Cordura v leather?

[awa355]

:oi-grr::oi-grr:Okay!! I realise this has probably been covered often before, but I'm reasonably new to KB and have gone back thru many pages of threads trying to find a discussion on this.

I have a new cordura jacket with the 'armour' in the right places. Have now been told that when I crash the 1st thing that happens is the outer skin shreds away, the armour tears out and all this in the 1st metre. ( still have 6 m's of tarseal before the powerpole stops me) , or, if I'm lucky the armour will twist around my elbow and help sever my arm at that joint.

Will leather do a better job of keeping me in one piece untill I can find a convenient pole/post to pull me up? Cheers

[Markw336]

well leather is thicker/stronger but gives less movement and cordura will give you more movement but personally id go with leather as it doesnt break as easy but thats just my opinion

[MaxCannon]

Someone will be along shortly to scold you for not using the search function.

In brief.

Leather gear offers better protection - textile gear offers greater convienience.

I ride to work everyday. Textile is lightweight, breathable and waterproof.
I don't have to try and put on a rain suit when it starts raining half way to work.
If I do get wet my gear gear dries during the day.
On hot days I can unzip the vents to get some air moving through.

When I go to the track I pull out my leathers.
If I wear then in the rain - I get wet.
They also stay soggy for days.
They don't breath very well - no vents.

If you are just starting out I'd worry about getting good quality textile gear that fits properly.
I'd also recommend a back protector - regardless of what you have on over the top.
I got mine for $100 - it takes 6 seconds to put it on and could make the difference between walking away from a crash and being carried away.

[TerminalAddict]

both.

leather for the weekends and hooning
cordura for communtering to work every day

[steve_t]

Will leather do a better job of keeping me in one piece untill I can find a convenient pole/post to pull me up? Cheers

Yes
Highly recommend Quasi's gear
www.qmoto.co.nz
You don't live too far away either so a cruise over to the tron to try stuff on before you buy would be easy and more convenient than sending back incorrect sizes :2thumbsup

[Neon]

I've slid along the road in both and I know which one I'd choose...

Like anything, gear has to fit you properly to be of any real benefit. Poor fitting textiles and armour can result in burns/abrasions through the material, and as you pointed out injury from twisting armour.

In saying all this, I have both but I concede a degree of protection in winter months for increased warmth. No point being so cold you can't concentrate on what you're doing. :cold:

[Neon]

Yes
Highly recommend Quasi's gear
www.qmoto.co.nz
You don't live too far away either so a cruise over to the tron to try stuff on before you buy would be easy and more convenient than sending back incorrect sizes :2thumbsup

Yep, +1 for Quasi's gear. I am part of his unofficial product testing department.

[ital916]

:oi-grr::oi-grr:Okay!! I realise this has probably been covered often before, but I'm reasonably new to KB and have gone back thru many pages of threads trying to find a discussion on this.

I have a new cordura jacket with the 'armour' in the right places. Have now been told that when I crash the 1st thing that happens is the outer skin shreds away, the armour tears out and all this in the 1st metre. ( still have 6 m's of tarseal before the powerpole stops me) , or, if I'm lucky the armour will twist around my elbow and help sever my arm at that joint.

Will leather do a better job of keeping me in one piece untill I can find a convenient pole/post to pull me up? Cheers

Well whoever told you that is speaking out of their arse. Cordura offers excellent levels of protection. Yes leather is more protective and can be crashed in more than once as it is repairable and textile gear is not. However leather does not have the convenience or useability of textile gear.

Be assured that quality textile gear will have excellent protective qualities and should not rip apart in the first meter of sliding unless it is shit gear.

Note that I speak from experience about the protective quality of textile jackets and pants...though I wish I didnt

Oh and if you keep thinkin you are going to crash then you will, spend that extra brain power in upping your observational skills and awareness on the road.

[sleemanj]

I have a new cordura jacket with the 'armour' in the right places. Have now been told that when I crash the 1st thing that happens is the outer skin shreds away, the armour tears out and all this in the 1st metre. ( still have 6 m's of tarseal before the powerpole stops me) , or, if I'm lucky the armour will twist around my elbow and help sever my arm at that joint.

