Kevlar jeans

[miloking]

Gnnngh. Gah. Fumblesticks.

How your gear works in an accident is entirely situational and dependent entirely on the individual accident itself.

My super reinforced leathers with hard armour and 400x stitching fucked me up horribly in my last accident. I sport scars on one elbow from where the armour shattered and dug out a teaspon full of flesh down to the bone and lacerated my arm from elbow to wrist. One knee has scars from the armour doing the same there. The seams at the hips on my leather trousers split exposing my panty line to gravel rash. My CF helmet split in two. My right ankle was pulp, without any major breaks, but I have NO cartilage in that joint now. It aches like a bastard when I ride the RVF because of vibration. It aches like a bastard when I do those 12-15km walks I do. The only piece of gear I'd say did "good" in the accident were my gloves which didn't look worn and left the knuckles on my left hand black and blue but no breaks or epidermal damage at all. I reckon I would have been better off with the Draggin jeans, Knox armour knee pads, cordura jacket and shorty boots. With the shorty boots my ankle would have broken leaving me with something that could be fixed instead of the abortion I have now.

Woulda.

Coulda

Shoulda.

It's ALL speculation. Ride a bike, have an accident, take your lumps and DON'T bitch about the gear you were or weren't wearing. You have to DEAL with the outcome, not the precursor and after crashing on the track and crashing on the road, I'd have to say that the road is a much more dangerous place to take a spill and you can't rely on anything protecting you at all, except dumb, blind luck.

WTF? Did you get hit by a train or something? I was gonna go for a ride this afternoon and suddenly dont feel like it anymore...

[James Deuce]

WTF? Did you get hit by a train or something? I was gonna go for a ride this afternoon and suddenly dont feel like it anymore...

A sheep. Also, 10 broken ribs, a mother of a head injury including temporary blindness and and an episode of aphasia a couple of months later, a ruptured eardrum and swollen liver and one dodgy kidney. At 75 km/hr. I've stood up traveling faster than that after crashing on the track and the resulting superman and tumble just caused bruises.

[superman]

It's not a matter of being too hot. It's the freedom of movement and the feeling of the wind whipping through you that bundling up in gear takes away. You can only do it over two or three months in summer because you'll generally freeze if you try it the rest of the year.

Personally, I like to take advantage of the opportunity.

And fuck being in leather pants and whatnot when you're stopped and off the bike. A leather jacket's OK. Pants, not so much. Even Draggin jeans get pretty hot.

I'm also against clomping around in race boots every time I go somewhere on a motorbike. Nice soft well-worn work boots ftw.

Hot sunny day, work boots, nice light jeans, T-shirt, well-binned leather jacket and the disapproving stares of all the Cordura-covered Teletubbies squeaking awkwardly around gas station forecourts: priceless.

Edit: I should note that one-pieces, when cut well for the wearer, are pretty comfortable. But they do pretty much say "look at meeeeee, I plan on riding this day in a manner that may well lead to a bin".

10char

[jrandom]

r u 4 real lol

The best trolls are always the ones that you really mean.

[Pogo2]

So the general consensus is that Kevlar jeans are not desirable due to the fact that they do not have impact protection (in some brands anyway) and the lack of abrasion resistence, according to some writers here.

I have worn Draggins for a few years now and find them comfortable but they do not give me a false sense of security in the fact that I will walk away unscathed from any accident. I doubt that any bit of kit could give that ultimate guarantee. All gear has an associated risk factor - some more or less than others.

If I were to replace me Draggins what to you recommend in a textile variant that is cool to wear in summer? I have textile pants as well but they do not breath in the heat. And wet/sweaty legs arent comfortable at any time.

A recent Oz bike mag has just done an article on summer wear (as they would only know) and there is high praise for BMW gear, but of course that comes at a price.

Any reasonable options that you have actually worn in the heat and humidity?

[superman]

I have worn Draggins for a few years now and find them comfortable but they do not give me a false sense of security in the fact that I will walk away unscathed from any accident. I doubt that any bit of kit could give that ultimate guarantee.

Meet safety sphere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQr8YkzEEWQ

[SMOKEU]

If I were to replace me Draggins what to you recommend in a textile variant that is cool to wear in summer? I have textile pants as well but they do not breath in the heat. And wet/sweaty legs arent comfortable at any time.

