PILOT LEATHERS– SUCK

I decided to go them based on their offering contingency as well as recommendations from a couple of other racers.  I’m now really sorry that I did. The suit is miles too big, not something that I expected with a custom suit order.  Their customer service is horrible, it takes days for them to respond and then they only did so after I called them.  So after waiting 3 months, I have a suit I can’t use.  They agree it doesn’t fit, but they want another $600 and the suit back before they will make another suit for me.

Given the replies I’ve gotten from other female racers confirms that they can’t make them to fit women.  They blamed my measurements: For example; my bust size was off by 2 cm (smaller) when they had me re-measure.  That’s the difference in the bras that I wore.  Funny, as that was only part of the suit that actually fit.  The rest of it was off by at least 4-8 inches.

I never understood why they require that you send them pictures of yourself in a sports bra and compression shorts.   I still don’t get why the pictures with the compression under armor I sent weren’t sufficient.  When I asked about it I was told it was so they can tell if the measurements are off.  Yeah, not sure why they want pictures since they obviously don’t use them for the stated purpose.

The suit was SOOO absurdly big that I didn’t even have to put it on to tell it wasn’t going to fit.  I did try it for a couple of laps but the fit was awful and I couldn’t move my head to get off the bike and see where I was going.   The others that I showed it too knew it didn’t fit when they saw it.  First thing they said was not to bother putting it on, there was no way it was going to fit as my azz wasn’t that big.  It was even too big for one our larger racers who is over 6′.2″ close to 300lbs, well except for the arms which is the only part of the suit that comes close to fitting me.

It’s also noteworthy that they NEVER sent me the contingency I won either two years in a row.  I should have listen to my inner voice that said if that wasn’t handled right maybe I shouldn’t give them business…

Nor did I get the sponsored racer discounts and upgrades that were promised.  In case it hasn’t become clear.  I will never do business with them, I’m not going to give them any money for another suit, and I’m never going to recommend them to anyone.  Their lack of customer service and handling of this is about criminal.  Not to mention a bad business move.  I’m well known in multiple states, I race with clubs in 5 states and with 7 different clubs, I teach at least 50 students  at the track a year not to mention the number of new riders I coach as an MSF RIderCoach.

The real killer for me is I spent $1300 on a suit that I can’t use, I’m going to have to spend more money to attempt to make it so I can use it.  I intend to have the guy making the changes take their name off the suit as I refuse to have anyone think that they do good work.  The idea of giving them $1900 for one suit that is likely not going to fit well either just pissed me off.  They say they make suits for racers all the time and they never have problems like this unless you give them bad measurements.  They are refusing to take the blame for this and want the suit back so they can sell it to someone else.  It just seems so wrong.

I am really hoping that Nate can make the suit fit like he says he can. I’m still going to have to cough up more money but, if it works I’ll at least have a suit and I won’t have given those crooks any more money.

10/31/2015
So after having the leathers modified, they still don’t fit well, but at least I can get some use out of them.  Interestingly, I bought an off the shelf Spidi suit and it fits 1000x better than the Pilot suit.