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would u pay $1000 to avoid a skinned knee??

No, but as already mentioned I would spend half that on a used Aerostich suit from eBay; maybe a wee bit more than 1/2.

+1. My full Aerostich suit was around $450 - from an inmate on a cycle forum. I have grown very accustomed to it. The only problem I've ever had was in Redding, CA when it was 104 degrees......
I feel naked without it now.
>T
 
Spend some time on Revzilla. There are more choices than you'll care to look at, most with very detailed videos and lots of rider reviews. You'll find 10 options within your budget.

When I was at the MSF course, the instructor made a point that really stuck with me. He said (while holding up an aerostitch suit a friend of his crashed in) "What you are wearing is your crumple zone. Your air bags. Your seat belt. Your roll cage. It's all you have to keep you safe."

I realize "safe" is a relative term, so it's important to manage your expectations, but I'm a hardcore ATGATT guy. If I can wear gear that might make a difference, I want that difference made.

I have 3 different pant options and while I haven't spent a boatload of money on any of them, I feel pretty good about what I'm wearing. Some of it I bought as a newbie and guesstimated what would be right for me, for the most part, I picked well.

At some point I will ante up for some premium gear, when I know exactly what I want. In the meantime, I would say get the very best gear you can afford, or find a way to justify it if it's a little beyond what you can afford. Spend less money on something else, but don't go cheap on gear that might save your bacon.

Just my opinion...
 
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I would definitely pay up. (Although like others have said, good pants are way less than $1k). I crashed last year wearing khaki pants coming from work, which offered no protection. I paid about $250 in doctor copay, prescription Rx, and fancy Tegederm bandages (trust me, you don't want cotton gauze sticking to an open wound). A "skinned knee" becomes a bigger deal when you crash on nasty gravely pavement, and it gets infected. And this was only at about 1-2 mph.

Skinned Knee - Album on Imgur (warning: slightly gross)
 
Google “road rash pictures”. $1,000 won’t look as bad.
How about some firsthand pics? Lol

Right leg that I got to keep.

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After bone graft taken from my femoral crest.

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And the unlucky midget leg.

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And my pelvis

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Yeah, it was loads of fun for about a year. Lol

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I would definitely pay up. (Although like others have said, good pants are way less than $1k). I crashed last year wearing khaki pants coming from work, which offered no protection. I paid about $250 in doctor copay, prescription Rx, and fancy Tegederm bandages (trust me, you don't want cotton gauze sticking to an open wound). A "skinned knee" becomes a bigger deal when you crash on nasty gravely pavement, and it gets infected. And this was only at about 1-2 mph.

Skinned Knee - Album on Imgur (warning: slightly gross)
Yep.

When people say they think jeans do anything, I remind them of playing on a playground in elementary school. I imagine that everyone fell down and skinned their knee through their jeans at least once. And that was with much less weight on it, at awfully low speed.
 
...... Today I rode in tennis shoes, no gloves but protective pants, jacket & helmet. ....
Gloves could be the second most important thing after a helmet. I'm told it is not possible to graft skin on the palm of the hand. Go down, put your hands out and get major road rash on your palms and you could lose use of hand for the rest of your life.
 
I agree that gloves are #2 on the list of gear.

I've ridden down the street wearing shorts, t shirt, sandals... helmet, gloves.
 
Just my opinion but I think there's a balance to that, I went down in April, I was only going around 40mph when it happened so YMMV but unless your incredibly strong and determined to keep sliding on your hands your going to make initial contact (or whatever part of your body makes contact with the road first) depending on how you crash and how you respond but after that your either rolling, tumbling or sliding on a larger surface then your hands. Most of my gear was at least a little banged up so I was buying replacement gloves and jacket (currently using my old helmet, still fine I just got a deal on a better helmet and that's what got damaged unfortunately) the replacement jacket was simply different but the first pair of gloves was very armored (close to GP quality) and was uncomfortable I tried multiple other pairs (cycle gear has a great return policy) as I said earlier this is simply my opinion but I think the fit of the gloves so you can comfortably control the motorcycle is most important, then there is also the cost of course.

Gloves too small cause cramping and discomfort and gloves to large create slop which causes flapping and vibration at speed as well as less control at lower speeds due to your hand moving in the glove
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That is the pair I went down wearing
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This is the pair I ended up with for replacement, little to no difference in protection unfortunately, but they fit like a second set of skin

If curious my replacement jacket was a Tourmaster intake air 5.0 which is working perfectly for me
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Yep, everyone looks at things differently, but I rank gloves lower than some other gear. I've wrecked at speed on dirt roads and asphalt, numerous times, on various bikes. motocross/street. Hands have never been the main damaged part. Gotten a couple cuts on my knuckles where thin gloves tore, wrecked a dirt bike trying to ride wheelies once on the street, no gloves, hands just scraped up around knuckles. You generally hit and tumble, not ski on your hands. Knees, pelvis, back, butt, shoulders, and elbows, and head are all susceptible to taking far more damage than your hands. In most cases. Not to say hands can't get trashed, bc they can. But most cases, they dont take the most damage.

