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The quest for riding pants for my wife continues...

silverhound

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The quest for riding pants for my wife continues..Update Success!

So I had posted in another thread a while back about the difficulty we were having in finding suitable riding pants (over-pants) that fit properly for my wife. Since that time we have had lots of activity but little progress in finding anything but hopefully we may be getting close to a solution.

Just to summarize the issue, my wife is tall and thin so none of the women's sizes that anyone carries (that we could find) had a long enough inseam. We tried everything at Cycle Gear and also went to the Revzilla showroom in Philly. No luck. Then we tried some men's sizes. Well men's regular length are also too short and even some men's tall's did not really seem to be very tall at all. I ordered a pair of Tour Master Venture Air pants in men's medium-tall and not only were they too short but also they were just ridiculously wrong around the hips and waist (yes I know women are shaped differently than men). So I called the good people at Competition Accessories and they suggested we try some Sliders brand pants as they actually get returned often for being "too long". I ordered men's small-tall in the Adventure Pant. So close...they "looked" like they fit pretty well but my wife said they felt too snug over her jeans with the thermal liner installed. So now we are awaiting for the delivery of the same ones in men's medium-tall. I have my finger's crossed but think the waist will be too big however they do have some good adjustability there so we'll see.

However as a last resort I found this place that makes custom gear so that will be the next step if the Sliders pants don't work...Motoport Riding Gear. I got some very positive feedback from some other forums on their gear. Maybe a little pricey but you can't really put a price on protective gear especially when any less expensive options don't exist.

Two things I have learned from all this is that there definitely is not a huge selection of women's gear to begin with and if you don't fall into the women's "typical" sizing category then you're really out of luck. The other is that men's sizes also vary greatly depending on the manufacturer. My wife already needs to wear a men's medium riding jacket because the sleeves are too short on any of the women's but that was much easier to deal with then the pants issue. Sorry for the rant...it's been an ordeal and this is just a fraction of the whole story.
 
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I’m following along your journey with high interest. I’m 6’1, thin and even as a guy have a hard time finding gear that halfway fits. I went with a medium jacket to get the sleeve length but that made the rest of the jacket big. For my daughter we went with a baggy waist to get the length and to fit around the butt.
Sounds like I need to look at the slider brand for myself. Motoport custom gear is on my one day list.
 
I’m following along your journey with high interest. I’m 6’1, thin and even as a guy have a hard time finding gear that halfway fits. I went with a medium jacket to get the sleeve length but that made the rest of the jacket big. For my daughter we went with a baggy waist to get the length and to fit around the butt.
Sounds like I need to look at the slider brand for myself. Motoport custom gear is on my one day list.

6.jpgBite the bullet, have the pants made by motoport/cycleport. Cost more, but will fit perfect. Custom made. She's worth it!

GP-2 Kevlar Pant | Kevlar Pants | Motoport | 102.565

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I'm 5''11", all leg, and I feel her pain. Here is what I have found:

Olympia Motorsports makes women's stuff. It isn't labeled for "tall" but the pants arrive long and are designed to be easily shortened. I just leave them long, the textile pants are fine like this. (The mesh pants were still too short.) They also run a bit larger than most women's riding gear, so if she orders her normal jeans size they will actually fit as overpants. I got the 14.

Held makes overpants in women's tall sizes but they have no size chart to tell you what a S/M/L/XL actually is. The XL pair I bought are just long enough and I would say they are a smallish size 12. I can wear them on a thin day if I take the liner out. I had to modify the armor to get it to sit in the right spot on my knee, but I was able to wear them. They were relatively inexpensive and they are lighter than the Olympia overpants.

I have bought two sets of custom leathers and it's heavenly to have them fit right. I got the two piece suits and I end up wearing the pants with a variety of other jackets. I got one set from Vanson and one from Z Leather. Both are of the finest quality but Vanson's customer service was atrocious. Z Leathers had much better service.

I have a mesh jacket, the Scorpion Women's Nip Tuck jacket. It is the ONLY readymade jacket I have ever tried on, that has long enough sleeves. It's not an official tall size jacket, but it just fits. Perfectly. I wouldn't change a thing. I might buy another just to hoard, because when this one wears out I'm sure I won't find a replacement very easily. It's on closeout right now at Revzilla. (Edited to add: I just bought another. Closeout price and my ZillaCash from my previous order, score! Half of what I paid for the first one.)

