This might be IMHO, but I think there is a factual answer so I’m posting here.
I’ll soon be in the market for new protective gear to go along with my new bike. I know that leather protects well, and that a good suit can protect my body in a sliding crash far faster than I’ll be riding. And a one-piece leather suit is dead sexy. But leather is also heavy and even the ventilated ones are hot.
I’ve been looking at a Joe Rocket jacket made of ballistic nylon or some similar material. It has hard armor at the elbows and shoulders. I’m sure I can get trousers of similar construction. (There is a means of attaching them to the jacket.)
Will a synthetic suit with hard armor protect me as well as a leather suit? How are they for abrasion vs. leather?
The hard armour can be quite protective and the bits covered by good armour are probably better protected than those covered by leather but it depends on what material it is made of. Substances like Kevlar and carbon fibre are much better than hard plastics. There are a couple of things to look for however:
the spaces between the bits of armour will provide no protection from abrasions, particularly if the rest of the material is just nylon
how the suit is put together and how well made it is will have an important role in keeping your skin on if you have a slide
Personally I prefer leather because I find it more comfortable than body armour and believe that it provides better all over abrasion protection etc. However, I also recognise that abrasions are not the only types of injuries from motorcycle accidents and body armour may protect you better from some of the knocks incurred during an impact.
Have a look at what the MotoGP riders wear - leather suits with kevlar body armour either built in or worn underneath.
When buying leather gear it is very important to check that it has been put together well - double stitching (and the right sort of double stitching too); extra layers of leather (rather than padding) on elbows, hips, fingers; good quality leather etc.
I ground one of my fingers down to the bone during a 10mph slide on an oil patch while wearing cheap leather gloves. I now spend quite a lot on my gloves.
Leather is the go…if synthetics were better, racers would wear them. Synthetics can melt on a high-speed off; leather, OTOH, just looks cool when its been thrown down the black stuff at 200kph.
Everything Motog said, goes double for me, and i ride every day, plus trackdays etc. Leather with kevlar and/or carbon inserts are your best bet…and synthics invariably look shyte.
I’m with Motog and R-con; leather all the way. Better abrasion resistance, looks better especially when it’s worn in and it’s more breathable. The only point I really wanted to make was that the merits of hard armour are debatable. I asked a leathers manufacturer why he favoured soft over hard armour in some of his lines and made a really surprising point. Hard armour will work great when it is perfectly fitted for an individual’s particular joint at a particular angle e.g. elbow or knee. However, when the joint is moved by just a few degrees, the armour no longer spreads the impact over the entire area of the armour and you’re back to copping the full force of the impact at just a couple of points around the periphery of the cover. Sometimes you’re better off with soft armour that will attenuate the impact rather than hard which will just shift the area of damage rather than make you invulnerable to it.
For the past couple decades, I wore at least heavy denim and freeway riding always required leather. This year I switched to Joe Rocket. Best move I made in a long time. I spent about 6 months comparing riding gear, leather vs. textile, and every brand that I could find. Joe Rocket had everything I was looking for in the Ballistic 3.0 model. I will NEVER go back to leather. This is completely waterproof with no work on my part, very comfortable, far more adjustable in all areas than any leather I’ve had, and it breathes. The vent system is wonderful, and even when sitting in a traffic jam on the freeway when it is 90 plus degrees, it breathes far better than even the thinnest of my leathers. While I may get warm, I don’t roast like I used to, filling my leather with sweat. If you plan on racing, or serious high speed riding, leather may be better. But for basic commuting and occasional fun times, I personally didn’t see the need to spend the outrageous price for more leather. I don’t ride 150mph enough to worry about the ultimate in protection. Leather will abrade less than textile, but where you will be most concerned is where the armor is. The armor covers a lot of area, and if by chance I go down again and it gets sacrificed to save my skin, I’ll buy another one. I’ve ground leather away before and it’s a lot more expensive to replace.
Personally, Joe Rocket all the way and I wish I’d looked into these much sooner. My leathers haven’t seen daylight all year. And J.R. does make matching pants for most of their jackets.
I’m looking at the Joe Rocket Meteor 4.0 jacket (in red).
[qoute]Synthetics can melt on a high-speed off;
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What do you consider “high speed”? Most of the riding I do is in the 80 mph range. (Of course, until a couple days ago my only bike was a '94 XJ600 that – from direct observation – would only do 120 mph and got a high-speed shimmy at 125.)
Given that all of my riding is on public roads, and not at 150 mph on tracks, it sounds as if synthetic would be better for me. I’ve been hit by a truck on my bike (I had a leather one-piece at the time) and the nylon armor at the knee and the softer armor on the elbow/forearm protected me perfectly. I’m more likely to body-check a car (shoulder/elbow/knee) than a high-speed slide.
But does anyone know of a site that compares the abrasion resistance of synthetics, anyway?
Leather is out right the best protection one can get. Well if it’s comp weight leather. I would say that most of the stuff you can get off the rack will be better then a t-shirt in the event of a get-off. I know that Belstaff from the UK works pretty well and is supposed to be waterproof as well. One of my exs when she was learning to ride went down in a set of Belstaffs at 30-40 after hitting some gravel. There wasn’t any damage to either her or the suit.
You are just gonna have to make some sort of choice though, either you like the coolness of the leather and get somewhat hot, or you take the synthetic and have less protection in the long run but are at least somewhat cooler. Unless you happen to be sitting in a ten mile back up on the DC beltway, then you could be nude and still be hot.
