Try not to crash. But if you do, there’s Carla.
One of the highlights of my bike writing life was last year when I got a brand new Dainese Laguna Seca suit in size 54 Tall. A beautiful, hand stitched masterpiece of Italian craftsmanship, it had my name across the back and the Cycle News logo embossed above it. It had that intoxicating Dainese new leather smell. I was proud to wear it.
Consequently, one of the lowest moments in my bike writing life was when I trashed my suit and a bike in front of some rather high ranking bosses late last year. It was my first crash since coming to the ’States – and it was a big one. I jumped off at about 85mph, clean over the highside, tumbled for what felt like a week and hopped to my feet only to see this bashed up bike on its side further down the road.
I wasn’t hurt. I hit my hand a bit but considering the force of the impact, I got out of it pretty clean. I attribute this purely to the gear I was wearing, and a little dumb luck. I’ve had one instance in the past where I’d come off big time and was saved by good gear. This is the second.
The suit was wrecked. I tore the stretch panel on the back, ripped my name clean off, scuffed up the shoulders, trashed both forearm panels, the areo hump, left leg zip and shin padding — it was a disaster zone.
We get a lot of suits to test at Cycle News, and such was the damage to this one that I’d probably put it in the back of the shed as a reminder of one stupid mistake. But Dainese and the D-Store Orange County had other ideas.
As part of a complete revamp of their flagship Southern California store, they’ve just hired a fabulous Italian tailor by the name of Carla Battaglin, a lady who has spent the last 24 years working for the famous Italian leather house. She has crafted some of the world’s top rider racing suits and protective material and was for a time Valentino Rossi’s preferred glove maker, so fixing up a suit like mine is beginner work for her.
Like any person that’s good at their job, it’s fun watching Carla work. She had my suit dismantled, leather and protective gear separated, in under half an hour. First came off the hump and shoulder guards, then the forearms. All these parts were straight up replacements, but the forearms have the Dainese brand name stitched in small lettering that requires the precision of a pinstripe painter to get correct. Carla knocked those out in about three minutes flat, the forearms now ready to be re-sewn to the suit.
Then came the stretch panel around the lower back. The bi-axial strip runs from the lower back to the underarms and allows for great range of movement on the bike, and mine was ruined. The paneling gets it wave shape by stitching and folding the leather, stitching and folding, stitching and folding. It’s a time consuming process and very easy to screw up, especially given the elasticity of the leather. Luckily the shop has a one-off sewing machine that costs way more than you’d imagine (Dainese won’t tell me how much, but it was specially made in Italy for Carla to do her thing).
Eventually the lower half of the suit got the full treatment with new stitching, zippers, bonded leather and protectors. The one thing you take for granted with a suit like this is there are so many little stitches, so many intricacies to the make-up of the suit that anyone who was not a straight up expect would almost certainly struggle with.
The leather panels come from all over Europe, much of it from Ukraine, but they are all constructed at the incredible facility in Vicenza, Italy. What made my crash even more painful was the fact I’d waited four months to take delivery because my oblong body shape meant I only just squeezed into a 54 Tall, and a 56 was too big. But now, I have it back and I’ll be racing in it this coming winter in Southern California.
To get a Laguna Seca suit that was as trashed as mine repaired by Carla will cost anywhere from $500-$1000, more if it’s the company’s top line D-Air suit. That being said, a new Laguna Seca suit will cost you $1249.95 from the American Dainese website, so if it’s properly ruined you may as well buy a new suit. However, should you want to keep your suit, taking it to Carla is a good idea. Mine was pretty much stuffed but it now looks brand new. She’s done an incredible job – it’s as good as it was when it rolled off the Italian production line but it’s got the added benefit of being pre-stretched (it took a about five big rides for the suit to start conforming to my body shape). Now all I have to do is remember to not crash the bloody motorbike again!
