WTB: used motorcycle jacket

Guys, I'm looking to buy a USED motorcycle jacket size MEDIUM (38 to 40 in the chest), and BLACK with the old school snap down collar. No patches. Tears, rips or scuffs are okay as I can get Mac the wife to fix it up!

I didn't think I'd get any takers for the used jacket. Thought I'd try, though. I knew a guy once many years ago who gave me his old jacket because he had outgrown it - mostly in the gut. Best motorcycle jacket I ever had. Fit perfect and only needed minor repairs . . . well, looks like I'm going to get a new one. I just hate buying stuff not made in the USA. All the jackets I see in the style I like are made overseas and the ones I have tried on don't fit right . . . if the chest is right, the arms are too short - if the arms are long enough, they are too baggy or the chest is too big, etc.

I suggest that you start drinking beer heavily. Then you can stretch fit a jacket like most of us bikers!!

Joshbob, I don't think you will find a used jacket, so you may have to break down and buy new. Mine is over 30 years old and still looks great (never crashed). The black color is faded, but I like it that way. I rub Snow Seal into the leather once a year to keep it water proof and soft. Check out Fox Creek Leather. All their stuff is great quality and made in USA (VA)

I had a patch sewn on the back at a bike rally a couple years ago, and the guy sewing it on said he never saw such a good quality jacket. Paid $100 32 years ago.

Yeah it's crazy what we used to pay for leather. I remember that one could order a Bates jacket custom sized and other doo dads. I wish we still had those prices man! BTW, I agree, Fox Creek has NICE leather especially Elk and Deer. Very soft and TOUGH!

Those may be OK, but I'll bet a donut their all made in China.

When you look at what we paid for good quality leather back then, it doesn't appear to cost that much more today--relatively speaking. Bates was good quality, but don't think they're still in bus. Mine is made out of Buffalo leather.

I think you could get a good USA made jacket for $400 now. You won't ever have to buy another unless you crash, or grow a a big gut.

:roflmao:

"...big gut" Ahem, take a gander at our generation of bikers! :roflmao:
At the last Americade I bought a pair of "Bates" boots. Pretty nice but they look like any of the standard "paramilitary/cop boots" you find in many places so I bet they are foreign made. But the quality is very fine.

Look under the tongue and it will tell you where it was made. Didn't know Bates was still around. You are right about all the "big boys" riding hogs, but a very many are not our generation.

Hotroadking, I forgot about Schott Leather. Great stuff but on the high side price wise.

Well this sucks!

I bought a leather jacket and boots from a Harley Davidson dealer over 10 years ago. The jacket is really really nice, thick with a great inner liner, I still have the boots but are pretty worn now. I just checked where they are made and the jacket is made in Indonesia and the boots are Chinese. I spent well over $500 when I bought them and I would have bet since I payed so much and from a HD dealer that they would have been hecho en USA

Tommy, I don't know if you're just being sarcastic, but the truth is right there. Paying a high price does not always mean "Made in USA".

H-D has learned how to maximize profits by having stuff made overseas just like every other business in this country. I'm very saddened to see this, as we have all been led to believe in this "Made in America" icon.

Our current economic problems are strongly tied to this corporate concept. And the only people who benefit from this profit-driven greed are the Board of Directors with their insane bonuses and ludicrous salaries. Everyone else just loses their jobs.

Ya know, its one thing to buy Toyotas and Hondas (at least these companies spread the wealth by manufacturing and engineering facilities in the US) but the Chinese with their value ma***ulations and their unsafe working environments piss me off. I won't buy Chinese if I can help it. I mean Indonesia is small enough not to be a big threat but china.....forget it.

My neighbor was helping me buy tires, he had a friend running a tire place, he could get me 4 tires mounted and balanced for $300.00. That's half any place else. I found out these tires where made in China, I said NO WAY. I just can't do it. They look nice on his car but I can't do it.

its funny how this site wont let me spell man i p ulations I thinks N I P is a bad word

*** IS a bad word! Ask any WW ll vet. I've looked at a few sites since my last post and the really good jackets go for $500 to $800. Little bit out of my budget. I weigh 140 lbs. with a chest around 38 if I go around puffing it up like a rooster! Most jackets won't fit me. I'll probably go the Levi jacket route - at least they are cost effective and I can find my size, too.

Don't do it Joshbob! A Levi jackey may look cool, but it will give you about as much protection as a t-shirt. Even a cheap $100 Chinese leather jacket is better.

Tommy, those Chinese tires may look good now, but wait until he has 10,000 miles on them and look at them again. Much as I hate to say it, Michelin (French made) makes the longest lasting tires.