Aerostich has finally started making women's Roadcrafters. They don't make tall versions, but as you may already know, they offer a short list of very specific alterations. I ordered one of the women's standard sized one-piece suits to try on, so I could decide what alterations I needed. Their phone person said I should wear the 12, and they were right, it was a huge 12. It was just right through the hips and shoulders. The standard suit was long enough through the torso that I could climb on the bike in it without hurting myself, and since personally I think all one-piece suits should be cut shorter in the front, longer in the back, I think this suit would be perfect through the torso if I got it with the back ellipse alteration that Aerostich offers. The legs were relatively long and I would only have them lengthened two inches. You get a choice of above or below the knee, and I'd have the length added above. I'd have the arms lengthened one inch above the elbow since the elbow armor was placed too high for me. And finally I would get the forward rotated sleeves, because even though I am an amazon woman it is a long reach to the bars. I sent in my order, and it came back with a notification that they don't offer forward rotated sleeves on the women's suit. Sigh. I canceled the order at the time and have been waiting for forward rotated sleeves to arrive, but they haven't. I might give up waiting and order it even without the forward rotated sleeves; the rest of the alterations might make it good enough. It would certainly be better than the men's Roadcrafter I used to have, and I wore that suit out. And the Roadcrafter is certainly a convenient item of gear. Decisions decisions...
 
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I'm 5''11", all leg, and I feel her pain. Here is what I have found:


Aerostich has finally started making women's Roadcrafters. They don't make tall versions, but as you may already know, they offer a short list of very specific alterations. I ordered one of the women's standard sized one-piece suits to try on, so I could decide what alterations I needed. Their phone person said I should wear the 12, and they were right, it was a huge 12. It was just right through the hips and shoulders. The standard suit was long enough through the torso that I could climb on the bike in it without hurting myself, and since personally I think all one-piece suits should be cut shorter in the front, longer in the back, I think this suit would be perfect through the torso if I got it with the back ellipse alteration that Aerostich offers. The legs were relatively long and I would only have them lengthened two inches. You get a choice of above or below the knee, and I'd have the length added above. I'd have the arms lengthened one inch above the elbow since the elbow armor was placed too high for me. And finally I would get the forward rotated sleeves, because even though I am an amazon woman it is a long reach to the bars. I sent in my order, and it came back with a notification that they don't offer forward rotated sleeves on the women's suit. Sigh. I canceled the order at the time and have been waiting for forward rotated sleeves to arrive, but they haven't. I might give up waiting and order it even without the forward rotated sleeves; the rest of the alterations might make it good enough. It would certainly be better than the men's Roadcrafter I used to have, and I wore that suit out. And the Roadcrafter is certainly a convenient item of gear. Decisions decisions...

I was going to recommend Aerostitch as they do all sorts of alterations.. sounds like you (Elizilla) have gone in depth with the alteration process already with Aerostitch. First thing, make sure you fill out the fitment thing they have on their page as Elizilla did. You have to measure with a tape measure different areas of your body, then they will email you back in a day or so with their recommendation. Their recommendation was dead on for me, so it's worth doing the measurments and sending them in.

One thing I did want to point out about the Aerostitch gear as I just purchased a Roadcrafter light one piece... they do not come with the padding, so be sure to order the $100 pad kit. That gives you two shoulder, two knee and to elbow pads. If you want the back protector it is about $75 and the hip pads are around $50 I think. I did not get the back protector (might get it down the road) and did not get the hip protectors as I read they block your access to your inside pants pockets through the waterproof zippers on the side of the legs. I've heard they have two sized of hip pads, and one of them you can work around to get to your interior pants pockets.

If your not already on Aerostitch's mailing list, get on it, they send out 10 to 20% off coupon codes occasionally. Also, you should check their sale page. Those are items that were ordered and sent back for whatever reason and they have a discount on them. Some of these have already been altered, and you might luck out and find one that has been altered in your favor. You can always have them alter it more as well.

So far I really like my Roadcrafter light one piece. I hope I will be able to ride with it with temps into the 90's, but we are far from reaching those temps any time soon.

smileymotorcycle-emoticon.gif
 
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The standard Roadcrafter comes with the shoulder, elbow, and knee armor. The light comes without, but I can't see any reason to wear this snowsuity-looking thing without any armor, it would just make you look peculiar without protecting you very much. The Aerostich armor is bulkier than the CE armor found in other types of gear, and I wouldn't swear it's any better, so I could see buying the light suit and then kitting it out with the slimmer CE armor.

