Everyone should wear all leather gloves (WARNING: Graphic)

[Alphamazing]

On April 5th of 2005, I crashed my GS500 two or three blocks from my house. I was wearing Olympia Digital Protector gloves. They have a leather palm with gel, carbon knuckle protector, and a mesh material between the fingers. When I crashed my hand drug along the asphalt, and the glove rotated around my finger, shredding the mesh material as well as my finger. Mesh is not a very durable material and is not suited to abrasive forces. Leather is much stronger and will resist tearing under much greater forces.


These are my fingers 10 days after the crash. I changed the bandages every day and applied copious amounts of anti-bacterial ointment at least twice a day.

I still have a very large chunk of scar tissue on that knuckle, impeding the movement in the last few degrees slightly. I also have a bit of nerve damage around the area that was rashed.  So please, I urge EVERYONE to  PLEASE get some all leather gloves. Olympia makes a pair similar to the Digital Protector, except they are all leather. They cost ~$50, and have a titanium (instead of carbon) knuckle protector. I forget their name, but the style number is 744. All the same, I think everyone should get all leather gloves. I am emphasizing ALL LEATHER.

Side note: Does anyone else see the irony in the glove "Digital Protector" not being able to protect my digits?

[Rema1000]

Those gloves claim to feature "textured spandex between the fingers".  Even most textile products are heavy cordura or kevlar.  I'd bet that there are many textile gloves which would do much better.  Maybe one thing to take home from this, is that if there are any bits of fabric on your gloves which can't take abrasion (even between the fingers), then there is a risk that those areas will rupture or wear-through.

Not to say that all leather isn't even better; with a good cinch strap at the wrist; and armor over the knuckles.

[Jeppy]

That's nasty looking.....ouch.

[Roadstergal]

All leather gloves are not created equal.  My Icon SuperDuty gloves were all-leather.  But they sustained no damage and let me get a hefty laceration and two breaks in my accident.  So now I only wear track gloves.  Joe Rocket Speedmaster, currently.

[dgyver]

All leather gloves are not created equal.  My Icon SuperDuty gloves were all-leather.  But they sustained no damage and let me get a hefty laceration and two breaks in my accident.  So now I only wear track gloves.  Joe Rocket Speedmaster, currently.

Good choice in gloves. I have 2 lowsides one pairs of the JR Speedmaster gloves that I have. Slid 30 feet or so on my hands and knees backwards both times. I probably hit around 60 mph. No damage to me and you cannot really tell there is any damage to the gloves.

[Rema1000]

OK, new gloves ordered... getting some Tourmaster Robomax

Speedmaster look good, too: those are real race gloves.

[Rema1000]

By the way, I keep Liquid Skin in my bike First Aid kit: you can use it to cover a minor abrasion or cut, and still get your gloves on and ride.  There's nothing more annoying than bleeding into your gloves because you have to ride an hour to get home.

[weaselnoze]

seems to be exactly what happened with my teknic SMT gloves.  it tore at the spandex part and exposed my finger to the asphalt.

[SmartDrug]

I was wearing a pair of $150 carbon fibre and 1.4mm leather race gloves when I crashed my FJ 1200 a little over a month ago.  My left palm tore through the leather almost immediately, leaving hefty chunks of asphalt in my palm and what is now a somewhat disfigured hand.  I was wearing full gear and I still spent 3 days in the hospital rebuilding my knee because of a 30 mph lowside.
          Truth be told, that accident made me realize that there is honestly no amount of protection we can wear to be even nominally safe.  Because of this realization I'm done riding for a few decades (or until Suzuki comes out with the G-Strider), I bought a Honda S2000 and that will be my toy.
          Ride Safe!

[Alphamazing]

I was wearing a pair of $150 carbon fibre and 1.4mm leather race gloves when I crashed my FJ 1200 a little over a month ago.  My left palm tore through the leather almost immediately, leaving hefty chunks of asphalt in my palm and what is now a somewhat disfigured hand.  I was wearing full gear and I still spent 3 days in the hospital rebuilding my knee because of a 30 mph lowside.

There are racers that go down much faster than that, highsiding too. That sounds like a workmanship defect. A 30mph lowside shouldn't do that, especially to race-quality gloves.

No matter what though, I still encourage people to get good protection for their hands. That means LEATHER. Just sharing my horror story so that others might not have to experience it for themselves.

[russomf]

funny you mention that but i hi-sided at 110 on 8/10 in full gear minus a back protector.  I was on a track so no flames please.  i walked out of the hospital 6 hours later with a concussion, bruised kidneys, mcl damage to left knee, dislocated pinkey, and massive bruising to my back (i will not ride without a back protector again)

proper gear makes all the difference.  my leathers are shot on the back BUT they saved my back and ass very well considering the bike landed on top of me and we slid like that for over 150 feet with my total slid distance about 250 feet.  I would not have walked out of there otherwise.  i had a prexport suit, alpine start boots, arai helmet and joe rocket gloves.  No gear will save you from impact but proper gear should save you from abrasions.  

