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London Biker
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Last Login: Yesterday @ 23:38
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| This debate could run for ever.
Each accident is a pretty individual experience and the trauma at the end is as much about luck and circumstance as what you are wearing and the colour of you eyes.
First rule of safety is to ride within your comfort zone for the road, traffic and weather conditions, etc. First set your comfort zone. Warm and dry helps loads with that, then worry about the "what if's".
Two friends have had big offs both wearing good leather and armour. One got away with bruises, the other spent time in intensive care and traction. The difference? A kerb stone.
Wouldn't have made much difference what he was wearing providing it had a bit of abrasion resistance. But I will endorse the good boots and gloves.
Neither suffered in those areas.
Oldguy
"Reality" say molesworth2 "is so unspeakably sordid it makes me shudder" (Geoffrey Willans.) |
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Roundabout Scratcher
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| steveCBR11XX (20/11/2008)
keep your leathers for the summer, much cooler than textilesNot unless you forget to take the winter lining out of your textiles, they're not!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- X9 250. Central/SE London. |
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Rush Hour Racer
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| Benelli Boy (21/11/2008)
steveCBR11XX (20/11/2008)
keep your leathers for the summer, much cooler than textiles
Not unless you forget to take the winter lining out of your textiles, they're not!
Or if you have a set of vented textiles. Makes you feel like you're riding around naked 
Obviously I wear leathers for fun rides.
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Pizza Delivery Rider
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| I would normally always wear leathers, and still do for weekend rides, but this Summer I wore textiles more and more (partly because of the crappt weather). I found I would stay a lot cooler in the textiles, especially with the ventilation zips open, and I could stay warm and dry in the Winter with the liner in.
If it wasn't raining then I tended to wear leather bikes trousers, proper boots, textile jacket and proper gloves, this gave me confidence and comfort.
It's interesting that other bikes would try harder to burn me off when I was in a textile jacket, but not so much if I was in my leathers...
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You only need four things to mend a bike: WD40, Gaffa tape, cable ties and a great big hammer |
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Roundabout Scratcher
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| Choprocker (20/11/2008)
ask Johnse1 if he thinks textiles or leather! he'll prob tell ya he wished he put his leathers on that day, might have made a bit of difference.***** WARNING - SLIGHTLY GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF WOUNDS TO FOLLOW ***** Actually most of my injuries were caused by the initial impact. but had I not smashed my arm up so spectacularly I would have been in real trouble as my elbow was worn down from rubbing along the road surface at 60mph, and that's not something that can fixed easily, and without an elbow your arm is pretty buggered anyway. I was also slightly from the moment I hit the ground. Since I posted my initial description of the incident on here I have learnt slightly more. My right glove, which was found near where I first hit the deck, didn't come off. Not in the traditional sense anyway. For some reason, and I'll hope to find out when I pop in to speak to the accident investigator, most of my hand came away when I hit the deck, I only had 2 fingers and half a hand when I stopped moving, the rest of it was still in the glove. The only thing I can think of is that when I hit the deck and bent my arm back it somehow went into the back wheel, as nothing else could have caused the hand to come off so dramatically. It would also explain the mess my arm was in, and why it was broken into so many small pieces. But that is just speculation on my part. I always used textile stuff in the colder months. They are far less good at dealing with abrasion, but they keep you warmer and dryer and if you are comfortable you are less likely to crash anyway. I would recommend good quality vented leathers in the summer. It's no good relying on the £50 pair of leather trousers you bought at some show 8 years ago if when you hit the deck the seams split and the 0.5mm of cow hide wears away in 50m. One other thing I'll say...... WEAR A GOOD QUALITY BACK PROTECTOR I never did. But it seems I was millimetres away from damaging my spinal cord. The position where I would have damaged it would have meant I was quadraplegic. I saved £90 and a couple of minutes a day by not wearing one. Is that worth it? Safety lecture over. Those of a nervous disposition can safely resume to the thread now
Bikeless and armless since 17/10/08 V-Twin Massive No.17 (although currently without v-twin....) smiledclub membership no.201 gold edition
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Rush Hour Racer
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Last Login: Yesterday @ 19:22
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| Again, I'll reiterate the back protecter line.
This summer I had a bad crash riding mountain bikes in the alps. I came to a total halt from about 25mph and some airtime to my arse hitting a solid object, no roll or sliding to reduce the speed. Pretty similar to if you hit kerb or other street furniture. The extreme forward movement of my back fractured a vertebrate and damaged 4 discs. Fortunately I was wearing full MX gear, as normal for downhill mountain biking. Doctors both in france and the uk seem to agree the back protector probably stopped serious spinal cord damage. I've lost some nerve response but that might not be spinal.
Not all back protectors will protect from hyperflexion injuries, they need to be strapped to you kidney belt and around the upper torso. I use a dainese MX protector.
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London Biker
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| Yes, you do need to be pretty much strapped into a back protector for it to protect you from the most serious spinal injuries.
X9
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| I've got a back protector from Knox with kidney pads, I brought is from HG £80 So the conclusion is leather offer more protection over textiles and I guess if you want the warm you can wear a jumper over the leathers  |
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