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Ive come off just about everything with wheels multiple times. The worst was a cantaloupe sized rash that i tore open twice skateboarding in pools. Ill take that any day over a broken bone. I came of a bike wearing motorcycle boots, absolutely zero rash, but 12 broken bones in my foot. So until they make pants that prevent breaks, Im out at $1000
 
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I paid big dollars for the cycleport riding gear. As much as I ride, this was a great investment. For textile polyester garments the higher the denier number the higher the price. I have been down at speeds well into the 60’s. I have dislocated bones, but not a shingle scratch. Also, my textile clothing is sent back to the manufacture for repair after each crash.

Your blue jeans have a denier factor of around 50. Some textile motorcycle gear have a denier factor of about 400, but most gear now days has a 600 denier factor. That is a lot better tear factor than the blue jeans.

Although I do wear textile riding clothing with a 1000 denier factor, I do know a few very interesting facts. When you put a grinder sander to those 50 denier blue jeans it grinds though in about a 1/2 a second. On 600 denier textile material it takes about a second to grind though the textile with the sander. On the 1000 denier textile material it takes about a second and 1/2 to grind though the textile with a sander.

So, the denier factor of the textile clothing does help some. However, that padding that is in the motorcycle clothing takes on average a full 3 seconds to grind though.

So, the padding in the motorcycle clothings is what will keep the skin on the bones. I know beyond any doubt that the padding in the clothing is a lot more important than the denier factor. Wearing the textile clothing with the proper padding is the factor that makes the most difference. So, wearing the light weight textile clothing in the summer with the proper padding is almost as safe as that heavy duty leather racer clothing.....
 
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Gloves could be the second most important thing after a helmet. I'm told it is not possible to graft skin on the palm of the hand. Go down, put your hands out and get major road rash on your palms and you could lose use of hand for the rest of your life.
I agree.

Actually I hate riding without gloves but it was so darn hot that I went without. I have 2 pairs. Mesh Dianese summer and insulated Dianese gloves for cooler weather riding. But on the really hot days even the mesh gloves are too hot. I'm going to search for another pair, that has more mesh but is still protective. I think palm protection is far more important than knuckle protection for abrasion resistance.




Ive come off just about everything with wheels multiple times. The worst was a cantaloupe sized rash that i tore open twice skateboarding in pools. Ill take that any day over a broken bone. I came of a bike wearing motorcycle boots, absolutely zero rash, but 12 broken bones in my foot. So until they make pants that prevent breaks, Im out at $1000

As are most of us.

But are you 'in' at $100, or maybe $200?

Seems that most people who replied to your post have indicated that a good pair of protective motorcycle pants, with pads, can be had for $100 to $200.
 
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I paid big dollars for the cycleport riding gear. As much as I ride, this was a great investment. For textile polyester garments the higher the denier number the higher the price. I have been down at speeds well into the 60’s. I have dislocated bones, but not a shingle scratch. Also, my textile clothing is sent back to the manufacture for repair after each crash.

Your blue jeans have a denier factor of around 50. Some textile motorcycle gear have a denier factor of about 400, but most gear now days has a 600 denier factor. That is a lot better tear factor than the blue jeans.

Although I do wear textile riding clothing with a 1000 denier factor, I do know a few very interesting facts. When you put a grinder sander to those 50 denier blue jeans it grinds though in about a 1/2 a second. On 600 denier textile material it takes about a second to grind though the textile with the sander. On the 1000 denier textile material it takes about a second and 1/2 to grind though the textile with a sander.

So, the denier factor of the textile clothing does help some. However, that padding that is in the motorcycle clothing takes on average a full 3 seconds to grind though.

