Do you wear nylon gear or leather gear? Which is better? Which do you prefer?
If I had my choice, and the climate didn't matter, I would be wearing lots of leather with padded armor in it......
Living where I do(Mt. Pleasant, SC), I do try to wear my leathers when I can(I do have to survive the humidity), but for parts of the year I'm in jeans and a nylon Joe Rocket jacket with good gloves and boots.
Once it cools off, you will see me with a leather jacket and leather chaps(I wear good gloves, boots, and a full face helmet year round), with suplemental spine armor.
Don
Shadowhawk
'93 GS500
"83 GS450LD(For Sale,,,,,,)
Oh yeah, I wear nylon joe rocket jacket with armor in it, nylon pants (when it's not super hot) with armor in the knees, full face helmet, leather gloves, alpinestars boots. The pants seem kinda heavy.
in atlanta
in the heat+humidity... I wear mesh. if that (ah!)
in the winter.. I wear leather. lots of leather... and the thermal underwear for hikers...
biking all year round weeee!!!
As much as I detest the summers here in the SE, I to enjoy riding year round.........
I would just LOVE to have less humidity......
It would make my riding life and my lack of central A/C so much better...
Don
Shadowhawk
'93GS500
'83GS450LD(For Sale)
:cheers:
2 piece roadcrafter.
I wear textile.
Leather is better.
I can't find a leather jacket I really like and can afford.......... Plus it rains a crap load here.
Go leather if you can.... It's not just like a second skin; It IS a second skin.
One option is tex with leather padding. I've got a Firstgear Speed (http://www.motorcyclecloseout.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=50-9658) jacket. It's nylon, but there's leather on the elbows and shoulders. I've only ridden it in the MSF, so I can't really comment too much on it's usefulnes, but it seems like a good option.
A full racing leather suit would be best, this is why moto gp riders wear them. I wear textile because it is cheaper and more practical. They are warmer, waterproof and easier to put on.
Leather till it's too hot to wear then i wear mesh or reinforced "canvas" with leather elbows like in my Icon Super Duty jacket which also has slip off sleeves (lol) and chest vents.
I've actually got both. Fieldsheer Mach 3 textile jacket. Fully armored and padded, $99 on eBay. Teknic Lightning leather jacket. Fully armored (now, originally it just comes with padding. I used the armor from an old jacket) and padded, $99 on NewEnough.com (Closeout).
I like the Teknic one better. It feels a lot more protective, it fits better than the Fieldsheer, and if I go down HARD that leather will probably hold up better than the textile. On the other hand, it can get very hot here, and leather doesn't exactly breathe very well. The Fieldsheer is AWESOME for hot weather riding. It lets air through it like nothing else, and it is surprisingly durable. Not as much as leather, but it works quite well for street riding. It also gets bonus points for coming fully armored as a standard feature.
I crash tested a Fieldsheer Mach 1 jacket and it held up pretty well. Saved me from some major roadrash, but the jacket was a mess afterwards. Seams were busted, and the padding was fried. It did its job, though. With some minor sewing it was put into use for a few weeks before I got the Mach 3.
Leather gloves and jacket....jeans for pants in town.....on the road leather pants. If I get to hot......Naked like my bike!
Finding leather in my size (6'4", 227#, 36" inseam) is a bit of a challenge. If I find it I'll buy it, but in the mean time it's Joe Rocket textile jacket & pants.
Leather offers the best abrasion protection. Warm weather means it's a pain.
I have a joerocket mesh jacket, for leg armor I have underarmor and draggin jeans.
Or you can get both textile and leather in the same jacket (http://www.newenough.com/joe_rocket_reactor_s_jacket_page.htm) for a good price too.
All nylon gear is not equal. All leather gear is not equal.
Dionysus posted this link a bit back:
http://www.motoport.com/saveyourhide.pdf
I would love to have a Keprotec suit. My jacket is 1000 denier Cordura. My pants 600, IIRC.
Quote from: kunoOr you can get both textile and leather in the same jacket for a good price too.
Thats what I've been wearing since I bought my bike about 6 weeks ago. Its comfortable, looks great, and keeps me warm down to 25F and decently cool up to 85F. Havent gone down yet so I cant attest to the crash performance but the armor feels pretty sturdy.
Newenough.com is awesome too, but I recommend buying the jacket on ebay from them since you save a bit in shipping and get the feedback too.
+1 for the Roadcrafter. I go on sales calls at corporate offices, and have to represent my company well, so I can't be walking into the lobby at a prospective customer wearing (or even carrying) a riding suit. I leave the gloves inside the helmet, helmet stuck on the mirror stalk, and the riding suit draped over the topcase. It all stays dry, even when it's raining outside.
To quote that article mentioned above:
-500 denier Cordura: 22 lbs to tear, 710 cycles to abrasion failure
-competition leather: 80-110 lbs to tear, 1200-1700 cycles to abrasion failure
-1000 denier Cordura: 110 lbs to tear, 1780 cycles to abrasion failure
Roadcrafter has 500 denier Cordura everywhere, with 1050 denier Cordura on the "wear points" (knees, elbows, shoulders... but not buttocks). In my opinion, this isn't the same as competition leathers, but could be darned close for a single accident.
http://www.motorcycle.com/mo/mcbeware/roadcrafter.html
After seeing the 'blondes or redheads' thread I wqas kinda worried about opening this one :roll:
From what I've read, it really boils down to is that after a crash, your tex gear will most likely be dead. It'll protect you, but you'll probably want to get new gear. Nice leathers will likely last several crashes. As previously stated 1000+ denier tex is better than leather, period. Its stronger and more durable. However, it's really damned hard to find (outside of just the wear points). There are pros and cons to each, but good gear is going to protech you.
Also notice, that page only looked at competition grade leather. There's a TON of variation on leather, and no real way to compare. Thickness, diet, age, additives, care, fit and animal (both species and individual health) can make the difference between worse than cotton and competition grade.
Because of this, people tend to compare competition leathers ($900+) to JR-quality gear ($250+). Of course that leather is better. However, that baggy leather jacket won't do shaZam!. When leather folds, it tears like denim. When leather isn't conditioned regulary, it falls apart after a while. This isn't the case with tex. If there are any studs or holes in the leather, those are great places for rips to start.... tex is actually a fabric (read: rope), so it should have greater resistance to tearing, up to the point the strands themselves tear. On the other hand, cheap tex will have cheap stiching. Cheap stiching falls apart. Cheap tex will be thin, thin tex tears, fails and just plain sucks.
Like everything with motorcycles, which to go with depends on what you need. If you plan on track days, buy leathers. They won't usually let you in otherwise and your likely to need the high number of cycles. If your like me (live in SoCal, commute, and get way to hot in the WINTER....), leather just isn't an option. If your on a budget, tex can provide near-compition grade leather protection for a much smaller cost. My gear has 1000+ denier in the wear points, however my back isn't considered a wear point, so on my knees and elbows, I'll slide for as long as it takes to stop, on my back... I may get road rash with a really, really long slide (but, I'll have a greater plane of friction, so shorter slides :dunno:). My jacket and pants were around $300. But, in my riding I'm more worried about getting run over by a 6000# SUV, and no gear could help with that.
If you buy leather, get good leather and care for it. If you buy tex pay attention to the thickness (denier) of the material and the quality of the stiching. And if jacket and pants retail for less than $150 each, its probably crap.
But, I'm just me. Do your own damned research before you put your life in the hands of something. And, of course I'M VEGETARIAN SO I'M BIASED!!!! Okay? Nice How I threw that in all the way at the end, right ;)