Gear that survived, failed, blew up, protected you, etc. etc.

[Buckethead]

Ran wide on a sweeping left-hand turn on a 2-lane back road this last weekend. Bike went into the ditch at, best guess, 55-60. Bike hit the sandy ditch, I bounced along the pavement. Full write up is posted in NEMHA. Short write up is in Crash Analysis.

I was wearing all my gear, specifically a Tour Master Coaster II jacket, Cortech Rider Blues Jeans, Bates Composite Safety-toe boots, Olympia gauntlets, and a Sparx S-07 helmet.

Landed squarely on my left side (shoulder and hip at ~ the same time) and log rolled for 20 yards or so on solid pavement.

The pants:



The damage to the pants:



Left side of the jacket (including failed seam on back vent):



Hole in left shoulder:



Left shoulder pad:



Its hard to tell, but theres some damage to the shoulder pad itself.

I hit the pavement at speed. I walked away with a sore shoulder, a bruise on my left hip, and a scrape on my right knee the size of a nickel. I was extremely lucky. If I hadn't been wearing my jacket and helmet, I wouldn't be able to type this. The helmet only has minor scrapes on it, but they're on the chin/visor and the visor/brow.

The jeans did better than I was expecting. They're a VERY heavy denim material and if I hadn't had my cell phone and a wrist watch in my left pocket, I'm sure they'd have come out in tact. I was shopping for leathers before this accident, and I'm continuing to do so, but the Cortech Rider Blues are an acceptable stop-gap. Just not this pair anymore. I had the knee pads out and given where they fit on me, I'm not sure they'd have helped me any. My next pair of dedicated riding pants will have the knee pads firmly fixed in place on the outside of the knees.

I've already ordered another of the same jacket. It stood up wonderfully. The armor was in the right places and it stayed where it needed to be.

[triangleforge]

Obsessed -- what failed on the seam of your jacket - was it the seam or the vent zipper itself?

[Buckethead]

Seam. The zipper is still intact.

[scoobydoo]

Collision with deer while riding somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 mph.  Both the deer and the bike perished in this collision.  I did quite a bit of rag-dolling down hill on a central Texas country road.  No broken bones - just bruising and abrasions.

Lid was a scorpion full-face.  Don't remember the model, but it was one of the higher end models from scorpion that the BMW shop was selling.  It did it's job very well - the only thing that failed on the helmet was the face shield hinge on one side broke.  Very happy with this helmet - I would buy another.

Jacket: Fieldshear canvas jacket with armor.  Did OK, but not great.  This jacket has a removable inner liner.  I had the liner removed for the summer, so it did not really fit as snug as it should.  Because of this, the armor on the left elbow rolled and the canvas material failed so I had some abrasions on my elbow.  Other than that, I think it held up OK, until the EMT cut it off of me.

Gloves:  Olympia gel something-or-other.  Failed.  Right glove had holes in it after the accident and eventually came off during the rolling and flipping.  Left hand fared OK, though.  These were the worst gloves I have ever worn.

Boots:  Was wearing my hunting boots - they did really well and are still functional.  I did have to buy new laces, though.

Pants:  Yea, so admission here - I was wearing Levi's and can confirm as all of you know, they do not make very good riding pants at all. Luckily only one failure - the left knee.  Still have the scars and sensitive skin to show for it - and this happened way back in September.

[Big Troubled Bear]

Mars helmets do not keep up well to being dragged across the tar

[ntnunk]

Myself and another rider came through a blind, decreasing radius right hander and had an encounter with a 1-ton pickup heading in the other direction.  Neither of us remember the crash but evidence indicates that we both struck the truck at an oblique angle and bounced off.  The best estimate is that the collision happened at about 40 mph.

I was wearing a Arai RX7 Corsair, a Teknic textile jacket (I don't remember the model), Alpinestars GP-style gloves, Draggin' Jeans, and Alpinestars S-MX boots.

