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+--- Thread: Frank Thomas (/showthread.php?tid=77821)
Frank Thomas - joebloggs - 31-03-17
We've all (well most of us) been around long enough to remember the junk they sold in the 80's-90's what do you think of the latest gear?
Re: Frank Thomas - Freck - 31-03-17
It seems much better quality these days.
I bought some leather jeans recently which seem pretty good, and fit my skinny chicken legs pretty well. :lol
Re: Frank Thomas - Nemesis - 31-03-17
Kitted the missus out all for under 500 quid, pictures to follow sometime :lol , when I get the chance, lol
Re: Frank Thomas - celticdog - 31-03-17
I got one of their fabric jackets a few years back, it looked ok wasn't up to much to be honest. Also got one of their flip front helmets as a spare, I picked it up cheap and it's actually a decent lid.
The J & S bike chain always have plenty of their stuff on sale if anyone's interested.
https://www.jsaccessories.co.uk/
Re: Frank Thomas - joebloggs - 31-03-17
Went to J&S today and was pretty impressed with the Dynamic jacket, for two reasons, one, it look pretty well put together, nice large panels and no crappy leather anywhere (seen worse on some jackets twice the price) And two, it fitted.
I was looking at RST but I'm not sure what bloody shape their average rider is, certainly not human.
Was offered 10% off without to much haggling, think I'll go and take him up on the offer
Re: Frank Thomas - NorthWestern - 01-04-17
I have some ft summer gloves, xti or something, they are excellent.
If only you could get the acid worm colours ey
Re: Frank Thomas - VNA - 01-04-17
I bought Frank Thomas Defender jacket and jeans in the early 90's. It was decent stuff. Lasted me a good 15 years.
Now got made to measure Scott leathers. Which is top notch stuff at a very fair price.
Re: Frank Thomas - Fazerider - 01-04-17
I can't say what their stuff is like now, but the original H20 boots I had in the late 80s were excellent... really good quality leather which was sealed properly to keep the rain out without the need for these fancy semi-permeable membranes which have never lasted me very long.
Re: Frank Thomas - joebloggs - 01-04-17
Personally I didn't rate their early gear, not that I had a bad experience with jackets etc but I read a very imformative article on what to check and look for when buying leather jackets and jeans and tbh, many, if not all of the build quality issues and bad design could be found in their clothing range.
One example would be elbow pads, the jacket would have a nice large patch on the outside, which would be great if only they hadn't cut out a section of the sleeve (under the patch) to use for trim on other parts of the jacket basically leaving you with a weak point on the elbow for the sake of saving a few pennies.
I would stick my hand up the sleeve and if I couldn't pull two piece's of leather apart I'd walk away.
They weren't the only companies cost cutting like this but it and a few other issues were enough to put me off purchasing their equipment.
Armed with the info from that article I never paid much for my leathers but I also never had one fall apart in a crash or general use, I may have just been lucky but I like to think my choices took some of the luck out of the equation.
Anyway, back to the Dynamic jacket, I've brought it and the only thing that worries me about it is keeping the non leather parts clean. Stretch panels full length of the sleeve are going to get smothered in dead flies, but I guess if thats the worst of my problems with the jacket I've made a fair purchase
Re: Frank Thomas - celticdog - 01-04-17
(01-04-17, 08:45 PM)joebloggs link Wrote: Personally I didn't rate their early gear, not that I had a bad experience with jackets etc but I read a very imformative article on what to check and look for when buying leather jackets and jeans and tbh, many, if not all of the build quality issues and bad design could be found in their clothing range.
One example would be elbow pads, the jacket would have a nice large patch on the outside, which would be great if only they hadn't cut out a section of the sleeve (under the patch) to use for trim on other parts of the jacket basically leaving you with a weak point on the elbow for the sake of saving a few pennies.
I would stick my hand up the sleeve and if I couldn't pull two piece's of leather apart I'd walk away.
They weren't the only companies cost cutting like this but it and a few other issues were enough to put me off purchasing their equipment.
Armed with the info from that article I never paid much for my leathers but I also never had one fall apart in a crash or general use, I may have just been lucky but I like to think my choices took some of the luck out of the equation.
Anyway, back to the Dynamic jacket, I've brought it and the only thing that worries me about it is keeping the non leather parts clean. Stretch panels full length of the sleeve are going to get smothered in dead flies, but I guess if thats the worst of my problems with the jacket I've made a fair purchase
I think you've done well Joe, if only I could find a decent replacement for my old rhino leather jacket wot don't fit me anymore/
Re: Frank Thomas - fazersharp - 02-04-17
i would be interested in hearing your full report because i could do with a jacket that is a bit cooler for summer riding
Re: Frank Thomas - fazersharp - 06-04-17
Didnt know this - explains why its only sold at J and s
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2011/february/feb2311-end-of-the-road-for-frank-thomas-/
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2016/march/mcn-plus---whatever-happened-to-frank-thomas-kit/
Re: Frank Thomas - celticdog - 07-04-17
Yes Mr Fazer it's fukc3d. :lol
Doesn't mean it's finished though!
Re: Frank Thomas - fazersharp - 07-04-17
So are they still being made or is it as I read once the stock is gone then thats it.
I tried on a Fran Thomas GP Qualifier jacket that I quite liked.
Same gos for BKS then as the only place you can get them is J and S. In both cases it means you can not go searching for a better price.
I quite like the BKS Lynx Jacket mainly in white
Re: Frank Thomas - joebloggs - 07-04-17
The salesman said they own the brand and they were having it manufactured in Pakistan, also to insure quality they sent techs out there to check production. He also mentioned RST aiming at the high end market, expect prices to rise to Alpine Star etc levels. May be the end of the brand.
As for the dynamic jacket, still not worn it due to my ongoing carb rebuild
Re: Frank Thomas - Bretty - 07-04-17
I have some Frank Thomas leathers and although they are great, they don't fit me anymore.
I guess I should bite the bullet and sell them. I only wore them once. I'm 6'2" and got them about 4years ago when I was 14stone. I got them with the intention of doing track days... but I've never got around to it. They were a little too tight for me then... and now I'm about 16stone!!!
Size.
UK 44
Euro 54
Would suit someone 5ft6 to 6ft1. As new, hardly worn, although the stitching has come loose a bit around the crouch - easy fix!
£70 ONO, located in NW London. (Now added to the for sale section with more photos)