it dawned upon me whilst browsing through the sale at hein gerickes that the mens kit seems to be of a much better quality than the womens in terms of heavier duty leather and more protection.The womens gear seems to be more fashion orientated, did i get this wrong? is anybody able to say from 1st hand experience if the standard leather gear for women offers the same level of protection as their mens range..... not saying that you`re all cross dressers of course  well i am ha ha, girls bike trousers never fit me                                                                                                                                                                             

Girls stuff never fits me either, they dont do a fat bird size apparently. Or a well endowed up top size. So i just get fella's stuff, its cheaper anyway. I know what you mean about the quality though, mens seem to be made from thicker hide, or am i generalising here?                                                                                                                                                                              

Never managed to find biking trousers to fit... leather or otherwise... blokes are a slightly better fit though, so I'll join you in the cross-dressing corner  Except the legs are about 3' too long

I have to agree with your opinion regarding quality of kit... although I do think it's gradually changing.

The fastest growing biking sector seems to be female riders, so hopefully the kit improvements will continue. I guess that in the past, female riders have been too small a minority and the manufacturers just cater for the market... basically for occasional riders and pillions... with many of the girlies wanting fashion over function?

agree with both of you, i tried on several pairs of girls trousers beautiful soft leather minimal protection none fitted cos im pretty much straight up and down but the mens were quite a good fit and so much thicker with more bendy stretchy panels, think if i was not a rider then i would prob want the stylish girls ones but having tried both and seen the difference will go for the mens but they were £190!!! also why am i a 36 girly size and a 48 in the boys ones???? whats that all about???

HERE HERE !!! I usually find that even womens fit do not allow for a womans figure, ie bigger on the hips   I have mens trousers at the moment, but had to settle for reg length & I need longer ones                                                                                                                                                                              

I suppose its all irrelevant if you hit a tree at 70mph anyway, but i believe they say that if you come off at 30mph(without protection) you'll take the skin down to yr bone in a 1m slide(I await those in the know to correct me). I dont always wear high protection stuff but if i'm off for a fairly fast ride/long distance, i will try and at least wear my leather trousers. I should wear the jacket too but its just a tad too tight at the mo....am working on it though                                                                                                                                                                               

It's crap isn't it. Why can't they make something out of the thicker leather, with the proper protection AND make it look half decent too!   Doesn't really make sense to say, ah well, *only* a pillion so doesn't need the same level of protection. In the event of an off the tarmac is going to hurt the pillion just the same as the rider and I've heard somewhere (don't know how much truth there is in it) that pillions often come off worse in an accident.   I've got a beautiful leather jacket but it's not too great for protection. Geoff's made to measure leathers are made from really supple and soft but thick leather so why can't someone use that for ladies stuff.   As for the well endowed up top ladies...perhaps someone needs to take up Bravissimo's mantle and make jackets in curvy, very curvy and super curvy.                                                                                                                                                                              

I've heard somewhere (don't know how much truth there is in it) that pillions often come off worse in an accident.

Yup. Seems to be the way. Don't know if there's any empirical evidence to support that, but there's plenty of anecdotal evidence of it.

And no, it doesn't make sense... but if females have (in the past) only bought the fashionable not terribly protective stuff, you can't really blame the manufacturers for not making anything but the fashionable stuff. There's little point in making stuff nobody will buy.

Perhaps that's where "we" should aim our complaints? Direct to the manufacturers?

                                                                                                                                                                             

I've been looking at a lot of women's leathers as my daughter's just started to go pilly and it seems to me that a lot of the stuff is a decade or more behind the men's kit.
By that I mean that even the fairly heavy-grade women's jackets and trousers tend to rely on double-thickness leather and padding at likely impact and sliding points, rather than having the pockets for armour that is pretty well standard for a decently made man's jacket now.
Yes there does seem to be women's kit that is made up the highest standards, but it costs ££££s.
There's also a place called Vixen Motorcycles in Ormskirk that specialises in women's kit, might be worth a call from anyone up north.

shell wish i had some hips to fill out the girly leathers! i wonder if guys being a lot denser than us  bounce better so dont get hurt as much as the girly on the back.Even when ive seen girls race leathers they dont seen to be as heavy duty as the mens

I thought I was the only gal that had trouble finding decent protective clothing that fits comfortably. My problem is that I have large calf muscles (ok fat legs) and the leathers with the knee protectors just  wont go up  my knees  and boots are a pain too. I have to have shorty ones.                                                                                                                                                                              

I just got some nice thick ladies leather trousers in bikers paradise in coventry, they also do various leg lengths, and as im on the fat ass sizin chart they fit me ok. They also have a website its bikersparadise.co.uk. hope this is of some help to u                                                                                                                                                                              

There's a very good reason why blokes have to be thick skinned.                                                                                                                                                                             

A friend of mine used .girlsbike2.com and said they were good not just fashion acessories.   As for pillions coming of worse in an accident. If a bike hits something and stops dead the back end lifts and due to leverage the pillion will get thrown higher and further which can result in worse injurys.                                                                                                                                                                              

Agrees... both my leather trousers and my armoured waterproof kit are men's for all the same reasons already stated.   Women riders are on the increase, so hopefully in time the manufacturers will catch up with demand!                                                                                                                                                                              

shell wish i had some hips to fill out the girly leathers!

Ain't that the truth... by the time I've got trousers with a waist large enough to do up across my belly, there's room for a small family of immigrants to clutch to my hips while I smuggle them across the border!

Talking of which, I've a pair of Hein Gericke's for sale... Fleabay "bargain"... not that much of a bargain apparently
                                                                                                                                                                             

I have used Girlsbike2 as well.  I recently got some Draggin jeans from them as they stock the larger sizes that the rest of the UK doesnt bother to import.    I have also had the FT all weather fabric womens gear and i didnt rate that at all in an accident, the armour moved, the sleeves came up my arms and exposed my arms to tarmac.  Thankfully it was a low speed slide (it was that or hit the flippin' taxi) But I called them up and explained what happened and they are gonna look into it.  But I wont buy it again.   Talking about the all weather gear, the mens stuff I own seem warmer than the womens, even tho the womens is a closer fit, so its not only leather gear we are being short changed in.   I am one of the larger people so I dont have a lot of choice anyhow, and what I do have is pretty dire!   PS My BTK leathers were not a good fit and are still being re-tailored at Andelle, but I not had chance to get over there for a fitting.                                                                                                                                                                             

god this post! it like taking the missus to debenhams an waitin around while they try stuff on when all yu want is a pint! wat yu doin snoopin a peek in the dressin rooms micksaway an wills?                                                                                                                                                                             

probably the same thing you are TM   trying on leathers is a very wriggly thing, I absolutely hate it as you end up all red in the face and sticky for the wrong reasons                                                                                                                                                                              

thanks for the thought!!!