revtothelimit - motorbike forum

One of the 'top' manufacturers of bike clothing, who fought long and hard to lower the CE standards so that the current A rating can be met by ordinary denim, has now surpassed themselves with the 'biker underpants'.



According to the commentary, it's a life-saving product.

Does anyone really think that a thin layer of hard armour - which appears to be a cricket box - is going to protect your pelvis against smacking into the back of the petrol tank when the bike hits a car or a tree?

I don't know about protecting my pelvis, much less saving my life, but I did have one squeaky-voiced 18 year old mate when I was a BCF boi who left two bollock-shaped indentations on the tank of his NSR125 when he went over the bars.
The fact that he's now an offensively hairy baritone (still a shortarse though) suggests that his jewels survived, but I'd like to avoid leaving my own swinging about unpackaged, as it were.

Why do folk hate Dainese?

I've had a few fast crashes on track. I'm here safe. They work.

Yorick wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 11:20 pm Why do folk hate Dainese?

I've had a few fast crashes on track. I'm here safe. They work.

Perhaps its just the actual product of protective underwear ...... i have had one big off in the last 30 years and was wearing Dainese and, like you, it did the job and protected me from the crash impact and the long slide after ... and that was their textile kit not leather

There are probably plenty of Dainese suits that have held up in crashes (so did my Lewis Leathers btw), but personally I know of two race-rep Dainese suits that both suffered seam failures in crashes. One was a Scott Russell rep. The seam down the thigh split - the matching boot also came apart. The other was a Max Biaggi - this one split along the seam on the inside of the forearm.

The current trend for 'humpy' tanks has increased the number of groin and pelvic injuries. It may feel nice to sit 'in' rather than 'on' the bike but when you hit something, you slide forwards and that means into the back of the tank... unless you own an old RD250 with the coffin tank when you'll slide straight over the top.

There's this mistaken idea that in a collision, the rider is ejected up and over... but that only happens after you've slid forwards first - the bike initially stays pretty level as the bike's front end compresses.

The problem with body armour is that whilst it can cope with the impact resulting from a fall to the ground, it's simply not capable of dealing with the forces generated by a sudden stop from speed. Body armour works if you don't hit anything on a closed circuit. It doesn't work if you hit a wall on the TT circuit.

So if you ride your bike into the side of a car at 40 mph, and expect these to protect your knackers...

The Spin Doctor wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:25 am So if you ride your bike into the side of a car at 40 mph, and expect these to protect your knackers...

I think if you ride in to stationary objects at 40 mph I think you'd need to have realistic expectations about any of your kits ability to keep you safe. If this is something that you're likely to do then an airbag jacket is probably your best bet.

I've got a pair of Forcefield Pro Shorts that I use under my one piece to supplement the hip protection that is pretty light in the alpinestars suit I have. They also give coccyx protection. They're very comfortable and give me some reassurance that any impact to my hip if I highside on track will be lessened. I also where them under textiles while green laning.

The Spin Doctor wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:25 am The current trend for 'humpy' tanks has increased the number of groin and pelvic injuries.

My mate did that, buggered a roundabout and hit it sending him over the top. He sat up and felt fine and thought he'd got away with it, so stood up and said 'basically I felt loose and hinged in the middle" He'd mashed his pelvis and spent a few months in bed/wheelchair with lots of Meccano inserted. His surgeon said it was a really common biker injury now.

My other mate has an even worse pelvis, they had to take it out of him to put it back to some sort of order. But his was from being run over whilst stationary when doing someone's motorcycle test (he's an examiner). Woman knocked him off and then panicked and drove over the top of him before parking with him underneath.

imo, whatever we're wearing in an accident can only save our skin, not gonna help much with the internals. But then, a skin graft ain't nice.

I like Dainese as it looks good though I think you pay a little extra for the style and the logo.

I had a pair of Dainese waterproof, textile trousers that I paid £100 more than the next best thing because they looked great. I think they were D-Dry but not sure - the internal seams for the waterproof layer came apart in one season. Five years later, I still wear them occasionally but not when I'm expecting rain

"Nice and easy, no shattered pelvis". That's what I say.

Also "Have them on the brakes". But's that's more for other people.

Supermofo wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:42 am My mate did that, buggered a roundabout and hit it sending him over the top. He sat up and felt fine and thought he'd got away with it, so stood up and said 'basically I felt loose and hinged in the middle" He'd mashed his pelvis and spent a few months in bed/wheelchair with lots of Meccano inserted. His surgeon said it was a really common biker injury now.

He's lucky. Those injuries often rupture the femoral artery. And then you have seconds.

Having spent eight years working with the Kent Fire & Rescue paramedics and the other first responders (two of them work trackside at major race events, one was a former combat medic) it was a bit of an eye-opener.