I don't know if such a thing exists. I've had 2 different pairs of textile riding pants, and even with the inner layer removed and the vents open, my legs get so hot that I don't even want to ride the bike because it's so uncomfortable.

If my riding gear is so unbearably hot that I don't even want to ride the bike then that defeats the purpose of having a bike. I didn't buy a bike just to leave it in the garage so I can play games on my computer on a nice day.

[jrandom]

If I were to replace me Draggins what to you recommend in a textile variant that is cool to wear in summer?

I don't know if such a thing exists. I've had 2 different pairs of textile riding pants, and even with the inner layer removed and the vents open, my legs get so hot that I don't even want to ride the bike because it's so uncomfortable.

Yes.

If you want to balance comfort and protection, I think it pays to consider how crashes are likely to affect you.

In my experience, the bits of you that touch the ground when you bin, in order of likelihood depending on how violent the crash is, and ignoring the head because you'll be wearing a complusary hamlet anyway, are:

1. Hands (abrasion).

2. Knees (impact).

3. Hips / buttocks (impact, abrasion if you're going fast enough).

4. Elbows / forearms (abrasion, impact if it's a highside or other awkward sort of bin).

Which suggests that, apart from the complusary hamlet, gear priority should be:

1. Leather gloves. Your hands will touch down first. And you need knuckle armour. The number of gloves I've seen with thick plastic or carbon fibre knuckle armour that's been half ground away against the road... you want properly armoured gloves.

2. Knee armour that sits properly over the patella and is held there firmly enough to stay where it should in a bin. If you don't want to wear hot uncomfortable pants, get some strap-on MX knee armour and wear it under nice light jeans. It'll serve you well.

3. Gear's not going to save you from bruised hips or arse, but it will save the skin on them if you go for a slide. This is where Kevlar-lined pants are supposed to come into play - the fabric won't tear. You'll get burned skin under it, but you won't have gravel in the rash (based on the time I wrote off an R1 while wearing my Draggins). It still hurts though. Then again, normal jeans perform surprisingly well when they go down the road, too. I'm not sure that Kevlar offers much benefit - so long as the jeans don't rip, your skin will actually burn less during the slide since the material's a lot smoother than that rough Kevlar lining.

Heck, I've been down the road in lycra cycling shorts a few times at up to about 40kph and they never tore. I think most people overestimate the violence that a lowside at around-town speeds does to one's bum.

Leather is what really works, though. Basically, if you're not wearing leather over your arse and you find yourself doing the ton on your bum, you're going to need a skin graft. So either ride in a way that will avoid high-speed lowsides, or wear a one-piece or leather pants. This really applies mostly to the track, I think - if you do the ton on your bum on a public road, there probably won't be enough road to finish taking the skin off you before you wind up as strawberry jam against a bank, around a power pole or under a truck coming the other way. So you might as well just wear jeans.

4. Wear a good armoured leather jacket and your elbows and forearms and whatnot should be sweet as.

I didn't buy a bike just to leave it in the garage so I can play games on my computer on a nice day.

Heh. I've spent the last four days solid playing a computer game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eld...olls_V:_Skyrim

It's fucking brilliant. In fact, I might play it some more now.

My motorbike lives in the lounge, though, so I can keep an eye on it.

[miloking]

A sheep. Also, 10 broken ribs, a mother of a head injury including temporary blindness and and an episode of aphasia a couple of months later, a ruptured eardrum and swollen liver and one dodgy kidney. At 75 km/hr. I've stood up traveling faster than that after crashing on the track and the resulting superman and tumble just caused bruises.

Sounds like reading autopsy report of plane crash victim not from "date" with sheep at 75km/h.
Well as long as you survived and can tell us a story about it!...but the main thing is, was the sheep ok??

[chasio]

So the general consensus is that Kevlar jeans are not desirable due to the fact that they do not have impact protection (in some brands anyway) and the lack of abrasion resistence, according to some writers here.

I have worn Draggins for a few years now and find them comfortable but they do not give me a false sense of security in the fact that I will walk away unscathed from any accident. I doubt that any bit of kit could give that ultimate guarantee. All gear has an associated risk factor - some more or less than others.

If I were to replace me Draggins what to you recommend in a textile variant that is cool to wear in summer? I have textile pants as well but they do not breath in the heat. And wet/sweaty legs arent comfortable at any time.

