A salutary warning for the hot weather...

[Grahamm]

my textile trousers have holes in them after going down at around 20mph

Have they actually gone right through? AIUI the upper layers of textile gear are designed to shred in those situations to absorb the damage and increase friction to stop you sliding whilst the underlayer keeps your skin away from the tarmac.

[Lawrence]

[quote author=Lawrence link=topic=4285.msg36893#msg36893 date=1346289266]
my textile trousers have holes in them after going down at around 20mph

Have they actually gone right through? AIUI the upper layers of textile gear are designed to shred in those situations to absorb the damage and increase friction to stop you sliding whilst the underlayer keeps your skin away from the tarmac.
[/quote]It's not gone right through, if what you say is true then that makes sense   They'll be replaced either way courtesy of car drivers insurance
As for damage, 6 stitches in my leg from where the bike landed on it, snapped brake lever and a bent footpeg.  It also snapped a bit off the faring.  Nothing particularly major but I should get a loan bike in a couple of days.

[Rusty]

From what I understand the benefits of leather are firstly greater abrasion resistance, and secondly should you break a bone then leather tends to hold the broken bit in place until you receive treatment. The downside of leather is of course that it is uncomfortably hot in hot climates, and soaks up water in cool ones.

I try to avoid riding in bad weather these days (yeh right :rolleyes ) so I alternate between leather or draggin jeans for dry use, textile for wet. So in that respect the weather influences what I wear more than any safety consideration.

[Lazarus]

Interesting. I don't know what month the mag I had was, in fact I've only just binned it, but there were no leather jeans on test just textile.


Hein Gericke (despite their current uk difficulties) have from my experience always produced a quality bit of kit though, as do Triumph. My riding gear is a combination of bits from Hein Gericke, Triumph, Shoei, Alt-Berg and draggin jeans. I note what you say about cheap leather being more protective than expensive expensive textile, but if wearing leather at all the benefits of cooler temps are lost so you might as well just wear decent leather in the first place?


Thinking out loud - I wonder how long you actually bounce down the road from say a 40mph get off? i.e. what degree of exposure does each body part get to abrasion? In those circumstances 5 seconds is a long time so I'd guess you would have come to a halt within that time. What they don't tell you is that textile material often rides up thus exposing flesh anyway, whereas leather fits closely and stays put.

I came off at 50mph.

Helmet - scratched visor
jacket - right hand side damaged
leather jeans - unmarked.
boots - toes scuffed out.
gloves - holed through (no damage to hands)

not sure how long I was planked for - seemed a long time but should only have been about 4 - 5 seconds.

[Lawrence]

That's still a long time to be sliding along on your arse!