Hi all. I am fairly new to biking and am having a concience dilemma. I bought my stuff at my one stop shop Hein Gericke which is not too far from me and the clothes seem to get pretty good press so i got myself one of their retro style leather jackets and have just bought a pair of their leather trousers the pro sports ones.

I am a 36" waist and when I tried the 36" waist on they fitted but the salesman said leather trousers stretch up to 10% and as such should go for the 34" ones. I got the 34" waist ones and wearing them on the bike has been horrific as the crotch seems to restrict you straddling the tank(I have an R6) and then when you try and get your feet onto the pegs it is almost impossible as it is such an effort as the troser legs stretch panels bunch up and seem to cut off circulation to the calves etc.

I took these back to the shop and asked for a 36 as I just could not get on with the other ones. The guy insisted they will stretch and should persevere but to be honest I can barely ride with them on and got the 36" waist ones anyway. Have I done the right thing as I just could not get on with these.

The 36" ones armour sits in all the right places and are a little bit loose but pull tight in all the right places when on the bike. Have I done the right thing or should I have stuck it out in the hope they would give a bit.

Please any suggestions or lessons learnt through experience will be greatly appreciated.

You have done the right thing as leather only streches where its stressed. You also might want to wear thermals under the leather so you'll need some more room. It's also usefull to have room for the body armour.

with trousers buy the ones that fit liek apair of jeans if you know what i mean,

jackets however you buy snug then after a while they will ease up,

as for 1-piece suits snug is the word because they really do break in, thats when you get a saggy arse in em because the people who buy them snug once they have they fit like a pair of your favourite shoes.

i only know, cos i work in a bike shop. so clothing advice i can do