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Riders GearHelmets, gloves, jackets, etc. You need to protect yourself from everything and anything. So what should you buy? Check out what others have to say. Riders Gear Forum sponsored by Sportbike Track Gear
I know a lot of you experienced riders have had the bitter sweet taste of cold pavement. I want to hear how you gear preformed. Also it would good to hear how you "tested" your gear, IE: 50-mph low-side onto street slid 25 feet on stomach.
Here is my simple scale:
great (still usable, or replacing with the exact same one)
good (still usable with repair, or will replace with similar from same company)
bad (why the hell did I pay for that crap, might consider buying form same company but unlikely)
ugly (call my lawyer!!!, would have been better off Butt Naked)
Please first hand experiences only. The my "cosine's friend's brother lost a toe when he had a get-off at 500-mph on his Rebel 250 wearing a vasons vest", really will not help our efforts. hopefully we can cut thru all the AD bull shit in the bike mags, who all seam to love everything and get to what matters, good looks, no I mean better gear for all.
So I'll start it off
Tested with 50-mph low-side on the street slid about 25 feet on my stomach.
Leathers: 2 peace Arlen Ness "413 race": Bad, many seams failed on impact but over all saved my knee and skin.
Gloves: Arlen Ness Velocity: Great, did there job like a champ!! but a total loss if i can find another pair I'll buy them
Boots: Hein Gericke PSX II : Great, can barley tell they were in the crash
Helmet: Suomy SPEC-1R , not tested did not hit at all[u]
I lost the front end out on the track at roughly 100mph. Slid on the asphalt for roughly 75ft then dirt for another 80-100ft tumbling. AGV sport two piece suit. Suit is still very usable. No stiching failed. No rash on skin. Arai helmet saved my head even though I had a mild concussion. Alpinestar boots took a hit. The sole came almost completely off on boot and broke a bone in my ankle. Shoe Goo'd the sole back on without a problem.
I've hit the pavement 5 times with the AGV Suit in 6years. One of the most protective and durable suits there is IMO.
Lowsided at the track I would guess around ~40ish.
Fieldsheer Ti Air pants and Jacket. Slid mostly on the right hamstring area, it tore a hole right through the pants, however the longjohns I had on underneath did not even have a single wear mark on them. Mesh pants so I was fully aware they were a "1 crash" pair of pants/jacket so, yes they held up to the expectation I had of them, for only a hundred bucks a piece it saved my ass. However full leathers are on order
Hey where'd can you buy Hein Gericke stuff online? Knee draggers, helmet harbor, and new enough doesn't carry there stuff. I wanted to buy one of their tribal suits.
low sided at about 45-50 in a Joe Rocket nylon jacket (I think it was their Ballistic Blaster). No bruises or rash...a small hole melted/shred in the elbow of the jacket, but not bad enough to not use it again.
I think I was wearing Tecnik gloves with metal studs on the palm...they ground down pretty good but protected me well.
I ended up smashing my thumb AFTER the crash by getting it pinched in a broken clip on when I lifted the bike back up.
Philbie, So do you think breaking your ankle was due to a limitation of the boots or was that just from hitting asphalt at 100?
I'll chime in....I parked my FZ6 horizontally after a SUV driving soccer mom pulled out in front of me. I was wearing a JR Phoenix 3.0 jacket, JR Phoenix gloves, Shoei RF1000 helmet, hiking boots, and Levi's. Was travelling at 40mph and slid approx. 30 ft before impacting the concrete curb. The jacket held up surprisingly well - just barely abraded the material covering the padding in my elbow/shoulder. The jacket is still VERY useable. The gloves took a hit on the knuckles, but the CF saved me from injury - again still useable. The helmet is the worst for wear - scuffed/scratched all over the rt side (glad I had a FF - chin bar took a HARD hit) and also impacted the concrete curb.....used it to ride home, but replaced it the next day. Here's the real shocker tho - jeans are fine and no rash on my legs
So - while not the best gear for riding, experience has shown it can/will protect for commuting.
