St Paddy’s day was my birthday and I got pretty trolleyed after getting home from work with mates. That’s where the problem started. It’s pretty bad when you know payday is coming up and you have a clean credit card with nothing against it!
So I went shopping… but as a result, I can give you a comparison of Old Vs New
Again, my reviews WILL get a lot of stick from people who normally think:
“you’re stupid for spending silly money on this that or the other” or “tart”… so thank you ;)
, it only enhances my smugness!
The subject I’m going to talk about is KEVLAR JEANS
So why bother with kevlar jeans?
First and foremost, protection. Aramid to give it its proper name is highly abrasion resistant, so if you fall on your arse and happen to be sliding down the road, it’ll be there to save a skin graft. I remember how much 20mph spills on the scooter felt on normal jeans! 2-5 seconds were all it took for my skin to graze away.
Secondly if you like riding in jeans on a sportsbike, I’ve gone through SO many guch rips on some expensive pairs of jeans to think there must be a better option.
Thirdly, you often want to arrive at your destination not looking like dayglo derek or the gimp from next door and want to have an air of inconspicuousness to you.
If you’re a stunter, then great, they’ll be right up your street!
Click HERE IF you want to see the in-depth video review and here me chat like a stoner
So, I give you my two jeans
Left is SARTSO KILLERS, Right is DRAGGIN BIKER
Both I purchased for approximately £130.
I’ve had the Sartsos for approximately a weekend now - but have already seen 400 miles of use. I’ve had the Draggins for 9 months, approximately 3000 miles on them.
The retailer (Onyerbike/Ducati Aylesbury) was very helpful in getting me sized and kitted up with the jeans and there was plenty of choice…Furygan, Draggin, Sartso. It’s interesting how they stopped stocking red route (were they not a Frank Thomas brand?). They also said that the guy who makes Sartso is related to the folk who established Draggin. Suffice to say, at the end, after sitting on my bike with the rest of my kit on, the Sartsos were the ones to go for.
I’ll try to summarise what I have said in the video but a picture tells a thousand words and from the images, you can see how different the fit is.
Draggin
The Draggin is a traditional low rise cut. This is where the problem is for me. The belt sits right on my waist and if you lean forward, unless you’re wearing another t-shirt that’s tucked in, the wind can go down your back.
Secondly, the flaring at the hems is not large enough to facilitate an alpinestars SMX-Plus boot! If you have large calves like me, it might be a bit of a squeeze.
Thirdly, the material is a stretchy denim. I’m getting pretty bulky recently and i find that it’s pretty tight around my thighs. The lining material is a mix of dyaneema and kevlar and does not feel as smooth as the kevlar only lining on the sartsos.
Fourthly, the liner coverage is NOWHERE near as vast as the sartsos. It leaves your upper thigh exposed, the back of your knee exposed, and there is no provision for armour.
Lastly, the jeans developed a rip just below where the liner stops. This wasn’t regarded as a design/manufacturing fault so I was pretty upset that they wouldn’t stitch it up for me! More details on the video.
Sartso
The sartsos are more of a straight cut. Typical baggy style jean that’s a bit long in the leg - 32" x 32" I believe but it feels so comfortable when on the bike. With boots or with trainers, it doesn’t bunch up around your shin/ankles like I expected it to.
There is liner coverage on your thighs, backs of knees, pockets and has a mesh pocket for armour… which is also lined with kevlar.
The designs vary from plain to contemporary. It certainly didn’t look out of place in the electric ball room on friday!
Summary
Considering that I pretty much wear these jeans whenever I head down to London on the bike and do everything with them (on a day to day basis or out clubbing - hardcore dancing/moshing etc), both jeans are very comfortable off the bike. I was disappointed as to poorly the draggin fabric came apart and their after support. I rectified the rip myself, but it’s not ideal. The Sartsos are so new that I won’t be able to give you as thorough a review of it. So far I have been impressed.
So to summarise, if you were to spend £130 on a pair of kevlar jeans… Head over to any stockist and get the sartsos!
Just a heads up, Alex @ Technomoto stocks these so head on over there. To be fair, I was sold on Sartsos when he mentioned them to me a while back. I would have bought it from anywhere to be honest but Onyerbike was literally on my way to london. My draggins were getting a bit wet from the downpour and I simply didn’t have a clean dry pair of jeans to carry on riding with or change into (bearing in mind I was heading to SIN CITY @ the Electric Ballroom). The other alternative was to head back to Bicester Village outlet and get a pair of denims from there, but that defeats the purpose of me buying kevlar jeans!
