Frank Thomas Strike leathers

[northwind]

I've got a set of these from way back, which for such cheap and obviously not very good gear have served pretty well... Stood up to some decent sized crashes, fairly comfy, well vented... The armour's absolute mince but it's all replacable. Lots of bad points, the leather's low grade and the colouring is very poor, it's more painted than dyed so marks and damage go straight through to the hide. The velcro as with all FT velcro is rubbish... And there's an awful lot of single-lone stitching, that's bad for abrasion and burst. But still, it was a cheap and solid suit and at the time good value.

Anyway, just posting a wee follow-up as I got a cheap pair of Strike 2 trousers- my old ones are a bit wrecked and weren't a great fit. These were in a clearance as a zip was damaged. Just fixed them, and they're better in a lot of ways than the old ones. Better armour provision- the hip armour pockets are big enough for proper pieces, the old ones were very small. Still rubbish in the knees though. The leather's better quality, and the finishing also seems better. Still far too much exposed stitching though, these'll never be considered great gear, but it does bring a lot of the niggles up to scratch. They're comfy, fairly heavy and well vented.

There's better budget suits out there now, but this isn't too shabby at all.