Whoever told you that is an idiot, or maybe just old.

Cordura (or whatever copy your clothes are made out of) is very abrasion resistant. Because it's a nylon material it melts togethor with the heat from sliding rather than pull apart, have you ever sealed a nylon rope by using a lighter on the ends - same deal.

It does come in different weights however, you want a heavy weight in your gear, 500 or 800 "denier", maybe even 1000.

It's waterproof (mostly), it's comfortable in pretty much all weather (ever worn a leather jacket in the middle of Summer, damn things are like a sauna), it's not very expensive on the whole, and it affords excellent protection and durability for ROAD riding.

If you're on the track, doing track stuff, then a leather body suit is better for you, because it's even more abrasion resistant than cordura, and probably more importantly it can withstand a lot more repeated abuse (sliding contact) than Cordura can.

The repairability of Cordura is limited, not really because you can't, but because it'd cost you more to fix properly than just to buy a new jacket really. We're only talking about a couple hundred bucks each for jacket and pants at the mid-range scale, on the road I'm hoping you're not coming off badly enough to require replacing very often!

In short, textile garments = teh awesome for road usage.

Leather for track, and harley riders.

As for hard or soft armour, many wide and varied opinions on that, some accidents hard armour can do damage, some accidents hard armour can save damage. So... six of one half dozen the other really I think.

[cambridgedan]

Yep, +1 for Quasi's gear. I am part of his unofficial product testing department.

another +1 for Quasi :D

ive crashed in textile and now i have leather, enough said.
altho textile is more practical

[mister.koz]

Quasi two piece and an overshell for the rain :2thumbsup

Leather:

feels safer
survives bin's better
the armor is way less mobile
better abrasion resistance for your skin
usually has more armor
slides off less


Be sure to get good stuff though, cheap-crap is cheap-crap. I'm more than happy with my quasi gears :) and my tecnic rain overshell keeps me dry in the driving rain and only cost $100 or so...

I would suggest getting perferated leather, the air goes through it so you don't fry in summer. Also i am opting for non-white leather now.. the heat in summer is fricken nuts in leather....

[mister.koz]

Oh and talk to quasi (quasievil) - he's a top bloke and he's been selling the gear for a while now got the best advice from him.

[vifferman]

Meh.

I've had both (three leather jackets, one pair of leather pants, one pair of cordura+leather pants, one cordura jacket, one cordura jacket with leather in abrasion-prone areas).
Ideally, a person would have every kind of bike garment. Failing that (because we're poor bikers?) you need to ge the best gear you can afford for the riding you do. For me, that means four-season gear, so I have a leather jacket with a thermal and waterproof liner, and bits that zip off for increased ventilation in winter. Before that, I had a cordura jacket, with kevlar pads in the elbows and shoulders. Unfortunately, you can't always choose how you hit the deck, so it ended up with very small holes from very small 'road encounters', in areas of the jacket where the kevlar wasn't. It ended up with leather on the sleeves and shoulders, and was almost the perfect jacket (until it became faded from the UV, and manky from the road spooge.

I used to wear leather pants all the time on the bike, and slip waterproofs over them when it rained. Pretty good, and they survived the same spills the jacket needed surgery on. All the pants needed was the scuffs treated with nugget and leather conditioner. However, I now prefer my cordura pants, as if it rains I just keep riding, don't have to stop to put my plastic pants on. Plus they have vent zips, are more comfy, have a removable thermal liner, better armour (including hip armour, which my leathers didn't have). I can also wear them over slim jeans if I have to.

[Hiflyer]

My leather jacket is waterproof and I have never had any problems with heat cos it has shoulder vents.

Alpinestars=good

$900=worth it if you can afford it

[Owl]

My leather jacket is waterproof and I have never had any problems with heat cos it has shoulder vents.

Alpinestars=good

$900=worth it if you can afford it

Hmmm I paid $450 for my $899 Alpinestars jacket:D If I was outlaying $900 for a jacket, I'd be getting custom made from Celtic Leathers:yes: Although good, my Alpinestars isn't in the same ball park as a Celtic jacket!:no:

[James Deuce]

Yeah, this has never come up before and that search button doesn't work.

