Denim tears like paper

[louemc]

OP: had you been wearing leathers, you'd have walked away with NO rash, and the leathers would be good to go again... and again... and again (although one hopes that they never have to prove their worth). Textiles are definitely better than jeans, but can end up being "throw aways"- wear 'em once and toss 'em after a slide.
If someone is going to insist on wearing jeans, there's NO excuse for at least not wearing a pair of knee/shin guards. I mean, seriously- what are your kneecaps worth to you??
Anyone who's been to a 1Rider booth has seen the attached pic... that guy has a trip to the emergency room ahead of him, where it's about to get a LOT worse... because the worst thing about serious road rash is how they take care of the wound... they use a nylon bristle brush to SCRUB that wound. And no, they don't give you drugs first.
Personally, the idea of someone scrubbing that mess with a nylon bristle brush makes me cringe...
If you have a wound that's not healing, you might want to consider going to see the doctor again. Also, try some Calendula Ointment (about $7 at a health food store)... does a great job of healing wounds with less scarring (because contrary to popular belief, chicks don't dig scars... )

It's beyond belief that people can't learn things unless it happens to them. Then it's real.

Denim disappears when you hit the pavement. Every exposed loop in the weave is cut, breakings it's continuing into the next loop.

Why would anyone start to rationalize using something that is just marginally better? No One knows just how much they need, No one knows ahead of time how far the slide on the pavement will be.

Ya want to be still sliding when your apparel is gone and a hole is where it used to be? And your skin and bone is grinding away?

What works has been proven, and is demo'd over and over.

Race quality leather....Period.

Leather (not man made fabric) takes abrasion.

Body armor takes impact. Use both, there are two jobs getting done.

 

[mike23w]

So you have been around BARF for a while, no doubt have read MANY posts about proper gear, and STILL ride in denim?

Sorry, no sympathy.

Now on the other hand, thank you for posting your experience. Maybe some other rider will choose to heed your warnings and not ignore them.

Give the guy a break.

Not everyone on barf is a regular and is looking for advice on anything and everything moto related.

For every conscientious barfer, there's many more that are just casual readers.

 

[sixtytwo]

So you have been around BARF for a while, no doubt have read MANY posts about proper gear, and STILL ride in denim?

Sorry, no sympathy.

Not expecting any. I kick myself in the head constantly for being dumb...

And yeah Connie, the treatment at the ER was worse than the spill. Between the scrubbing and the "no-alcohol" disinfectant spray, my leg felt like it was burning through.

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

"Sorry, no sympathy" and "Now on the other hand, thank you", kinda cancel each other and smell of hypocrisy.. to put it mildly. Besides, he didn't post to get sympathy, I bet... (and he says so in the last post)

So you have been around BARF for a while, no doubt have read MANY posts about proper gear, and STILL ride in denim?

Sorry, no sympathy.

Now on the other hand, thank you for posting your experience. Maybe some other rider will choose to heed your warnings and not ignore them.

"Gear" is a major hurdle to everyday motorcycling. The reader letter to "CycleWorld" which said .. 'when are you going to post more stories about small capacity scooters, the last serious motorcycles remaining' may have been more right than you think

 

[davester]

I too learned about jeans the hard way. Ripped jeans, scarred knee, leather jacket didnt have a scratch. I try to wear my knee armor all the time when I ride in jeans now. For anyone looking out there, Icon makes some knee/shin armor thats low profile enough to fit under most jeans. I tried the A*, but the set I had was a big pain in the ass trying to fit under jeans, even loose jeans like the ones I wear.

 

[MSFIT]

There is no valid reason that anyone riding doesn't have the ability to get protective gear.

Overpants (the preferably zip into your jacket)

Knee/Shin Gaurds under jeans(this doesn't help your hip/torso/buttox/belly/male parts when the jeans rip)

 

[Lester Green]

Because armor on your knees somehow saves you when you slide on your back/ass?

how does it fair when you are cliff jumping?

 

[imurdaddy415]

how does it fair when you are cliff jumping?

 

[NorCalBusa]

Equal opportunity;

 

[Audacious Nick]

how does it fair when you are cliff jumping?

No clue, I've never been cliff jumping.

 

[blackrat]

this thread inspired me to finally get off my ass and hit up the d-store today to pick up a replacement for my laid to rest previous pair of overpants.arty

 

[Gixxergirl1000]

Probably a lot better.

A lot of people refer to the testing done by Cycle Magazine about twenty years ago in an article called "Abrasion Testing: Torn in the USA". Here's a copy of the article: http://tank.aerostich.com/pdf/TornInTheUSA09-1998.pdf

Note it doesn't include Kevlar-reinforced denim and that the Kevlar fabric used then is probably different from what's being produced now, but I expect everything else is about the same.

--

This is a data summary I pulled off another web site, but I didn't verify the numbers are the same as what's in the article:

Drag Test

"For the Drag Test, samples were stitched to a bag that held a 75-pound
sandbag inside a milk crate, then dragged behind a pickup truck..."

