I ordered my kevlar gear from Motoport almost three months ago today. I have returned the jacket twice for alterations, and the pants once. The gear has never come back as I wanted it, and at this point the jacket fits worse than my $150 Tourmaster Transition II jacket. Here’s the story how wanting to resolve a problem with a small-time vendor wound up costing me a little over $650 on a jacket that doesn’t fit right.

This is an improvement over the initial fit, for the most part. The jacket is now tighter on my body, but still has the adjustment capacity to take the double liners I bought. Unfortunately, they had to alter the jacket in such a way that it made the other parts of the jacket fit weird.

For example, look at my left chest. See that big fold of material? Here’s a closer shot:

That also happens on my right chest, but it’s not as bad. I’m not sure why it’s worse on the left.

This is the back. It may not look like it, but the back fits pretty good. I have a broad back and a little bird chest. What doesn’t work for me is the ass. Look at all the extra material that is bunched up there.

Here’s the side, near the bottom. Notice the blousing. It’s so bad that the hand (side) pockets are held open.

Side view, not bad! A long way from the ridiculous fit I had with the first version. Except now ….

All the alterations have made the sleeves too short. This fits about as well (poorly) as my Teknic Chicane leather jacket I bought on closeout for $100. My Tourmaster sleeve length is PERFECT.

So, I decided to give up on Motoport, and called Wayne, the owner. I told him I still liked the pants, but I felt that the jacket design did not lend itself to my body type. Wayne replied that the 3/4-length touring jacket is more loose by design than a waist-length jacket. I told him I understood that, and told him I owned both types of jackets. He went on to explain that the less-protective Cordura used on other jackets has a softer “hand,” or feel, which allowed it to fit better. He recommended putting my jacket in a clothes dryer with some tennis shoes to beat the stiff fabric into submission.

I replied that I understood how clothes can break in — after all, I’ve gone through that with leather pants, gloves, helmets, boots, etc. I asked him about the extra material in the chest, and he admitted I had a difficult body to fit for. Well, no kidding, I thought … that’s why I ordered this supposedly “custom fit” gear from you ….

I told Wayne I wanted to return the jacket for a refund. He said that because the jacket was altered he could not accept a return. He had taken returns on altered gear in the past that he was unable to resell, approximately $200,000 worth!! I said I sympathized, but I told him this was unsatisfactory. He said that he’d work with me if I wanted to send the jacket back for another round of alterations.

I got off the phone with Wayne, and emailed him some of the photos I’ve posted above. I’ve yet to hear back from him, but that is typical — Motoport is a small-person operation and I expect Wayne will respond when he is able.

So, I phone Discover to see if they can help me out. I talked to a very nice lady and explained my situation. As I began to tell her about Cycleport’s no-refunds-on-altered-items policy, she interrupted me and said gently, “ahhh, they won’t accept an alteration, right?” Bingo. “That’s a shady policy,” she said, “but because you agreed to send the garment back, we will side with the vendor’s policy.” Looks like Discover wasn’t going help me out with a charge-back.

Here is my problem. If Wayne had allowed me to return the jacket the first time I called, it seems like it would have been okay for resale, and thus a return. Instead, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and sent the jacket in for alterations … which in turn made it impossible to return the jacket.

I should have just returned the jacket for a refund right off the bat. Now I’m short $620 for the jacket and liner, and about $40 in postage for the alterations. I have two choices: deal with the jacket’s shortcomings, and be disappointed every time I put it on; or try to resell it on ADVrider.com or Craigslist at a loss. I could probably sell the jacket and liner for the cost of the jacket and take $150 loss + the postage I spent shuttling it back and forth for the alterations.

Motoport/Cycleport may make a good product, but their customer experience leaves a lot to be desired.