Kobe leathers?

[kbroderick]

Saw a Kobe 1-piece leather suit on sale over at the WERA forums, and after a bit of googling it seems like a reasonable option to upgrade from a Teknic two-piece setup (which has the serious annoyance of putting the waist of the pants right about where the abdomen strap for my back protector would like to be).

Any opinions on durability? How about fit (in particular, any ideas how Kobe's idea of a 44 would compare to Teknic's?)?

Thanks,
Kevin

[BLACK SQUIRREL]

Bergs Wears them and he crashes ALOT.

He loves them

[Kitt]

Bergs Wears them and he crashes ALOT.

He loves them

Have you seen his shoulder? bleh...

[lrrs699]

Have you seen his shoulder? bleh...

that thing looked pretty nasty....the zipper broke when he went down

[butcher bergs]

Bergs Wears them and he crashes ALOT.

Wow, Daniel. That was pretty much uncalled for.


kbroderick - My Kobe Misano has held up well so far. Not sure what caused the zipper to blow out during my last off but the quality is otherwise acceptable. I'll be contacting the distributer to make them aware of this issue. We'll see how they handle it and where I will stand on future Kobe products.

[kbroderick]

Well, I did pick up a used Kobe X-Pro prior to the three track days I just did.

I then proceeded to test it in 1A on Monday and entering 3 on Tuesday. The result: a bunch of scuffing, a small holeon the right forearm, and some minor seam damage about midway up the right arm (looks like the top layer of leather is separating in one of the reinforced, high-wear areas, but the main layer underneath looks fine).

I'm fine. I do plan on getting the suit repaired.

For impact comparison, the 1A crash bent my brake pedal and handlebar, even pulling the bar end halfway out of the bar, as well as causing some cosmetic damage.

[noxin]

Well, I did pick up a used Kobe X-Pro prior to the three track days I just did.

I then proceeded to test it in 1A on Monday and entering 3 on Tuesday. The result: a bunch of scuffing, a small holeon the right forearm, and some minor seam damage about midway up the right arm (looks like the top layer of leather is separating in one of the reinforced, high-wear areas, but the main layer underneath looks fine).

I'm fine. I do plan on getting the suit repaired.

For impact comparison, the 1A crash bent my brake pedal and handlebar, even pulling the bar end halfway out of the bar, as well as causing some cosmetic damage.

Were you the ninja that lowsided and almost hit the tires?

[legalspeed]

I always recommend Vanson.

They are the only ones I have seen at the track with a stitcher applying sponsor patches and making repairs for free.

[kbroderick]

Were you the ninja that lowsided and almost hit the tires?

Yeah, that was me proving why it's important not to have your weight on the bars.

[noxin]

Ahhh, okay, I was wondering what caused that.

[kbroderick]

Ahhh, okay, I was wondering what caused that.

Well, it was a confluence of factors, I think. If you (or anyone else) happened to see it, I'd be interested in any other theories.

Issues:
1. I was riding at the limit of the bike/rider combination.
2. I was trying to work on body position and wasn't consistently getting to where I needed to be, thus distracting from line, etc and also causing me to tense up my upper body (and put weight on the bars).
3. I missed my brake-release marker into three.
4. In response to (3), I think I may have tipped in too hard, too quick and not allowed for the bike to respond to the pavement variation coming through the corner.

Per (4) I then ran out of either traction, lean angle, or both and put some more mileage on the leathers.

[noxin]

I don't really recall seeing what happened in 1A. I looked back from traffic that had just cleared two and you were sliding on the ground