3' 10" New, 100% Cotton Denim Jeans
3' 10" Senior Balistic Nylon
4' 3" Leather, Lightweight, Nude Finish, 2.25 oz/sq. ft.
4' 4" Leather, Fashion Weight, 1.75 oz/sq ft.
4' 5" Two-year-old 100% Cotton Denim Jeans
18' 3" Cordura Nylon Type 440
22' 1" Kevlar 29 Aramid Fiber, Style 713
86' 0" Leather, Competition Weight, 3 oz/sq. ft.


Taber Test

"For the Taber Test, the specimen was mounted on a rotating platform and
scuffed by two rubber-emery grinding wheels." The numbers represent the
number of revolutions until the fabric totally fails. A vacuum clears
debris."

168 Two-year-old 100% Cotton Denim Jeans
225 New 100% Cotton Denim Jeans
506 Kevlar 29 Aramid Fiber, Style 713
559 Cordura Nylon, Type 440
564 Leather, Lightweight, Nude Finish, 2.25 oz./sq. ft.
750 Leather, Fashion Weight, 1.75 oz./sq. ft.
817 Senior Ballistic Nylon
2600 Leather, Competition Weight, 3 oz./sq. ft.

What a HUGE difference between leather and fabric... 4-1/2 feet vs. 86 feet??? seriously- LEATHER FTMFW

It's beyond belief that people can't learn things unless it happens to them. Then it's real.

Denim disappears when you hit the pavement. Every exposed loop in the weave is cut, breakings it's continuing into the next loop.

Why would anyone start to rationalize using something that is just marginally better? No One knows just how much they need, No one knows ahead of time how far the slide on the pavement will be.

Ya want to be still sliding when your apparel is gone and a hole is where it used to be? And your skin and bone is grinding away?

What works has been proven, and is demo'd over and over.

Race quality leather....Period.

Leather (not man made fabric) takes abrasion.

Body armor takes impact. Use both, there are two jobs getting done.

Absolutely! And realistically, the reason they start rationalizing is because they truly believe it can't/won't happen to them. I'd much rather take the boy scout approach- "be prepared".
Like Yana always says, I'd rather sweat than bleed.

Not expecting any. I kick myself in the head constantly for being dumb...

And yeah Connie, the treatment at the ER was worse than the spill. Between the scrubbing and the "no-alcohol" disinfectant spray, my leg felt like it was burning through.

Sorry you had to go through the "debriding" experience... the "Home Debridement Kit" that I have for the 1Rider booth reaches a lot of people. I wish you could have been one of them.
What, if anything, have you learned from the experience? What are you doing differently?

 

[lionserpent]

I remember getting road rash over and over due to skateboarding accidents in high school. My jeans wouldn't last at all, and most of those accidents were under 20mph. I can't imagine how bad it would be to hit the pavement at highway speeds!

Most of the riders that I see in San Francisco are wearing jeans. Sure, it's convenient, but wearing a pair of textile overpants adds a huge amount of protection. Slipping into textiles doesn't take much time at all.

I really appreciate the OP bringing up this topic. It's been brought up time and again, but I don't think we're It's important to get the message out about proper gear regardless of how many times it has to be done.


Edit - with my attitude, I should start hanging out in the 1Rider forum.

 

[Jasepaste]

Realistically, I'm not going to put on ALL my gear every time, and just wear my helmet, jacket, boots,and gloves.

I have a few pairs of thick Levi's for riding. When I got in my accident, I had pretty bad road rash on my knees. I ended up taking my jeans home which the emt's cutoff. Surprisingly, my jeans didn't rip or shred at all. All my skin was still chilling there on the material

 

[Gixxergirl1000]

Realistically, I'm not going to put on ALL my gear every time, and just wear my helmet, jacket, boots,and gloves.

I have a few pairs of thick Levi's for riding. When I got in my accident, I had pretty bad road rash on my knees. I ended up taking my jeans home which the emt's cutoff. Surprisingly, my jeans didn't rip or shred at all. All my skin was still chilling there on the material

Hmm. Then you might want to re-think referring to yourself as "the Steven Hawking of Moto".

 

[loudninja]

has anybody ever tried out the duluth "firehose" pants and/or carhartt Dungarees? theres a review of the latter on webbikeworld btw.

 

[Bear_San]

Anyone have a recommendation for some textile pants that just go over whatever I'm already wearing? I want to have something I can jump in and out of so I can always have proper gear but not have to actually change clothes. Like when I go to work, or just go to the store.

 

[mosquito]

I like the Fieldsheer over-pants I have. Can't compare them with anything else though (from lack of experience).

 

[nweaver]

I've witnessed denim ripping in a 2mph FTLC low-side.

Aerostich or leathers. Period.

Roadrash does not kill you. It just make you pray for death.

 

[nweaver]

Anyone have a recommendation for some textile pants that just go over whatever I'm already wearing? I want to have something I can jump in and out of so I can always have proper gear but not have to actually change clothes. Like when I go to work, or just go to the store.

You are describing the exact role for an aerostich roadcrafter.

It takes <10 seconds to put on and take off over your regular clothes, and provides high quality abrasion and impact resistance.