Naomi Sanderson is a rare
woman who found an off-the-
rack suit that actually fit her. She
made do with a men's suit when
she started riding sportbikes, but
when she headed for the track,
she knew she wanted something
better. It took a lot of work, but
eventually she found exactly what
she wanted.
"When I first started riding, I
started with a hand-me-down Al-
pinestars men's suit. It was loose
almost everywhere but a little tight
in the hips. When I started sport
riding I wanted something that
was a better fit for me," says Sand-
erson, 27, of Coal Valley, Illinois,
who regularly does track days on
her 2005 Kawasaki ZX-6R.
She went with an off-the-rack
suit from Dainese, but it didn't fit
properly. And as manufacturers
don't stock a lot of women's suits,
when she exchanged it, the sizes
available were limited—and the
one size she specifically wanted
wasn't available at all.
Sanderson couldn't find a
store nearby that stocked women's
suits, so she couldn't try them on
first. Different sizing charts sug-
gested different sizes, and the re-
sult was "very frustrating."
Eventually, she spotted the
Held Ayana II on a female rider's
Instagram feed, and started to re-
search sizes. She found the suit
on a website out of the U.K., which
listed garments in yet another siz-
ing protocol. "I wound up using a
bunch of different size charts and
trying to figure out on my own—it
was awful," she said.
And, once she bought the suit
from the U.K. retailer, she found
that she had to pay more to get the
suit through U.S. Customs. "That
was a surprise," she says.
It all came together, though,
when she got the suit out of the
packaging. She was happy with
the titanium external armor, and
the incorporated CE Level 2 back
protector was a pleasant surprise.
The real payoff, though, was
when she put the suit on. "I tried it
on and it was absolutely the most
comfortable thing I have ever put
on when it comes to gear—and I've
tried a lot of gear over the years,"
Sanderson says.Naomi Sanderson in her off-the-
rack Held Ayana II one-piece
leather suit. Photo by David Swarts.
One Woman's Tale: An Off-The-Rack Success Story
A Racer's Plan: Go Custom
To Save Your SkinBy Melissa BerkoffW
hen it comes to motorcy-
cle leathers, if you’re like
me (and for your sake I
hope you’re not!), finding some-
thing to wear on the track that is
the right combination of quality,
fit, comfort, and style presents a
problem, because I am apparently
not what most off-the-rack leath-
ers manufacturers have in mind
when they build a set of leathers.
I think this is true for a lot of body
shapes and sizes and especially
true for women, whose lower par-
ticipation rates provide manufac-
turers with less incentive to make
form-specific leathers.
My very first set of leathers
Matt Silva from Vanson Leathers
sizes up the author in the vintage
motorhome that he drove to the
2018 WERA GNF races at Barber.Continued on Page 51
Roadracing World, Trackday Directory 2019—49