Friday, April 25, 2014

What was in the box?

For everyone who was wondering what was in the box, well wonder no more as I reveal here what arrived this week at Chiller HQ. That's if the title picture didn't give it away.


So whats in the box then? Brandy hit the nail on the head and guessed correctly, whilst a couple of others were close. Here is my new set of leathers that I've ordered from Tiger Angel.



It's been 2 years since I penned a post about my motorcycle gear which you can see hereThat post showed how my leathers have been deteriorating as they age. They are now around the 19 years old mark. Since that post I've done many rides and they even saw a 10 day tour of New Zealand. But all good things must come to an end and sadly that time has finally come so it's now time that I hang up my leathers and retire them.

For every down side there is also an upside and this week I received my brand spanking new set of leathers by courier. To say I was excited would be an understatement. I've been eagerly waiting for them to come for a couple of weeks now and they are finally here.

I hate shopping at the best of times so going through endless shops to look at leathers that won't fit me cause I'm a fat bastard wasn't my idea of fun. After 2 years of procrastination I finally forked out some of my hard earned and went with a fully customised suit from Tiger Angel.  Tiger Angel have an easy to use website where you can pick the suit you're interested in and then customise the colours you want. You also send them your measurements so the suit should fit to whatever shape body you have.

Here's my old Quin Leathers. They were a great set of leathers that fit me almost perfectly and they were custom made to fit, I even designed the layout and colours of the suit.


But its time to let them go as they are looking pretty tatty now as you can see below.


I used to ride with a couple of guys that had TA suits and they looked pretty good. From just about everyone I have seen speak about Tiger Angel, they have a great reputation for fantastic customer service and after sales support for repairs and alterations. Jules over at Tarsnakes fame wears TA gear and swears by them. That's a pretty good recommendation for me.

I eventually went with a two piece suit like I have currently, I didn't want a 1 piece suit as I don't think they are practical for riding on the road. At least with the 2 piece I can take the top part off when we stop for lunch or break, which is especially good in hot weather.

I chose the serpentine suite and you can see the design below. I was thinking of going with similar colours to my original leathers but after awhile thinking about it I thought I might tone down the bright colours and go with something a bit more neutral. That way it won't matter what colour my next bike is the leathers will go with it.





Hopefully I'll get as much use out of it as I did my old Quin Leathers. They felt a lot different to my old leathers and I didn't think that they fit to start with. But a 30 minute ride around the back streets and then the motorway  put me at easy as they felt good riding but not so good standing around in them

So finally here are the photo's of my brand new Tiger Angel leather 2 piece serpentine outfit.




9 comments:

  1. My god! How many cows were sacrificed to make that suit?
    Looks nice though. ;)

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    1. Note: 10-12 cows were harmed during the making of this post.

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  2. How the crap did I guess that correct? My spidey senses must have been tingling.

    Very nice looking suit - I like your color and design choices.

    I hadn't ever heard of Tiger Angel brand before. They'll soften up fairly quickly I imagine and be comfy for walking at that point too.

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    1. Great Guess Brandy, you have the gift of foresight. Or you've been reading my blog for far to long.

      Tiger Angel is a n Australian brand from Melbourne so your not likely to have heard of them before.

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  3. very nice looking set of leathers you got
    that colour scheme should go with all the bike colours and your other accessory colours you wear
    I looked at the TA waterproof gear before I bought my coat actually

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    1. It was a pretty neutral colour choice which was a riquirement this time aroun d as I don't know what colour my next bike will be.

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  4. Steve, congratulations on the new leathers and also for supporting an Aussie company. The new suit looks great and I think that you will find the quality of the leather second to none. Did you do all the measuring up online via their site? If so, that would be worth posting about as well.

    As you know I've been a customer of theirs and have been to the factory (both the old and the new). The equipment is top notch and I've spoken face to face with Steve Howden numerous times and always found him to be completely customer focused.

    Ride safe, Jules.

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    1. Hi Mate
      One of the reasons I bought there was to support an aussie business, plus the fact that if I need to get alterations done then it is a simple matter really. I did use their online measuring system, which was quiet easy to do, just had to rope the missus into measuring me up.

      Did you go in and get measured or did you just use the online measuring system as well?

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  5. Steve, when they were still in North Melbourne it was less than an hour's drive from my place so I went in and got measured up by Julie who has been there for quite a few years and is also a motorcyclist. I also bought a new old stock pair of their textile pants from motorcycle shop which were too long and TA altered them to retain the 100% waterproofing integrity of the Gor-tex for only $50 and were not fussed that I had bought them cheap elsewhere. Months later I ended up buying a new textile jacket from them as well.

    ReplyDelete