LLC

Ride Well... And Well Equipped.

Background

Riding jackets are a pretty important part of the safety gear one has. Deciding which one to get is a matter of personal preference, of course, but not having one at all just doesn't seem right. For the past several years, I’ve been torn between a leather riding jacket and a synthetic one.

It seems to me that there are two kinds of injuries that riders suffer: impact (hitting the ground, vehicle, or other object) and abrasion (primarily, sliding along the ground). The best defense against an impact injury would seem to be armored (i.e. heavily padded) clothing. Just about every synthetic riding jacket has armor in it in some form or other; very few leather riding jackets – except those deigned for race-track riding – have such armor. Everything I’ve seen suggests that nothing beats leather for protection against abrasion injuries. A simple denim jacket will get torn to shreds in very quick time, synthetic textiles will last longer, but leather outlasts them all.

For the first several years of my riding, I was more concerned about impact injuries than abrasion injuries – so I purchased armored, synthetic jackets. However, I’ve always liked the style and “aesthetics” of a leather jacket and couldn’t deny that abrasion injuries could be quite painful. When my second synthetic jacket started to show its wear towards the end of last year, I started looking around for a new jacket. Of course, I was looking primarily at synthetic jackets, but I passed my eyes over a few leather ones as well. Nothing really struck me.

Then, not too long ago, I was contacted by Fox Creek Leather. They had discovered our website and asked if we could put a link to their website on our website in exchange for them doing the same. I’ve gotten more than one of these requests in the past and I always check out the company and their products before I agree to such a thing. I went to their website and was impressed. Good layout, good selection of leather products, great photos and descriptions of their products, lifetime warranties on products, etc. I liked the “Fox Creek Leather Story” and their position against sweatshop labor. The more I looked at their website, the more impressed I became.

So, in the end, I decided to try one of their jackets. If I didn’t like it, I’d write out my thoughts about the jacket and send them to Fox Creek Leather hoping that they might be able to use the feedback for future jackets. If I liked it, I’d write up my thoughts about it here and have Two Wheel Touring become an “affiliate” of theirs. (Yes, this means that if you go to their site by clicking on their logos on this page and make a purchase in that session, we at Two Wheel Touring do get a modest commission. ‘Tis the nature of internet business.)

My Jacket

It took a little while to decide which jacket I’d get; there are a number of good choices (13 different Men’s jacket styles as I look at their page right now). In the end my choice was between the Commander Motorcycle Jacket and the Bomber Motorcycle Jacket. I liked the venting system in the Bomber jacket a bit better, but learned that the sleeves on this jacket run “long” so I knew that it wouldn’t fit me. That made the choice pretty easy, and I ordered the Commander.

The Positive

When the jacket arrived, I was surprised by the weight of the box. When I got the jacket out of the box, I understood why. This is one thick jacket. While it certainly looks good, it isn’t some “fashion” jacket made just for style. Fox Creek Leather’s website indicated that this jacket was made of 1.4-1.6mm leather. Those numbers didn’t really mean much to me as I had nothing else with which to compare them, but I now believe it to mean “thick as cowhide”. It really seems to me to be what is wanted for abrasion protection.

Wearing the jacket (with the liner in) around the house, I could tell that this will be one warm jacket. Yet, the venting system does seem to be designed to get a significant amount of air through it. I’ve not yet had the chance to ride with this jacket on a hot day (I’m writing this in Minnesota in the middle of March), so I don’t really know what it will be like riding with this jacket in the heat of July.

When I took the inner liner out of the jacket, I was quite pleasantly surprised that there were pockets for armor! (This wasn’t mentioned on their website at the time I placed my order, but I do see it there now.) Wow. This means all I have to do is get a set of armor pads and I’d have the best of both worlds – abrasion AND impact protection! (Fox Creek Leather doesn’t sell the armor, but it should be available at most motorcycle/accessory shops.)

In many jackets I’ve owned over the years, particularly the (non riding) leather ones, my keys managed to poke through the hand pockets. Fortunately, the Commander jacket’s pockets seem to be made of a Cordura-like material and shouldn’t be as easy to poke through.

And speaking of pockets, this thing’s got ‘em! Pockets on the inside, “standard” pockets for your hands on the inside, and a huge “map” pocket on the outside that has pockets within it to store smaller gadgets.

The Not-So-Good

Nothing's perfect, so in the interest of providing a full review, I would point out three issues I had with my jacket:

1. One of the snaps that would hold the collar down to the jacket was broken. When I contacted Fox Creek Leather about this, they apologized profusely and said they could either send me the materials I could take to a local tailor to fix or I could send the jacket back to them for repair.
2. On the first day, the more I handled the jacket, the more my hands turned black. Fox Creek Leather indicated “any time you drum dye naked leather there is a chance the some of the excess dye will bleed. To help alleviate this problem we recommend to use a damp cloth to wipe the excess dye.” Before I had a chance to wipe the jacket down, the problem went away on its own so I didn’t even need to do that. I suspect that having the jacket out of the box it was in overnight allowed this excess dye to dry out. Rather minor problem.
3. The sleeves were a couple of inches longer than they needed to be for me. I wasn’t surprised by this, and in fact kind of expected it; it shouldn’t be considered a problem with the jacket really. Given my body size, I can never buy a long sleeve shirt that doesn’t need the sleeves shortened if I want the chest and collar to fit properly.

So, I will be having the sleeves resized and the snap fixed.  I was told this will take a few weeks, and I’ve been putting it off because I really don’t want to be without this jacket!  For me the style, functionality, and safety features (impact AND abrasion protection!) far outweigh the minor and expected (sizing) problems.

If you’d like to see the Fox Creek Leather product lineup (they’ve got jackets, vests, etc. for men and women), please click on the image below.

Send mail to ian@twtouring.com with questions or comments about this web site.
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Last modified: 08/04/08

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