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Do Motorcycle Jeans Work?

L

Lawnerd

New member
Joined
Sep 25, 2018
Location
california
Moto(s)
Ducati
Full confession and a little background. I started my riding life as a squid. A pair of Levis, a T-shirt, sneakers, and one of those ridiculous half-helmets and I was good to go. :squid

But two years ago out of the blue I had my come to Jesus moment and went full ATGATT. :teeth

But wouldn't it be great to just put on a pair of jeans and go riding? And lo and behold Anthony at Revilla is hawking these kevlar jeans on the Youtube. :wow

So I sprung for a pair of Saint and a pair of Rokker jeans. I like the fit and the ability of riding in jeans again. Now the big question.

Does anyone here have any first hand experience with these types of jeans actually saving some skin? Are these foolish hype or the real deal?
 
I've crashed several times in jeans. As long as you don't slide a long distance or hit something they do ok as long as they're heavy denim. To get into work right now I wear Wrangler work jeans. They have double denim from the mid thighs to below the knees. Not as good as armored pants but better than nothing.

Mad
 
I like the feeling of riding in jeans I do have a full suit and other pants..shitty thing about the jeans they don’t have a lot of armor unless you wear pads underneath

I still wear sneakers lol I could never find a pair of
Motorcycle boots I liked had a few pairs
And sold them..never a half face helmet
 
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Easy test.

Wear your Kevlar jeans. Then swing hammer at your knees and shins. Does it hurt?
 
mototireguy said:
Easy test.

Wear your Kevlar jeans. Then swing hammer at your knees and shins. Does it hurt?
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I tried it with and without the jeans and it hurt both times! I think i need a doctor.
 
I have some draggin riding jeans. Will wear to go to a casual brekkie with someone or perhaps a quick jaunt to work. Will not wear in the twisties or real ride.

The lack of armor and speeds expected just don't work with my moto brain.
 
budman said:
I have some draggin riding jeans. Will wear to go to a casual brekkie with someone or perhaps a quick jaunt to work. Will not wear in the twisties or real ride.

The lack of armor and speeds expected just don't work with my moto brain.
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I think this is on point. Use the right tool for the job.
The jeans have very little armor and the armor they do have is not prevented from moving around when you're sliding down the pavement. The most that the Kevlar jeans will provide is road rash protection.

There is also a reason all track providers and schools require over the ankle protection. In a crash, sneakers go flying off your feet and don't provide any more protection then a pair of bedroom slippers. Protect your feet. There are a gazillion little bones in there and trust me, break even one of them and you will feel it years later.
 
I've got some kevlar lined pants that have armor in them. I have tried three different el-cheapo ones and the fit is always the issue. I'd like to hear some real world experience with the kevlar lined jeans to know if they actually do hold up in a crash, but like Budman said, the armor is key.. One low speed crash in the city can destroy your knee where armor might have saved it.

I don't ride in regular jeans after a get-off at 75mph where they disintegrated and left me with some gnarly road rash.. That was back in the late 80's -
 
I wear kevlar lined jeans with armor when I ride more often than not. I lowsided in them once at roughly 20mph. I got away without a scratch, and I still wear those jeans. I didn't slide much, though; it was more of a roll.
 
Motoport makes them too (kevlar jeans), probably most expensive and best armored, designed to not shred in a long slide, don't know about fit.
 
I wear knee/shin guards under my jeans. They helped me avoid a painful injury when a piece of metal flipped up and hit my shin on the freeway.

Not a perfect solution, but IMHO a good compromise.
 
I have kevlar jeans but they are loose enough to put these bad boys underneath. When I get where I'm going I take them off and just wear the jeans.
 

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crash tested mine couple years ago, I think jeans were "Scorpion", with knee and hip pads. Here is an aftermath crash ~30-40mph (iirc, there still should be link in crash forum somewhere) - https://imgur.com/a/cCWKaf2 (last pick aftermath of my knee.. knee pad actually cracked from impact. I believe it saved my knee and leg)

TL;DR - yeah they work, better than just regular jeans, but obviously not as good as leather/textile with good amount of padding and armor.
 
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R3DS!X said:
I tried it with and without the jeans and it hurt both times! I think i need a doctor.
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I'm glad you did it so I don't have to:teeth

Seriously good riding pants with armor or leather for me.
 
it's nice to have padding at the knees, the impact can do as much damage as the scrap along the pavement
 
Whammy said:
I'm glad you did it so I don't have to:teeth

Seriously good riding pants with armor or leather for me.
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Agreed, I can wear anything I want to ... under my one-piece 'stich, and I can be reasonably assured of one thing, I won't be road-rashed if something happens. It takes a whopping one minute to climb into it, and zip up. Seems like a small price to pay for a ton of piece of mind.

I have a set of leathers if I want to look cool, but it's not like I can wear street clothes under them.
 
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