I'm sorry, I don't agree. I've went down in icon gear before and it saved both my hands and my head. I'd rather see rather see a guy go down in "squidly" gear then none at all. The fact people buy certain gear to avoid looking squidish reeks of caring more about looks then safety in my eyes.
Well ANY gear is better than no gear. I am speaking from experience. I have seen what a "Mesh" ICON jacket can protect, and of course it depends on the accident, HOWEVER when your shit starts falling apart without having an accident, then there is evidence it just sucks (and probably not a defect)
Remember the ICON mesh jackets where they had no armor but they did have
"timax titanium shoulders.
While my Alpine Stars mesh jacket has all the important safety areas (back, shoulders, elbows) with real protecting other than "kevlar protection".
An ICON leather jacket is thin and offers better protection, however again compared to Alpine Stars, it would be significant.
So sure, ICON gear will "save" you from a fall (the ICON mesh jacket I had saved me at a 10 mph drop) but when it comes to a little more than a "drop" and it requires more skin to save, I wouldn't trust ICON over my Alpine Star jacket, but hey thats just my experience over my opinion.
As for the helmets, again from experience. I had an ICON helmet that looked very familiar to the "HJC" helmets, not to mention when you took it apart to wash and inspect, it appeared more of a "biking" helmet as opposed to my Shoei X-11.
Either way, gear is only worth your life-how much is your life worth?
Google "icon squid gear" and you'd be surprised at the responses.
Have I owned ICON gear before? Yes. Will I buy ICON gear again? No.
They make nice videos too!
YouTube - ICON - Hella Dangerous
