mesh vs textile vs leather

[IanfromMA]

Hey everybody...i just had a few quick questions as i'm lookin to get some gear and a bike soon.

I'm just wondering what i should go for with a jacket. I've tried on a few and I really like the mesh joe rocket jackets, but i'm curious as to how much protection they actually offer.

This will be my first bike so i'm not expecting to be going too fast for awhile. I figure any fall I encounter will probably be at 5 mph :p

I think leather is a bit out of my price range...so would it be wise to get a mesh jacket? or should i stick with textile?

[IanfromMA]

where the heck did i get 132 posts from

i haven't been on here in ages. maybe i'll actually buy a bike this time

[joberly]

Check out fieldsheer... they have a little higher rep than JR from my understanding... and it held up well in my crash They aren't super expensive either.

[richw]

I have one for super hot days

I consider it one step above a T shirt.

If your a newbie best leather with armor, then textile with armor

[FireFly]

I think I saw a thread about the Joe Rocket mesh jacket on here a while back. I got one and its got good padding but the Astars are cooler. hehe.
From what I remember , the Joe Rocket jacket is pretty good at saving you from getting ripped up BUT, it works once. It'll protect you but will be destroyed in the process if you were to unfortunately take a decent spill. kind of like a crumple zone on a car, in that its designed to suffer the damage of the impact.. I have NO experience with the protective quality of this jacket. In other words, Wait for others to post & do more research on mesh jackets. Hope that helps

[skiierx]

I think I get to be the one that says....Dress for the crash!!!

You should keep your eyes peeled on the classifieds as well as Ebay and buy a leather or good textile for your first jacket. Then build up from there. I have a Vanson leather jacket and wear it on the warmest days...yes I do sweat but at least I am protected.

[JeffL]

Get leather. Save up your allowance for more than 2 weeks and get a jacket, gloves and helmet at the very least.

Or if you live close enough, just ride to the NH border, pull over, take off your helmet, and ride in sandals, shorts and maybe a tank top.

I went down at 35mph in a lowside my A* TZ-1 and theres a scuff about the size of a quarter on the front by the pocket, and a few thin marks that look smudges on the sleeve.

Thats it. I was also wearing A* GP-plus gloves, and a hole got torn in one, and the armor on the knuckles took some rash, and my leather pants got scuffed up, but I got up and rode off with just a sore wrist and sore ribs. Not a mark on me.

[chr|s sedition]

Mesh isnt much more than the "illusion of saftey" (Tyler Durden, Fight Club). At the very least, get thick textile. Leather, is the best you can get however.

[OreoGaborio]

Textile or perfed leather for me. I've worn my perf leather jacket in weather that was pushing 100 degrees. granted I was sweatin my balls off, but like Jamie said... Dress for the crash.

[Currently]

If you do get mesh, make sure you never have bare skin underneath it. Always wear a long sleeve shirt under it.

Nylon and polyester melt during long slides on smooth hot top.
This melted fabric has an incredible affinity for bare skin and it usually takes a trip to the emergency room to separate the two.

It is better than road rash, but just as painful.

Low speed dumps and non sliding types of dumps, it is only as good as the quality of the armor in them. I upgraded the armor in mine for an additonal cost.

I did get a perfed leather jacket for Xmas and can't wait to see how comfortable it is in hot weather.

[akira700]

If you wait for a Vanson open house you can get some clearance jackets (leather) for not all that much.

My woman friend bought a leather/canvas jacket, Sante Fe from them that's pretty smart looking and was like $89 !

A perf. leather jacket will cost you more. But will be cooler. And for really really hot days mesh will be a neccessity. I look at this way. Mesh is better than nothing.

[cexley]

I went down with a mesh jacket.
I did it's job, OK...Just OK
The wrist cuffs came undone and the sleeve road up.
Not good.
If you get a mesh jacket, at least get the ones with
leather arms. I have been riding with Perf Leather ever since
the accident. Not nearly as cool, but the road rash scars on my forarm aren't that cool either.

[Currently]

I agree with you, mesh is better than nothing.
Consider mesh disposible after one get off.

Perf leather is the best.

