Now seems to be the right time to buy leathers as far as price is concerned, can anyone tell me what I should be looking for, I know I want a two piece suit with a 360 zipper, boots and gloves ( I already have a shoei helmet) but other than that I have no idea what is a good choice...please help, I want to be as safe as possible on a students budget so $1000cdn is about my max for leathers.

check newenough.com closeouts. they have loads of good quality leather suits for low cost. Many 2-pc suits have only a small zipper though so be sure to check for that in whatever you buy.

My Alpinestars 2-pc does have a full circumference zipper though.

If you have any races in your area, they will probably have vendors there. I have always gotten good deals at races. Especially on Sunday. Good luck.

Are there any brands inparticular I should a) look for, b) stay away from?

TourMaster is good. Nice thick leather. Good stitching. Just finalized my choice on Coaster Air perforated jacket and Apex Air perf'ed pants. They'll go with the Cortech (TourMaster) Comp Carbon II gloves (I'll only buy real leather gloves now, synthetic leather wears out too fast) I already have.

If you can get to a shop, try stuff on, get the measurements of the garment off the manufacturer's website so you can compare against other items. Here's why: Originally I bought my Fieldsheer jacket, but I had no shop that carried their product, so I tried on a FirstGear jacket noting how it fit and then looked at their website to get the measurements. Using those measurements I figured I needed a medium in the Fieldsheer. I was close, I needed a small. I was looking primarily at arm length.

Now, TourMaster's measurements are horribly short in the arm length, but I still ended up with an xtra-small, cause I'm skinny.

You can always make a summer jacket into a winter jacket by adding layers and a rainsuit, but you can't make a winter jacket into a summer jacker without destroying something.

Oh, and I was comparing the Tour set vs. the Fieldsheer Airspeed jacket and Sport Air pants.

Boots: suggest Sidi Vertabra II

MotorcycleCloseouts.com is good too. I just bought a pair of Gericke gloves last week. They were half the retail price (including shipping) and only took 3 days to arrive.

Thanks guys, I'm going to go check out the Motorcycle show in Toronto In decembre (as my bike is away until spring) and see if I can find some good leathers on sale. Do you like the Gericke Gloves? And what kind of protection is on the palm of the glove?

I haven't gotten a chance to wear them riding yet (looking for a bike right now), but they fit well.  It's got Kevlar on the knuckles and extra leather on the palm. The site says that the fingers run long and a lot of people get a size smaller, but I got my normal size (medium) and they fit fine. There's about 3-5cm extra length in the fingers, but I think that's ok as it will allow for a little bit of movement over time. They're snug, but not tight, width-wise.