A recent Oz bike mag has just done an article on summer wear (as they would only know) and there is high praise for BMW gear, but of course that comes at a price.

Any reasonable options that you have actually worn in the heat and humidity?

I've got zip-together Revit textile (cordura type) jacket and pants that have mesh panels. Paid $200 a piece from Motomail clearance store a few years back. The difference from standard textiles is well worth it, IMO. I accept that having mesh is not as safe as cordura all over, or leather at another level up. But the mesh is placed at the least likely areas to be abraded and seems a good compromise to me. After all, if I am overly hot and dehydrated from very hot gear, I am more likely to have an accident as my concentration will not be as good.

I reckon the pants are cooler (thermally but not stylistically) than kevlar jeans and have knee armour and hip padding. The only point in kevlar jeans that I can see is the fact that you may not need to change if you're going somewhere suitable for jeans. YMMV.

But there's always the luck element, as JD rightly and painfully reminds us.

[Rehab]

Who sell kevlar jeans, because their clients demand them, on exactly the same basis as 1Tonne? I don't understand your argument at all.

Wasn't intended to be an argument. I wrote it late last night and thought it didn't sound right . My intention was to throw a bit of praise 1Tonne's way for the good customer service I felt like I got from him/them (much more to do with the boots issue than a possibly paraphrased and misquoted comment about kevlar jeans). Also just trying to be helpful offering another possible source for what the OP was after and in doing so support the little local guy. Not having a crack at other manufacturers or retailers either, since I have no basis to do so. Unless it's Race Evolution, in which case I could go on all night.....

Just noticed the time is roughly the same for this post, so this'll probably sound all wrong in the morning as well. At least I feel like I have defended myself against something that wasn't an attack, so I can go to bed now and the only time I've wasted is my own......

[actungbaby]

I admire people spending out the xtra bucks for leathers , but i never bothered be to dam hot

my dear old Mum brought me jacket its like 30 years old always work just cotton normal trousers , midn you did have boots

One stage , weear sands hoes Gloves etec got get some gloves never broke a bone never had nasty scrapes

have fallen of some well normal amount i guess just up to choice what u wear i guess worked for me anyways

Am not roaring around like my pants are on fire maybe your leather kevlar pants make you ride that way hehe

Of alawys supected people wear those racing suits more about showing of than anythig and posing
I rkon those gloves that have amour on them bit overbaord for start look like track wear from Motogp

Whats next Inflatable bags around are ....... mans area hehe

Well mate sorry to say but every situation I have seen the kevlar rips out and floats away in the brezz and serious injury to the arse and legs acures, oddley ya dont crash lik the add for dragons show.

[steve_t]

I admire people spending out the xtra bucks for leathers , but i never bothered be to dam hot

my dear old Mum brought me jacket its like 30 years old always work just cotton normal trousers , midn you did have boots

One stage , weear sands hoes Gloves etec got get some gloves never broke a bone never had nasty scrapes

have fallen of some well normal amount i guess just up to choice what u wear i guess worked for me anyways

Am not roaring around like my pants are on fire maybe your leather kevlar pants make you ride that way hehe

Of alawys supected people wear those racing suits more about showing of than anythig and posing
I rkon those gloves that have amour on them bit overbaord for start look like track wear from Motogp

Whats next Inflatable bags around are ....... mans area hehe

Que?

[actungbaby]

Oh come on dont be dick if you going have go at me least have balls to say so
I cant help u cant read stevie wonder

Que?

[skinman]

I admire people spending out the xtra bucks for leathers , but i never bothered be to dam hot

my dear old Mum brought me jacket its like 30 years old always work just cotton normal trousers , midn you did have boots

One stage , weear sands hoes Gloves etec got get some gloves never broke a bone never had nasty scrapes

have fallen of some well normal amount i guess just up to choice what u wear i guess worked for me anyways

Am not roaring around like my pants are on fire maybe your leather kevlar pants make you ride that way hehe

Of alawys supected people wear those racing suits more about showing of than anythig and posing
I rkon those gloves that have amour on them bit overbaord for start look like track wear from Motogp

Whats next Inflatable bags around are ....... mans area hehe

Lookout, i think I hear the punctuation, grammar & spelling police coming