I have both.
If it is a hundred degrees out and the humidity is high,
I am going to wear mesh if I decide to ride.
Actually any temp over 90F is when I decide to wear mesh.
I have a bit more trouble with dehydration than most folks
so I have to be careful with what I wear.

Something is better than nothing.
At least I upgraded the armor to CE standards instead of the
cheap butt foam that was in there already.

[KB]

Get Leather cow or kangaroo. Either way you want some sort of second skin that came from some dead animal on you.

I like a moron went out for the old "I'm just going round the block" ride in a t-shirt and shorts and ended up in the hospital for 2 days with 2nd degree burns on about 60 percent of my body and a collapsed lung. If only I had put on some second skin. Oh well I have some cool scars now!! Yes I am a moron.

Perforated leather is what you need.

VANSON and MotoGp are the way to go. MotoGp has this Kangaroo skin shit that is half the weight of leather but just as tough. Pretty impressive shit that kangaroo.

Throw some shrimp on the barbie!

KB

[Currently]

I got MotoGP leather/textile that I got from Plaistow Powersports when I bought my bike. I took a dump last fall and I am impressed with the quality of the armor.

The Grid pants took a wicked beating and the only thing I had to show was a quarter sized bruise from the zipper handle from the right front pocket sticking straight out and punching down on my skin. It tore off.

The knees were really banged up and scuffed but I had no pain or bruising there. My only pain was from the collar bone joints from banging the shoulder on the pavement. It was months before that went away.

MotoGP is really good stuff!

[neuthunder]

i had a joe rocket ballistic 4.0... textile with padding for my crash and it did the job, only ended up with a quarter size bruise on my forearm.... as for my hip with only jeans, that's another story

[SQUIZZ636]

I got MotoGP leather/textile that I got from Plaistow Powersports when I bought my bike. I took a dump last fall and I am impressed with the quality of the armor.

The grid jacket is a really good jacket, it offers all the protection of a leather but with out all the weight. They are priced pretty good too.

lis

[IanfromMA]

Originally posted by rmbbikes
Pretty impressive shit that kangaroo.

Throw some shrimp on the barbie!

KB

well i work at outback steakhouse, so it would certainly suit me well!

[benVFR]

Skip the Mesh & the Leather and get a decent textile suit.

Mesh is the worst. Not only is it the least protective we don't exactly live in Texas or Florida. You're only going to be comfortable in Mesh a tiny portion of the year. Even in the dead of the summer on a hot day, if you ride out during the day and come back at night you may end up very cold at night.

We also have so much rain and unpredictable weather that textile lets you ride on the most days without the hassle of worrying about raingear or getting stuck out in bad weather.

Get the textile first for street riding, get the leather suit second for track days, and then get the mesh suit last for that small % of the time when it's the right gear. (Pretty much just summer commutes and short rides around town at low speed)

[ultraTwist]

If you have to get mesh, ( I have the original JR Pheonix ) make sure it's nylon and not poly. The original JR and quite a few of the mesh jackets on the market today are made of poly, stay away from that, it's not tough stuff. Once you look at nylon, make sure it's high quality, preferably Cordora made by Dupont. That stuff really will be able to handle a slide. Now I never crashed in any of my textile jackets, but I do have two big crashes in leather, one at 135. I walked away from both without a scratch or even a bruise which I attribute to the fact the leather keeps the crash pads in place during a slide. My textiles are much looser and I've always wondered if they would hold the pads properly.

So let me say this, if you are looking at say $150 textile, why not just throw in the extra $100 and get the TZ-1 or some other equivalent jacket, from say JR, MotoGP, Shift, Icon, they all are offering sub $300 dollar leather jackets of what the marketing people would call the high end of mid-line interms of quality. They all have venting and removable vests that extend the usefulness. Fieldsheet sucks. I was tricked into buying both a jacket a pants, and they both failed without even crashing.

[AndyC]

http://www.newenough.com/icon_timax_...acket_page.htm

I was thinking about getting one. Though the new model TiMax 2 is out so i'm not sure but at $109 that's pretty good.

Andy

Don't know your size but check this site out too.

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...112&Division=1