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Belstaff Gear

ultracyclist

New member
In this month's issue of MCN, there was review of a Belstaff jacket. The reviewer really liked it. I liked the way the jacket has many fit adjustment features unlike other brands where the same "cut" is supposed to fit the infinite number of body shapes out there.

Do any of you have experience with Belstaff Gear? I have not seen Belstaff around here.
 
I have a Belstaff jacket and it is outstanding. They are designed in Great Britain where they know a lot about keeping foul weather at bay.
 
The only piece of Belstaff gear that I have is a pair of summer weight gloves that I bought about three years ago at a rally for about half price. They area little heavier than other summer gloves that I have owned, but yet they seem a little cooler in the summertime and warmer in the cooler weather. I love them and they are holding up very well. I wish I would have bought two or three pair back then at that price and put them away.
 
Belstaff Mercury

I have a Belstaff Mercury jacket that I like a lot. It's the jacket I wear from 30 degrees to 85 degrees (Fahrenheit). Good quality, waterproof (as advertised), and very comfortable. It's quite warm with the full liner in, and cool enough without the liner, although it could use a little more venting for warm weather. I've used it for 6 years now. I only have 2 jackets, the other being a Joe Rocket Sante Fe leather/textile mesh.

I give it 2 thumbs up.
 
picking up on Braddog and Paul bach...

How would you compare the quality of your gear to
A.) BMW riding gear
B.) aerostich

I want the protection but I want to be cool and comfortable.

I was hoping that more of our members from great lakes area would respond.

Is Belstaff a regular exhibitor at the MOA Rally? Will they be in WI this year?
International Motorcycle Shows (Chicago)?
 
I love my Belstaff gear.
Best bang for the buck and the British do know about wet weather and it shows in the Belstaff line of jackets and pants.
I got coat and pants with liners for $200 new a couple of years ago and last month broke down and had zippers installed on the legs so I could put on/take off with boots on ($70). Comfortable, well made and with good CE protection in the needed areas.
The only down side is that the sizes seem to off in that as I normally take a large size but this coat is marked 2XL .
 
I would highly recommend their jackets and I am seriously looking at a pair of their pants because they have Nomex in the cuff area(won't melt).My jacket is PLENTY warm with the liner and has kept me dry in pouring rain and even snowstorms! The sizes are hard to predict...I wear a 46 jacket and it took 3XL to fit me...Now there is this issue with what stuff is "true" Belstaff and what is the British Motorcycle Gear. I believe the 2nd one is a USA spinoff made by Belstaff, or authorized to produce, or something along those lines. The price is so much lower than BMW apparel,you could buy a strictly summer weight jacket and still save some bucks for other "must have" gear. I am very happy with my jacket and have no plans to even think of replacing it.
 
Bellstaff Jacket and Pants

I have owned and used the Bellstaff Mecury Jacket, Pioneer Pants and their other lighter weight pants and would purchase them all again. I purchased them at the local motorcycle show so could try on the gear for sizing.

Jacket: Great Jacket great value quality gear, my last jacket was Joe Rocket and this is much better for about the same price. I wear all season april to nov, minnesota, but I do wear a electric vest in fall when it is ~30 and there is no sunshine. I have not gotten wet in any rain; the longest test through rain has been 1+ hour rainstorm across South Dakota at freeway speed. Down side is the venting, two small zips in front and two small zips on back for exhaust. Jacket gets pretty hot when above 80 but that is when wearing the pants with the jacket, if you don't wear the full suit it may not be a problem. I do wear a cooling vest under when touring and that works pretty well. Another point; my jacket did not come with back armour so that was an extra purchase. I'm a 44 and have the L jacket.

Pants: I have the pioneer pants that I wear when touring. These are really pretty hot since there is no venting but then there is no water getting through. They have some sort of membrane between the full inside nylon liner and outside. They really need to be zipped to the jacket (short zipper), when walking around they will slide right off since the waist band does not have a belt to tighten up.

Pants: lighter weight, not as hot. I purchased these to wear over pants when going to and from work, they have zips up the side and are easy to get off and on. They also have the same water resistant system but are not as heavy as the Pioneer pants. Waist is elastic so they stay up when walking around.

I seem to remember when talking to the Bellstaff rep that they sold the Bellstaff name and they are now British Motorcycle Gear or something.

hope this helps.
 
