mtds
New Member
I bought my first Langlitz, a Cascade, in 1972 and wore it as my only motorcycle jacket until I replaced it with a Columbia in 1983. Eventually I outgrew both of them and switched to a Barbour International. I sold the '72 and gave the '83 to my son.
In 2003 I had a horrendous shoulder surgery and decided I would buy something to replace the International I had been wearing. I wanted more protection for my now continuously sore shoulder. Times were good financially, so I ordered what I figured would be my final, perfect motorcycle jacket.
Naturally, I bought a Langlitz, but I foolishly strayed from their time-tested designs and ordered several custom options: a Cossack collar, a custom shoulder pad profile, all pockets leather-lined, and additional pockets... a "gun" pocket, a zippered pocket on the inside right, and a pocket on the left upper arm. Once the jacket was in my hands I quickly decided that a padded Columbia looked odd with a Cossack collar and sent it back to have a standard W-style collar installed. That was better, but I was never really happy with the jacket... it wasn't perfect. Sound familiar?
Anyway, I nitpicked and nitpicked: it was too heavy (seven pounds), too stiff, the leather-lined pockets were unnecessary, it was too expensive for the amount of riding I was doing, I wanted something more versatile... blah, blah, blah. So I sold it in October 2006, two years and eight months after I received it from Langlitz.
What followed was a 15-jacket odyssey through the world of off-the-rack jackets, but I still couldn't find the perfect jacket. (Some ports of call on that odyssey are recorded in my six "Inexpensive Jackets" posts on this forum.) Just for yuks I started looking at Langlitz jackets on the bay; I even bought one that was a decent example and a decent fit. Still not perfect, though.
Then in January 2010 I saw my padded Columbia for auction. The seller was the man who bought it from me and the jacket was unmistakably the one made for me, based on the custom shoulder treatment. I won the auction and paid $225 less than its sale price in October 2006. (By January 2010 the economy had tanked and prices on used luxury jackets had plunged.)
The seller lived nearby and offered to deliver it. I researched him and decided to allow the delivery. When he arrived I looked the jacket over; it was clear it hadn't seen much use in the three years and two months he had owned it. I slipped it on and thought, "Hello, friend."
I said, “It fits like it was made for me,” and chuckled, expecting to share a laugh with him.
He said, “Yes, it does seem like a good fit.”
I realized he didn't know that he bought the jacket from me. Trying to be gentle, given the difference between what he paid me and what I was now paying him, I showed him my name stamped inside the breast pocket (a Langlitz practice).
His first words? “But I paid you a lot more than you paid me!”
I suggested he look at his period of ownership as a rental... the monthly rate was a bargain.
After a little friendly conversation he took off. I settled in to look the jacket over closely and found that I had left items in the pockets when I shipped it to him. My stuff was still there: a pair of AA batteries I carried as back-ups for my camera, a pencil stub I used to hold the choke lever open, and an old to-do list. I wondered if he had ever worn the jacket at all. Still, I gave the jacket a good cleaning and I've been wearing it regularly since its return. It still has the same imperfections, but now I know that no jacket will be perfect for long, and nothing fits like a custom-made Langlitz. So, this one stays with me until the end:
In 2003 I had a horrendous shoulder surgery and decided I would buy something to replace the International I had been wearing. I wanted more protection for my now continuously sore shoulder. Times were good financially, so I ordered what I figured would be my final, perfect motorcycle jacket.
Naturally, I bought a Langlitz, but I foolishly strayed from their time-tested designs and ordered several custom options: a Cossack collar, a custom shoulder pad profile, all pockets leather-lined, and additional pockets... a "gun" pocket, a zippered pocket on the inside right, and a pocket on the left upper arm. Once the jacket was in my hands I quickly decided that a padded Columbia looked odd with a Cossack collar and sent it back to have a standard W-style collar installed. That was better, but I was never really happy with the jacket... it wasn't perfect. Sound familiar?
Anyway, I nitpicked and nitpicked: it was too heavy (seven pounds), too stiff, the leather-lined pockets were unnecessary, it was too expensive for the amount of riding I was doing, I wanted something more versatile... blah, blah, blah. So I sold it in October 2006, two years and eight months after I received it from Langlitz.
What followed was a 15-jacket odyssey through the world of off-the-rack jackets, but I still couldn't find the perfect jacket. (Some ports of call on that odyssey are recorded in my six "Inexpensive Jackets" posts on this forum.) Just for yuks I started looking at Langlitz jackets on the bay; I even bought one that was a decent example and a decent fit. Still not perfect, though.
Then in January 2010 I saw my padded Columbia for auction. The seller was the man who bought it from me and the jacket was unmistakably the one made for me, based on the custom shoulder treatment. I won the auction and paid $225 less than its sale price in October 2006. (By January 2010 the economy had tanked and prices on used luxury jackets had plunged.)
The seller lived nearby and offered to deliver it. I researched him and decided to allow the delivery. When he arrived I looked the jacket over; it was clear it hadn't seen much use in the three years and two months he had owned it. I slipped it on and thought, "Hello, friend."
I said, “It fits like it was made for me,” and chuckled, expecting to share a laugh with him.
He said, “Yes, it does seem like a good fit.”
I realized he didn't know that he bought the jacket from me. Trying to be gentle, given the difference between what he paid me and what I was now paying him, I showed him my name stamped inside the breast pocket (a Langlitz practice).
His first words? “But I paid you a lot more than you paid me!”
I suggested he look at his period of ownership as a rental... the monthly rate was a bargain.
After a little friendly conversation he took off. I settled in to look the jacket over closely and found that I had left items in the pockets when I shipped it to him. My stuff was still there: a pair of AA batteries I carried as back-ups for my camera, a pencil stub I used to hold the choke lever open, and an old to-do list. I wondered if he had ever worn the jacket at all. Still, I gave the jacket a good cleaning and I've been wearing it regularly since its return. It still has the same imperfections, but now I know that no jacket will be perfect for long, and nothing fits like a custom-made Langlitz. So, this one stays with me until the end:
