Leather vs. Textile 60mph lowside shredding test

Witty.

No, I totaled my first bike and I was sliding toe-first on my stomach. If I were wearing just jeans, there wouldn't have been much left of my knees, probably.

Hey that's my trick!

Went down at the track (well up over and then down to be more precise) at around 100mph. I flipped a few times, was knocked out, then slid face down feet first for a while before hitting the dirt and rolling a few times. My leathers showed most of the damage on the knees from skiding and the shoulder where I landed but nothing wore through and I actually didn't have a scratch or bruise on my whole body. The doc's at the hospital kept asking if I was sure that I actually crashed since there were no visible signs and normally motorcycle crashers come in there bleeding from all over. Then the x-rays came back . I think the bike, which was flipping along with me, whacked me just for good measure and broke some bones that it turns out I need.

The good thing about leather is that I wore that same suit all year this year since it's still perfectly usable.



Good boots also help if you're planning the face-down technique...

Yep, here are mine:


Steel-toe work boots, got worn down to the steel. I cringe to think that if it weren't for the toecap, that would have been my toes... or what's left of them...

the main thing i try to let people know esspecially newbs is gear up, and get the best stuff you can "afford" normally its not that people dont want the nicer gear its that they cant afford it. i can say with out a doubt without gear i would be dead several times over. my crash this year was the worst ive ever had. my right front brake line rubbed through after a bird strike earlyer in the day. i stopped to look at the radiator but i didnt check my brake lines my fault, kinda a freak accident. i was wearing my normal riding set up regardless of if its 100 or 40 the only thing i change is the layers inside. i was wearing a frank thomas full 1 piece suit leather it has full perf chest and upper legs and entire back, my first inner layer was a columbia wind blocker, then a teknic full length spine protector then a thin high performance fleece long sleeve then cold weather compression top and bottom. i had alpine stars cool max socks knee high with alpine star smx plus boots, i had alpine star sp1 gloves on my hands, i had a arai corsair McCoy replica helmet on. i crashed into the woods at ehhh 50 ish. my helmet took a good hit to the left side, my carbon knuckles on my right hand where crushed in but no rips tears or anything else. my hand was fractured, my suit also had only light scracthes and no holes..........until the paramedics arrived and cut the suit off and everything else but my boxers, they didnt cut off my gloves and did cut off 1 boot. i broke my femur, my tib and my fib and fractured my right hand all breaks where on the right hand side, if i remember right thats what i hit the tree i came to a stop with was my right side.

ive crashed at the track above 130 and walked away with a heat burn from that leather getting realy realy hott as i slide down the track, and a few bruise's. my leathers are still usable to this day with no holes but a few seams busted which were repaired. my gloves where trashed with seams letting go and openings up where you could see my skin but i recieved no damage, my helmet a hjc i bought that morning was destroyed. again i lived

now offroad ive had a good deal more crashes but the safety gear there has done its job well. i think my old chest protector has take so much abuse its not funny, i put it to rest after a sinch strap broke as i was putting it on for a ride. i wont ride with out gear, ive tried riding with jeans and a jacket and i feel naked and exsposed. i have seen crashes with textile gear and the gear is always trashed the people have survived but they took some damage.

right now how ever im at a time in my life where i want to try the adventure bike thing, and i notice almost nobody wears leather most people i see are in textile. i was about to buy a heated jacket off somebody here but i dont know what kinda armor the text jacket has or how good it is. so my plan is to buy a heated liner which i can put in any of my gear and use that. im kinda looking at first gear kat jacket and pants or the joe rocket nano gear but i just dont know if i trust textile enough to do it. i dont care if its a 1 use thing i care that it has to protect me in that 1 use.

i had a high speed wreck on the track 6 years ago and just could not hardly beleive that i didnt have any more than a jamed finger when i got up.
I had never bought much leather gear but to ride the track they require it so I bought it. After the crash I became a gear nazi and use leather all the time on the street .I think i ride better knowing Im covered up.
I really like to look at the scars i got on my track suit . One thing I dont mind spending money on is good gear.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4283579&postcount=69

Strikes me that with a good pair of boots and a lot of us riding Bavarian /Austrian rigs that we the "look" would be a good knee length pair of lederhosen.... how could I be wrong.. maybe I should have some cofee first?


http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-2-Pcs-L...=63&clkid=6580638192066670784#ht_13139wt_1185

Caudebec, I think you're forgetting the importance of wearing suitable safety headgear too:
www.ebay.com/itm/Set-of-4-German-Ok...653?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item416839d095

i know this post is old but...:

What I don't understand is WHY these topics keep coming back at us. Everybody knows leather is the best possible basic material to prevent from all kinds of trouble during accidents. Really.