I did a lowside in a left turn from about 65 wearing joe rocket textile jacket (not sure of the specific one but it was the first one on the market as I recall) schuberth helmet, Alpine stars SMX-4 gloves, levis, and nike running shoes
Joe rocket jacket did its job to a point...left cuff was literally shredded leaving me some cherry on my fore arm...left elbow pad was pushed up away from my elbow which resulted in som rash on my elbow...upper left collarbone area was scuffed and torn but nothing but bruises there and in my shoulder
AS glove were perfect, a little scuffed but continued to wear them for a year later
Schuberth helmet did its job...impacted left front eye are...visor was messed up a bit but took the brunt of the damage with the helmet only getting minor scratches
levis...well torn from about 5 inches below my left knee to an inch or two above...bad rash in that area
no damage at all to my feet
Today I wear either perfed or regular leather (both made by first gear), oxtar boots, AS and AGV gloves, Nolan helmet...still wear jeans tho
70mph tank slapper on freeway. Pavement was worn concrete.
Helmet: Cheap DOT only helmet rashed where my right cheak would be, but held up fine.
Jacket: Gericke Venom Mesh. $60 from newenough. I slid off the bike and was sliding feet first on my stomach. I had to get up on my elbows to get my stomach off the ground because the jacket was rising up and my elbows didn't even get a scratch. The jacket was shredded but miraculously I was only rashed where the jacket slid up. Now I ride in a perforated leather Tecknic jacket.
Gloves: Older Joe Rocket speedmaster gloves. JR is a cheap brand and a bunch of the seams tore. I've since had them resewn and still wear them to school and around town in the summer. They protected me fine.
Shorts: This was the first time wearing shorts on the freeway and I don't recommend it! They were all shredded and my thighs and especially right knee were rashed bad. Make sure you wear RIDING SHORTS not khaki shorts.
Basketball shoes: The high tops protected my ankles and got all burnt from the road. I've worn them since then, but replaced them with new shoes.
highsided at less than 30mph..slid on two-way street for less than 20 ft..
helmet: CL-12 saved my life as my head was the first thing to hit the pavement.
jacket: thick leather non-motorcycle jacket..absorbed the abrasion instead of my skin.
gloves: tecknic studded ..did not get damaged.
jeans: i was wearing blue jeans..i know, i know..amazingly, i did not sustain any major damage.
boots: leather cruiser engineer boots
gear can be replaced, you can not ..
__________________
"What's really a shame is why someone needs to get hurt before we seriously start to think about how we can be safer riders." Dave T.
Last edited by el rancherito : 11-09-2004 at 11:21 PM.
I went over the hood of a '98 Camero at 40 MPH, landed some 40 or so feet down the road. Bloody idiot was on the cell and not looking at the road. Turned in front of me with less than three bike lengths to stop, which was not enough. I broke my scapula due to hitting the windshield square on, seven ribs, my hand and twisted my ankle. My gear saved my life, not one bit of rash. My injuries stem from the bike landing on me while on the hood of the car (ZX-12Rs are heavy!) and the simple physics of going from 40 MPH to zero at a near vertical decelleration curve
Full leathers: Hein Gericke, scuffed up, but no seams failed and they'd be perfectly fine for use now except the EMTs cut them off of me!
Gloves: Held Profi with 15K+ miles on them and they're only scuffed. Still usable.
Helmet: Shoei RF900 with 29K+ miles that is scraped up on the chin bar, and all the way around the right side and the backside, right down to the bottom layer of material. Absolutely saved my life. I replaced it obviously.
Boots: Sidis with 29K+ miles that are fairly scuffed but certainly still usable.
I replaced my leathers with First Gear Pilots, similar to the Hein Gericke with a few additional bene's, my new helmet is an Arai Astral, I have added a back protector too.
Lowside on an offramp at around 75-80 MPH.
Slid on Road fro about 25 feet, hit grass berm and flew about 30 ft..
KBC VR1 Euro Helmet - Excellent - Scrapes from road...no concussion from landing on my head upside down. Got same model of helmet...
Teknic Interstate Jacket - Good- Burned Hole in Forearm and half of the armor underneath. Would not wear again but did get a newer model of same jacket.
Teknic Violator Pro Gloves - Excellent - burned a small hole in palm and various scuffs on fingers.
Hi Tek Boots. - Excellent - Normally wear Oxtar boots but that day had on my HiTek Steel Toes. Rubbed a hole through the leather to the metal and ground that down.
Riders Gear Forum sponsored by Sportbike Track Gear
Crashed Tested Gear Reviews
did not hit at all[u]
