That Leathers V Textiles question again.

Now i know various aspects of this have been covered in other threads, but having read through 20+ threads im not really finding the answers for the questions i have.

Basically, i want to know what are the benefits of Leathers over textiles?

I have Richa Kevlar jeans with Knee armour, Various textile jackets ( Motax, Shoei, Scott leathers and Richa) all with back, shoulder and elbow protection.
And obviously Boots, gloves and lid.

If i come off the bike, what are leathers going to do protection wise that the above gear isnt going to?

Cheers in advance!

Originally Posted by Dean-J

If i come off the bike, what are leathers going to do protection wise that the above gear isnt going to?

Much better abrasion protection.

And thats the bit im just not sure on! Some places say kevlar is superior to leather abrasion wise, other tests say it is nowhere near the leathers.

I understand leathers will help a little with impact dissipation and also to keep bones/muscle/flesh in roughly the right place where jeans would simply rip apart, but fingers crossed im not looking at anything as drastic as that happening for a little while yet!

Am seriously considering buying some secondhand Leathers to wear on longer/faster rides and just use the Kevlars for "around town" use.

[mister c]

as above really.
As you may have noticed racers crash at very high speed wearing full leathers & very rarely have they worn through. I would guess that couldn't be said for textiles.
Just as an add on, Your leathers fit your body better, so dont move when you come off

[MisterTommyH]

Unless it's a major off it's likely you'll be able to keep wearing the leathers. Whereas textiles are likely to be ready for the bin in anything but a low speed off. Of course there are always exceptions and I'm sure someone will now point out that their textiles were fine after a 50mph off.

[christopher]

Originally Posted by Tommy H

Unless it's a major off it's likely you'll be able to keep wearing the leathers. Whereas textiles are likely to be ready for the bin in anything but a low speed off. Of course there are always exceptions and I'm sure someone will now point out that their textiles were fine after a 50mph off.

... hello I'm probably giving the wrong impression of me after this happened!

Anyway I came off at just under 50mph in my "cheap" Hein Gericke textiles (with armour in all of the usual places) 18 months or so back. There is a small hole in the shoulder and another in the knee, outer material damaged but nothing further. I'll happily wear them around town still, they're just not waterproof any more as the rain would seep inside the textiles.

Having come off in both textiles and leathers, apart from what's been said above I'd also add that leathers slide better whereas textiles tend to grip on the road surface and send you tumbling and rolling, it's not fun.

Personally, I'd choose leathers over textiles any day of the week.

[Bibio]

leathers every time but it depends on how they are made. leather bike gear is only as good as its stitching and design couple this with various grades of leather and some stuff can actually be worse than some textiles.

And that is probably where the price comes in... I know you cannot put a price on safety, but you can put a limit on what you can actually afford to spend!

Re Leathers sliding, is that always a good thing? i mean if textiles drag you surely your going to cover less distance, and maybe that could be a defining factor in hitting armco/trees etc?

Also think about what kind of weather you're going to be riding in, for cold wet winter commeuting textiles will keep you warmer and drier, so probably less likely to crash as you can concentrate on riding rather than the cold.

Having said that I generally only wear leather on the road, but then my riding is for fun and I don't tend to head out in the wet/cold that much, and if I do I just layer up over my leathers.

Yeah good point there Tim.

Mentioned i might be looking for leathers to a few mates earlier, and all 3 of them have leathers they will sell me, so just need to get round to trying em on and if any are good, ill have leathers and textiles/kevlars so can pick and choose as i need to