BTW if you do fall try not to get up before you stop moving AND if you can slid on your back or side do it, the larger surface area will slow you faster and not wear out as quickly.  sliding on your hands and knees puts all that pressure on 2 small pieces of leather that will disintegrate very quickly under that kind of load.  look at it in a PSI sense.  your back has more surface area that the palms of you hands.  they told us not to fight the crash once your down you cannot do anything, just relax, go limp and pat the ground to make sure you stopped moving before you try to get up.

[Alphamazing]

An excellent example, russomf. Your gear saved you from road rash, specifically. Your injuries were caused by impact damage. In the places where my gear didn't fail, I didn't have road rash. I did have some impact injuries though, including blackout/amnesia, collapsed lung, and a VERY tender shoulder.

Point is, good gear is ESSENTIAL for saving your ass (and various other parts) from extreme amounts of pain. Seriously. Dealing with road rash is one of the worst experiences I have ever had. Ever.

[500rider]

Good example of the need to wear gear.  

Where's that lady who's friend rides with no gear ... show her those pictures!  that could happen to her whole body ... yuck!

I have had road rash from cycling and playing sports and they were so painful I could not sleep at night.  I can't imagine what road rash at 60 miles an hour would feel like.

[Alphamazing]

Yeah, that's one of the big reasons I show these pictures to people. I learned my lessons and I want other to people to learn from them as well. I'm one of the guys who thinks everyone should be covered in a minimum of a full faced helmet and jacket, preferably full face helmet, jacket, leather gloves, long pants, and closed shoes. Maybe I'm just an anal retentive freak, but all that gear saved my ass from more serious damage.

[russomf]

no not anal just practical.  most people live in a bubble and think it will never happen to them.  i show people these photos all the time to reinforce why i ride in full gear ALL the time.  you will never catch me in shorts, t-shirt, ect... not worth it to me.  i heard the best quote not long ago
"sweat wipes off, road rash doesn't"

[LizardQueen]

I have a pair of leather touring gloves that I really like. Can't remember the name but they're about 40$ from Dennis Krook. They've got no lining so the "feel" is really good, it's not much different from my bare hands.

The fingers and palm are double thick, there is a thick pad of tucked leather over the knuckles, and they're gauntlet-style. I usually tuck the gauntlet part up under my sleeve before Velcro-ing the sleeve shut since I don't like them flapping loose.

They may be lacking a bit in the impact protection area, though.

LQ

[MKIV]

no not anal just practical.  most people live in a bubble and think it will never happen to them.  i show people these photos all the time to reinforce why i ride in full gear ALL the time.  you will never catch me in shorts, t-shirt, ect... not worth it to me.  i heard the best quote not long ago
"sweat wipes off, road rash doesn't"

I'll post another one.

[NightRyder]

Hmm, that stuff looks like what we saw in my Emergency Responce/CPR class. Much of it was worse though. Leg bones comming out, etc. They even had back boards to carry people out when they had issues breathing. A few people had to be helped out of my class. The instructor said he has had people collapse before in class.   .. they don't surf the internet enough obviously.  :mrgreen:  :lol:

[Alphamazing]

From what I remember, my finger looks a lot better in the picture than it did in real life. I can look at it fairly easily now, but that might because I had to look at it twice a day for over 3 weeks and touch it, too.

[Bunbun]

Good call on the gloves.  I have the held galaxies and won't go anywhere without 'em anymore.  Since this is a 'gear is good' thread, I'll post my experience and say that I'll NEVER wear jeans or non/lightly armoured pants.  

3 weeks ago a guy turned in front of me and I ran off the road to avoid an SUV-Motorcycle collision.  I hit the ground around 35 or so I'm guessing and only slid on asphalt for a few feet at most.  The only thing that happened to me was a strawberry on my shoulder... and a severly lacerated knee.  Which wouldn't have happened had I been wearing decent, armoured pants.

15 days after the accident, 4 days after they took out the stitches and the next day the wound decided it wanted to rip open.  I have a ton of pictures, so if you want to use my lack of judgement to better educate others please do so.  Heck, if someone wants to host 'em somewhere, I'll put a few up for all to see.  Or shoot me a message and I'll shoot you some pics... hey, I even have a pic from the ER... hamburger knee.  So far I've gotten a few ppl to buy knee protection and/or better pants.

2 months not being able to ride and 7k worth of doc bills is definitely worth a pair of 200 dollar pants with some armour.

Bun[/img]