Wax jacket ,any use?

I gave up on wax when Goretex arrived. Filthy stinking horrible stuff and I never managed to keep mine waterproof for any length of time whether genuine Barbour / Belstaff or cheap copies.

Fabsil seemed to work, on my Belstaff suit. I washed it, then, when completely dry, gave it two coats, allowing it to dry in between.

Previously robert_tuck wrote:

I have an RST Classic TT waxed jacket, I have worn it once and it rained. Might as well have been in a tee shirt for the waterproofing it provided. I have given it a coat of Barbour wax but not tested yet. Has anyone else tried to get one to work?

Hello Well I prefere Skintan Leathers they do not leak or let the weather in I have a pair of Skintan Leather Jeans to match made from real cowhide they take the knocks and last years just rub some Cherry shoe polish in , then rub up with a clothe to a nice shine . believe me I ve come off my Norton at 80mph and having good leathers saved my skin have you very seen smoking leather when you hit that tarmac you see smoking leathers as you slid some 800 feet before you stop and wax jacket or goretex will not do the job of a good set of leathers I know as I have been there and have the T shirt yours Anna j

The original Belstaffs were not too bad, merely fairly horrid and manky, but the newer waxed jackets are all pretty useless in my experience. OK for sunny days and maybe the odd light shower. Heavy rain = a soaking.

In the early 70's I got a "Fashonable Red" Belstaff jacket ( they also did Green) which promptly turned black. I found they could be made waterproof by puting extra wax on them and melting it in with a hair dryer. The wax cotton trousers were a different issue, these had a seam around the crutch they also always seemed to make a cup when you sat on a bike which would collect water in the rain.

This all made for us going to the bar when going out instead of the dance as having removed the Belstaff and folded it into a carrier bag to put out of the way you would gance down and see you had a wet crutch were the seam had leaked. Not the look we wanted.

If you put enough wax on your jacket to keep it waterproof and linklifed your chain each week in the winter you understood where the term "Greaser" came from.

When ther sun was out the was melted and became really sticky.

Why did we wear them, because there was not any thing better for the money at the time. I got a new Barbour in a sale a few years ago, it hangs in the garage as a reminder how horrible the are.

Previously John Shorter wrote:

Fabsil seemed to work, on my Belstaff suit. I washed it, then, when completely dry, gave it two coats, allowing it to dry in between.

I used Fabsil on a "Brolibond suit" that I got from Hughenden M40 in 1975 and leaked like a sieve. Worked OK but the backside became low in friction which made for interesting riding in th rain when braking and accelerating.