

Before you buy from Iron Pony, check out Sandhillspowersports.com Their prices are usually much less than the Pony, and they have free shipping. They have the Blaster 4.0 for $287.00.

[EagleCock]

you def want the perforated leather since your main color is black

[Harb67]

Pulled the trigger on the Joe Rocket suit. Really all the Fieldsheer suit had over it was the higher quality armor, but the upgrade JR armor is really cheap and buying it with the suit was still cheaper than the FS suit alone.

Might have been a bad idea, but I got it in non-perf. After a lot of thinking, I realized that I do a decent amount of riding in the morning and evening when it is pretty cool outside, and I also wasn't huge on the idea of getting caught in the rain in anything perforated

Thanks for the input everyone

[Harb67]

Just got the suit Fits like a glove and looks fantastic.

The only downside is that the jacket, for whatever reason, doesn't have a 360 degree zipper, just the small 8 inch one in the back. The perforated version has the 360 one, and both versions of the pants (which are meant to go with the blaster jacket) also have both types, but for some reason the solid jacket only has the 8 inch one. Which is sort of a bummer and quite unexpected, but whatever...not like I'm planning on doing any track days right now, and I can always find a tailor to stitch the mating half of the 360 degree zipper into the jacket if I really want to. Anyone know of any shops that do alterations on these types of garments?

[CinciBusa]

i've got the JR Suzuki Superbike Replica jacket (obviously you don't have to get Suzuki) which i just got but i love it. It's got the 360 degree zipper, and the nice thing is that even though it's leather it's not "totally" leather (stretchy stuff in the elbows and forearms) so with the vents open it breaths really well and with them closed i don't worry about getting too wet. I plan on getting the Speedmaster pants to go with it here soon, but since i don't have them yet can't attest to them. But LOVE the jacket.

[Harb67]

i've got the JR Suzuki Superbike Replica jacket (obviously you don't have to get Suzuki) which i just got but i love it. It's got the 360 degree zipper, and the nice thing is that even though it's leather it's not "totally" leather (stretchy stuff in the elbows and forearms) so with the vents open it breaths really well and with them closed i don't worry about getting too wet. I plan on getting the Speedmaster pants to go with it here soon, but since i don't have them yet can't attest to them. But LOVE the jacket.

I was going to get the Speedmaster pants until I looked at the difference between them and the Blaster pants, and really couldn't justify the price difference. The Speedmasters look cooler, but both pairs are good looking pieces of gear in my opinion so I decided to save a few bucks on pants...I'll probably use the price difference to upgrade the armor in the whole suit sometime soon.

Honestly I can't express how thrilled I am that this whole suit has come together so well. The pants fit into my Sidi's without any issue or discomfort, the neck on the jacket and my helmet don't get in eachothers way at all, and everything fits perfectly and looks amazing. Only piece that I don't have with me are my A* Merc long gloves, but I've used em for a season and already know they fit perfectly.

This gunna be a good riding season

Edited March 18, 2009 by Harb67

[balaormiga]

So you really like the Blaster pants..

I'm torn between the JR blaster pants and just buying Bohn under armor.