• The Arai lid did a stand-up job.  According to the driver of the truck my head took out his driver's side rearview mirror and side window.  I was unconscious for several minutes but woke up lucid (well, as lucid as could be expected given that I was in shock) and without so much as a headache.
• The Teknic jacket also held up well.  It had some road scuffing on it but I had none on me.  The only caveat to the jacket's performance is that I sustained about a 3-inch gash on the outside of my left forearm.  The gash was apparently caused by compression when I hit the truck because the jacket wasn't pierced or cut in any way.  I would have thought the elbow armor would have prevented this kind of injury, but it didn't.  I don't know if the sleeve twisted, or if the armor was just in a different place.  All in all, I'd rate the jacket's performance pretty highly even with this.
• The Alpinestars boots and gloves were great.  I would challenge anyone to even tell that the gloves had been in a crash.  The boots took some scuffing, nothing serious, and the left toe-slider was halfway popped off.   Both boots and gloves remain serviceable.
• The Draggin' jeans, although covering the part of me that got hurt the worst, I can only rate as doing a more than adequate job.  The truth is that the jeans are for abrasion protection and nothing else.  From that standpoint they did great.  I suffered no road rash at all.  My knee wound is thought to have come from my knee clipping the leading edge of the truck bed as I bounced off and when past.  The jeans have Kevlar right in the spot where my knee impacted the truck, but expecting denim and Kevlar to resist that kind of impact is probably a bit much. 

All in all, I'd unhesitatingly buy gear from any of these manufacturers again.

[Ducatista]

Throttle locked open at the top of 4th gear on an SV650 heading into a series of downhill sweepers on VIR North/Full.  Ewwwww.... Tucked the front really hard and bike landed on top of me before I started my tumble.

Lid: Scorpion EXO-400

Barely touched except the chin bar, which only had superficial damage.  There is nothing that was compromised in the structural integrity and it passed tech with a new face shield.  No noggin damage.

Gloves: Joe Rocket 5.0 (second crash)

They held up like champs.  No structural damage.  My hands slapped the asphalt pretty hard and I think my right hand got smooshed under the bike.  I jammed my left pinky tip first into the asphalt, so it is bruised, and I have some bruising on the back of my right hand.  Nothing serious.  Just uncomfortable.

Boots: Sidi Vertigo Corsas (first crash)

Only scuffing, and that was a hard crash.  No foot discomfort at all.  No bruising.  These boots rock my socks.

Leathers: Alpinestars Stella Julie (second track day, first crash)

Only scuffing.  Not a stitch was torn, even on the logos.  My right leg ended up underneath the bike and I took a hit to the right knee that is bruising up nicely, but nothing permanent or broken.  I took a clipon bar to the abdomen, and that left a dent in the leathers and the bruise underneath is ... rather uncomfortable.  I don't have any significant internal injuries, but I do have some internal bruising.  No suit will protect you from a jab like that, though.  Overall, I'm very pleased with these leathers and how well they crashed.

[Henecton]

I was riding Sunday(35-40mph) and was hit by a horse trailer that crossed the centerline, no kidding!

Joe Rocket Phoenix 4.0 jacket: Worked for the most part but shoulder area actually wore threw from abrasion. poadding in elbow probably saved my arm from serious injury.

Fieldsheer Phoslite pants: No road rash on body but pants wore through in several areas. Knee armor saved my knees from serious injury.

Z1R Helmet: Shield popped off but the noodle was protected

Diadora Avenue boots: Left toe of boot failed. Probably saved my toes but boot actually was torn across the whole top to the sole.

Joe Rocket leather gloves(not sure of model): They are gauntlet gloves and were the only piece of gear that was not destroyed.

[nllm_oo_mlln]

one week later still upset about the bike and riding season. looking at this thread I realize without good gear things coulda been much worse

low speed high side: turned onto a road mid curve that was banked so I had to enter drop in as perpendicular as possible until I got enough speed to lean it.  let off the clutch twice to violent zig zaging-- the second time I lost the clutch and the rear hooked up.  I think my rear spun up on the really fine gravel at the edge of the road.  I didn't fly but it was pretty violent. 

