Vanson Leathers website overhaul

• Oxford (a model D with a shirt style collar)
• Mohawk (a cafe racer with a half-belt back, made with their "Steer XL leather" which I'd not heard of before. Is this Horween?? From their leathers page: "Vanson XL Leathers are stuffed with hot melt wax and then finished by hand in the same way that Horsehide was produced in the 1930's and 40's. The skins start at 1.2 mm thickness and the combination of heat and pressure used in the waxing process makes the leather tough and hard when new. Over time as the leather breaks in it will assume the character and fit of the owner. This leather ages beautifully. All the natural variations and character marks in the leather show. The look and color develops from within, through the skin, instead of being applied on top in the modern way. The big point of this leather is that every hide is different and will vary and age differently - so each carefully-selected piece is unique.")
• Rock and Roll, Thunderbird - I didn't realize they made any cross-zip jackets that had one-piece backs.
• The Arrow, aka the "Gambler" if you order it through Thurston, is apparently still available as a special order model. It's a near twin of the ELMC Windward, which is a model that I really like (I'm still undecided about keeping my 44 or my 46, hmm... guess I shouldn't get another one.) Vanson's ($580) is considerably cheaper than Thurston's ($750), so I'm wondering if there's something else that differentiates them.
• Boston Police MK2

Guppy said:

Their server is pathetic, I sure hope they can optimize/upgrade so that pages stop taking forever to load.

[Edit]: Pages are now loading decently fast now...

They sure have a lot more jacket models than I was aware of! 88 leather non-armored models!

Here's some that I think deserve some attention:

• Oxford (a model D with a shirt style collar)
• Mohawk (a cafe racer with a half-belt back, made with their "Steer XL leather" which I'd not heard of before. Is this Horween?? From their leathers page: "Vanson XL Leathers are stuffed with hot melt wax and then finished by hand in the same way that Horsehide was produced in the 1930's and 40's. The skins start at 1.2 mm thickness and the combination of heat and pressure used in the waxing process makes the leather tough and hard when new. Over time as the leather breaks in it will assume the character and fit of the owner. This leather ages beautifully. All the natural variations and character marks in the leather show. The look and color develops from within, through the skin, instead of being applied on top in the modern way. The big point of this leather is that every hide is different and will vary and age differently - so each carefully-selected piece is unique.")
• Rock and Roll, Thunderbird - I didn't realize they made any cross-zip jackets that had one-piece backs.
• The Arrow, aka the "Gambler" if you order it through Thurston, is apparently still available as a special order model. It's a near twin of the ELMC Windward, which is a model that I really like (I'm still undecided about keeping my 44 or my 46, hmm... guess I shouldn't get another one.) Vanson's ($580) is considerably cheaper than Thurston's ($750), so I'm wondering if there's something else that differentiates them.
• Boston Police MK2

I kindof like the fact that they use "average guy" models to represent their gear, instead of "high end" models.

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l0fielectronic said:

Does seem to be working better than it did for me yesterday but is hard to beleive this is a 'new' website to look at it.

Seems the same across most of the industry, and I know a lot of makers are quite small opperations, but do find it odd given the cost of the items they sell that so many vendors have websites that look and work like something made ten or so years ago.

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Monitor said:

Could be my list as well. Didn't know about Oxford! I always like the Enfield but the collar was kinda meh. Oxford makes everything right.
As for the Boston, I've had their earlier Police jacket, traditionally styled NYPD patrolsman leather jacket and it was seriously among the best jackets I had. It was a tad too large so I sold it. I wish I hadn't though... But it prioritized Boston on my list ever since. It'd probably be next jacket, right after Chopper. But in comp. weight if possible.

Force also seems like a must have. Just tons of great features.

And it's good to see Maverick is officially back!

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dannyk said:

I know their Comp. Weight since it’s their standard and I own one. I know Firenze is their lighter model. But exploring the site I not only learned about the finish of the heritage xl but I’ve also found a couple in Zirconian Smooth. Anyone have any experience with that or know what it is exactly?

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JMax said:

Seems to me that it is the Z-150 / X-150 type leather. My Commando and Vest are made of this. Similar to Octagon in characteristics. I really like it the way it breaks in and looks-- all the creases, folds, shininess, etc. Really molds to your body. Much better than the Firenze stuff. Since i rode in with my Commando today i will post some pics in a bit.

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dannyk said:

Vanson also makes a beautiful Cycle King repro for HD. It’s $829. And me thinks now knowing about Heritage and Zirconian leathers that it has to be one of those two. I emailed the customer service at the HD website and they responded that it was not Vansons Comp. Weight but a slightly thinner leather that was stuffed and polished to recreate that 40-50s style leather. And yes please do share some pics of that!

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