In this month's issue of MCN, there was review of a Belstaff jacket. The reviewer really liked it. I liked the way the jacket has many fit adjustment features unlike other brands where the same "cut" is supposed to fit the infinite number of body shapes out there.

Do any of you have experience with Belstaff Gear? I have not seen Belstaff around here.

I have 2 Belstaff jackets, and have been happy with them. I don't recall the jacket models now, and I don't see a tag that tells me that. The first, some 6 years old now, I originally purchased because my last leather jacket had no padding. It was a good jacket, but in really heavy downpours, would wick water up the sleeves, dampening my arms and clothes underneath.

The second jack is probably 4 years old, which I bought because it solved the rain issue (I was told). It has proved to be very waterproof, and even in hot riding (108 degrees through Montana) it has good circulation to keep you comfortable, in 108 you can hardly expect to fell cool in anything ;)

Belstaff, though, pulled out of the US market about 3 years ago, and rather abruptly I understand. They left dealers scrambling to find an alternative line of gear to stock for their showrooms. I have heard Belstaff is once again selling gear in the US, but once bitten, twice shy... dealers are not stocking their product like they once did.

If ordering by mail, I found Belstaff gear runs a little small... if you normally wear a 'L' you might need an 'XL', which is going to make mail ordering a hit and miss proposition.

Overall... great product... but I'd recommend finding a showroom that stocks their gear to try the fit before purchasing...
 
I wonder if we'll see some of Belstaff at the Javits shindig?
 
I have the Pioneer pants too. Overall I like them. In my climate I usually do not use the liner, and with shorts underneath I've been comfy up to the low 70s although being black, they do heat up in the sun. I wish they had higher zippers, as they can be difficult to get boots through. I agree about the belt- in fact, the adjustment on mine pulls the top-snap open! I do not have a jacket to which the pants will zip (FirstGear Kili- no zipper in it at all), so I hold them up with a set of tool-belt suspenders. This works pretty well.
I went down in the Pioneers once. Fairly low speed, but I slid on my hip for a few feet. It barely marred them at all.
 
Found My Model - The Mercury

Mercury Jacket

Hi tenacity nylon with a Teflon coating for dirt resistance
Microskin waterproof, breathable membrane ÔÇó Detachable Thermolite?« quilted liner ÔÇó Knox?« CE Approved shoulder and elbow armour supplied ÔÇó Pocket for back armour ÔÇó Double stormflap with secure gutter system down the jacket front ÔÇó Reflective trims and shoulder panels ÔÇó Arm adjusters ÔÇó Front and rear ventilation zips ÔÇó Neoprene on collar edge and under chin for comfort ÔÇó Zip for connecting to Belstaff jackets ÔÇó Back collar adjuster

It is a great piece of gear - much more weather protection than my Kilimanjaro. But the Kilimanjaro has more pocket capacity for cameras and such.

Always try one on. They run small. Mine is two sizes larger than my usual US size.
 

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Belstaff, for any of you that aren't totally familiar with what has happened to them in past few year, here is the lowdown. 1st off the logo and name were sold off to Armani. The motorcycle gear company is the same as it had been but is called British Motorcycle Gear. Same great product as it always was,....the other "stuff" is over priced designer clothing. I wear and love Belstaff gear!!! they sponsored me during the 03 IB rally and I have been sold on there jackets, pants and gloves since then. I wear the discovery jacket and typhoon pants I can throw them in the washer and rewaterproof them and am good to go for 6 to 8 mos. Here is the link http://www.belstaffusa.com/index.asp
 
Follow up questions....

If you have the jackets, are you happy with the ventilation? Most of my riding is in warmer weather, and I want to stay cooler rather than warmer.

If you have pants, same question as above.

I am emailing back and forth with one of their service reps, and they will will be at the Chicago Show.

My priorities are fit and ventilation. I can always add fleece under a jacket in cooler weather.
 
the discovery jacket is basically a 4 season jacket. The liner is a polar fleece zip in/out, Jacket is much lighter without liner and venting zippers work great. I haven't had the pioneer pants but have heard they are better then the typhoons. The typhoons I wear have held up great, they to have a zip out liner. I typically wear bicycle shorts under them when traveling....they have a passive venting but I live in Colorado and have never found them to warm when worn the way I wear them, if it cools off at night I usually zip in the liners and am just fine. hope that helps. I use camp dry to rewaterproof after washing (a can per garment), they still breathe but water beads up and I stay dry.
 
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