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ive heard that frank thomas has bought out bks leathers . plus bks leathers will be worn by james toseland in moto gp

zx10r wrote:ive heard that frank thomas has bought out bks leathers . plus bks leathers will be worn by james toseland in moto gp

Yup its true

I hope this quality little exmouth company won't get swallowed up by Frank Thomas and the standard of their gear decline.

how much do they cost?

BKS leathers are quite pricey because it is all made to measure and mostly designed by you. You can even design your own gloves on their website:

http://www.bksleather.co.uk/

zx10r wrote:ive heard that frank thomas has bought out bks leathers .

Gutted!!

That's a disaster for biking, BKS has always led the way in safety, and now they've been bought out by these idiots. It's like Mercedes being bought out by Lada.

I wouldn't have thought BKS would sell to them on principle, but I guess money talks.

Shame

RIP BKS.

well thats them ferked then, the price will stay the same and quality will disappear. bad news in my eyes

Personally, can't say I'm that bothered .....never been able to afford their stuff, never likely to be able to, so makes little odds to me

On the same vain, I have been able to afford FT stuff, and that which I have had has been very good and dependable, or in the case of a pair of leaky weatherproof boots, replaced immediately upon complaining on their stand at the NEC stood with one boot off, showing a wet sock after riding up there in the rain

TLS-Moose wrote:Personally, can't say I'm that bothered .....never been able to afford their stuff, never likely to be able to, so makes little odds to me

On the same vain, I have been able to afford FT stuff, and that which I have had has been very good and dependable, or in the case of a pair of leaky weatherproof boots, replaced immediately upon complaining on their stand at the NEC stood with one boot off, showing a wet sock after riding up there in the rain

nice one...........................

moose, i couldnt disagree with you more on FT clothing, absoultely shit stuff,falls apart far too easily and isnt designed that well, they'll never get a penny out of me. bit gutted they've bought bks as i was toying with getting theyre cheapest set for the summer, still expensive but worth the money.

This true is it? Can't really understand why as FT is a big multi-line cheap & cheerful outfit and a lot of their stuff is made in Asia I think, whereas BKS is a much smaller operation, mostly bespoke designs and made to order... strange. Something similar happened back in the late 80s or early 90s; there was a similar type of supplier in Northampton, Swift Leathers, and they sold the name to an outfit from Pakistan who traded on the name's good reputation but their stuff was simply pants in comparison. One of the machinists from Swift then went to FT for a while and then set up on her own as Zak Leathers - she made the ones I was wearing during my little get-off at Llandow - aside from big bruises on my ass and elbow there wasn't a mark on me, and she repaired them for about £75 - not bad after a 120mph stack...
Strange as FT's name is generally more widely known than BKS, maybe they want to sell them as a premium brand (and make them in Pakistan?? )

jonoono69 wrote:

TLS-Moose wrote:Personally, can't say I'm that bothered .....never been able to afford their stuff, never likely to be able to, so makes little odds to me

On the same vain, I have been able to afford FT stuff, and that which I have had has been very good and dependable, or in the case of a pair of leaky weatherproof boots, replaced immediately upon complaining on their stand at the NEC stood with one boot off, showing a wet sock after riding up there in the rain

nice one...........................

here here
i thought about buying their stuff once looked at the price and thought f##k me
never had a problem with ft gear although it's always been textile
my leathers r dainese....just found they fit better

each to there own

I think it's a case of Frank Thomas getting as much of the market as they can. They have the budget and middle road gear which will be their main income, now they have the small premium outlet, which, though it sells in small numbers can sometimes take almost as much due to its price.

Sorry guys I disagree with those attacking the move.
Please read the following quote/post from Visordown forum first before condemning a top brand:

“I spoke to Mr Sansom of BKS fame today, and he says he approached Peter Laughton, the guy who set up FT, about taking on BKS. The buyout of Motrax was the thing that got his head going.

He puts it like this: he couldn't go much farther with BKS. He didn't have the volume to invest in PU mouldings to make all the clever vents, exterior armours, titanium sliding armour and all the other fancy stuff. Astars, Dainese etc could, so they were getting all the glamour and coverage - even more because he couldn't afford to give away as many suits, so he didn't appear on as many magazine covers...

The FT investment means he can do all this. We'll have to wait and see of course, but I think they'd be daft to devalue the BKS brand - they have Lewis and FT to make low-priced budget mass-market stuff.

Sansom is certain he can make a (current) BKS-quality suit at a cheaper price with FT economies of scale, and be able to take on the Italians. And he is nothing if not obsessed about leather suit manufacture!

We'll be watching of course, with a healthy cynical eye (FT have pulled some shifty PR moves in the past), but it seems like a decent enough plan on the face of it...”


So,
unless you know all the problems generated in running a business how can you criticise the decisions he makes. I bet if you were in his shoes the majority would make the same choices.

Anyhow, Brian may have secured the future of his business and his Exmouth employees. As he says on his web site, (http://www.bksleather.co.uk/james_toesland.htm) he will still control the day-to-day running of the business and keep manufacture local.

In which case this would open up lots of opportunities – new premises, more jobs and therefore bring in more money locally to Devon and all that brings with it.

If I’m wrong then I apologise – but give the man and his local employees a chance before you condemn them to the scrapheap. Lots of companies own brands of different stature.

P.S before you post your reply, check the label in your leathers, gloves, helmet etc for where they are made?

So if you can’t afford BKS leathers now –maybe in the future there will be a set at your budget…. surely thats a good thing.

Thats a great post.