The back armor is extra and if I recall correctly so is the hip armor. When I had my old men's roadcrafter I got them both, but in the end I had to give up on the hip armor because I was a woman in a men's suit and there wasn't enough room in the hips! The back protector, I would not buy again. It had velcro tabs to hold it in place, and in use this velcros shifted around just enough that it tore up the rainproof liner and made it leak. And the torso of the suit was so loose that I doubt that back protector would stay in place in a crash. I think integrated back protectors need to be in a suit that is more fitted around the waist, because that's what keeps them in place properly. If you want to wear a back protector inside a Roadcrafter, just buy one that has straps to hold it to your body, and forget attaching it to the suit.

BTW, I once crashed in my Roadcrafter suit. It was raining and I lowsided at about 60mph. I slid and slid and slid and slid, it seemed to go on forever. I didn't hit anything and no cars ran over me, and I got up completely unhurt. The suit had a little stitching torn on the butt, but that was all. That's my testimony to their stuff. :)
 
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Thanks for all the recommendations. I had considered the Aerostitch gear but once we were up in that price range it seemed about as cost effective to go with the Motoport which would be completely custom fit instead of altered. Based on your recommendation though we'll give it another look-see if the Slider's don't work out and I'll send in her measurements to see what they recommend although I expect she will have the same issue with the sleeves though. What I didn't mention was that she doesn't want a one-piece suit and she doesn't want leather as we had looked at the Vanson. I also called Olympia and gave them her measurements and they admitted their stuff would be too short and they didn't offer any customization.

She is also "all leg" but just a tad over 6' and a women's jeans size 8. Her inseam is about 34.5". She's happy with her jacket even though it's a men's medium. Well at least this is the right time of the year to be shopping since we're not doing any riding due to the weather. :D
 
Elizilla, great info on the Aerostich pads. Sounds like I did well not to order the hip or back pads. I'm wondering if the pads for the light are different than the regular roadcrafter now. These Velcro in but seem pretty secure with all that Velcro. It seems soft but thicker to me compared to the armor in my other gear.

I had both klim and rev-it high on my list as well and heard great things about moto port also. Whatever you find that fits from any of those four would be great.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 
Don't suppose you've found a Klim Savannah long for her to try on? That seems to be my other option (with Motoport), but nobody around here has them.

No, haven't tried Klim. Saw them on Revzilla but they didn't have any style named Savannah and the pair she liked that they had in "tall" sizing still was too short based on the sizing guide.
 
The whole women's riding gear market is chasing a very small percentage of American women. You have to be in the bottom half of the weight distribution, and average in height. Let your weight creep even a little bit above average and you get nothing. And if you are tall, you get nothing either. Motorcycle gear manufacturers hold to a very strict feminine ideal... she's ten years old and has an eating disorder. It's very frustrating. When I am indulging in a bitter rant, I say they expect us all to be passengers and the ideal passenger is small, so why provide clothes for someone no one wants to carry on the pillion seat?

Since my weight is average, I'm at the very top of the supported weight range, and I was able to find that one fluky jacket that fit me. And once in a while there's a pair of pants that's long enough if I wear tall boots. But tall and below average weight? I'd just get the Motoport stuff or the Teiz suit. There are no other textile choices to be had.
 
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Olympia Motorsports makes women's stuff. It isn't labeled for "tall" but the pants arrive long and are designed to be easily shortened. I just leave them long, the textile pants are fine like this. (The mesh pants were still too short.) They also run a bit larger than most women's riding gear, so if she orders her normal jeans size they will actually fit as overpants. I got the 14.

I have Olympia pants, reading all the reviews on them before I went and got them (actually checked out the local shop and they were $10 cheaper than anywhere online and I could try them on!) and many people complained about having to have the legs tailored to be cut shorter.

I'm 6'4" with a 33-34 inseam, and without modifying them at all they fit me just fine (hip pads are a bit wonky, and I'm fairly certain I don't have the same shaped hips as a woman)
 
Success! Sliders Adventure pants. Size men's medium TALL with 34.5" inseam. Waist is a little loose but there's good adjustability. Wifey is happy with the fit and says they feel very comfortable. Definitely long enough. Ready to ride once the snow goes away!

DodyPants2_zpsb4b5ba84.jpg
 
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