Ducati Monster Forum

The reason I ask is...

I went buck wild today and got myself a Dainese textile outfit (Zentex Jacket, P Drake pants) even though I promised myself NO MORE GEAR. But you've gotta understand... I DO NOT like the hot weather (the cute salesgirl sorta influenced my decision too). Yeah I know, it's not nearly as safe as leather and in case you're wondering, I've ridden in 90°+ temps too many times to count. I also know that if I want to be as safe as I can, I should be wearing... yup, leather. Which is normally what I wear every single time. I try to be ATGATT you see.

That being said, I know textile has come a long way and supposedly it can be relied upon for at least one crash - but a crash at 90mph? Prolly not. My favorite kinds of roads are 2nd/3rd gear twistys, the more technical the better... I figure that if I were to go down on these kinds of roads [insert rationalizing smiley here], I'd come out ok. Right?

More rationalizing - If I'm over heated, no matter what I'm wearing - that's not all that safe either... dehydration, heat exhaustion, etc, will effect my judgement. Entering a set of corners with bad judgement doesn't sound all that safe to me. If fact, if I recall correctly... out of all my "mistakes" - though luckily there have been few - all of them happened on a hot day when I was either already over tired from the heat (but didn't know it), way too hot for my comfort zone, and probably not seeing straight cause I was dehydrated.

Anyways... who's crashed in textile? How'd you fair? Did you lose 2 yards of skin? Are you dead? Tell me. Please!

And no Cru, this isn't like the Vanson "football jersey" I have. Cripes, give me some credit.

Yo, that Vanson jacket is the business for anything other than crashing.  [laugh]

I have a gray textile Joe Rocket.  It's about 3 years old.  I only wear it on casual rides around the neighborhood or if i want to look like I'm wearing chain male.  Never crashed in it and I don't have much faith in the abbrasion  durability of it.  Maybe newer materials are better.

(http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/51TZ0RX7XBL.gif)

On my very first real ride after buying my bike, I made the rookie mistake of losing control of the throttle and I lowsided the bike.  I was wearing a nice textile jacket from Roadgear.  The slide wore a hole through my jacket, the fleece underneath and I STILL have the scar on my elbow.  I was going maybe 15 - 20 mph.

In the jacket's defense, I slid on the "soft" nylon of the arm, not the heavy-duty ballistic stuff on the actual elbow.  But then again - when are accidents perfect?

I still wear the jacket, but I've got the "Whiskey Tango" repair of Gorrila Glue Tape on the hole 8).  You may remember this jacket from our Slop Ride in January.

So what you're saying is that I should return the stuff I bought and suffer through the heat?

No, my bad.  Forgot to finish my thought.

I think your assessment of using it for protection with the assumption that it'll hold up fine for that one crash is perfect!

The Dianese textiles are probably pretty good.  No, they will not be as good as leather if you do high speed asphalt surfing, but it all depends of your personal risk evaluation.  Safety gear hanging in the closet does no good.  I do find perfed leather works well as long as you are moving at a decent speed.

Thanks Howie. 2 of my jackets are fully perfed but even that doesn't seem to be able to cool me down... I'm still on the fence with this as I'd like to be as safe as possible but be as cool as possible too. Too bad you can't have both. I think I'll try out the textile stuff this weekend and if I don't feel comfortable with it, well then I guess somebody's gonna get a deal on a textile suit!