How badly am I going to get shafted?

[bmart]

I went in to be measured for my first Vanson one piece years ago. As it turned out, I ws a 42 off the rack...so I chose colors only and they built it for me!

 

[JustAnotherSquid]

That is pretty cool, and I am jealous.

 

[JustAnotherSquid]

bmart, have you replaced the knee armor in your Vanson suits?

 

[bmart]

I used to remove it and reinstall it during winter clean/condition tasks, but now I just leave it it. It is superb armor.

 

[JustAnotherSquid]

KK's new Kira suit is quite the world traveler! It was born and raised in Vietnam, and when fully grown it moved to the Alpinestars warehouse in Asolo, Italy. From there it made it's way to Motorama in Florence, where it rested for a while before bravely hopping a plane to NJ in the Good Ol' USA. When it arrived here, it quickly changed it's mind and hopped a plane back to Italy, where it has been roaming the countryside since. I'm so jealous! Rumor has it that it does plan to return to the States soon but that is not confirmed.

In the suit's defense, if I landed in New Jersey I probably would have turned around and headed back to Italy too.

 

[bmart]

Strange...maybe it forgot something

 

[KrashnKaren]

KK's new Kira suit is quite the world traveler! It was born and raised in Vietnam, and when fully grown it moved to the Alpinestars warehouse in Asolo, Italy. From there it made it's way to Motorama in Florence, where it rested for a while before bravely hopping a plane to NJ in the Good Ol' USA. When it arrived here, it quickly changed it's mind and hopped a plane back to Italy, where it has been roaming the countryside since. I'm so jealous! Rumor has it that it does plan to return to the States soon but that is not confirmed.

In the suit's defense, if I landed in New Jersey I probably would have turned around and headed back to Italy too.

Haha, that's too funny! I think my suit is living out the Johnny Cash song "I've been everywhere" oh and it's a black colored suit too!

 

[JustAnotherSquid]

Stuff like this happens to me so often that people probably think I'm making it up.



Also, whoops, it landed in NY not NJ. The Italian tracking website said NJ.

 

[bmart]

Crazy!

 

[JustAnotherSquid]

Suit still lost in Italy? Check.
Italian retailer dragging their feet on doing anything about it? Check.
First track day coming up soon? Check.

Well look at the time! It's almost chargeback-o-clock!

 

[bmart]

Remember when things were less complicated?

 

[JustAnotherSquid]

Yes! I was a first-grader at Anna Reynolds Elementary School.

Things have been getting steadily worse ever since.

 

[JustAnotherSquid]

It's looking more and more like the Kira suit will never be returning to the States. With KK's first day approaching fast we had to do something, so I rolled the dice on this:



For $479 (with free shipping!) I'm not gonna try to compare it to a Vanson, but they aren't selling junk either. The quality of the suit is shocking given the price. Well done Cortech!

 

[bmart]

Looking sharp! Cortech makes some nice gear. Are they still connected to TourMaster? I own some of theirs also. You guys must be getting excited.

 

[JustAnotherSquid]

Yeah they are the sporty side of Tour Master as you know. I've had good luck with both brands before as well even though most of their stuff is entry-level.

Tangentially, what the heck has happened to Joe Rocket? They used to be my go-to brand because the quality was great for the price and the fit was always spot-on for both KK and me. But now they appear to be a shell of their former self. The fit of their stuff is all over the map (and sometimes extremely odd), their product line has giant gaps in it, and half their new jackets use a different zipper connection than half their pants (ask me how I know!). Sad to see a once great budget brand has gone to the crapper.

(My other favorite budget brand was Teknic and they died completely while I was away. Also sad!)

edit - for example, I ordered a JR onesie a few months ago. It fit in the chest but you could fit two of me in the waist. Who the heck were they sizing that for? A human pear with legs?

edit edit - I contacted JR asking them to clarify which jackets zip to which pants so I could put together an order. Their response was "yeah we switched our warehouse over a few years ago". Not only does that not answer my question, what the heck does that even mean???

edit edit edit - And completely unrelated to this thread but bmart will know what I'm talking about: I sent N2's tire vendor an email Feb 1 which they promptly ignored ... hence the post on the N2 forums.

edit edit edit edit - And yes, I'm ranting. Take a look at the ten day forecast and tell me you don't feel like ranting too.

 

[bmart]

I've owned only a few Joe Rocket bits over the years. All of it has been crap which I gave away, sold for cheap, or threw out. My Fieldsheer stuff is superb and clearance stuff is inexpensive.

 

[JustAnotherSquid]

Tidbit that you probably already know but just in case you don't: Fieldsheer uses the same connection zipper as Teknic so you can easily mix-n-match their gear.

 

[JustAnotherSquid]

I'm also a fan of Fieldsheer although they weren't my go-to back in the day. The blue jacket is from 2003, cost $85, has ~30,000 miles on it, and still looks great! The black one is from approximately the same era; scarfed it up on ebay a few weeks ago for $40.

 

[JustAnotherSquid]

Here's an old shot of that Fieldsheer jacket in action.



(Yes, I'm stuck in the house, bored, and shitposting.)

 

[bmart]

LOL!

I am SOOO tired of this weather pattern. I did get to replace the broken blinker on the 250, remount the luggage better on the 400, start putting the 600s back together, uninstall and reinstall every door in the house after Sheryl painted them, and, and, and. Still, I'm going nuts.

Be wary of those mesh jackets/pants. I bought two of those back in the day. LOVED riding with them, then touched a knee for a split second and they grenaded instantly. I sold all of that stuff that I had left. May as well be in a t-shirt and thong...