So I just got a beautiful pair of Dainese Delta Pro pants in the mail today, and I'm a bit confused on exactly what's going on with the fit: Size-wise they fit like a glove, which is a minor miracle in my book because at 5'7" / 118lbs it's hard to find ANYTHING that isn't huge on me. When I sit on the bike, however, it gets ugly... First, the armor / padding in front of the knee is so thick and bulky it actually makes it almost impossible to bend my knees enough to get the balls of my feet on the pegs - they want to stick out straighter and end up resting in the arch or heel region without some effort to bend them back, if that makes any sense. Not sure if this is just an issue of new / unbroken leather, but it seems more the padding and bulkiness thereof that's the cause. Second, when sitting in the riding position, the crotch is pretty much stretched to it's maximum just getting my knees around the tank, which obviously makes it impossible to get a knee out - so I'm stuck more-or-less hugging the tank with my knees whether I like it or not.
This is my first pair of riding pants, so I'm not sure how much of it is me, and how much is the product. These are Dainese's top-of-the-line pants, and they are clearly intended for track use (they're essentially the bottom half of a 2-piece race suit) - so it boggles my mind that it should be impossible (or even difficult) to get a knee out (and I'm not the first one to pick up on this - check Revzilla's customer reviews). It's my understanding that race-fit leathers are supposed to fit close, and to that end, I think the sizing is spot-on - and I don't feel like going up a size would solve the issues at hand anyway... Am I missing something?
I am rather at a loss to understand what exactly IS the problem.
You say you are 5'7" and 118 lbs !
First of all, there's not a lot of stretch material there , although one would think it would be proportional on a fractional basis to a larger size.
I'm thinking it has to be that there just isn't much stretch material in the Crotch area.That's why you can't put out your Knee .
As far as bending the Knee to be able to ride on the balls of your Feet , if the Pants fit like a Glove, they will need to break in .
All my Dainese leather Pants , especially my non perfed ones were very stiff in the beginning and hard to bend my Knees.
One thing you can do is get some Meguiars leather Conditioner and put plenty on the Pants and rub it in to them , it will soften them up .
You can do it each time after you ride or let's say 2 times a week for a month and then I put it on after I have ridden and wash of a bunch of bugs w. a wet ( not dripping wet ) sponge , then towel off the water and then do the Meguiars.
I get the Meguiars at an Auto Parts Store for about $10 . It's nice and creamy.
Dolph [moto]
hate to say - but you might be the problem. In jest of course, but at your proportions you might not line up well with the template cut of the pants. I suspect you're a good bit taller than they have cut the pant for at your waist size.
With the pants on, where does the bottom of the leg fall on your leg? It should be at or just above the ankle bone.
The the knees lined up with your knees and bent - is the crotch at your, um, crotch? It sounds like the pant is pulling down to deal with the flex of your knee, when the pants come down like that they will keep you from flaring your legs
I have the exact same pants, and while they are a little harder to maneuver than textiles, they are not near what you're explaining?
The lower half of the pants are definitely spot-on - my knee sits right into the curve on the armor / padding, and the end of the pants fall right over the ankle. The top half seems like it fits right - the crotch and waist are right around where my normal pants would sit, and the waist zipper fell at just the right height to zip into my jacket w/o pulling up on the pants or down on the jacket. Just for shits and gigs, I pulled the crotch way up into wedgie-range to see if that would help, and alas, no improvement. Based on the jeans I've been wearing on the bike my only other thought is that maybe there's not enough room through the thighs? But again, I'd figure that's an area where you don't want much looseness, no?
I still think the problem lies between your thighs !
No pun intended.
I think there just isn't enough stretch material due to the difference between your height , waist size, and the angle between your legs.
I think the angle is to great for the amount of stretch fabric to allow you to make the necessary wide angle to flare your knee out.
Also , I think some break in will help loosen up every thing .
In Men's dress Trousers there is what is known as " Rise ."
" Rise " is generally referred to as , short, regular or long.
Best way I can describe it is the longer the " Rise " the more distance from the Crotch to the Waist.
You have probably had Jeans that were such that you wore them low on your Hips, those have a short " Rise ," as opposed to ones that one would wear more up closer to one's Waist.
Those would be a long " Rise ."
Dolph [moto]
I had the exact same problem when I bought my Delta Pro.
Ordered the longer size and suddenly everything made sense - perfect fit [thumbsup]
116 is 56 fit, but with 58 length
110 is 54 --- 56
104 is 52 --- 54
98 is 50 --- 52
Are those larger than your size?
If they are, I would consider a standard size larger because I'm not convinced the problem will go away even after some use.
I'm hesitant to move up a size since they fit so well body-wise, plus my small-ass size has to be drop-shipped direct from Italy with a 2-week turnaround. I was going to try and look for someone local who does leather alterations to see if I can get a stretch panel added in the middle of the crotch / inner thigh seam to relieve some tension, but I suppose the turnaround there would probably be similar.
Rode a good distance with the Delta Pro's today... They definitely stretched out some, but I'm still not getting my knee out as far as I can in jeans. I also noticed that putting a foot down at stops / taking it back up while pulling away was mad awkward - I can't get my foot out as far, which (1) causes my leg to hang up on the peg if I'm not careful and (2) makes me feel like I'm likely to fall over trying to get the foot down. Not sure if this is really an extension of the crotch issue or just me not being used to the pants - anybody else get a similar feeling?
On the plus side, the tightness through the crotch holds the boys back from getting smashed into the tank and/or strangled in a wedgie. Can't complain about that [thumbsup]