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New Rider ForumsJust joining the motorcyclist hobbie? Looking to get some information about a first bike? Or have some newbie questions. Are you new to the website?
As a soon to be motorcyclist, or at least hope to be, I have a question about riding leathers.
I am curious as to how well they protect you, I know that they protect you from wind and stuff like that, but in a crash when your sliding on the pavement, how much protection do they serve?
I know it will depend on the circumstances and many other uncontrollable factors, but in general, if one were to be sliding on their rear at 50mph on asphalt, could they still sit down to take a dump.
Absolutely--that is the idea behind leather, it has great abrasion resistance. You can have a get-off at 100 mph and get up and walk away with just soreness (well, on the track, anyways)
AWSOME QUESTION dude. i want to know too. but jusyt think about things dude. dont over think it. is hard armor better then soft? hmm duh is leather better than leather punched with holes... common sense tells me yes, but is it better then textile? probably. I have no idea btw lol Im just guessing.
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To answer your question I'll give you my personal experience.
I have taken two falls, one at 50-60mph, the other at 70mph.
Both of them I did not have a bruise and no road rash. I was wearing full leathers. My leathers on the other hand...they looked beat up bad. I had to buy new leathers afterwards, but I'd rather spend my money on new gear than on a hospital bill.
Leathers is at least twice as good as textiles.
Also, I've seen people at the track take spills, and other than some soreness, they're fine. Of course it doesn't always work out that way. If you hit something dead on, I don't know of any gear that will help.
Personally, I ALWAYS wear full gear when I'm out riding. I used to wear a 2-piece suit, I now wear a 1-piece...also include a full face helmet, leather gauntlet style race gloves, and race style boots. I will never ride without all of it. When I commute I make sacrifices, I wear a leather jacket, full face helmet, gauntlet style race gloves, a more mild race boot, and jeans. It'll suck for my legs if I crash, but I have done the commute and change deal...didn't work out well for me.
As a side note, a friend of mine took a spill last year, may walk with a bad limp for the rest of his life. Another friend has lost feeling in his leg. And a guy in my riding group died...he died from road rash...no broken bones, no impact. They were out in the mountains and he got rashed up really bad and all over, went into shock, and died. Those guys were only not wearing pants...they all had a leather jacket and gloves. If they were wearing a full suit, I'm pretty sure they would have suffered minimal injuries in their specific crashes.
Leathers are not magic, they will not protect you from a lot of stuff, but they greatly increase your chances of getting up injury free.
Leathers provide enough protection that you'd be silly to ride without them. With street crashes, if you hit something at speed though, you're pretty much fucked. Leather and armor will protect from rash, broken bones and minor injuries from falling off the bike and maybe tumbling, but not hitting a wall at 50mph. Good gear could conceivably be the difference between life and death though if you save yourself from some 3rd degree burns and a broken bone or two before you take the really bad hit into something solid--injuries add up. But remember, sudden complete stop from 35mph or so, you're dead.
Perforated leather can be as abrasion resistant if it is a bit thicker. A serious leather maker like Barnacle Bill will glue two layers of leather together and perforate them. My *personal* experience is that you'd be amazed how the ground can just reach in and bite you through those little holes. I've gotten cherries even when the perforated leather wasn't worn through all the way. It's a compromise. You're about a million times better off with quality perforated leather than with no leather.
yeah, leather is definitly good. i've had four crashes. one was in some grass with a helmet, leather gloves and leather jacket. my jeans got grass stained, helmet got fucked up but i walked away. second was at the track, lowsided at about 60. full gear obviously... not a scratch on me. lowsided again later that day, not a scratch. my worst crash so far was at the track... i high sided. falling a couple inches and sliding isn't going to much to you (in leathers) as long as you don't tumble. flying through the air before sliding.... now that hurts. not a scratch on me but i couldn't put weight on my heel for about two months. that was with full race boots. i'd hate to see what would have happened if i had been wearing street shoes.
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Size does matter in this case. You dont want a leather that is to big it wont protect as much as its supposed to. The armor will twist and move away from the parts its designed to protect.
my last crash was a 30ish low side in town, i tumbled a few times and slide a good ways. i walked away litteraly without a scratch. my hips were kinda beat up the next day from the tumbling, but not bad at all. the worse damage was to my helmet which was pretty much demolished after hitting a curb; surely that saved my life. aside from the helmet, i'm still using all the gear i was wearing.
How much do leathers protect you?
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