Classic or retro bike gear

[srob]

Does anyone know a good place for proper retro bike clothing?

I want to get a new jacket and a pair of boots (proper old school that I can tuck my jeans into ).

Short of trawling through endless pages on places like Helmet City, anyone got any good leads for where I can look?

Haven’t bought any bike gear for 20+ years so I was a bit surprised how much choice there is now

[cannedheat]

Try Motolegends or Urbanrider websites.

[Moulder]

As above, Motolegends. I went to the one in Guildford and despite my (1991) RGV250 being by far the oldest thing in the car park everyone inside was dressed like a cross between a Police sunglasses advert and Boon.

Failing that the big jumbles, e.g. Kempton Park, seem to have a lot of new old looking stuff.

[bogie]

How retro do you want to go ?

Lewis Leathers https://www.lewisleathers.com/

Gold Top have some nice stuff too

https://goldtop.co.uk/

[gareth_r]

Biker's Paradise in Coventry.

[the cueball]

Aero leather has great quality jackets.

They also do a made to measure service.

https://www.aeroleatherclothing.com/

[srob]

Thanks for the suggestions all. I was a bit reluctant to go with a leather jacket as they weren't really worn in the 1920s, I don't think?

Having looked at the Aero Leathers page above though I may be convinced so thanks for that!

I'd been looking at Goldtops for boots but they haven't had much on their website for a while and hadn't thought to check out Lewis Leathers for boots, so that's another great lead thanks

[Drawweight]

srob said:

Thanks for the suggestions all. I was a bit reluctant to go with a leather jacket as they weren't really worn in the 1920s, I don't think?

Having looked at the Aero Leathers page above though I may be convinced so thanks for that!

I'd been looking at Goldtops for boots but they haven't had much on their website for a while and hadn't thought to check out Lewis Leathers for boots, so that's another great lead thanks

1920’’s?

Looking at pictures I don’t think they wore much in the way of protective gear at all. You’ll need to go forward a few decades to be able to buy anything relevant.

[Pat H]

srob said:

Thanks for the suggestions all. I was a bit reluctant to go with a leather jacket as they weren't really worn in the 1920s, I don't think?

Having looked at the Aero Leathers page above though I may be convinced so thanks for that!

I'd been looking at Goldtops for boots but they haven't had much on their website for a while and hadn't thought to check out Lewis Leathers for boots, so that's another great lead thanks

You could get away with an Irvine type sheepskin flying jacket. They were first worn in WW1.

Your stereotypical black leather biker jacket would probably be an anachronism. I read somewhere that they were inspired by the leather Panzer and U Boat jackets worn by the nasties during WW2, but having said that, the "Marlon Brando" Schott Perfecto was introduced as early as 1928. Anyway, I suspect that's not the look you are after.

Any three quarter length leather jacket would be fine, as would a waxed cotton Belstaff style jacket.

The truth is that any costume will be spoiled by the fact that you have to wear a helmet. My own view is that you will look fine in anything short of multi coloured racing leathers.

The world and his wife will disagree with me, but I am of the view that you shouldn't need to wear a helmet if your bike was manufactured prior to 1973.

[Biker 1]

Perhaps Silvermans?

https://www.silvermans.co.uk/collections/motorcycl...

https://www.silvermans.co.uk/collections/motorcycl...

These are my favourites:

https://www.silvermans.co.uk/collections/motorcycl...

Edited by Biker 1 on Friday 15th July 14:05

[bogie]

Biker 1 said:

Perhaps Silvermans?

https://www.silvermans.co.uk/collections/motorcycl...

https://www.silvermans.co.uk/collections/motorcycl...

These are my favourites:

https://www.silvermans.co.uk/collections/motorcycl...

Edited by Biker 1 on Friday 15th July 14:05

oh yes

I think these Police boots are pretty sexy too

[srob]

Thanks all. I don’t necessarily want to look like someone from the 1920s, just less like the Bertie Bassett I do now with modern boots, Arlen Ness jacket, open face lid and carbon gloves

A couple of the links above are amazing. I’d been looking at Gold Top boots but they don’t have many boots at the moment, hadn’t thought of Lewis leathers for boots. Similarly the retro leather jackets from the aero place are cool!

[Lambo FirstBlood]

Another vote for Motolegends. Bought all my gear from them. Great service and they really know their stuff. Never felt like they sold me anything that wasn’t right for me and they appear to be more interested in me coming back again and again rather than upselling which is rare in this day and age.

[anonymous-user]

Old bike gear, even into the 70s was more about protecting the rider from the wet and cold rather than about crash protection.

I think stuff like Belstaff waxed clothing was quite popular then, you can get modern protective gear but it’s bloody expensive.

[Speed addicted]

https://www.triumphmotorcycles.co.uk/shop/motorcyc...

Triumph do done waxed cotton stuff that’s still protective. Not sure if it’s classic enough though?