Hewhois
06-28-2005, 10:01 PM
Their website is in the middle of a re-design and is still getting updated looks like:
http://www.syedleathers.com/ (http://www.syedleathers.com/)
Went over to Syed Monday. Went the I-state route, I75 to I4 to the Sea World exit, same exit for Syed. Nice and dry on the way there, ran into a big downpour on the way back halfway home, but it stopped after 10 minutes or so. Typical Florida Summer ride, lol.
Easy to find the shop, nice tall sign visible from the road. Was smaller than I was expecting, not sure what I was expecting though. Family run business. Small area out front with a couple of desks and suits hanging on racks. In back is where they do the work.
Talked to Stefan mostly and Syed some as well. Nice guys, professional, seemed to know their stuff, very customer service oriented. Answered all my questions. They do a lot of alterations and repairs on suits made by the other brands. A Taichi there to get ventilated, 2 whole racks of JR gear to have the armor replaced with Syed armor, crash repair, etc. Evidently Syed started with Vanson many years ago before going into business for himself. Think they said Syed has been in business for 16 years or so?
They had a couple racks of ready made 1-piece suits with 2 designs. I was impressed with the quality and build of the suits, very solid and confidence inspiring. Expanding leather above the knees and at the back waistband area. The stretchy kevlar stuff for inner part of the arms, optional for crotch and inner thighs as well for custom suits. Hard armor for shoulders, elbows and knees, with closed cell foam padding around the hard armor and other key areas. The back lining has a zipper on the bottom of the jacket for a back protector to be slid into place. Nice sized perforated holes in most of the suit. Every Syed suit has a stitched in mesh lining to make it easy to put on.
Had a couple racks of custom suits waiting to be picked up too. Got to see the different types of collars, beaded verse mandarin. Also got to see various color combos and suit designs. Some pretty wild color combos, lol. The 2-piece suits had 360 degree zippers. All the zippers looked like high quality stuff.
We talked about different armor options. They agreed to incorporate into a custom 2-piece suit the TPro armor I had brought with me, shoulders, elbows/forearms, chest, hips, knees/shins and back protector. Going to combine the TPro armor with the hard plastic armor they make and use, should make the end result better than either by itself. Of course that will cost extra. But a reasonable amount.
Couple links for the TPro armor I already had:
http://www.johnsonleather.com/forcefield_back_protector.htm (http://www.johnsonleather.com/forcefield_back_protector.htm)
http://www.johnsonleather.com/type-b_limbs.htm (http://www.johnsonleather.com/type-b_limbs.htm)
Now for the hard part, deciding what style and colors I want :eek: They already did the measurements while I was there, so once I knew the style and colors they could start making my suit :D
Want something classic and tasteful while still catching the eye and looking custom. Also want it to still look good 10 years from now. AND, have as much "sun" area (upper shoulders, back, etc) as possible be a light color or even white. If I wasn't afraid that an all white suit would be grey/off-white in a couple years I'd be tempted to go for that.
Spent most of the rest of the day Monday, and most of today, playing around with designs and colors. They have 40 designs to pick from, and you can choose what color combos you want. Not an easy task!
After much hair pulling I finally came up with this, my more or less final version, decided on a 2-piece suit, fully perforated, with a beaded collar and with one outside pocket on the pants on the left side. Will also have SYED lettering in a couple places::
http://severe.wso.net/images/Syed/SYED6a1orangyCD.gif
http://severe.wso.net/images/Syed/SYED6a1orangyCD.gif
Placed the order with them this afternoon :D 4 to 6 weeks, minimum, to get them.
http://www.syedleathers.com/ (http://www.syedleathers.com/)
Went over to Syed Monday. Went the I-state route, I75 to I4 to the Sea World exit, same exit for Syed. Nice and dry on the way there, ran into a big downpour on the way back halfway home, but it stopped after 10 minutes or so. Typical Florida Summer ride, lol.
Easy to find the shop, nice tall sign visible from the road. Was smaller than I was expecting, not sure what I was expecting though. Family run business. Small area out front with a couple of desks and suits hanging on racks. In back is where they do the work.
Talked to Stefan mostly and Syed some as well. Nice guys, professional, seemed to know their stuff, very customer service oriented. Answered all my questions. They do a lot of alterations and repairs on suits made by the other brands. A Taichi there to get ventilated, 2 whole racks of JR gear to have the armor replaced with Syed armor, crash repair, etc. Evidently Syed started with Vanson many years ago before going into business for himself. Think they said Syed has been in business for 16 years or so?
They had a couple racks of ready made 1-piece suits with 2 designs. I was impressed with the quality and build of the suits, very solid and confidence inspiring. Expanding leather above the knees and at the back waistband area. The stretchy kevlar stuff for inner part of the arms, optional for crotch and inner thighs as well for custom suits. Hard armor for shoulders, elbows and knees, with closed cell foam padding around the hard armor and other key areas. The back lining has a zipper on the bottom of the jacket for a back protector to be slid into place. Nice sized perforated holes in most of the suit. Every Syed suit has a stitched in mesh lining to make it easy to put on.
Had a couple racks of custom suits waiting to be picked up too. Got to see the different types of collars, beaded verse mandarin. Also got to see various color combos and suit designs. Some pretty wild color combos, lol. The 2-piece suits had 360 degree zippers. All the zippers looked like high quality stuff.
We talked about different armor options. They agreed to incorporate into a custom 2-piece suit the TPro armor I had brought with me, shoulders, elbows/forearms, chest, hips, knees/shins and back protector. Going to combine the TPro armor with the hard plastic armor they make and use, should make the end result better than either by itself. Of course that will cost extra. But a reasonable amount.
Couple links for the TPro armor I already had:
http://www.johnsonleather.com/forcefield_back_protector.htm (http://www.johnsonleather.com/forcefield_back_protector.htm)
http://www.johnsonleather.com/type-b_limbs.htm (http://www.johnsonleather.com/type-b_limbs.htm)
Now for the hard part, deciding what style and colors I want :eek: They already did the measurements while I was there, so once I knew the style and colors they could start making my suit :D
Want something classic and tasteful while still catching the eye and looking custom. Also want it to still look good 10 years from now. AND, have as much "sun" area (upper shoulders, back, etc) as possible be a light color or even white. If I wasn't afraid that an all white suit would be grey/off-white in a couple years I'd be tempted to go for that.
Spent most of the rest of the day Monday, and most of today, playing around with designs and colors. They have 40 designs to pick from, and you can choose what color combos you want. Not an easy task!
After much hair pulling I finally came up with this, my more or less final version, decided on a 2-piece suit, fully perforated, with a beaded collar and with one outside pocket on the pants on the left side. Will also have SYED lettering in a couple places::
http://severe.wso.net/images/Syed/SYED6a1orangyCD.gif
http://severe.wso.net/images/Syed/SYED6a1orangyCD.gif
Placed the order with them this afternoon :D 4 to 6 weeks, minimum, to get them.