Held Gear Care Tips: Number 1- Leather

Your biking gear is a good investment - it keeps you safe, helps moderate your body temperature, can protect you from rain / wind and ensures you look the part whilst enjoying your bike. It's important to care for your gear to ensure it not only continues to look good but always performs as it should.

Over the next couple of weeks we'll be blogging some good tips for looking after your gear and start today with what bikers are known for: Leather! 

General hints for professional care and cleaning:

•     Each time you use it, air the clothing well and remove dirt with a soft brush and clean water

•     Do not store products in air-tight plastic bags

•     Never treat leather with solvents or chemical products

•     Do not use washing machine or spin-dryer for leather. We recommend only hand washing with tepid water (40°C) with leather detergent.

•     Dry all leather products at room temperature (avoid direct sunlight, artificial heating or hairdryers

Leather care


To slow the natural aging process of leather (formation of tears, crazing, reduction in strength or waterproofing etc.) and products with leather features , we recommend you use the following care products, which all retail at less than £10 each.



1. Plain Leather Detergent     Held ref. number Art. 9073
2. Leather Balm                    Held ref. number Art. 9011
3. Leather Impregnator          Held ref. number Art. 9078
4. Active Polish                    Held ref. numberArt. 9022

 

Remember that some treatments can change the original appearance of leather. You should not be concerned by this, since in use, the material and its characteristics will be improved by such treatment.

So remember, show your leather some love! 








Next care topic: Textiles. Be sure to check back!

Did you know- Held also do Motorcycle covers? Ben Wilkins, Editor Of Classic Motorcycle Mechanics does - he's had his for years and loves it... To view the full range of Held gear and accessories please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG!

A warm welcome to the new blog from Held (UK division) - one of the most respected manufacturers in the motorcycle clothing and accessories sector, The Held company remains a family business made up of passionate bikers, still with its headquarters in the same picturesque Alpine town of Burgberg. 

Are our products good? Of course we'll say yes - but let us show you...

Take our gloves for example:

Grading

Every single piece of cowhide, kangaroo pelt and stingray skin is checked by hand – often by Erhard Held or his son Christian Held personally. Hides are very rarely perfect, but any faults such as marks from barbed wire, thorns or ticks are identified and the piece rejected. The leather is then soaked so that it can be stretched for punching, to ensure that the finished items will not lose its shape with use.

Punching


All Held gloves are punch cut. This is far more precise and provides a cleaner edge than cutting with scissors. A costly, sharpened metal die must be fabricated for each leather section. And when you consider that a pair of Held Phantom gloves has 156 individual sections, this means we need a lot of cutters! It then takes 18 minutes to punch out each pair.

Moulding

We only use carbon fibre of the highest grade, which we punch-cut and pressure mould ourselves to ensure a perfect fit. Once cut, each piece is heated to 450˚C and then subjected to 40 tons of pressure and shaped over our custom moulds. These custom protectors are often underlain with shock absorbing gel and sometimes even overlaid with Titanium.

Stitching

Each pair of gloves take a highly skilled machinist 90 minutes of sewing time.

Finishing

Finally every single Held glove is carefully formed on hot irons to create the perfect ergonomic fit. Once this is achieved, the material and workmanship of each one is carefully inspected. If even the slightest irregularity is detected, the glove will be rejected.

There! Hope you found that interesting. We'll be blogging lots more from now on - so please be sure to check back. Meanwhile, if you'd like to know more about Held, our range, our stockists etc please visit www.held-uk.co.uk