Also, for what it’s worth, all of the serious riders out here that I know have made the change from leather also, within the last two years, an even split between touring types and sport types, and the brands seem to be split evenly between Joe Rocket and First Gear. By serious riders I mean the ones who put in a good thousand or two miles each month. The only ones that still swear by leather are the guys who only take a 100 mile trip to the countryside every other weekend if the weather is nice and the Harley types, who constantly rag on me for not wearing leather for protection, as they don their leather vest and novelty helment.
There is the Aerostich site that somewhere has a comparison between the two. I looked a bit but don’t have time right this minute to really look. But if you start in the Suits section and look at the road tested part it might give you a start. Basically they took a number of different materials and put 20 pounds in it and dragged it behind a car to see how long it would last.
Also, the reason pro racers wear leather is not because it abrades better than textile, but because it fits better. You can get a “skin-tight” fit with leather that you can’t get with textile that keeps the armor from moving out of position if you get throwed at high speed. During “normal” everyday speeds, this isn’t much of a concern and I remember reading something once where many pros actually prefer textile if they are not racing. 10 or even 5 years ago, there wasn’t a comparison, but with the materials being used today, it comes down to preference, which usually means comfort.
I have a Joe Rocket jacket and a Vanson leather jacket. For putzing around on back roads at -45mph I think it’s fine. For highway and canyon riding it’s always the Vanson for me.
The meteor jacket may be a little better than the one I have (can’t remember the model now) though. I tried the Meteor on and the arm straps were either cutting of circulation or too loose to hold the armpad in place. The arms are too short on my jacket too. Standing at arms by my side they are fine…reach for the bars and they ride up several inches (fits pretty much like a regular jacket in that respect).
The things I like about the Vanson are:
-it fits like a glove, so I don’t worry about the armor moving around in a get off.
-it has a good back protector, not sure if the even offer one for JR, mine just has a flimsy foam pad.
-the leather is very thick and 2-ply in shoulders, arms, and around waist.
-it is perforated which in mild weather feels great (up to about 80F), Below 65F gets cold pretty fast though. Actually, that’s the reason I got the JR jacket.
Whatever you choose, just make sure it fits well in the riding position and the armor doesn’t float around too much. Also, consider something with a decent built in back protector.
There are synthetic materials that have a superior abrasion reistance to leather, but the ones I’ve seen look crap.
I’ve seen denim jeans with kevlar inserts which perform far better than leather, just cannot remeber the manufacturer, but there were no pockets for armour.
Let me throw some observations here, both first hand and second hand (witnessed).
Leather is by far the best thing you can cover your skin with when riding. At any speed. It will hold up much better in a crash. It is reusable. Yes it is heavy and not that breathable, but I have never seen a quality set of leathers develop a hole from 1 crash.
Aerostitch is your second best bet. Less durable than leather, but still likely to hold up for at least a couple of moderate (less than 100mph) “incidents”. It also has the added bonus of being lighter and cooler thank leather.
Textiles are the next rung down on the protective gear ladder. They are quite lite, very breathable, but only good for 1, maybe 2 crashes if you are lucky.
Balistic mesh is fine for riding around the city. Anything over about 30mph will melt the fabric and render them useless. Onlt good for 1 crash. The Joe Rocket one is the worst of them all. The armor is notorious for moving around when you need it most. I’d get a mesh jacket as a last resort. But if you need one, get the Teknic or First Gear or Feildsheer jackets before you even look at Joe Rocket. AND STAY AWAY FROM THE GLOVES!!! Get real leather gloves. I have yet to see anyone crash in the mesh gloves who actually had them hold together on contact with the ground.
Personally I wear leather all the time. Even in our Houston summers. If it is too hot for me to wear leather, then it is too hot for me to go ride.
First of all, First Gear leather is at the bottom of the food chain in quality.
Joe Rocket is somewhere in the middle.
I have never worn textiles, but have spoken to riders who have. They have gone down in them, and said that they work, but you only get one trip on the pavement and they are done. They are cooler in the summer than leather. Definately get the armor, regardless of what type of jacket you get. DO NOT get the armor that is built into the jacket on the outside. My one piece suit is like this, and the seams around the armor busted on one of my track misadventures. It is much harder to repair suits with the armor on the outside.
Casdave I have seen those jeans as well, from all I have heard they are on par with the synthetics…one trip down, and they will save your skin, but you have to buy a new pair. Leather will survive multiple trips down, and if/when it does pop a seam or tear, it can be repaired.
Basically, you can spend 150 on a good textile jacket that will survive one accident, or 350 on a good leather one that will last a few years. Either way, get the removable interior armor.
Also 2nd the request to get good gloves…walked away from a 85mph highside which resulted in my landing hands first (palms down), then face plant, and a slide/roll of around 100 ft up a track. Shudder to think what my hands would look like, if they suffered the abrasion that the gloves took. (Alpinestars, with carbon knuckles and pads)
2nd thought–It also may depend on your riding style. If you are concerned about tucking the front as you drag your knee through a corner, definately go with leather, since your most likely accident would be a low impact slide. If you are touring around, and worried about someone pulling out in front of you, and launching you over the front, you will be in a high impact/shorter slide situation, perhaps lowering your need for leather, but increasing the need to high quality armor.
Quick addenum -
2 great places to get quality gear at excellent prices with top notch customer service:
New Enough -www.newenough.com
Kneedraggers -www.kneedraggers.com
I have personally dealt with both, and can tell you I have NEVER heard bad things about either place.
It depends to some degree on what the climate’s like where you are… I live in Florida, so synthetics have the huge upside of not making me sweat to death during a trip to the store… however, for comfort in mild weather, and definitely for protection, I’ll swear by leathers to my dying day.
Personally, I think Nankai are the be-all and end-all of leathers, but there are a lot of Dainese fans out there too…
