Vanson Harley Cycle King Review & Question

[cbass93]

Perfectly put. I could have not written it better. The HDCK is an iconic jacket. Only the "Elvis" Cycle champ can match it. By the way, I ended up with your tan cycle king, gifted from an old friend of mine. He surprised me because He loves that jacket as well. It looked new when he gave it to me. Did you ever wear it?

Did the "tan" cycle king look like this? I like the jacket so much I'm considering buy the brown version. Is the picture accurate for a legit HDCK?

 

[cbass93]

A great number of leather jacket do not need conditioning. Your jacket is less than a year old. Unless the jacket had a very serious mistreatment by either water or extreme dryness there is no need for conditioner. A horsehair big shoe brush is your best friend.

Agree. However, I have seen that the "moisture" of a neutral chemical free conditioner helps to break it in very quickly. Kind like the "rain/mist treatment". Not to mention this jacket, while "new" was actually made in 2022 (I think based on the tag) and has been sitting around could use a little attention.

 

[jauregui]

Did the "tan" cycle king look like this? I like the jacket so much I'm considering buy the brown version. Is the picture accurate for a legit HDCK?

No it does not. What I got was a replica of a cycle champ. The HD cycle champ and cycle king are two different jackets. I would consider the jacket in the image a dark brown? The jacket I got was made in a caramel color. Personally, I do like the made in Korea HD jackets. Would not give my opinion based on a single image of a jacket. A good lower price HD Road king reproduction is made by a Canadian company Brimaco and British Sportswear here is an image of such jacket Circa 1980's . For the price of sub $200 US I think is worth it. If you can wait get the HD RK. They do show up on line for Sub $600.

 

[gjchristy]

The original run of Vanson Cycle Kings where made with X150 leather (made in USA), it looks like the current version is made from imported leather...

Here is what i know about X150 leather from Vanson:

"Just in case you're wondering and since you asked me in the past the X150 is a complicated story..

Basically up until 2019 Alliance leather had a major fire and closed its doors. That was a local finishing shop up in Peabody / Salem MA. Mike really new what he was doing and he had been finishing waxy leather for us for over 10 years. He was about to retire so he decided not to renovate and reopen.

We got to work and we developed a new partnership with Tasman Tannery up in Maine. We spent 3 months re-creating the recipe and everything looked wonderful so we placed our first big batch order right before covid hit us for good here. When they came back from the shutdowns in ME they could not continue. They had major issues and filed for bankruptcy but did their best to deliver all orders placed prior to spring.

Unfortunately we got Octagon and MI9 from them that belong to the same family but not X150..

So here we are redeveloping X150 for the 2nd time in a year. There's none left in the Northeast that can finish with hotwax and mill by hand. So the new tannery we are collaborating with is in Milwaukee! They've been around for a long time and they know what they are doing. I saw some first samples and they look promissing. We need to get the leather a little heavier on the wax and stiffer then homerun! "


The pull ornaments have been attached like that since ornaments have been attached to jackets.
If you look at old chrystals and letters that people used to customize their jackets in the 40s they where all attached like that.

 

[gjchristy]

So just some adds. Here are 3 cycle kings: small marked color X150 (see tag), medium and large marked color black. Seem the x150 has a smoother grain. Admittedly it’s a small sample but at least the tags “color” show a difference. Pics: Small, small tag, medium jacket, large jacket, color tag of large jacket

 

[BikerMan]

Did the "tan" cycle king look like this? I like the jacket so much I'm considering buy the brown version. Is the picture accurate for a legit HDCK?

This jacket is called “Exhaust” I have 2 or 3 of these. Very nice jacket.

 

[jauregui]

So just some adds. Here are 3 cycle kings: small marked color X150 (see tag), medium and large marked color black. Seem the x150 has a smoother grain. Admittedly it’s a small sample but at least the tags “color” show a difference. Pics: Small, small tag, medium jacket, large jacket, color tag of large jacket View attachment 784425 View attachment 784426 View attachment 784427 View attachment 784429 View attachment 784430

Both are great buys for the money. I was gifted an X150 by a good friend whom I am currently house and pooch-seating and drinking his wine, LOL. I have seen both, and I prefer the X150 because of the leather. The tag makes it more original. I have some originals from back in the day. The zippers were a size #5 Conmar, and they still work. The Cycle King is a great design, very different from the Cycle Champ, which I also own 4 different versions 3 D pocket types and a very late model 50's no D pocket that was produced for many years after in several countries.

 

[gjchristy]

Both are great buys for the money. I was gifted an X150 by a good friend whom I am currently house and pooch-seating and drinking his wine, LOL. I have seen both, and I prefer the X150 because of the leather. The tag makes it more original. I have some originals from back in the day. The zippers were a size #5 Conmar, and they still work. The Cycle King is a great design, very different from the Cycle Champ, which I also own 4 different versions 3 D pocket types and a very late model 50's no D pocket that was produced for many years after in several countries.

Sweet - post some picks - if you ever need to divest I’m here for you!!

 

[newtojackets]

This is what Vanson says about their leather material on their website,
View attachment 671148

And I still think the leather is not corrected. The craters are not from sanding but from enlarged hair follicles during the dehair process. I am saying this because I have bought seconds Horween deerskin hides with spotty dehair marks very similar to the ones shown, and they were still full grain not sanded down. They went on the seconds market because most deerskins are slotted for aniline finishing and with the ugly dehair markings they cannot be. But still perfectly fine leather. Usually these, if other animal hides, would get painted over and sold as full grain pigment leather, and that's what I did with Angelus pigment dye.

The dehair process,
View attachment 671150

My own sourced Horween full grain (but with spotty dehair markings) deerskin and the jacket from which I got it made with, there are spots where the folicals are much more noticable from the sulphide solution used. Markings are natural not man made with a sander.
View attachment 671151
View attachment 671152

Then pigment dyed by myself at home using Angelus,
View attachment 671153

Cross section showing hair follicles in leather.
View attachment 671154

The only thing Vanson could do different on the HD jacket was to use the expensive Pergamena (NY Tannery) leather they used for the Lebron jacket, which I believe has a retail price of close 3 grand. But instead of going with Vanson on the pricey stuff, the HD clothing line buyer went with the Aquaman's RMC collab jacket for that price point. I guess the business decision makers feels that Aquaman can sell more jackets than Lebron.

How did you get such a perfect home dye job? Can you share steps?