Mind you the abbreviation for versus is actually vs. so I can imagine why one would think that the search function was broken.

One of the drawbacks of the largely complete demise of vinyl as a music storage medium is that the concept of a "stuck record" often sails over a large percentage of the tech savvy population's head.

Off to find a nice brick wall to build up some more scar tissue on my forehead....

[nallac]

Someone will be along shortly to scold you for not using the search function.

Yip,


blah blah blah..
Off to find a nice brick wall to build up some more scar tissue on my forehead....

Here he is......

[Quasievil]

The Day racers wear Cordura whilst racing is the day it is clearly a safe option, until then its a raincoat with armour.

[Flip]

The Day racers wear Cordura whilst racing is the day it is clearly a safe option, until then its a raincoat with armour.

That about sums it up for me too. Have a super warm multi layer Cordura suit that I wear to the Brass Monkey. Otherwise I wear my Leader leathers black biker style set that I have owned for years, like 20. In the heat of summer I wear a Draggin Jeans suit that has all the armour set added to it.
So I have 3 sets of riding gear depending on the seasons.

[scracha]

The Day racers wear Cordura whilst racing is the day it is clearly a safe option, until then its a raincoat with armour.
Racers aren't going along at 100kmph.

You're not being very fair there Quasi. Like leathers, there's good and there's bad.

Motorcycle gear made with proper 1000 denier Dupont Cordura, preferably with 2000D reinforcement in vulnerable areas is perfectly safe on the road.

$hit Chinese crap with 500D Cordura and dodgy stitching probably aint so good.

[Motu]

Will leather do a better job of keeping me in one piece untill I can find a convenient pole/post to pull me up? Cheers

So you are planning to crash? You could always reject that possibility - you don't have to crash,and you don't have to hurt yourself when you do.Be a little bit more positive on your outlook to life.Read Ixion's old fart thread - plenty of us have spent decades on bikes without injury.

[awa355]

So you are planning to crash? You could always reject that possibility - you don't have to crash,and you don't have to hurt yourself when you do.Be a little bit more positive on your outlook to life.Read Ixion's old fart thread - plenty of us have spent decades on bikes without injury.
Actually I've been riding since 1969, owned 27 motorbikes and only had one off in that time.( then I was able to get up and carry on) My record is probably better than many others. The aiming for a pole to pull me up was just tongue in cheek stuff. This cordura gear I have is the 1st I've owned. Just not sure if I've bought the right stuff. Cheers

[ital916]

The Day racers wear Cordura whilst racing is the day it is clearly a safe option, until then its a raincoat with armour.

Not everything from the racing world is needed in the "real" world.

That raincoat with armour, will protect a rider riding in real world conditions if he/she is to fall off. It will also keep him/her warm, dry and comfortable.

Textile jackets are priced well, easier to maintain, easier to live with and a hell of a lot more flexible than leather jackets. They also look pretty darn good nowadays. Yes leather is nice and there will always be a crowd who is die hard leather, just dont write off textile because racers dont use them.

I am sure you know that cordura gear is protective.

[ital916]

Actually I've been riding since 1969, owned 27 motorbikes and only had one off in that time.( then I was able to get up and carry on) My record is probably better than many others. The aiming for a pole to pull me up was just tongue in cheek stuff. This cordura gear I have is the 1st I've owned. Just not sure if I've bought the right stuff. Cheers

Name the brand and item, most likely riders on here have experience with it and will tell you whether it is good or not.

[Motu]

Actually I've been riding since 1969, owned 27 motorbikes and only had one off in that time.

So,ah....what's the problem? I've spent more years in leather than cordura - and I'm happy with the cordura.I'd be happy with leather too.

[ital916]

So,ah....what's the problem? I've spent more years in leather than cordura - and I'm happy with the cordura.I'd be happy with leather too.

whos that on the flat tracker in your avatar?

