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What are your favorite Aero designs?
- Thread starter the loco
- Start date
From a personal pov, the BR and LHB are faves. But of the others, I'm still jonesing a Bootlegger, and if I could get my hands on a second hand Windward at a reasonable price I'd for for it without a second thought - wouldn't get as much as wear out of it, hence the second hand, but I love the design - and the Royale has caught my eye recently, perhaps in the Maine Horse. However, I'm still holding out for the remade Kradjacke as my button-up in black...
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To be perfectly honesty, I don't see a single jacket on Aero's current offer that I wouldn't want to own, let alone wear. If I had the money, I'd probably buy one of each of their jackets... And I'm not saying that because I am a fan or anything of a sort, but just that I honestly really love every single design they have. I don't know, I probably wouldn't buy Stockman and Mariner as it's really not my style, but I still think they're very nice coats. Or Arctic A-3, it is a bit too hardcore...
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My first Aero utility jacket was a brown FQHH Hwymn, that I still wear on occasion. Second was a '30s HB in a somewhat buckskin/like antique steer that I tend not to wear often... followed by a black FQHH Stuart. However, my all time favorite has been my antiqued brown FQHH zip sleeved Bootlegger. I've tried several Aero styles over the years...some used from eBay or the Aero sales page. Yet these more simple designs in an attractive hide and preferred fit has completed my leather jacket needs for street wear. As far as MC leather jackets...the purpose made Vanson's steer Enfield and a couple of well fitting vintage cafe styles fit my needs. I'm happy.
HD
HD
Amir
New in Town
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Dustbowl in black Goatskin (w/ olive drab stitching)
Teamster in brown FQHH
Teamster in brown FQHH
pawineguy
One Too Many
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Your Dustbowl is a gorgeous jacket. I really like the back detail on that model.
pawineguy
One Too Many
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- Bucks County, PA
My favorite is the Board Racer, closely followed by the Bootlegger. But, as Monitor noted, there are probably 10 or more I'd love to own. My next Aero will be a brown shearling lined model, probably a Highwayman but could be in a another half belt model instead.
jack miranda
A-List Customer
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Like Hoosier, and, many others, I've owned several Aeros over the years. My 30's HB in seal goat, and my Maxwell in black mid-weight hh have completed my looking. These two are the jackets I always wanted, and, now get to wear whenever I like. Thanks, Aero.
Brown highwayman in fqhh, cafe racer in battered tan with waldes repro zippers. Also have a cordovan lhb and a black stockman. The highwayman has 2 gun pockets, each of which is wide and deep enough for wallet, phone, keys and a paperback or an iPad, so I probably use it more than the others, none of which I ordered with inside pockets (lhb doesn't need them, Stockman is slimmer-fitting; ditto cafe racer).
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MacAero
New in Town
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- Ol'Germany
With only three Aeros in my posession, a Vanson Enfield plus a few vintage jackets by Cal-Leather, Harley-Davidson and Brooks my preference still is the brown HWM in FQHH and the unique button front half belt in the same hide and color...
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mendelboaz
One Too Many
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My favorite right now...
My Zip Sleeve Highwayman in brown steerhide with a heavyweight Royal Stewart tartan is a close call.. I am also very fond of the Teamster (would look great in Cordovan FQHH with a brown tweed lining) and the Cafe Racer.
My Zip Sleeve Highwayman in brown steerhide with a heavyweight Royal Stewart tartan is a close call.. I am also very fond of the Teamster (would look great in Cordovan FQHH with a brown tweed lining) and the Cafe Racer.
Edward
Bartender
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- London, UK
First Aero I bought was a second-hand, mint AN6552 (still got it - need to replace it, alas, as it's just a bit on the small side for me). Then I moved on to a new wool Waterfront, a cordovan FQHH Bootlegger (modified with a throat latch and button cuffs), an MC, a goat A2, a brown fqhh 30s halfbelt, a Highwayman and a black Horween bison Dustbowl (with a plain front and breast zip pocket). Very hard to pick a favourite. The Dustbowl is receiving a lot of love, of course, because it's the newest, but I love 'em all. The Highwayman was a surprise, in a way.... I'd always thought they'd be too boxy for me, but I took a punt on one of the first run of Apprentice Made Jackets in mid 2012 (Can't recall the initials, but I think it was one of Ken's new aprentices hired in mid 2012 before the management shifts at Aero but who i still there, I believe), and am very glad I did. Lovely jacket. I was unsure about the lack of internal pockets (as it was made to the standard pattern, these are absent), but the chest pocket is just big enough for my wallet and field telephone, so it's grand. Great jacket to wear, though to my eye unlike a halfbelt it works distinctly better with denim and workwear than with collar and tie; the hbs look equally good with either.
I also have jackets by Eastman, Lost Worlds, Schott and Wested currently also, as well as a bunch of others over the years. Aero contune to be the brand that excites me most in terms of what they offer and my personal aesthetic. I have designs on several more Aeros at present - top of the list being an M422a, a Thunderbay, and a Sunburst in russet goat. After that, there are several MC types on which I have my eye - an Aero J106, maybe a King of the Road (quite fancy the idea of one of those in goat, for a lighter-wearing mc), definitely a Lewis Lightning (original 1958 spec, without the chest logo badge or the additional zip pocket on the left forearm).
I don't recall Rodney in anything other than the old camo jacket.... the young Del wore a very similar jacket in the prequel, Rock and Chips, though. Maybe if they had Rodney wearing one it was supposed to be Dels old jacket? If memory serves, the prequel was set in 1960, when it was still very much the 1950s in Britain (and continued to be so until 1963 at the earliest...). Del would still have been in the midst of the British rock and roll thing, before the Beatles came along and ruined it for everyone...
