Knifemaker
10-14-2007, 10:24 PM
As many know, I have allways been one of those riders that believed that leather was THE best material for motorcycle gear, and only recently, got into the textile world of jackets, pants and gloves. Many of the newer fabrics can give leather a run for the money, and provide some distinct advantages over leather. Those primarily being - water resistance-lighter weight-and cooler in hot weather. Leather can be made somewhat water repellent, but needs special care and attention after it gets wet. It also looses a bit of it's strength when wet, and as far as I have seen, there are no leather jackets/pants that are sold as being 100% waterproof, which is something the textile gear can accomplish.
Many also point out that decent leather costs more than textile gear, but the main selling point is availability in bright colors , water-resistance or water proofness, cooler to wear-because of either "mesh" design or adjustable venting, and , the advantage of CE armor and padding, not always found in "standard" leather biker jackets.
I own several leather jackets and two pair of leather pants. Neither of these have any venting. They are all black, heavy , and just too hot to wear in any temp above 72 degees. I have seen some really nice vented or perforated leather jackets, but most of them are in the $270-$400 range. (Granted I have not looked at every jacket on the market)
But, I have found some nicely made mesh jackets and pants, all in the $100 range, that are not only cool to wear, but also have the advantage of being more water resistant and feature armor and padding. Along with well designed adjustable cuffs, arm cinches, abundant and usefull pockets, as well in bright attention getting colors.
These jackets and pants do provide much better protection that ordinary jeans and T shirts. And I had thought, from what the some of the makers claimed, that these new modern textiles were "almost" as good as leather , (if I were unfortunate enough to eat some pavement) and , were better as they had more useable features.
Well, after doing some research recently on the materials these "new generation" textile jackets/pants are made from, I am not going to denouce them all as frauds, nor am I going to burn all my textile gear, but I am going to point out to anyone buying this type of clothing , that what you are getting may not be all you think it is.
The problem it seems is the names diffrent makers use for the material these items are built from. You will see either "Nylon Mesh" , "Polymesh", "Carbolex", "Codura", or something sounding simular. That last one, "Cordura" is the one you want to look for, as all the others are "knock-offs" of this fabric. Dupont Codura is a very tough fabric with a high abrasion resistance. It , along with the others, is usualy given a "Denier" number. Like "500 denier Codura".. this is simply a weird metric value that shows how heavy the fibers used are. (This value is actualy the number of grams a 9000 meter length of the thread weighs...so a 9000 meter long piece of Cordura fiber that weighs 1000 grams would be called 1000 denier Cordura, thus 500 denier Codura is lighter and only half as strong)
What you have to watch out for here is makers will say their jacket is made out of "heavy duty 500 denier fabric" but unless you know what that fabric is, the number is meaningless. If the fabric is made from polyester, 500 denier polyester is about as strong as 200 denier nylon, but almost 3 times weaker than 500 denier Cordura. For a jacket to be about as strong as leather, it should be 600 denier Cordura or higher, and have 1000 denier Codura in key impact points or some material like Kevlar , or armor instead.
See chart here:
http://tinyurl.com/2twkva
Here is some info on some of the fabrics above, along with a few that are better:
"Carbolex is a polyester made to look like DuPont Cordura. This is not as abrasion resistant, nor does it have as high a friction melting point as DuPont Cordura. Cordura is much more expensive and, while it was at one time available in jackets in the $200 range, it no longer is (with one exception). Carbolex has become the common material used in low-end jackets. Cordura is now used only in mid-priced jackets, the most affordable of these being the Olympia AST (All-Season Touring) which uses 500-denier Cordura with 2000-denier in the impact areas. 2000-denier is suitcase-grade Cordura. This jacket has an MSRP of $289.
Above that are materials such as Dynatec, made by Schoeller in Switzerland and used primarily by BMW in some of its gear. This has a friction melting point much higher than Cordura, breathes very well, and has excellent fade resistance. Above Dynatek is Armacor, which is essentially 1000-denier Cordura interwoven with DuPont Kevlar. High abrasion resistance with the incredible shear strength of Kevlar. Armacor is used almost exclusively by BMW in their Streetguard line and by Harley-Davidson in one of their top-of-the-line textile jackets."
Right of the bat, looks like those BMW guys know what they are doing...
Part of the problem here, is we poor suckers in America do not have a rating system like they do in Europe. All motorcycle gear that is to be sold as "protective gear" must pass a series of tests, and is given a specific rating number for what type of protection it offers. I suggest those intrested in this , check out all the pages at this site:
http://www.rideforever.co.nz/gear_up/index.html
Now, I am not saying that any of the textile gear on the market does not have any value, or is not good to buy. What one does need to know that alot of this stuff simply is not as tough as one might think, and if you are intrested in how well your gear works, or how much actual protection you can expect from it, the information above is usefull.
I have seen photos of mesh jackets, made with polyester , that were "melted" from road slides, and heard of EMT's talking about how this melted stuff can stick to wounds. But again, think how much bigger that wound would have been without any protection. These are things each person should weigh , and make their own choice in what type of gear they wish to use, and when.
