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Ultimate Quality
Comfort. Safety. Performance.

BKS Leather was the 1st company in the entire European industry to be awarded CE Approval for their leather motorcycle suits.

All BKS suits meet with the HIGH PERFORMANCE CLASSIFICATION of the Cambridge Standard and can legally claim them as official protective clothing, unlike the majority of other brands of suit.

Philosophy
To provide the ultimate riding suits, never compromising quality, safety, protection, styling or comfort. Our suits offer an unrivalled combination of master craftsmanship and tailoring, via computer assisted design and a desire to build the best suits on earth.

The entire suit is officially CE Approved and manufactured to comply with the European Personal Protective Equipment Directive (EN 1621 - 1 : 1998). This allows us to openly promote the protective qualities of our armour, leather and seam construction in relation to impact, abrasion resistance and burst strength. This is unlike the vast majority of the motorcycle clothing industry - who often make 'riding suits' out of leather, and just fit CE Approved armour. These suits can still not be claimed legally protective.
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Performance

LEATHER

All full grain hides are subject to testing before use and have a minimum thickness of 1.3/1.5mm.
Many areas within the suit are made up from 2 layers for extra protection and placed inside the suit: at the top arm and shoulder right into the collar; the full outer elbow to the wrist; a complete wraparound seat and hip which extends down the outer thigh to the knee; and finally the knee and two thirds of the shin.

THREAD AND SEAMS

The thickness and strength of thread is defined in numbers - 20 being the strongest. All internally stitched seams use a No. 20 thickness thread. No. 40 thickness is used for outside decorative stitching on overlays and letters.
Most seams are triple stitched to meet with performance requirements, but some high risk areas have complex seams that incorporate 4 and 5 rows inside as well as leather tape reinforcement.

 

SUPROFLEX BODY ARMOUR

Impact Protectors for Limbs
BKS have their own brand known as SUPROFLEX, available for both limb and body protection (back pads). The limb protectors (elbow, hip, shoulder and knee) are made from 'Astrosorb' or 'Astrene' - both high performance rubber gel compounds which offer the best combination of energy absorption, comfort and flexibility of any material known.

CE Approval requires an impact test for the High Performance Level that ensure no more than 35Kilo Newtons (KNs) pass through after an impact of 75 joules.

  • BKS armour is available as standard black astrosorb at 6.2mm and will pass an impact of over 80 joules - qualifying as High Performance.
  • It also comes as perforated green astrene at 8mm which passes an impact of over 100 joules - qualifying as Extreme Performance.

Impact Protectors for the Back*
BKS Back pads are made from a high density foam, which is more suited to the larger surface area it protects. The Equestrian and Automotive Industries both use a standard researched by Cambridge, which sets a force limit of 4KN for back protection. This limit of 4KN is the point at which the rib cage, back or front, is found to crack, crush or break. The equestrian industry, in conjunction with Cambridge, conducted several thousand impact tests in order to establish the best materials for back and torso protectors, and found the only types of material which meet the required levels of protection to be PVC / Nitrile type foams. These compress more slowly and allow the larger surface areas of the torso to absorb levels of energy up to the optimum amounts. Forces over and above that simply cannot be protected against. The whole idea of a back pad is to reduce the severity of bruising: padding in the region of a half metre thick would be needed to protect the torso from a 50mph collision with an upright obstacle!

At present, a CE Marked back protector for motorcycle suits does not exist. Some examples on the market will claim CE Mark conformity, but this would be to the same test used for limb protectors and will have been CE Marked outside the UK. The 35KN limit is only applicable to limbs and joints. This is partly because their surface areas are smaller, and the fact that they are tougher than the human torso. Those involved with the UK testing (Cambridge University - Protective Clothing Research Facility) do not agree with this and will reiterate that the test for limb protection should not be used for back protection. The back cannot withstand the same kind of energy levels as our limbs because it contains soft tissue and skeletal elements, which are relatively delicate in comparison to limbs and limb bones.
Therefore, protectors for the back and torso need to be made from materials which compress at lower forces than limb protectors.

BKS Back Pads, which withstand the 4KN impact limits, are made from a sandwich combination that includes the all important PVC/Nitrile in between 2 layers of 'Astroshock' giving a total thickness of 20mm.

*Back pads are not a requirement of a CE Marked motorcycle suit and are included as an optional extra for wearers who prefer to gain some limited protection of the soft tissue (muscle and skin).

 

VENTILATION

Perforated leather and/or punch - hole sections are used to create a ventilated suit, and may be used in varying quantities. It is safe to use throughout the entire suit and a fully vented suit will be both cooler and lighter to wear in summer. All fully vented suits comply with CE Mark conditions.