Shark RSX Flag.  impact was to the chin bar minor scuffage at the peak and some dental impressions to the inside.  I got a bloody nose and a fat lip.  no scratches or scuffage anywhere else.  no busted teeth or cuts so it did it's job. visor stayed on as well as the whole lid

Teknic Lightning gloves.  a few hours later I noticed my whole hand was a little swelled and achy. aside from the lid all my gear checked out.  went back to the right glove and and there was some minor indentions across the CF knuckle armor.  I never really liked that feature before-- just thought it was for show and too blingy for my taste. I took an asprin and the swelling went down no issues with my hand at all and the gloves are good enough to ride in some more.  I think these did a great job considering my handle bar was bent to a 90 degree angle and the brake lever is bent. I think it took quite an impact but not sure on what since there was no scuffs just indents (and blingy as ever)

alpinestar smx3 boots.  no issues with my feet but I suspect the a*'s did their modest thing because the right rearset is sheered and the peg is busted

Dainese P.103 Pelle Leather Pants.  pants look fine with no (new) scuffage so I think the pucks took the impact because I got a little knot on the upper side of my knee and noticed it hurt a little when I climbed stairs for a few days.  also got some dull hip pain-- both are gone. 

Teknic Chicane Jacket:  didn't even need it from what I can tell but this is one of the few things most riders agree to wear-- go figure.

 looking back I realize I woulda still been in pain possibly with some broken bones.  I slowsided once in some cheap non-moto gloves and levis and felt it for a few weeks-- this was a notch or two worse and I was fine that afternoon.  hell I rode 30 miles home right after.

[Howie]

Sure sounds like you would have been in big trouble without gear.  Glad you are pretty much OK.

[Willwork4aMonster]

A couple of months ago I had a women pull into a driveway right in front of me, with no warning, I went down trying to avoid her and other on coming traffic.

I remember most of the accident, with the exception of the very end.  I woke up about 5 minutes after impact and was extremely lucky.  Banged my head pretty good (concussion and vertigo)!

I was wearing an Alpine Star jacket that only had scuff marks on the rubber icons attached to the leather; leather had minor scrapes, barely noticeable.

Had a pair of combat type boots on, they were old and beat, can’t actually tell if they sustained any damage.

Small rip in jeans, banished to garage duty and will spend the remainder of there useful life working around the house.

Gloves… not sure what brand, but they had no damage either.

Helmet was a KBC DRT-X Squadron (riding a supermoto at the time)… well anyways here are the photos of what she went through….. R.I.P.!

http://www.rebelpacket.net/gallery/Helmet

[Porsche Monkey]

That's a pretty nasty crack on that helmet. Glad your okay.

[Monster Dave]

Here's my KBC helmet that saved my face from being devastated in a relativly minor accident about 8 months ago. If I had to estimate, I'd say that 90% of the impact at 30mph was absorbed by my helmet.



My Frank Thomas jacket sustained no damage what-so-ever, my kneee was bruised and the jeans that I was wearing ripped a hole in one knee and gave me the 8 year old, skinned my knee, scar the size of a quarter.

I had a stiff neck for a few days but all in all, I walked away from an accident relativly unscathed. My Monster sustained actually only minor cosmetic damage that's been all fixed. All's great now!

Remember: ALWAYS WEAR A FULL FACE HELMET!!!!

I guess I'm yet another rider to contribute to the standard impact zone on a helmet:

[peanut_man]

I'm making a right turn while the stupid kid behind me thought I'm making a left turn (my right turn signal was on!).  He tried to pass me on the right as I initiate my turn.  Very bad combo.  I'm not sure what hit what, but I did put a good dent on the whole side of his Hyndai Sonata.  Here are my hardware damages, all of which did a good job at protecting me.

My Scorpion EXO-1000 helmet.  Honestly awesome.  I did not feel a thing w/ my head.



Joe Rocket short gloves, for got the model, took some scrape.  My hands were ok, slightly sore:



I also had on a JR mesh jacket.  There's a small hole on the right arm, but overall it worked as it should, I got no problem with it.  Don't have pic tho.  I also have on  ankle-high leather shoes that's not motorcycling specific, but did ok job of protecting my feet.

[grandpa nate]

The pic of my helmet is the only pics of my gear from my last wreck.  Considering 50 mph head first into a curb and I'm vertical says enough about the bran bucket. What you can't see in the pic is the 3" smash point were my head smacked into the curb. My Cortech jacket worked were it stayed and my SIDI boots worked great.  Too bad the paramedics cut my boots off (i was out cold so i couldn't stop em even if i wanted to). 

Lucky for me i had to have 3 pins put in my thumb...that was when the doc scrubbed the Dickies outta my knees.

Proper gear rules.