Leathers for track use

[porter_jamie]

Haven't bought leathers for decades. What is normal these days with armour. Things have moved on, at lot since the 90s.
Does everyone use separate armour as per Mx these days (you know a zip up thing with elbows and back and front protector etc) and then the leathers are just the abrasion element or do they still come with built in? Can you get it out and replace it with posh d30 or whatever stuff if you want?
I'm 5.10 with shortish 31inch legs so I seem to struggle with knees being too low and also the body being a bit short so it crushes me nuts and then the next size up the knees are even lower! Anyone had custom m2m stuff that wasn't one million dollars?

[Supermofo]

Not bought one piece leathers in a long while, but I'd imagine anything decent is gonna come with D30 or equivalent. My leather jacket from back in 2012 came with D3O stuff.

Fit is a different issue, try a big shop with a selection might help. Or Sportsbike shop do free returns or order to store so order a few and try them on. If none fit right though you might need made to measure.

[KungFooBob]

Any decent branded leathers should come with ok armour, but I always raced with an additional back protector (a forcefield one) and the optional spidi chest protector that fit in a pocket on the front, but you had to buy separately. I think they're now mandatory with the ACU.

My wife has some textile trousers with two different height pockets on the knees so you can change the knee armour location, dunno if any of the leathers have that?

I was always surprised at how affordable ARN m2m suits were, but no idea of the quality as my Spidi's always fit me fine off the peg.

[Horse]

Idle curiosity, just looked. ARN MTM currently £970

https://raceleather.co.uk/product-categ ... ult-suits/

[KungFooBob]

Idle curiosity, just looked. ARN MTM currently £970

https://raceleather.co.uk/product-categ ... ult-suits/

Yeah, they used to be a lot cheaper than that, but £970 is still a good price if they're quality. You'd pay a £800+ for a premium set of branded off the peg race leathers.

[Horse]

Idle curiosity, just looked. ARN MTM currently £970

https://raceleather.co.uk/product-categ ... ult-suits/

Yeah, they used to be a lot cheaper than that, but £970 is still a good price if they're quality. You'd pay a £800+ for a premium set of branded off the peg race leathers.

I had a chat at the Brum show. Got the impression they were keen to get 'known'. So possibly the cheaper price was to help that (if so, it's worked ).

[Mr. Dazzle]

My Crowtree MTMs were £800...errrr....I don't know how long ago actually . 15 years at least.

Still fit though

I'd have guessed MTM were way more than a grand now, obviously I was fleeced

[Mr Moofo]

I got my Hideouts 24 years go - they are made from rhino hide.
I took them back to Hideout last spring - and Kate just laughed. They are very, very heavy ( but comfortable when on) but she said race suit technology has come on so much using kangaroo etc that mine are effectively very much of a different age. She had one of the racer they make for just pick up the suit. He could believe how much it weighed.

And it cost 900 quid in 1998

[Mr. Dazzle]

Its the horn that'll really be weighing them down.

[mangocrazy]

I got my Hideouts 24 years go - they are made from rhino hide.
I took them back to Hideout last spring - and Kate just laughed. They are very, very heavy ( but comfortable when on) but she said race suit technology has come on so much using kangaroo etc that mine are effectively very much of a different age. She had one of the racer they make for just pick up the suit. He could believe how much it weighed.

And it cost 900 quid in 1998

Yeah, my mid-1990s Crowtree MTM one piece suit weighs a ton. The hide is really thick and is triple layered on places like the arse. They were sold to me as 'good crashing leathers'. However they do seem to have inexplicably shrunk while hanging up in the wardrobe these last 15 years...

[Whysub]

I've a set of MW leathers and Hideout. Both made to measure, although the MW's were made for someone else!

[Sadlonelygit]

I think all come with decent knee/elbow armour, and they expect you to buy a decent back protector - I'm old school though, I don't know if I believe in it so much, the leathers are basically abrasion resistance and to keep you all together in a bag, I don't know if armour is actually worth much in a track impact.

Pretty sure the top race teams in the world would ditch the extra weight if it didn't do anything!
Speaking from personal experience, having inspected the tarmac at 3 figures on track, waking up as they were cutting me out of my leathers, I could walk (gingerly) an hour later.
When I went back the next day to collect my van, the marshalls couldn't believe I didn't break anything!

[Yorick]

I've a set of MW leathers and Hideout. Both made to measure, although the MW's were made for someone else!

Hope it wasn't @Taipan

[Whysub]

These are Tom Olivers leathers following his off at the end of the Mistral Straight (flat out on a GSX-R1000) tipping into Signes corner at last years 24 Hour Bol D'or race at Paul Ricard. He hit the oil slick from the bike that blew up in front of him. 7 other riders followed him on the deck.

20230917_152507.jpg (1.91 MiB) Viewed 475 times

Totally unhurt, not even a graze.

[Horse]

Send them to the BBC Repair Shop?

[Horse]

... the only things I broke were limbs that would have broken anyway from twisting or sheer impact energy, armour wouldn't have made any difference.

I'm not saying it never makes any difference, I'm not actually arguing anything, I'm just saying that I don't think it's ever made a difference to me.
I think it's much more likely to help on the roads where there are kerbs and road furniture.

IIRC Australian research on road riders found that armour didn't make much difference to breaks, but reduced abrasion injury. Presumably by 'rounding' otherwise 'pointy' bits like elbows.

Again IIRC, many spine injuries are from twisting, sideways force from impacts to shoulders, or by landing head or cocyx first.

[Mr. Dazzle]

High speed crashes on track are about as benign as high speed crashes can get. Abrasion is of course bad, but no amount of armour is gonna save you from a Lamp Post, even at 50mph.

[Horse]

High speed crashes on track are about as benign as high speed crashes can get. Abrasion is of course bad, but no amount of armour is gonna save you from a Lamp Post, even at 50mph.

[Yorick]

I've tested leathers on track at silly speeds.
My current Dainese leathers are far better than my old TT Leathers I raced in

My knees are still buggered from all my racing crashes with no protection.

[ChrisW]

I don't think I've ever had leathers without armour - earliest would have had hard plastic.

Having said that I did happily survive an off on the roundabout at the bottom of the M58 in just a Schott flight jacket & 501s. I remember telling myself to switch because that side 'might be done'