My other mate has an even worse pelvis, they had to take it out of him to put it back to some sort of order. But his was from being run over whilst stationary when doing someone's motorcycle test (he's an examiner). Woman knocked him off and then panicked and drove over the top of him before parking with him underneath.

Weeksy was saying on the trail braking thread that sometimes sh!t happens and there's nothing you can do about it. As I said, most bike crashes are same old same old, but every now and again you really are on the end of something that's virtually impossible to deal with. Scary.

The Spin Doctor wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 10:04 am Weeksy was saying on the trail braking thread that sometimes sh!t happens and there's nothing you can do about it. As I said, most bike crashes are same old same old, but every now and again you really are on the end of something that's virtually impossible to deal with. Scary.

Yeah horrifying. He was stationary with the pupil in front stopped at a red light. Car rear ended him knocking him off but he was fine at that point. As he was getting up thinking WTF she suddenly shot forward over the top of him and his scooter. He ended up trapped underneath with his leg facing the wrong way, broken pelvis and ribs and various other bits like his helmet cracked from the weight so he ended up with broken teeth as well. She also in the second action knocked the pupil off as well.

After all that they offered him a car job (he's qualified for both) but he's back out on the bikes. Had to carry a stick on the bike for a long time.

Supermofo wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 10:20 am

The Spin Doctor wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 10:04 am Weeksy was saying on the trail braking thread that sometimes sh!t happens and there's nothing you can do about it. As I said, most bike crashes are same old same old, but every now and again you really are on the end of something that's virtually impossible to deal with. Scary.

Yeah horrifying. He was stationary with the pupil in front stopped at a red light. Car rear ended him knocking him off but he was fine at that point. As he was getting up thinking WTF she suddenly shot forward over the top of him and his scooter. He ended up trapped underneath with his leg facing the wrong way, broken pelvis and ribs and various other bits like his helmet cracked from the weight so he ended up with broken teeth as well. She also in the second action knocked the pupil off as well.

After all that they offered him a car job (he's qualified for both) but he's back out on the bikes. Had to carry a stick on the bike for a long time.

Good for him.

It's not unknown for drivers to stamp on the accelerator instead of the brake in a panic. I had just got in the car one very wet night and a moment later was braking and my wet shoe slipped sideways off the brake pedal onto the accelerator - that was a bit of a shocker. Fortunately there was nothing ahead of me and I just overshot a red light a metre.

The Spin Doctor wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 3:38 pm

Supermofo wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 10:20 am

The Spin Doctor wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 10:04 am Weeksy was saying on the trail braking thread that sometimes sh!t happens and there's nothing you can do about it. As I said, most bike crashes are same old same old, but every now and again you really are on the end of something that's virtually impossible to deal with. Scary.

Yeah horrifying. He was stationary with the pupil in front stopped at a red light. Car rear ended him knocking him off but he was fine at that point. As he was getting up thinking WTF she suddenly shot forward over the top of him and his scooter. He ended up trapped underneath with his leg facing the wrong way, broken pelvis and ribs and various other bits like his helmet cracked from the weight so he ended up with broken teeth as well. She also in the second action knocked the pupil off as well.

After all that they offered him a car job (he's qualified for both) but he's back out on the bikes. Had to carry a stick on the bike for a long time.

Good for him.

It's not unknown for drivers to stamp on the accelerator instead of the brake in a panic. I had just got in the car one very wet night and a moment later was braking and my wet shoe slipped sideways off the brake pedal onto the accelerator - that was a bit of a shocker. Fortunately there was nothing ahead of me and I just overshot a red light a metre.

And some people intend to jump the red light and spend so much time looking to see if traffic is coming the other way don't look at what's in front of them. As happened to me on the M25/A2 junction, the van driver saw me at the last minute and swerved running over my foot and clouting me with his mirror. Since then I've been very wary of red lights with no cars waiting.

Mussels wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 3:58 pm And some people intend to jump the red light and spend so much time looking to see if traffic is coming the other way don't look at what's in front of them. As happened to me on the M25/A2 junction, the van driver saw me at the last minute and swerved running over my foot and clouting me with his mirror. Since then I've been very wary of red lights with no cars waiting.

Yorick wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 11:20 pm Why do folk hate Dainese?

Actually... it was a pun

I've had two accidents that turned my testicles purple and put dents in the tank, one in 1987 on a 350LC and one in 2000 on an R1, the dent on the R1 was considerably larger, both times I can't remember my nuts hurting that much, but I had other injuries that were hurting more - I believe my gonads are in full working order as my wife has had 2 children since then, but maybe denial is a river in Egypt.

I'm wondering if I should go back to riding scooters?