CE Approved leathers

Just found this which I thought was interesting. Up until now all leathers have had CE approved armour yet the suit is not CE approved. However, it seems that Arlen Ness are producing CE approved suits! Are they alone or are other manufacturers starting to do this?:

1 piece:
http://www.arlenness.com/p-3663-2009...magnesium.aspx

&

2 piece:
http://www.arlenness.com/p-4612-2009-2-piece.aspx

Or am I just so far away in Kiwi land, I missed this months ago!?

[rictus01]

there are a few others out there, but it's mainly a cost thing, so although a suit may pass the standard, it would price it out of contention within it's normal sales bracket.

I can't remember the make, but one of the first fully CE certified race suits wasn't even leather, the irony of it was you could have owned that and at the time, not been allowed to do a trackday, where a cheap leather jacket/trousers and £10 zip would be perfectly acceptable.

Cheers Mark.

[Luckypants]

That's interesting, the price seems quite good (although in Australian dollars), because like Rictus I thought CE testing / approval made these suits too expensive relative to rivals.

As a slight aside, can a suit be CE approved without a back protector? Ad. says that needs purchasing separately.

[yorkie_chris]

I think the CE approval is for abrasion and burst resistance, but I'm not sure.

Halvarssons have been making them up to standard for ages and I don't think they come with a back protector.

Originally Posted by Luckypants

That's interesting, the price seems quite good (although in Australian dollars), because like Rictus I thought CE testing / approval made these suits too expensive relative to rivals.

As a slight aside, can a suit be CE approved without a back protector? Ad. says that needs purchasing separately.

Actually they are in US dollars, so price-wise aren't much more if any than the competition.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

I think the CE approval is for abrasion and burst resistance, but I'm not sure.

Halvarssons have been making them up to standard for ages and I don't think they come with a back protector.

I didn't think Halvassons made 1pc/2pc leathers - just textiles? I know they made CE approved gloves, but that was it?

I just thought it was interesting that after years of just the armour being CE approved, now the suits are just starting to bear the mark! If many manufacturers follow suit (no pun intended) then surely it is better for us? Or is it just a case were many of the non-CE approved suits on the market today would pass if they were put through testing but the manufacturers can't justify spending the extra (like Rictus says) and becoming too expensive compared to their rivals?

I tried Kangaroo skin leather gloves once but my hands kept jumping off the bars!

Originally Posted by rictus01

there are a few others out there, but it's mainly a cost thing, so although a suit may pass the standard, it would price it out of contention within it's normal sales bracket.

I can't remember the make, but one of the first fully CE certified race suits wasn't even leather, the irony of it was you could have owned that and at the time, not been allowed to do a trackday, where a cheap leather jacket/trousers and £10 zip would be perfectly acceptable.

Cheers Mark.

The first CE approved textile garment was the Halvarson's Safety jacket and trousers combination. I think you might be thinking of the 'Kevlar' race suits produced by GTS, and they've never been CE approved. You wouldn't ever see me wearing one either, having seen what happens to them when they're crashed in. They are about 80% Lycra and 20% other materials including Kevlar. They melt to your skin when you slide.

Scott, MJK, old-style BKS, Crowtree, Hideout and most of the European made to measure manufacturers make CE approved leathers. I wouldn't touch anything with a BKS badge since they were bought up by Frank Thomas though. The quality of product has gone right down the toilet, it's just rebadged Frank Thomas made in Far East sweatshops crap nowadays.

You won't find anything made by Dainese or AlpineStars with full CE approval - that says more about the poor quality of their products than I ever could.