Buco J-24

BUCO J-24

In 1933, Joseph Buegeleisen recognised the need of motorcyclists for a variety of products that could be sold directly to motorbike dealers. He opened his business at 316E Jefferson Street in Detroit and called it BUCO (BU from Buegeleisen and CO from Company). He produced various products for Harley Davidson and Indian riders such as windshields, saddlebags and gloves. In the mid 40's he started producing high quality leather motorbike jackets. After World War II, he led the market with the J-21 and J-22 models. Due to their design, material and workmanship, BUCO jackets are still among the "Best of the Best" leather motorbike jackets in history.
From the early 1950s, BUCO was one of the largest motorbike accessory manufacturers in the USA, based in Detroit's old industrial area at 21220W Eight Miles Road.
In 1953, the J-24 was introduced. The 50s were a glorious time for BUCO and they cooperated with companies like Reed and BROOKS and produced highly profitable leather clothing and other accessories like helmets and windshields in their factory. They also produced leather motorbike jackets for companies such as Sears, Roebuck&Co from the late 1950s.

In 1966 Joseph Buegeleisen suffered a heart attack and decided to sell the company to Ford's safety belt company American Safety Cooperation. The company built a new factory in Fresno to meet the growing demand for motorbike equipment in California and became famous for their helmets. The company did not pay much attention to the production of leather products and started to import leather jackets from England, Spain and Japan which were not of good quality. At the beginning of the 1970s, the oil crisis hit many companies in the automotive industry hard and BUCO disappeared during this time.


All our jackets are hand sewn, aniline dyed and vegetable tanned.

Sizes: S - 4XL ( other sizes on request / see also "custom made" )