Dainese or Alpinestars Leathers?

I am thinking of purchasing a set of two piece leathers. I already
have an Alpinestars 1 piece race suit which I am pretty happy with and
I was considering buying a Dainese 2 piece suit (either RR-27 or
Monza), but am concerned about a few bad reports I have heard about
them. Should I risk the Dainese leathers or should I stick to what I
know and have another set of Alpinestars leathers?

 

Matt E Mulsion says...

I wouldn't buy either, and nor would anyone else who is involved in the
leathers business. Dainese and Alpinestars are as bad as each other.

For what you pay for them, you can buy a proper, well made set of race
leathers made to measure in colours of your choice. There's a link in my
sig to MJK Leathers, as used by a hell of alot of happy ukrm regulars
and racers including Xaus, Rutter, Byrne, Toseland and loads more.
Quality costs, but it doesn't cost as much as over-expensive tat in the
long run.

--
Lozzo : The Speedyspic
YZF1000R (Big boy's Power-Valve)
BOTAFOT#57/70a, BOTAFOF#57, MIB#22, TCP#7,
ANORAK#9, DIAABTCOD#14, UKRMT5BB, IBW#013, MIRTTH#15a/16,
BotToS#8, GP#2, SBS#10, SH#3, DFV#14, BONY#9.
http://www.glfuk.com/ for MJK Leathers and Daytona boots.

 

Don't bother. You've probably got a pair of jeans and a fleece in
your wardrobe already. Wear them, and take the bike down to your
local dealer and spend the grand that you were going to spend on
leathers on cocaine instead.

I guarantee you you'll get more pleasure from doing that.

 

AOL.

Lozzo rates their T-shirts, too.

 

My Alpinestars 2-piece has been fine, and stood up well to a bit of tarmac
surfing last year. However, in retrospect I prefered my Spyke leathers of
similar cost.

 

Really? In MotoGP? I thought Xaus was Dainese or something.. or is that just
the branding on top?

 

my Alpinestars armoured paddock jacket is fantastic. Though I've not
crash-tested it yet.

 

dwb says...

Xaus has worn MJK leathers in the past, there's a pair of his from when
he raced an R6 in the GLF front window. Rutter raced at the TT in MJKs
on the Castrol RC45. Shane Byrne wore MJKs on a CBR600, there's a
picture in GLF's book showing him coming over the mountain at Cadwell
TWA in them. Toseland wore MJKs when he first started out racing CB500s
for Sid Moram of Slough, again there are pics in GLFs book.

I could have mentioned that Steve Linsdell - the 2nd place rider in the
Lightwight (400) race at this year's TT - was wearing MJK leathers also,
as were quite a few other riders out there.

Take a look at the next KRC meet you attend, you'll see quite a few of
the racers wearing them.

 

Ben Blaney says...

Theor T-shirt is average at best, but cost about 8 times more than I
usually spend on similar quality ones. I only have it because it was
free, I certainly wouldn't have paid for it.

 

I have seen a single off-the-peg suit from Dainese that impressed me -
a Foggy replica one-piece; thick hides, immaculately put together and
yours for £1000 back in 1995 - but by and large, the Italian
manufacturer's products could all be clones of Dainese's wares.
Whether thick or thin, the leather is rather "dry" and this manifests
itself as reduced tensile strength compared to the "moister" feeling
Brazilian-sourced hides used by the UK specialists.

Their products don't fare too well in magazine tests, either. Didn't
Dainese occupy last place in an MCN report in 2003? They only scored a
high place in RiDE's tests because the titanium inserts on the
shoulders, elbows and knees were selected for testing, rather than the
questionable leather providing the remaining 92% of body coverage...
Dainese also hold the dubious honour of having had their products
banned from the UK racetracks for a brief period in the late 1980s
because the ACU were seriously concerned about the number of their
products that were flying apart in even fairly innocuous crashes.

My advice is place your money with one of the domestic made-to-measure
specialists - and I include MJK in this, courtesy of their UK agent.
They will probably be quite able to duplicate the design of your
choice.

I am impressed by Italian design flair; IMHO it's their execution of
the design into a robust product where it all falls down. But when I
see evidence that the Italian manufacturers are striving to improve
their products, I'll be the first to praise their efforts.

 

I know, I've seen them before.

However you've listed some names in there that are now in MotoGP - my
question is what are they wearing now?

 

dwb says...

Something else, which is probably nothing like what you or I could buy
in the shops, despite looking identical.

 

Neither, a good budget range is Hein Gericke.

 

Three examples of this: one of Wayne Gardner's "Kushitani" suits, in
Rothmans Honda colours. I had the opportunity to examine these over
several days, and it emerged they were made from three distinct
thicknesses of leather: 1.0 - 1.1 mm on the chest and abdomen, 1.2 -
1.4 on the sleeves, front thighs and lower legs and 1.6 - 1.7 mm on
the back, seat and back thighs. Buttock protection consisted of three
layers of thick leather plus a layer of foam rubber; for an overall
thickness approaching one centimetre!

The leather was Kushitani's trademark heavy-grain, highly drummed
Holstein cattle-sourced material; however, most seams were single row
stitched. This was a "multi-crash" suit in terms of materials, but
potentially a single crash suit in terms of construction. The Japanese
leather manufacturers were always incredibly generous with their
allocation of suits to sponsored riders, however, as they did not wish
a damaged garment to be worn again.

Example two: A set of Wayne Rainey's Dainese leathers in Marlboro
Yamaha design when he was over in Europe in the mid-80s, racing in the
250cc GP class. Single row seams everywhere, which had abraded when he
hit the tarmac. A chainstitch using monofilament thread had been used
to construct the seams, rather than a lockstitch, and extensive
lengths of seam had unraveled once the externalised structural seaming
had been cut and abraded. IRTA asked if I could get the suit repaired
overnight, which I did, but Wayne was in too much pain from the
injuries he sustained in the crash, and flew back to California early
on race day morning.

Example three (seen but not personally inspected): John Kocinski
crashes at Coppice during a 250 cc British GP. As he watches the rest
of the race from the sidelines, the TV cameras pan onto his back and
there is precious little suit left, as almost his entire back
protector is visible!

Different riders seek different things from their leathers. Lawson
reputedly always preferred leathers not more than 1mm thick, for
lightness and flexibility - but Eddie seldom crashed! By comparison,
Biaggi's current leathers (from the same supplier as Lawson's -
Dainese) have the appearance of something rather substantial.

So, in the case of the International (predominantly Italian) brands,
the public may well be buying precisely the same quality of materials
and construction used in certain of the top, sponsored riders' suits.
The question is, is that what consumers actually want, or are they
simply provided with the lowest common denominator which the
manufacturer is prepared to supply?

The UK suppliers of bespoke clothing (and MJK, on Lozzo's
recommendation) appear to maintain an equally high standard of
materials and construction for *all* customers, and are quite capable
of producing the "high fashion" designs for which their Continental
peers have developed a reputation.