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LININGS AND OTHER MATERIALS

Stretch kevlar material is an option for some places around the suit and is known by it's product name "Keprotec". It is a material made from Cordura(50%), Kevlar(35%) and Lycra(15%). This is only available in Black, Red or White.
All linings are removable for washing and maintenance, for both one and two piece suits. A polyester mesh 'airtex' is supplied as standard. An extra, quilted thinsulate-filled thermal lining is available at extra cost for the upper body only.

 

For made to measure suits

SUIT TYPE, COLOURS AND STITCHING

All suit designs carry a number or name. ( i.e. BKS 100R, or BKS Millennium RX) The BKS 100 series is the design which has no graphic pattern(s) on it. This comes in both one and two piece versions.

The two piece BKS 100 then has 3 design versions: Stormflap 100SPS; Lancer 100SPL; and Racing 100SPR. These differ by front zip design only.

Each is available as made to measure for both sexes. The ladies version is cut with bust and waist shaping, and is known as the 100L-SPS or 100L-SPR respectively. The ladies trouser does not have pockets.

Although essentially the 100 Series was designed as a plain colour suit, there is an option to use spot colour in any amount to create a "two-tone" effect. This is available at no extra cost.

Each numbered design is also available in one or two piece (only as SPR in the two-piece), and in any colour scheme from the BKS colour range. Some metallic colours (silver and pearl), have a tendency to be less durable than normal colours when used in areas which may rub against the bike.

There are 3 choices for thread:

  • In a plain coloured suit, match or contrast the thread accordingly.
  • In a plain suit with one or more spot colours, match the thread with a spot colour throughout.
  • In a multicoloured suit, choose one of the suits' colours or a contrast colour and use throughout. We try to avoid 'matching' thread: it is not always possible, particularly where a seam runs through various overlays, e.g. the front zip.

COLLAR STYLES

  • Rim - a thin bound edge designed for one-piece suits only.
  • Mandarin - 1.5" high, open neck race collar with kevlar stretch at the back.
  • Sports - low front, shaping into a higher back with a one-stud fastening.
  • Touring - low front shaping into higher back with a two-stud fastening. (SPL / SPS jackets only).
  • Stand-up - 2" high all round with a zip up centre. (paddock jacket style)

Not every collar is available for every suit:

  • One-piece suits - rim / mandarin
  • SPR (two piece Racing) - rim / mandarin / sports / stand-up
  • SPL (two piece Lancer) - touring only
  • SPS (two piece Stormflap) - touring only

WAISTBAND STYLES

  • Stretch leather - low front, high back with kevlar stretch sides and side strap adjustment. The high back is equipped with a foam pad insert made from PVC Nitrile.
  • Jeans - a plain 2" high waistband like denim jeans with 5 sturdy leather belt loops.

INSERTS

  • These are situated at the groin, inner arm and calf, and behind the neck in a mandarin collar. Generally they are for placement of the stretch kevlar, which is 2 layers thick in order to meet with CE approval.
  • Perforated leather of single thickness is an alternative to stretch kevlar, especially if you prefer a wider colour choice although it is not an option for the collar insert. Perforated leather is more comfortable at the calf when the leg is bent.

VENTILATION

  • Available as perforated leather for whole panels, or hand-punched holes for whole or part panels. Calf , groin and elbow perforated inserts are free, with the rest of the ventilation costing £80 for 100% (a fully vented suit), or calculated pro-rata for lesser amounts.

POCKETS

  • Pictorial references for the outside jacket pocket options are available.
  • Inside pockets are free of charge - both sides if you wish. They are large enough to carry a UK driving licence, a standard length cheque book or an average-sized wallet.
  • Trouser pockets - shallow jeans-style pockets. We cannot offer zip pockets in the trouser: CE regulations do not allow a zip over the site of impact protectors. Similarly, we cannot make the pockets very deep for safety reasons - we cannot encourage the wearer to carry anything around the groin area.

BKS MARKINGS

  • BKS badges come in a variety of colours and are optional and free of charge.
  • BKS lettering is again optional and free of charge - any colours, any position. This lettering is available in single or 'shadow' style lettering only (not keyline).
  • Personal lettering is priced per letter, depending on the size. We can match any lettering style you supply, or you can choose from the samples of styles of our own.
  • We can also make up logos/designs to sew on to the suit - again either from something you supply, or something from our own computer library. The price depends on the size and intricacy of the design.


KNEE SLIDERS

  • Race compound - black plastic pucks, stamped with the gold BKS logo. These can be mounted on any colour leather backing to co-ordinate with the suit.
  • Natural leather - natural tan leather pucks, stamped with the BKS logo, on black backs only.
© BKS Leather 2002