By the mid Sixties, Del had defected to the Mod camp (in OFAH, he refers on at least one occasion to having had to babysit Rodney when all the other mods were out on the tear).
Everyone remembers Lewis, but there were a lot of British leather brands around at one time, including Highwayman (Lewis later bought the company but let the use of the name lapse, which is how Aero were able to legitimately acquire it), Mascot, Wolf, TT... I see somebody has revived the Mascot label (thread to follow....). Those British jacket designs from the late 50s / early 60s were very distinctive. There was a Schott influence, certainly, on thel ieks of the Lewis Bronx, but they brought elements to it that were distinctly their own, like the leather covered buckle and the 'd-pocket without the D'. A lot of these great designs coincided with something of a golden era for British motorcycle production in the mid fifties through to the late Sixties. Many of the jacket-makers struggled on as the British bikes were rapidly replaced by Japanese; I remember seeing a lot of them on sale in the mid-eighties, by then very much reeveloped with quilted leather padding and all sorts, but most of them are now long gone.
How's the fit on those? I'm going to have to sell my Aero MC, as sadly it's so tight on the waist. Partly, I'm fat, granted, but the cut is very neat on the waist (about 2" narrower on a size 42 than the hem on a size 42 30s Halfbelt!), so. Once I have everything else I want I could be tmepted into another Aero cut a bit wider at the bottom.... it really is a beautiful jacket. My Schott 618 is very nice, don't get me wron,g but just not in the same class as the Aero.
I love mine. Perfect for an alternative to leather in the Spring.
Oh, can you imagine being able to go in there and saying: "Yes, I'll have one of these, one in that hide, the other in this..... oh, and what's that on the stock rail? I'll take it with me....." Oh, my...
I also have jackets by Eastman, Lost Worlds, Schott and Wested currently also, as well as a bunch of others over the years. Aero contune to be the brand that excites me most in terms of what they offer and my personal aesthetic. I have designs on several more Aeros at present - top of the list being an M422a, a Thunderbay, and a Sunburst in russet goat. After that, there are several MC types on which I have my eye - an Aero J106, maybe a King of the Road (quite fancy the idea of one of those in goat, for a lighter-wearing mc), definitely a Lewis Lightning (original 1958 spec, without the chest logo badge or the additional zip pocket on the left forearm).
I don't recall Rodney in anything other than the old camo jacket.... the young Del wore a very similar jacket in the prequel, Rock and Chips, though. Maybe if they had Rodney wearing one it was supposed to be Dels old jacket? If memory serves, the prequel was set in 1960, when it was still very much the 1950s in Britain (and continued to be so until 1963 at the earliest...). Del would still have been in the midst of the British rock and roll thing, before the Beatles came along and ruined it for everyone...
By the mid Sixties, Del had defected to the Mod camp (in OFAH, he refers on at least one occasion to having had to babysit Rodney when all the other mods were out on the tear). Everyone remembers Lewis, but there were a lot of British leather brands around at one time, including Highwayman (Lewis later bought the company but let the use of the name lapse, which is how Aero were able to legitimately acquire it), Mascot, Wolf, TT... I see somebody has revived the Mascot label (thread to follow....). Those British jacket designs from the late 50s / early 60s were very distinctive. There was a Schott influence, certainly, on thel ieks of the Lewis Bronx, but they brought elements to it that were distinctly their own, like the leather covered buckle and the 'd-pocket without the D'. A lot of these great designs coincided with something of a golden era for British motorcycle production in the mid fifties through to the late Sixties. Many of the jacket-makers struggled on as the British bikes were rapidly replaced by Japanese; I remember seeing a lot of them on sale in the mid-eighties, by then very much reeveloped with quilted leather padding and all sorts, but most of them are now long gone.
How's the fit on those? I'm going to have to sell my Aero MC, as sadly it's so tight on the waist. Partly, I'm fat, granted, but the cut is very neat on the waist (about 2" narrower on a size 42 than the hem on a size 42 30s Halfbelt!), so. Once I have everything else I want I could be tmepted into another Aero cut a bit wider at the bottom.... it really is a beautiful jacket. My Schott 618 is very nice, don't get me wron,g but just not in the same class as the Aero.
I love mine. Perfect for an alternative to leather in the Spring.
Oh, can you imagine being able to go in there and saying: "Yes, I'll have one of these, one in that hide, the other in this..... oh, and what's that on the stock rail? I'll take it with me....." Oh, my...
I am a big fan of the Aero Grizzly. My first Aero jacket. IMO the best interpretation and wearable style of the Grizzly available. The Japanese versions are mostly too fashion jacket looking or overly expensive. The Lost Worlds and Himel Bros too hard core. The AL lacks balance of proportions between hide and mouton. I have an Aero Cordovan FQHH and dark brown mouton with Harris Tweed houndstooth lining and it is a stunner. Far better looking than the clunky photos on their website. And it will look even better to whoever owns it in 30 or so years.
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Edward
Bartender
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You got photos of that? I've never been quite able to talk myself into a Grizzly (though I suspect the other half would love me in it). I suppose I wonder about rain.... How's it feel keeping the fur on the outside, does it make it cooler than a jacket with it on the inside, trapping the air against you to keep the heat in?
The Grizzly jackets are beautiful. I also like the horse hair versions. I'm not sure how much use It would get for me. I think I need a couple more jackets in my collection before I lash out on a Grizzly. I'm always interested in seeing pics of them. They really are stunning jackets.
My favorite right now...
My Zip Sleeve Highwayman in brown steerhide with a heavyweight Royal Stewart tartan is a close call.. I am also very fond of the Teamster (would look great in Cordovan FQHH with a brown tweed lining) and the Cafe Racer.
That is just a beautiful jacket. A genuine classic in my opinion.
