Hi everyone,
I thought you might like to see some pics of my vintage Trialmaster
Of late 1960s origin and last worn by Dad when he rode to the 1975 TT on his Velocette, he binned it complete with badges in circa 1977 after selling the last motorbike of his misspent youth, and never expected to see it again. Ah, the wastefulness . His parents, recognising that 20 year olds sometimes make stupid decisions, fished it out and saved it until 2007, when they presented it, dirty, minging and mouldering, to him as a symbolic gesture upon hearing he'd bought a midlife crisis motorbike. He was a bit surprised to see it again!
It then sat in the garage festering even more until my decision at the start of 2013 to get it restored and wear it, having seen that underneath the grime its a bloody nice jacket with a great history. In the end, we decided on the company that advertises "wax jacket restoration" in the Old Bike Mart newspaper. I think they charged £60 for it.... or was it £120? It was definitely one of the 2 figures but I cant remember off the top of my head. Either way, much much cheaper than buying a new one with no history or patina, and its a really top rate job they've done - miles better than I could ever have achieved at home. Its very comfy to wear, snug fitting and nice and warm. What with the Belstaffs being back in fashion at the minute, it gets quite a lot of attention too (mostly from pretentious hipster fashion types who want to know how I've "made such a cool distressed finish so it looks like an old one" :roll: )
Hopefully it will last another 40 years and can be passed down to any kids I end up having!
My only annoyance is the inability to find replacement patches for it, as the originals disintegrated during restoration. The Velocette ones are available but are slightly different in design, but the Rudge ones are non-existent.
Anyway, here's some "before" pictures:
And some "after" ones!
I thought you might like to see some pics of my vintage Trialmaster
Of late 1960s origin and last worn by Dad when he rode to the 1975 TT on his Velocette, he binned it complete with badges in circa 1977 after selling the last motorbike of his misspent youth, and never expected to see it again. Ah, the wastefulness . His parents, recognising that 20 year olds sometimes make stupid decisions, fished it out and saved it until 2007, when they presented it, dirty, minging and mouldering, to him as a symbolic gesture upon hearing he'd bought a midlife crisis motorbike. He was a bit surprised to see it again!
It then sat in the garage festering even more until my decision at the start of 2013 to get it restored and wear it, having seen that underneath the grime its a bloody nice jacket with a great history. In the end, we decided on the company that advertises "wax jacket restoration" in the Old Bike Mart newspaper. I think they charged £60 for it.... or was it £120? It was definitely one of the 2 figures but I cant remember off the top of my head. Either way, much much cheaper than buying a new one with no history or patina, and its a really top rate job they've done - miles better than I could ever have achieved at home. Its very comfy to wear, snug fitting and nice and warm. What with the Belstaffs being back in fashion at the minute, it gets quite a lot of attention too (mostly from pretentious hipster fashion types who want to know how I've "made such a cool distressed finish so it looks like an old one" :roll: )
Hopefully it will last another 40 years and can be passed down to any kids I end up having!
My only annoyance is the inability to find replacement patches for it, as the originals disintegrated during restoration. The Velocette ones are available but are slightly different in design, but the Rudge ones are non-existent.
Anyway, here's some "before" pictures:
And some "after" ones!