Leather vs kevlar vs textile vs jeans abrasion test

[Rogerborg]

From RiDE mag, November 2011. Purely abrasion resistance tests performed by SATRA, with no armour inserts fitted. They don't specify a simulated road speed, just the relative times to wear through the trousers. Average times are shown, the article has details for knee / thigh / arse times:

Hein Gericke Reno leather jeans: 4.74 seconds
Draggin' Biker kevlar jeans: 3.07 seconds
Hornee kevlar jeans: 1.39 seconds
Rev'it Sand textile trousers: 0.71 seconds
Levi stonewash 501s: 0.56 seconds
Tesco Cherokee jeans: 0.16 seconds

So even a budget pair of fairly fashiony leather trousers (£100) offers better protection than premium kevlar jeans (£150), or the fancy Rev'it pants (£190). Those Rev'it BMW-bait "Adventure" trousers are shockingly poor for the price, although the adverts for them don't make much mention of what they're made of - I'd have preferred to see some more testing of budget cordura trousers.

And no surprises, denim-only jeans are the chocolate teapot of protection. Yes, a £40 pair of Levis does offer better protection than Tesco budget tat, but either way you'll be surfing on your skin within a few yards when you come off. Enjoy having the gravel scraped out of your arse with a wire brush and Dettol at A&E.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[zest]

In my experience leather is best for dry riding conditions unless PU coated.

Funny how Sidi promotes Lorica 'Imitation' Leather.
Nothing to do with fact that it is much cheaper than Real Leather as it comes on the roll from China of course.

Apparently Ballistic Textile is very tough. (ballistic being the weave).
Designed for miltary use.
Maybe as good as Leather ?

[totalllama82]

Im astounded that the textiles didn't do much better than a pair of levi jeans!

Here was me thinking they were close to a set of leathers. The Draggin jeans suprise me...
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Gone: Haotian HT125-8 / Yamaha YZF 600R Thundercat / Kawasaki ZX9R C2
Current: Kawasaki ZZR 1400 A7F

[Ingah]

Was very disappointed they only tested one set of textiles, as i fully expect the quality to vary wildly between different textile manufacturers.

And i also noted that they didn't test Hood kevlar jeans, the sods

It's like having a security chain test with no Almax/Pragmasis in there.

And only one manfacturer who isn't Oxford.
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-- Ingah

[Gazz]

[Im-a-Ridah]

Kevlar is good for heat and puncture protection, but isn't so good for abrasion protection (unless resin bonded obviously ), and ideally needs to be combined with something like Cordura which has excellent abrasion resistance. Leather is best, but also gets wet, and is much heavier. If a kevlar jacket had the same weight as a leather jacket, I'd bet the kevlar jacket would be far tougher.

[Dazbo666]

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[mattress]

[Rogerborg]

[c-m]

I saw this and commented on it the other day.

It's a good insight, but I wouldn't go throwing out your textiles just yet.

The difference between the textiles they test there and a decent pair could be the same difference between the Tesco value jeans and the Levis.

Most textiles are made from coudra which has excellent abrasion resistance. Ignore brand and popularity, the key is to look at the denier or weight of the material.

I own two cheap pairs of textiles, and did own a pair of leather jeans. The lidl textile trousers that I bought (£35) use a material only half has thick as the Frank Thomas (£90) ones I have.

I can't find it now, but I did see some figures suggesting that 1000D (?) coudra was close or surpassed leather
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Blogging about my bike and trips
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[mattress]

Or maybe a pair of Kevlar liners (long-johns) under the textile trousers will help hugely? It may also save throwing them in the bin! What about wearing the liners under regular jeans?

[leonski]

After freezing my balls off 2 nights ago I was considering to bye some textiles for more warmth and protection or should ill just pull out me old fishing gear cos it sounds like it will offer me the same protection?
Or am I missing the point.
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there is nothing like the smell of 2stroke in the morning
current beasts..lol de-restricted ludix classic 50 fastest ped ive ever ridden
yamaha ybr 125 working progress .......

[mr jamez]

Depends what the accident is like, its not often you slide down the road for 25 metres like they do on track. Also textiles tend to grip up and roll/tumble you where as with leathers you slide gracefuly into the road furniture.
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NSR 125F > BROS 400 > NC30 > BROS 400 > Trumpet S4 > '97 VFR 750

[c-m]

[Howling Terror]

When i crashed at about 40-50mph and slid the width of the road i was surprised how my Rev-It textiles melted so quickly. Through to the elbow protector. The road surface was moderately worn and was a cold damp day.
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Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[Rogerborg]

Do you know what your Rev'its are made of? It's not immediately clear from the marketblurb.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Howling Terror]

^^^I can't recall seeing the words Cordura etc. They cost £99 in 2003.
My daughter wore them when i was teaching her how to ride the Honda. She fell over and the header pipe burnt a hole in them quick as owt.
Them and the jacket were binned earlier in the year. Velcro was coming away etc.
____________________
Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project