Paging Paul Varnsverry

How badly am I likely to suffer if I bin it wearing a Dainese CE
armoured string vest[1] without anything over the top, compared to
wearing decent quality leathers? I presume the impact protection would
be comparable, but have no idea how it would stand up to a bit of
sliding, or if it would just explode on impact.

[1] One of those things with built in back, chest, shoulder & elbow
protectors.

 

I can't believe with nothing on top, one of those would last 20ms
against tarmac.

Sure, the armour might take the initial impact, but surely it's going to
move the moment you start to slide. or worse, the 'vest' shreds, leaving
the armour near the impact point and you 50 yards down the road looking
like you've been skinned.

BICBW-PA, ISTBC.

 

I don't think it'd move much - it's a very snug fit. The vest would
indeed shred in an instant if it touched the tarmac though.

 

Getting killed twice would have been more impressive
--
Alex

Hermes: "We can't afford that! Especially not Zoidberg!"
Zoidberg: "They took away my credit cards!"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk
www.sffh.co.uk
www.ebayfaq.co.uk

 

Taking it steady isn't an option when you're in a group of 15 people,
you don't know where the hotel you're heading for is, & you're doing
300+ miles a day.

My leathers are very well perforated so it's ok as long as we're
moving, but waiting at junctions to re-group & crawling through
built-up areas was bad enough last year :-/

 

Ahh, bad form, I'd seen PK posting and thought it would be track stuff,
but of course, he's away somewhere soon.... my bad.

 

300 miles a day can be done taking it steady, that's not even 4.5 hours
riding at a steady 70.

500 a day is more like hard work.

 

300 miles a day is not really a big deal

I went out for a ride on Tuesday and did 350 no problem

I agree 500 is hard work, cos I've done that too

 

Surely the Taste Police would beat you like a gong for poncing around in
public dressed like that?

 

You can do it, but it kinda defeats the object of spending a week on
relatively traffic & cop-free roads in the first place. If we wanted to
take it steady we'd spend the week here instead & save a fortune.

 

Yebbut we're talking alpine & pyrennean passes here, with stops to take
in the scenery, & a group of 15 people which naturally strings out
leading to regular stops of a few minutes at every junction. Plus we
don't /want/ to take it steady - that's one of the main reasons for
heading away from this gatso & traffic clogged isle in the first place.

 

This is very true - a t-shirt over the top would be mandatory.

 

Bear scribbled:

ROFLMAO! Very appropriate sig.

 

Agreed. That's just Cheltenham and back which I do on back roads.

 

Bear proposed

When I was riding in SA and Mozambique last year, I didn't do a single
days riding without wearing full gear, and don't ask me if it was hot.
Just made sure I drank enough water and had a shower first thing
wherever I arrived. It was a holiday I wanted to enjoy, Which for me
included not having to worry what would happen if I had a slight tumble.

 

Bear proposed

Well, the thing is, I didn't worry there either, because I was happy
with what I was wearing [1]. I've done the t-shirt, shorts and
flip-flop thing in Greece and didn't think much about it, though that's
a few years ago. Maybe my attitude has changed slightly.

[1] and you really don't want to have any medical problems, however
minor, in central Mozambique.

 

Standard air textured nylon lasts between 0.45 and 0.65 seconds in the
EN 13595-2 impact abrasion test. I don't have any data on the fishnet
type fabrics as a "stand alone" layer, because any testing that has
been done on this type of material has been with it forming part of a
layered or laminated construction (e.g. Scott Leathers "New Road
Airflow" jacket, as worn by the Metropolitan Police, and Halvarssons
Safety suit), but I suspect the relatively thin strands of yarn holding
all the holes together are going to be cut and abraded through ratehr
quickly.

Such garments should really be restricted to use for what they are -
undersuits designed to carry impact protection. They are not
substitutes for an abrasion and cut-resistant garment.

 

And I have the tear and burst strength data to back you up. ;-)

 

They are apparently all manufactured in the same way as any other
textile garment, and simply do no stand up to the impact abrasion and
impact cut tests. In normal textile garments, there is a twist to the
yarn. If this twist completes a full rotation in, for the sake of
illustration, 5 cm, then a 5 cm long abrasion will have damaged every
fibre making up that yarn and every yarn making up the weave.
Inevitably, the integrity of the fabric is compromised.

There are three ways to make a protective textile garment:

1. Use an extremely heavy duty fabric - like that used in the heavier,
"worldproof" luggage - to provide a single layer solution. Relatively
inflexible, though, and only used to date in the garments issued to
Pizza Hut delivery riders.

2. The layered solution, as used in the Scott Leathers jackets worn by
the Metropolitan Police and the jacket which is being developed by BKS.
A sacrificial outer layer, made from the same material as all other
textile jackets, is backed up by a structurally strong layer of
geotextile.

3. The "laminated" solution; featuring a three-dimensional weave
structure, patented and as used in the Halvarssons Safety suit.

I am informed that one manufacturer has been lobbying for the
requirements of the European Standards to be watered down, because they
cannot produce a textile garment which passes. Meanwhile, small British
companies have simply got on a developed conforming garments, and a
little-known Swedish company has thought "out of the box" and come up
with something truly inspirational and innovative.