[hospitalfood]

another vote for leather. have had all sorts of gear.

now :- leather jacket with removeable thermal liner and waterproof liner, and vents.
pants, leather untill it is to hot in summer, then dragging jeans ( better than jeans )

it is what they insist on at the track

[modboy]

I got a leather Mobig jacket - had it for 4 yrs. Only times I fell off was when I wasn't wearing it (ATGATT)

I got Triumph Acton codura pants - waterproof - mostly, comfy, good protection.

Got a new leather jacket on order from Motorad Welly. One of the triumph classics - fashion before function everytime... lol

Be comfy, be styley - and have some protection too. All good. If you are just commuting codura is prolly a better option all round. But nothing is cooler than rocking up to the Macs bar on a Sunday arvo in your cool leather. :woohoo:

[Hiflyer]

Hmmm I paid $450 for my $899 Alpinestars jacket:D If I was outlaying $900 for a jacket, I'd be getting custom made from Celtic Leathers:yes: Although good, my Alpinestars isn't in the same ball park as a Celtic jacket!:no:

I paid $550 but i didnt wanna say that :2thumbsup

[Hard Nut]

Leather is the only one to use when riding on roads, proven time and again.

Nuts

[LBD]

Leather gear offers better protection - textile gear offers greater convienience.

I ride to work everyday. Textile is lightweight, breathable and waterproof.
I don't have to try and put on a rain suit when it starts raining half way to work.
If I do get wet my gear gear dries during the day.
On hot days I can unzip the vents to get some air moving through.

When I go to the track I pull out my leathers.
If I wear then in the rain - I get wet.
They also stay soggy for days.
They don't breath very well - no vents.
.


both.

leather for the weekends and hooning
cordura for communtering to work every day

These two sum it up for me...In predicted weather conditions its the leathers...

Where there is a question about the weather, or when multiday touring or when warmth is an issue its textile....

[James Deuce]

Yip,



Here he is......

Use the search function, particularly for THIS subject as the anti-Quasi/pro-Quasi shouting gets fucking tedious.

[Swoop]

Cordura in summer = sweating like a rapist.

I've reverted to all leather with rainshell when required. It has served extremely well this winter.

I do have a cordura jacket though, for when wearing bulkier clothing underneath.

[vifferman]

Cordura in summer = sweating like a rapist.
Leather in summer = sweating like a rapist draught horse.

I think the heat in summer has more to do with what ventilation a garment has. My cordura/leather jacket has two zips in each sleeve, two zips on the chest, and two on the back. It's pretty cool when moving.
My leather jacket has a zip on each sleeve, but they're at the bottom, so are partly protected from the airflow around the fairing. However, the whole front of the jacket zips off, up around behind the neck, so it has superb airflow through it, even if the rest of the jacket doesn't.
Leather pants have no ventilation at all, and the silk linings tend to stick to my legs.
My cordura pants have vent zips on the top of the thighs, with tabs to hold them open, but the goretex lining tends to negate that a bit. They're looser-fitting than the leather pants, so not quite so hot.

Overall, I'd say my gear is all equally uncomfortable in stop/start traffic. Once on the move, the leather jacket and cordura pants get the nod.

[Elysium]

If I had the spare money I would love to have leather gear. I'm still using my first Cordura jacket and so far it has held up to wear and tear after about six or seven years I've owned it.

[Okey Dokey]

Well, the short answer is that leather offers the better protection. But it won't work if you are not prepared to wear it. Many find cordura gear a good compromise, for them, between comfort and safety.

Me, I wear a set of leathers that I find comfy.

[sinned]

Hmmm I paid $450 for my $899 Alpinestars jacket:D If I was outlaying $900 for a jacket, I'd be getting custom made from Celtic Leathers:yes: Although good, my Alpinestars isn't in the same ball park as a Celtic jacket!:no:

Who is Celtic Leathers? Google brings up an Ixon jacket and some outfit in Palmerston North. No mention of custom made. Link please.

[Owl]

Who is Celtic Leathers? Google brings up an Ixon jacket and some outfit in Palmerston North. No mention of custom made. Link please.

http://www.celtic-leathers.com/news.php

;)