As I mentioned last month, I have needed a new 3-season jacket for a while to replace the red and black jacket. I ended up with the Power Trip Dakota 2 Jacket. First things first. I ordered the 5XL because of the thought "I need it a little big to go over regular clothes and maybe a hooded sweatshirt." which was the wrong attitude to take in the beginning. A good jacket should fit close to you and keep you warm without other layers of stuff. The Dakota II was supposed to fit at "waist length". Well, the 5XL hung down not to my knees, but over my arse easily. When I sat down in the jacket, I knew immediately it was too big. I returned it (free of charge) for the 4XL. The 4XL came last week and I tried it on. The good news is it fit around my chest, stomach, arms & neck very well. The bad news is it hung down almost as low and bunched up so bad when I sat that it was unworkable.
My options were three:
1. I could return this jacket and keep getting other 4XL jackets from newenough.com until I got just the right one.
2. I could ask newenough for a refund to apply toward another much more expensive jacket that would be made to order (read: a $700 motoport jacket where they get your measurements and take 8 weeks to build your jacket from scratch. This $700 becomes $100 if you want a waterproof or thermal liner!!)
3. I could have the Dakota II altered. This is something I truly dreaded because of the fiasco that turned my nice Power Trip summer mesh into a POS.
I had read that one fellow on the Suzuki Burgman forum got his jacket alterated for around $80. This wasn't too bad, so I took it for an estimate to British Custom Tailors on Bardstown road. They quoted me $280 - $320!!! I just about crapped!! I decided it was time to return the jacket and see if motoport had any slightly less expensive options.
Newenough would only give me another "gift certificate", or what is commonly known as store credit. I was about ready to call bullsh*t on this when the Motoport people called back and confirmed that to get a jacket with all the same functions as the $170 Power Trip but made to fit, it would be really really close to $1000!! My second stroke in as many days!!! So now I was stuck with a jacket that was too long, and a $300 alteration bill. I did the only thing I could do. I gritted my teeth, called around to other tailors/alterations people, and prayed I would not get screwed.
What I found was Chong Alteration, Dry Cleaning & Repairs. I spoke to the asian lady over the phone and she seemed really down-to-earth. She wanted to see the jacket before she would give me a price. She told me she absolutely could do it and had worked on this kind of jacket before.
Thursday I took it in. The next stroke was not mine, but Ms. Chong's! She looked at the intracacies of the jacket and how many zippers it had. She said at first that the original quote would be very close to correct. I was dejected and I guess she could see that, so some compromises were made. I told her she could make the pockets smaller, remove the lumbar pad, and not to worry about the cinch straps along the sides, or the "Power Trip" logos. She said she could do it for $200. I wasn't thrilled, but I got the sense that she would do a good job. She said it would take a while, but agreed she could have it done before April. I was resigned to worry.
Sunday I got a call. She said "I put off other work. Jacket is done." I asked, bewildered, if I could pick it up Monday. I went in after work yesterday. She let me try it on. It was short---way short, but I reminded myself (and Ms. Chong) that if it was any longer, it would bunch up when I sat on the motorbike. I saw that, even though I told her I would like to save some money by not worrying with the Power Trip logos, she made neat patches of them and reattached them, including the label! I was worried she would ask for more money but she did not. The only problem was this: once the jacket was shortened, it skewed the bottom a bit. There was a true need for the cinch straps because where the spine CE armor was in the back of the jacket, it caused the back bottom to jut out like a tent! I was not happy with the looks. She started going back through the peices that she'd removed, and designed a back cinch strap that would allow me to take up some of the slack. It now looks very professional and you can only really tell it's been altered if you look closely.
Chong Alteration, Dry Cleaning & Repairs for the win!
I wore the jacket home and was fairly comfortable. It is NOT my old jacket and will take some breaking in. It also fits differently, but I knew it would. One minor mishap--the back cinch strap on one side busted a seam loose and needs fixed, but it is still attached and works. I am sure she will not charge me to fix it. It has a waterproof liner, and a thermal liner which zips out. There is also the partial Big Air section in the front that is mesh and will allow you to leave the main zipper undone and get max air flow through the chest and out the back vents. I wore the jacket to work today, and my upper body was perfectly comfortable in 34 degrees and I felt no chill. I did not have on any other liners or clothing besides a polo shirt.
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