Had a crash in your leathers?

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sfoley1 · #1 Post by **sfoley1** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 10:36 am

Hello all

I need a new pair of trousers. Going to get leather to combine with my textile jacket (I will modify the zips).

So any recommendations from someone who has had the unfortunate mishap of going down the road and their legs lived to tell the tale?

I'm also going to get a pair of Kevlar lined jeans for hot weather use, anyone use these?

Cheers

Simon

D-Rider · #2 Post by **D-Rider** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 11:25 am

Nope - but I did in my £6 Tesco jeans.
The only rip was where my mobile phone was placed in my pocket. Did rip skin off my knees but the jeans were still intact!

Of course for serious crashing I'd have been wearing my leathers

Fausto · #3 Post by **Fausto** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 11:50 am

I wear leathers and also go for the Kevlar denims in hot weather.

Can't speak for either ones performance in an off though.

HowardQ · #4 Post by **HowardQ** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:34 pm

I went down the road about 2 1/2 years ago in leathers and a fabric jacket.
Went down at about 25 mph, when I locked the front wheel after a car pulled out of a side road in front of me.
The leather jeans I was wearing had comfort padding rather than genuine CE protectors. Have had these for about 8 years, as they are extremely comfortable. Jacket was an FT Aqua something.
Anyway, it was December the road was greasy wet, plus a light covering of gravel and salt, (mainly in the centre), I locked the front and went down on my right side.
Got serious bruising to knees and hips as the foam, unlike CE protectors, did nothing to disperse the impact, the jeans were pretty much unmarked had some very light scratches but they polished out to be almost invisible. I still wear the jeans regularly. There was no seam or stitching damage.
The FT jacket had fancy padding at the elbows that looked like Kevlar extra protection in this area. Load of crap, it ripped open at this point revealing are large oval hole in the elbow area. Rather than extra protection they had taken a large chunk out of the sleeve then stitched this bit on, (did they really have a use for the bit they cut out) Ridiculous!
Looked good, but with poor stitching it actually made the jacket much less safe. Did plan to complain to Frank Thomas but never did, spent time getting me and the bike right in stead.
The good part about the jacket was that it had CE elbow protection, which stayed intact even if the outside of the elbow half almost ripped off.
The comparison between my knee, (undamaged leather and foam comfort padding) and my elbow, (ripped jacket and CE protector) was stunning.
My knee and elbow hit the tarmac at the same time with equal force.
My elbow was hardly "damaged" at all, just a dark ring around the outside edge of the protector, where the last of the impact disipated itself. Elbow itself perfect. I was very impressed.
As for the knee, totally black, lots of bruising all around, lots of pain, lots of fluid and other cartilage problems.
Very striking results in all areas on the protective clothing side!
Not exactly what I would have expected in every case, but all understandable when you analyse later.

joecrx · #5 Post by **joecrx** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:08 pm

i just had a low speed off on saterday ,i was wearing hien gerick textils ,was a wee bit tconserned this happened at such a low speed

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Samray · #6 Post by **Samray** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 3:27 pm

I swear by Hood jeans.

as does this bloke.
http://www.hoodjeans.co.uk/html/reviews.html

beckh · #7 Post by **beckh** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 5:45 pm

Kushitani armoured textile jacket and trousers saved me except for shoulder impact bruising. Would have been broken if not for the armour. But, BACK PROTECTOR is as important as anything imho. Dont neglect your back, I am extremely lucky to be alive having had 2 accidents in 20 years and now sustained 5 broken vertebrae in total. Bloody learnt my lesson now !

paganman · #8 Post by **paganman** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 9:37 pm

Had a big off a couple of years ago, in Nankai 1 piece with a Hein Gericke textile on top as it was raining (i'd taken the armour out of the textile jacket as my leathers already had full armour). slid down the M1 at around 70MPH as some moron switched lanes and took out my front wheel. 2 cracked ribs some major bruises and a big hole in the shoulder of the HG textile, Nankais hardly scratched and still used now. The other leathers I've crashed in were Crowtrees and they were the mutts nut's, no injuries from an 80+ spill and completely usable afterwards, shame they've shrunk so much and don't fit, or is it too many pies?

sfoley1 · #9 Post by **sfoley1** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 8:10 am

keckh - Agreed with the back protector. I've always worn one, even for a pop down the shops.

paganman - a pity Nankai and Crowtree no longer exist!

Anyone rate Arlen Ness?

#10 Post by **mangocrazy** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 9:57 am

sfoley1 wrote:paganman - a pity Nankai and Crowtree no longer exist!

What happened to Crowtree? I've got a one-piece and a set of salopettes by them and they are as good as leathers get. If they've gone bump it's a very sad day...

sfoley1 · #11 Post by **sfoley1** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:09 am

Crowtree went bump about 2 years ago I think, unless someone has bought them since

Paulh · #12 Post by **Paulh** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:48 am

sfoley1 wrote:keckh -
Anyone rate Arlen Ness?

Yes - I've had 10-11 crashes in my race set - only repaired once after last crash where one of the stretch panels tore slightly.

I also rate Teknic, Spyke and Gericke.

I would avoide Alpinestars / RST like the plague.

sfoley1 · #13 Post by **sfoley1** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 7:47 am

Thanks all.

I admire the tenacity of some of you, after that many spills I'm not sure I would feel too confident about giving it another bash!

snapdragon · #14 Post by **snapdragon** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 7:44 pm

Samray wrote:I swear by Hood jeans.

as does this bloke.
http://www.hoodjeans.co.uk/html/reviews.html

me too, only bounced and slid a short way in the Hood ones
but thanks to Mr Smidsy slid across a rough gravel junction on my knees in the Giali version (denim on top of kevlar in a similar fashion) and although had some friction burns, kept skin on knees and stayed intact

paganman · #15 Post by **paganman** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:00 pm

sfoley1 wrote:Crowtree went bump about 2 years ago I think, unless someone has bought them since

I was told they're still on the go, but winding down, only doing the odd repair and race suits for regulars as Alec and Linda are planning to retire soon.