Notes from Marcus: Five Cafe Racers From My Own Closet

A single zip cafe racer is the most straightforward shape a riding jacket can take, and that is exactly why it is so easy to reach for. I was told the early cafe racers took their overall design from a shirt, and it shows. The clean details and the plain single zip front give you a silhouette not far from wearing a shirt.

If you asked me which style of jacket I like best, I honestly could not pick one. But if you asked which jacket I ride in most often, it would be this one. From the first cool days of late summer through to late autumn, layered properly, it works on the bike without complaint, and off the bike it goes with almost anything.

Easy to wear does not mean quiet, though. Because the construction is so simple, this is the jacket that shows the leather exactly as it is. Make it in a full grain hide with real shine and it has a very masculine, rough-edged appeal. It takes in the wearer's habits and draws them out through the ageing of the leather. A kind of canvas, you could say.

One day, going through my closet, I realised that more of my jackets are this style than any other. So I thought I would introduce them to you here.

1. TOYS McCOY J-100

The official name, as far as I know, is the McHILL LEATHER D.D.313 SINGLE RIDERS JACKET. I bought it second hand in the summer of 2024 and have been wearing it for a little over two years now. I will not forget how surprised and satisfied I was the first time I put it on, and I am still wearing it happily today. Tea-core is already starting to show through here and there.

I am 183 cm and about 74 kg, and I wear this in a size 40. The shoulders are a little tight, so the jacket rides up slightly, but apart from that the fit is everything I want. The quality of the leather TOYS McCOY uses needs no long explanation from me.

2. Real Simons Mojave

This is the newest addition, the one I have most recently started wearing. If you asked me to pick the most satisfying jacket of the 2026 F/W releases, personally I would pick this one. It takes the classic J-100 silhouette, widens it, and shortens the body length. Where the TOYS McCOY above splits its back panel along the shoulders and upper back, here you can see the whole back divided at the lower back. There are also action pleats, which give you more freedom of movement. It is the Mojave Single Riders Racing Jacket we carry from Real Simons.

The real appeal of this one is the thick horsehide. When it arrived I do not think there was much grain to speak of, but after only a few wears you can already see the creases setting in. I am really looking forward to where this one goes.

3. Freedom Burgundy Single Rider

This one is a single rider from a maker called Freedom, which I bought at the Gumirae vintage flea market in Anguk, Seoul. I believe the seller was Lighthouse Vintage. I am not sure the photographs will carry it, but what made me fall for this jacket was the feel of the thick cowhide, the rich ageing, and the label showing it was made in Korea.

It is a jacket with real presence when you put it on. It is a size 38, one size under mine, so the sleeves run a little short, but there was no way I was leaving without it. Since it was made in Korea, I would date it to the 1970s or early 1980s. The ageing on a jacket past forty years old is genuinely hard to put into words.

4. Real Simons J-100 in Red Goatskin

This is a J-100 reproduction made in goatskin. I tried it on at the Real Simons factory this May, liked it far too much, and brought it home with me. The appeal of full grain aniline goatskin is hard to understand until you have experienced it. The leather is thick and almost moist, and the way it wraps around the body when you wear it is something else.

I wore this jacket through the booths at Leathers Day in Tokyo this year. People say aniline leather is weak to water. It rained a little on the day we travelled, and the jacket got somewhat wet, but there is no real damage anywhere. The design is almost identical to the TOYS McCOY, but the colour of this one means it has none of the dullness that reproduction jackets sometimes have. The J-100 we carry from Real Simons is the same pattern in tea-core horsehide.

5. Schott Single Rider

This one came from High Kalla, a vintage shop in Seongsu-dong. I was buying from the owner back when the shop was in Dongmyo, and I have kept going since they moved from near Gwangjang Market to Seongsu. As you can see, the vintage condition of this Schott is what makes it. Of course, a piece like this is strongly a matter of taste, and to some people it may look like a jacket of no particular value. To me, this kind of leather jacket has more character of its own than any other.

The side adjuster detail adds interest to an otherwise plain body, and the red and blue two-tone stripes give it the mood of a racing jacket. The finishing touch is the pink check lining. Hardly anyone uses a lining like this any more. I do not know the year, but judging by the condition it is comfortably past forty.

Closing

Seeing them all together like this, every jacket is different, each with its own clear character, and I am rather proud of that. At the same time, I regret not wearing each of them as often as I should. Handling leather jackets is my work, which is how I ended up with this many, but unless you are a true enthusiast or a collector, I do not think most people need this many. Even so, because the core design of this genre is so simple, the subtle differences between pieces feel larger, and perhaps that is why you end up buying more of them to understand those differences. I did not include it here, but I also own a reproduction of the jacket the Marlboro Man wears in Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, and that one is a single rider too.

Now that I think of it, the first jacket I ever bought, starting high school, was a cafe racer in sheepskin from an Italian casual brand. I wore that jacket for nearly twenty years and still put it on now and then. I hope you find a single rider you can wear with the same affection for twenty years, or thirty. And I hope we can be of some help along the way.