I am happy that fall has returned, as the cooler temps allow me to break out my leather, but there will still be days I will grab my textile jacket... it may not provide the road rash protection of leather, but it's bright colors and waterproof liner may be of greater value that day.
Knifemaker
Many also point out that decent leather costs more than textile gear, but the main selling point is availability in bright colors , water-resistance or water proofness, cooler to wear-because of either "mesh" design or adjustable venting, and , the advantage of CE armor and padding, not always found in "standard" leather biker jackets.
I own several leather jackets and two pair of leather pants. Neither of these have any venting. They are all black, heavy , and just too hot to wear in any temp above 72 degees. I have seen some really nice vented or perforated leather jackets, but most of them are in the $270-$400 range. (Granted I have not looked at every jacket on the market)
But, I have found some nicely made mesh jackets and pants, all in the $100 range, that are not only cool to wear, but also have the advantage of being more water resistant and feature armor and padding. Along with well designed adjustable cuffs, arm cinches, abundant and usefull pockets, as well in bright attention getting colors.
These jackets and pants do provide much better protection that ordinary jeans and T shirts. And I had thought, from what the some of the makers claimed, that these new modern textiles were "almost" as good as leather , (if I were unfortunate enough to eat some pavement) and , were better as they had more useable features.
Well, after doing some research recently on the materials these "new generation" textile jackets/pants are made from, I am not going to denouce them all as frauds, nor am I going to burn all my textile gear, but I am going to point out to anyone buying this type of clothing , that what you are getting may not be all you think it is.
The problem it seems is the names diffrent makers use for the material these items are built from. You will see either "Nylon Mesh" , "Polymesh", "Carbolex", "Codura", or something sounding simular. That last one, "Cordura" is the one you want to look for, as all the others are "knock-offs" of this fabric. Dupont Codura is a very tough fabric with a high abrasion resistance. It , along with the others, is usualy given a "Denier" number. Like "500 denier Codura".. this is simply a weird metric value that shows how heavy the fibers used are. (This value is actualy the number of grams a 9000 meter length of the thread weighs...so a 9000 meter long piece of Cordura fiber that weighs 1000 grams would be called 1000 denier Cordura, thus 500 denier Codura is lighter and only half as strong)
What you have to watch out for here is makers will say their jacket is made out of "heavy duty 500 denier fabric" but unless you know what that fabric is, the number is meaningless. If the fabric is made from polyester, 500 denier polyester is about as strong as 200 denier nylon, but almost 3 times weaker than 500 denier Cordura. For a jacket to be about as strong as leather, it should be 600 denier Cordura or higher, and have 1000 denier Codura in key impact points or some material like Kevlar , or armor instead.
See chart here:
http://tinyurl.com/2twkva
Here is some info on some of the fabrics above, along with a few that are better:
"Carbolex is a polyester made to look like DuPont Cordura. This is not as abrasion resistant, nor does it have as high a friction melting point as DuPont Cordura. Cordura is much more expensive and, while it was at one time available in jackets in the $200 range, it no longer is (with one exception). Carbolex has become the common material used in low-end jackets. Cordura is now used only in mid-priced jackets, the most affordable of these being the Olympia AST (All-Season Touring) which uses 500-denier Cordura with 2000-denier in the impact areas. 2000-denier is suitcase-grade Cordura. This jacket has an MSRP of $289.
Above that are materials such as Dynatec, made by Schoeller in Switzerland and used primarily by BMW in some of its gear. This has a friction melting point much higher than Cordura, breathes very well, and has excellent fade resistance. Above Dynatek is Armacor, which is essentially 1000-denier Cordura interwoven with DuPont Kevlar. High abrasion resistance with the incredible shear strength of Kevlar. Armacor is used almost exclusively by BMW in their Streetguard line and by Harley-Davidson in one of their top-of-the-line textile jackets."
Right of the bat, looks like those BMW guys know what they are doing...
Part of the problem here, is we poor suckers in America do not have a rating system like they do in Europe. All motorcycle gear that is to be sold as "protective gear" must pass a series of tests, and is given a specific rating number for what type of protection it offers. I suggest those intrested in this , check out all the pages at this site:
http://www.rideforever.co.nz/gear_up/index.html
Now, I am not saying that any of the textile gear on the market does not have any value, or is not good to buy. What one does need to know that alot of this stuff simply is not as tough as one might think, and if you are intrested in how well your gear works, or how much actual protection you can expect from it, the information above is usefull.
I have seen photos of mesh jackets, made with polyester , that were "melted" from road slides, and heard of EMT's talking about how this melted stuff can stick to wounds. But again, think how much bigger that wound would have been without any protection. These are things each person should weigh , and make their own choice in what type of gear they wish to use, and when.
I am happy that fall has returned, as the cooler temps allow me to break out my leather, but there will still be days I will grab my textile jacket... it may not provide the road rash protection of leather, but it's bright colors and waterproof liner may be of greater value that day.
Knifemaker