But, still most of us don't buy it. Why would that be??

Maybe because most of us don't feel much for being recognized as some kind of "Hells Angel" all the time?

We do not buy a suit for safety reasons ONLY. That is an important issue, yes, but not the most important issue that drives our sales decision in general. Now there is the important thing: in general.

Because there are individuals who do buy with safety as most important purchase motivation. And I guess being the expert community that we are, our community here does hold a large part of those drivers. And there is nothing wrong with that either. But most of the drivers have other priorities, another mixture of expectations from their gear.

It would be nice if such "tests" would not only be limited to just one aspect of motorcycle suits (like: safety) but instead would be dealing with the 20 most important buying reasons for instance. Test it as a whole.

Compare a top grade leather suit against a Rukka suit for being waterproof ONLY. Then look what happens. And then conclude: leather suits suck, because textile goretex garments are more waterproof ? How silly would that be ?

Nevertheless we are still discussing this based on only road safety, repeating old tests and old arguments.

Compare a textile and a leather suit on ALL possible aspects, and then let's talk business again.

A + 0.5 here. Not a full +1, but...

For fair-weather riders in cooler climates, this still seems the most pertinent test.

But then for 'extremists' ... be it rain, heat (as it is here in FL), etc., the trade-offs are worth mentioning.

I, too, used to ride much harder - and feel safer - in a full Dainese leather 2-piece riding outfit. I just can't see myself investing in one for here in south Florida now, not even with perforated leather, unless I did like others do and just quit riding on the hottest days.

Any real life experience wearing the BMW Rallye 3 suit on sliding on the tarmac? It's always on my mind what the catalog said "Specially developed for off-road use" and then, there we are, crossing all the continent on twisty roads, freeways and all sort of pavement roads. And only a fraction of the ride on dirt.

That's what I did, and how I ended up (after the Harro) with the Atlantis 4. Leather, waterproof, best-in-class protectors, and no membrane to marinate you in your own sweat. I understand if somebody doesn't want to or can't spend 1200 bucks on a riding suit, but I'm afraid a lot of people here are simply not fully aware of the facts and the available options out there, and do spend more than that on less than optimal comfort and protection.

As ugly as it would be, has anyone ever seen a leather / textile mix ? The protection of leather in the most needed areas, the open flowing textile for cooling in others... and probably really, really ugly looking.

There are some around. And while the leather is in the most important spots there's no guarantee that's where you'll slide or that the seams will hold.

In summer leather isn't even an option here, I've been caught in hot winter days and regretted being in leather, unbearably hot. A bad summer day (high 30's C) you'd be unconcious in 30 minutes.

Pete

Once, long ago on a really hot day I rode in my Stitch jacket with my black leather pants. My legs were way cooler than my upper body was. Not long after I sold the Stitch and continued my ride in my FG Stealth outfit.

Since going more off road and riding in more dirt and water I figure the textiles should be easier to clean. I've crashed at the track twice in leather and once on the road in a Stitch. The Stitch was a low side on a hairpin turn so speed wasn't high and it worked fine. The high speed ones wouldn't have been so kind to it.

Don't forget that textiles don't slide as well so on pavement it will cause a lot of tumbling where most injuries to the extremities happen. Ever watch a Moto GP rider, they usually just slide to a stop so it's only the intitial impact that causes the injury.

Why would that be?

http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/revit-ignition-2-jacket

not bad looking at all

Did you wear the textiles in your avatar underneath? That may explain why your legs were cooler than your upper body.

Leather (like your skin) breathes better than nylon / goretex does