Returning To Biking Shocked At Costs Jacket Etc.

So after about 2 decades of no bike and having been hankering after one for a few years now decided it was time of course after such a time have no biker stuff left mind you no way would I get into my old jacket chest has expanded somewhat never mind the middle! So started searching online as there are no motorcycle dealers/shops near where we live nearest that have found is about 45km away in VT the regional capital where found a dealer/shop that seems to have a reasonable stock and choice however the prices floored me normally would choose a leather jacket but dammit are they expensive here so look at the alternatives and boy have things changed and once again prices are much higher that expected so much so that by the time have acquired the gear needed, Helmet, Gloves, jacket, footwear and possible leggings that will have accounted for a third of my budget. This was not something that had really given much thought too until now.

So off the ebay we went where I found a modern textile/fabric jacket with leather gloves for £50 which is half of what they want for their cheapest textile jacket!!! Helmet will probably be a LS2 make Rabid 11 Circuit which is £100 here but £70 from ebay UK but need to check fit so will buy here.

I cannot be the only returnee that has been shocked by this surely it was bad enough not seeing the familiar makes like Centurion, Cromwell, Stadium, Griffin for helmets and Campari and Lewis Leathers for jackets. barbour I assume still make their motorcycle wear though have not looked to be honest I have a horsey type waxed cotton jacket that could be used not sure how it would cope with mid 30's into the 40's temps in summer though. Trainers will do in the short term for the feet it helps that the bikes that am looking it have at some type of fairings as am looking at the sports/tourer type ... must be my age LOL..

 

Ahh yes had forgotten about Paddy Hopkirk and just remembered JBW (John Brown Wheels) bought a good one picece winter wet weather suit from them. Got my Campari leather jacket from a close out sale in the paper for the grand sum of £20 in 83 this replaced a smaller Campari that was not too tight for me cannot recall what paid for teh Centurion Firebird helmet though. Just got sort out the online banking so can actually purchase online wiht the newish account so it works with ebay and paypal and can orderthe stuff.

My best mate had a Lewis Leathers Lightning fringed jacket that he got in 76 when he got his FSIE and he had to get a new one in 1980 after he had a bad accident and due to the workouts he did to get his arms and hand working again he expanded his chest so much he could not gey into his original one in now thinking on it several of my "mates" at the time wore Lewis Leathers jackets of course living just 25 miles south of London probably had something to do with it.

 

Gave my first leather to a friends daughter when I go the new larger one but somehow don't recall what happened to that one. Any way it seems that I have sort of done a "you" was watching Three leather jackets on ebay.UK and got offers on two of them so now once I action payment will have two older used leather jackets heading this way.

One is of Marlin Brando style in Oxblood coloured leather the other is black with red across the chest and is of a more recent style by Ash and has spine protection "armour" they will cost once shipping is taken into account about £120 the pair. For now will use an Italian Suede bomber style jacket that have had for years.

On another note bought my full face helmet today glad I didn't go the online route to save a bit as the size the tape measure siad I needed was too small needed next size up although I could get the smaller size on it was darned tight................ too darned tight. Did get to look over a Triumph Tiger 900 while waiting on them finding the right helmet in their stock rooms as they have one in thier small showroom. The Tiger styling is not my cup of tea but that's a moot point as the price is about 4x my budget nice bike but not for me.

So it's coming together slowly and hopefully at the end of the week will be looking over a 1998 Ducati Monster 600 to see if it's a suitable bike for me weight wise it should be good but not sat on a Ducati since 1979 and that was a 900SS.

 

Am thinking it's more like re-learning or perhaps re-remembering apart from warrenty work and the required first service did all the servicing on my then new Triumph T140E and on all my other bikes. The one time I asked an official dealer to do something he messed up. That was on an 83 Honda 750FB with about 19,000 miles on it and he an official Honda dedalership was asked the check and adjust as need the valves them being bucket and shim type and he should have had the shims. Picked i up and he say fine but one is a mite tights ................. A short time later as I open her up overtaking a car on the 7 mile straight thet was abang and huge roar. That tight valve had burnt and chipped spiiting the chip out luckily but had to pull her down recut the valve seat replace the valve and all assocoaited gaskets with the rebuild not ahappy chappy me and dealers says not his fault he done nothing wrong.

OK never balanced carbs with guages did not need them for the Bonnies and the FB750's were fine so that would be a new thing and not used these code readers either.Nephew has a Delphi System for the cars but I have never used it mind you most of the cars are old like 1993 and 1999. If the suspension spheres arrive as they say tomorrow morning I can then start putting the MG's suspenion back to gether she was sitting a bit low and suspension was mite hard so had the units refurbished so am not new to maintnance but definately new to Ducati and the biking scene is very different to what I knew.

 

After few years hefting bread and pastries in bulk about preparing loads then load the trucks at a large "Mother Pride" bakery things got bigger like thighs, chest and arms. Loaf of bread weighed 2lbs put 10 or 12 in a tray they pick those up 3 then 4 then 5 at a time all day tends to make things like this happen we worked 12 hour shifts. After this could not even get my arms inot my original leather jacket.

My spending needs to more modest hence the cheaper range helmet, the used leather jacket and the old bike, the one am going to look at is a 1998 with 60,000 miles on it but as I don't do a lot of mile or rather kilometers here that is not so much of a concern for the last few years have only covered about 6,000km between vehicle tests will most likely do less on the bike.