Thought a quick reveiw of the gear that saved my arse on a 85kmh crash on realitively new seal might help someone. All else aside, I was very lucky that a car wasnt coming the other way, the gear wont protect you from sudden stops.
1) Helmet - Shoei XR1100. I hit the ground face first, my helmet took the full initial impact. It has a half dozen large scars down the side, the visor is completly rashed and torn from its fittings on one side. In short, it saved my noggin. A lesser helmet may have failed, I had mild delayed concussion but all else was fine.
2) Gloves - good quality hard knukle gloves. As my noggin was becoming aquainted with the ashphalt, my left knukles punched the ground and tore the leather covering off the knukles, down to the plastic. No doubt in my mind, that if I had my Alpinestars soft knukle gloves on, the outcome would have been some bark off.
3) Full 2 piece leathers with armour - these were a saviour. Wore through the knees to the armour on the pants, they were scratched around the elbows, shoulders, back, bum and thighs. As I slid down the road, I could feel the seal clawing at the leather and it felt tough and protective. Zips, buttons and stitching all held up, no failures.
4) Boots - A pair of Sidi Vertago Corsa's. Tore off the toe slider and side armour, held together apart from that.
Summary
I slid about 35-45m down the road, tumbled several times at the end. The gear saved me from rash and I believe the elbow, shoulder, knee, knukle, and thigh armour saved me from broken bones. I am very bruised, have a couple of big lumps on my arms, both big toes are black?????No rash at all. Bike is written off.
I am absolutley certain that good gear saved me from more damage. I never have ridden without some gear, but I will never ride again in Jeans, not even kevlar ones, or sandshoes. Even going to the gas station. Good gear will still not prevent major damage in a solid impact with a solid object.
Do yourself a favour......buy good gear.
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