Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Hi everyone --

New rider here, looking at getting some pants but I am not interested in leather, at all.

I have found things like Lowdown jeans (Shift brand) etc. but am not sure if they are actually worthwhile or if they are just plain denim? I obviously want something that will work similar to textile, etc. Otherwise, why not just wear jeans?

Anyway, just looking for clarification of how strong these types of materials are before I order anything.

Thanks!

Check out Draggin' Jeans - they've got a Kevlar lining in them for much better protection.
http://www.dragginjeans.net/index - that's the original Australian site - bigger selection. In the US, it's kinda limited http://www.dragginjeans.com/.

I think the Lodown jeans have Kevlar also. There's also several other brands besides Draggin and Lodown.

I don't use these kinds of pants, but this what I've heard/learned: they have Kevlar in the knees and butt, but unlike overpants they have no armor. So they'll protect you against abrasion in certain areas, but they won't cushion your joints from impact. Some people find them hot in warm weather. They're better than plain ordinary jeans, but inferior to overpants or leathers.

I usually wear overpants with armor but sometimes I will wear my armor-less but Aramid enhanced Icon Super Duty pants, and I will wear my Fox knee armor underneath.

I have 2 pairs of draggin jeans and joe rocket textile overpants - the jeans came with some knee and hip armor attached by velcro. I sewed them in - instead, and i unfortunately tried out the hip armor.

hip helped a bit in the low speed crash - bruises only. kevlar did fantastic. EMS had a hard time cutting through them to work on my leg. I was wearing timberland boots with steel shank and ankle padding, but wasn't enough - the only thing that would have prevented my leg and ankle breaks were the race boots - and they might have just translated the injury higher up.

My gloves and jacket did their jobs too - was wearing mesh with armor - held up fine - elbow, shoulder and back armor spread the impact out so it was only bruising and no breaks upper body.

that's my nickel

I got one word for you

Blood poisoning.

Normal jeans have a loose weave that will tear and burst on impact leaving your skin open to abrasion. Not only do you have to suffer the pain of getting that stuff scrubbed out but the roasties are difficult to treat and septicemia can set in causing major complications. Ballistic nylon and tight weave cordura are the best.

I've got a few pair of riding jeans...Australian Draggin camos, Shift jeans, and Icon Superduty. I went down at low speed in a pair of Icons and they held up well, but it was very low speed. The AU Draggin jeans have really good Kevlar coverage (better, I think, than the US version) and are very comfortable, but the Shift jeans have material over the Kevlar, which might help avoid abrasion even better (hope to never test this, though...)

They're all better than regular jeans, but I doubt they're as good as my Olympia Airglide pants...

Thanks a million for the reply guys. You gave me some good starting leads...

I know one guy off another forum who had a bike vs deer at 50mph and was wearing the icon jeans. The jeans did their job and he was only bruised but not road rashed on his legs other than a tiny bit of minor rash at the edge of the coverage areas. His worst injury from that crash was some rash on his lower back where his jacket rode up.

I've used the joe rocket jeans before myself, they were plenty comfy (if a little warm on hot days). Never had to test their crash worthiness thankfully.

I think the bottom line is that riding jeans are more protection than regular jeans, but less than ballistic riding pants. So it just depends on how willing you are to take some additional risk for comfort.

Personally, I almost always wear riding jeans or cargo pants, or logger jeans when the temperature is above 85. I find even mesh ballistic pants unbearable.