Second Hand Leathers
by Ian Wade
The time had come to change Jaime’s
leathers as they had seen better days. A
couple of the zip tags had gone and the
armour had crumbled away, so early one
Saturday morning I had a browse on Ebay.
Jaime liked the look of some Spyke two-piece
leathers in blue and white. I text Paul Ritchley
and told him what I had seen and the price
was £245 for new leathers which Paul said
was good. The seller is based in Braintree in
Essex. Not bad I thought, as I travel up there
some times for work. On Ebay it said by
appointment only, so I emailed the seller with
my contact number for him to give me a call. I
didn’t think any more of it and expected to get
a call Monday, but half hour later my mobile
rang. Sure enough it was the seller with the
leathers to say that we could come up and
have a look around lunch time and that he
had other leathers there too, as he buys and
sells second hand leathers. After we were fed
and watered I put Jaime’s old leathers in the
back of the car and we were off.
The journey was a breeze round
the M25, which for a change
was flowing. The seller’s place
was a converted garage on the
side of his house and the
TomTom took us straight to his
door.
The garage was like an
Aladdin’s cave, jam packed with
leathers. I didn’t know which
way to look first! They were all
hanging up on rails and had one
line going all the way up the left
hand side with a walk way and
then every two foot was a row going off to the
right. There were all the different makes, sizes,
colours, one piece and two piece leathers. The
smell was fantastic! He then led us out to the
back where there was an enclosed patio area
with four different sets of leathers all hung up -
two sets of Dainese, Arlen Ness, Spyke and
Alpine Stars, all the correct size, two piece and
the right colour. The prices were £245 for the
Spyke leathers and £265 for the others makes,
not bad considering they were pretty much all
new. He apologised for not having many
leathers for Jaime to look at but we hadn’t
expected him to have anything other than the
Spykes. We were told that two of his friends
were in this with him and that there were TWO
MORE garages full!
The Spyke leathers were ok but the Arlen
Ness leathers caught Jaime’s eye as they
looked new and there wasn’t a mark on them.
Before we knew it she was trying them on.
Meanwhile I took the guy to my car as he said
he would possible buy Jaime’s old leathers
from her, not bad considering they were old
and he offered us £35. Jaime came out in the
leathers and they fitted perfectly, were
comfortable and looked really good, so we
done the deal. He took the £35 off the price of
her old leathers and we only had £230 to pay.
We had a chat with the guy and told him we
thought what he was doing was a good idea.
He also hires out track day leathers and sells
new leathers too. I asked if he would mind me
advertising his leathers to Ekam and he was
more than happy and he gave me a hand full
of his business cards.
We were all kitted up and off to Rye for a
portion of chips to test out the new leathers.
Jaime thought they were fantastic and the
chips weren’t bad either! We only had a small
portion of chips as I knew this was a good
deal and I didn’t want to be going back up
there in a few months time to trade mine in for
a bigger size.
So there you go. I for one will definitely not be
paying more £500 in the future if my leathers
shrink in the loft over winter or if I change the
colour of my bike!
If you have any questions or want to know
anymore the please do not hesitate to give me
a call. Please note that half of Steve’s stock
is not listed on the web so call him direct.