So, the padding in the motorcycle clothings is what will keep the skin on the bones. I know beyond any doubt that the padding in the clothing is a lot more important than the denier factor. Wearing the textile clothing with the proper padding is the factor that makes the most difference. So, wearing the light weight textile clothing in the summer with the proper padding is almost as safe as that heavy duty leather racer clothing.....
Vey good point and that's only talking about the benefit while sliding, I know it's not going to work miracles but the correct padding also makes a significant difference in impacts by dispersing the energy from the impact.
Look at slow motion collisions, even at relatively low speeds they look terrible in slow motion (really highlights the OHHH that's why I'm sore) look at slow motion 15mph-25mph dismounts or impacts and you'll instantly be a easy chaos announcer, pointing out what the did wrong and how they look as awkward as a drunk ostrich while going down.
If you were a dare devil on a bicycle as a child you've likely wrecked and skinned yourself pretty good and learned at least the basics in practical application of tuck and roll when wrecking on 2 wheels (keep your arms tight to your torso and legs straight, it helps protect your core and keeps you from back handing the pavement) if you've got that knowledge, wearing a decent shirt, blue jeans, work boots, helmet and any type of gloves, if you went down 25mph or slower, you'd possibly get a touch of road rash from your initial impact but not much, go run into a tree, stop sign, car or truck at 25mph and you'll be hurting, very possibly broken something, now just think about your average rate of speed?

When I wrecked I was only going 40mph or so and my riding gear made a big difference, for me it was the impact, my riding jacket made a real difference, but if I was wearing a helite vest I've been thinking of purchasing for at least 2 years I might not have broken anything

In the same thought of what if's and such I could have gone down wearing a helite and rolled now that I'm a round balloon and back handed the pavement like I was talking about earlier, then I'd have a busted hand and around $2,000 plus worth of riding gear is damaged (plus my motorcycle) assuming I didn't actually impact anything and just slid/rolled

The lesson being buy the best gear you can afford, the balance of comfort/fit with as much protection as possible and you have to be able to afford it, I'd rather be standing on the side of the road pissed off my stuff is damaged then be hurt, possibly permanently.
Nothing is guaranteed, plenty of people have died while driving tanks, I've simply gone from theoretical knowledge to practical application of the value of riding gear and think if your able to improve your odds without making yourself uncomfortable it's a good investment
 
Ive come off just about everything with wheels multiple times. The worst was a cantaloupe sized rash that i tore open twice skateboarding in pools. Ill take that any day over a broken bone. I came of a bike wearing motorcycle boots, absolutely zero rash, but 12 broken bones in my foot. So until they make pants that prevent breaks, Im out at $1000
you don't need to spend $1000. you can get a decent option for $200.
 
In 1982, On a Friday, coming home from my summer job, I went bouncing down the road at 40 mph. I was 16 years old. I was in jeans, t-shirt, no helmet, had lots of road rash, slight concussion. Went back to my summer job on Monday.
Today I am 53, if that happened now I would be in pieces. It seems the older I get, the more gear I wear in realization of my frailty.
 
Ditto Half. I too went down hard though in August of 83', but i don't remember what day it was haha. I had the day off from work and headed to work to get some gas. I was riding my YZ250 and went rippin' down a gravel/dirt/rocky road that followed a set of train tracks that i rode often. I was wearing my fav MC boots, a nice pair of blue jeans and of course one of my favorite T-shirts(ok i was 17). I also had mc gloves and my nice Simpson full-face helmet(it looked like something from starwars).

After racing down that stretch of road WOT, in a full tuck and in top gear(as was my weekly habit) i let go of the handlebars, sat upright and coasted for a long ways with my arms outstretched just flying along, minding my own business haha. However, this day someone had placed a large cantaloupe sized jagged rock in the trail and i hit it just as i saw it. I immediately leaned forward and tried to grab the bars in an attempt to regain control of the bike to no avail! It pitched me forward and off the bike and the two of us tango'ed over one another in a huge cloud of dust finally coming to a rest with the bike on top of me. A day to remember for ever i'm sure, like yours!

I got the bike off of me, ripped up, bloody, face full of dirt/gravel i limped to my feet and righted the bike, restarted it and rode on into where i worked. As i limped into the office there was my Uncle telling everyone about this idiot he had just witnessed who had race past him on the road(55mph speed limit), then let go of the handlebars and crash!! Haha, and he never stopped to see if the rider was ok or needed help either(ya he is still that way today). Anyway, they drove me into the hospital where they cut what was left of my favorite jeans/t-shirt off of me and proceed to "Scrape/Clean all of the gravel, dirt and rocks out of both of my shoulders, back, elbows, hips and knees. I took 30 stitches to my left knee and the rest was just road/gravel rash!

To this day i still have bits of debris in those areas that was not removed and the skin grew over it(you can still see them under the skin, kind of weird looking), nor do i have proper "feeling" in those areas when touched or itched. All of that to say, ever since that crash i have always worn every bit of protective gear i could afford/appropriate for the type of riding. Today at 54, yes i am an ATGATT guy. To quote many others... Dress for the slide, not the ride!! :{)
 
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