No, no- I didn't crash again. But, I'm sure I'm not the only one on this board who HAS gotten the privilege of crash testing my hard earned money. I know the first thing I do when I'm looking for new gear is scour the internet for as many people's crash test results as I can find, so I thought it might be kind of cool and incredibly useful to have a thread compiling everyone's experience with different gear in different situations.

So, you don't have to follow a strict format or anything, but if you could include:

The crash:
The Gear and how both you and it held up:
Would you trust it for a second round?

Pictures are, of course, entirely optional, but always encouraged :thumbup:

So, it would just be obnoxious to start a thread like this with no information of my own to share, so I'll start:

The crash: About two months ago now, I turned in too early on the last of a series of twists in a local canyon, and ended up riding the yellow lines way too leaned over going somewhere around 30-40 mph-ish. Decided the only way I would make that turn was to ride my bike sideways for the rest of the way. Didn't work :p Anyways, I rode the asphalt for a couple feet with my bike riding my thigh, then a couple more after it flung itself into a conveniently placed dirt wall barrier.

The gear and I: While my pride got a violent curb stomp in the face, all I got to take home was a gnarly bruise and a days worth of general soreness. I was wearing:

Shoei X-11: Well, I'm pretty certain everyone knows shoei helmets can take a hit, but it was there, so I'll mention this anyways. It took a little bit of the impact, but I'd say it touched down relatively gently before taking a portion of the grind. Scuffed the paint and clear coat a bit, grinded off some tabs, and rashed up the visor, but otherwise fine. I sent it to shoei and they sent it back saying it was still totally safe to use, and they repaired the tabs and replaced the visor for the cost of shipping it to them :D I had already replaced it by the time I got it back, but yay for nice backup helmets!

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab355/zombiphone/helmet.jpg

Dainese Dominia Prof 1 piece suit: Just suffered some light scuffing on the arm and thigh. Grinded about half way through part of the pretty Dainese logo overlay on the thigh, but didn't get to the actual body of the suit there. Although, me knee pucks now have some scuffs on them while I've still yet to successfully drag my knee T_T All in all, it held up beautifully. I absolutely trust it for another down.

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab355/zombiphone/shoulder.jpg http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab355/zombiphone/forearm.jpg http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab355/zombiphone/thigh.jpg

Alpinestars SP-2 gloves: My hands didn't touch down much at all I don't think, so the damage here was relatively minimal. Just some small tears in the palm when flexing, the stitching on part of the rubber(?) logo thing on the wrist came free, and the leather on the thumb on one side and pinky on the other is now a bit thinner. The damage is a little easier to feel than it is to see. They protected me well enough-no damage to my hands here, save a small bruise or two- but since my hands are really important to me, I don't know that I'd trust them for round two or something much more extreme. I found a good deal on the SP-1s though, So I'll be finally replacing these tomorrow if all goes well.

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab355/zombiphone/gloves.jpg

And lastly, Alpinestars Ridge boots: Just some light scuffing on the toe. Actually looks worse in the picture than it actually is. Between these and the leg armor in my suit, I felt nothing from the knee down. I did just get some sidis to replace these for when I'm doing more serious riding, but I still feel more than comfortable trusting these completely for day to day or wet riding. I've also dropped my bike on these before with no consequences, so yeah. I like them ^_^

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab355/zombiphone/boots.jpg

And that's all I've crash tested so far. Now get out there and crash your gear in the name of SCIENCE! Ack- kidding, kidding :eek: If you never have to find out how well your gear performs, all the better. But if you do know if that insurance will actually back you up, feel free to share ^_^

pretty cool idea. no better reviews than first hand like this. I'm in to see some other reviews on gear! Thanks

Good thread idea.
Nice to know what gear makes it through a slide.

Only thing I ever crashed with street bike wise was those boots. Oddly enough, the big blue thing your first picture. I dropped a GSXR on those boots and couldn't lift the bike up because I was pinned. Some guy came over and helped me lift it up off my ankle. It was all swollen and purple for a couple weeks. I'm fairly certain it could have been a break without some of that exoskeleton armor on the outside of the boot.

My old Shoei helmet has been through hell and back too and only thing wrong with it is some paint chips and the strap ears starting to wear out finally.

I was surprised when I saw your helmet hit too! That was a pretty crazy crash. Better just a few bruises than anything else. Like I told you I could see you were PO'd you dropped your bike more than anything before you even stopped sliding towards the berm/cliff. Now that's hardcore. :D

Posted my crash report in Ride reports. In a nutshell, I lowsided braking in the wet approaching an intersection. Cause: Too much speed for conditions. Here is the link (http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=37527) to the post.

My gear:

Cortech Caliber pants - Left knee (everytime I see this I think that that could have been my knee cap)
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5RheGZsECsI/S3o_8gMurcI/AAAAAAAAAPE/l0lQVR8STJI/s640/IMG_2891.jpg

Hip area & left front pocket of pants
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5RheGZsECsI/S3o_6y2zgdI/AAAAAAAAAPA/jMm5r_kd8YY/s640/IMG_2892.jpg

Cortech XRX Jacket - scuffing on forearm and hole in waist area
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5RheGZsECsI/S3o_5ClwUqI/AAAAAAAAAO8/jztoNxkAQR4/s640/IMG_2895.jpg

Racer Supply RSC2 gloves - scuffed palm and stitching damaged.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5RheGZsECsI/S3o_1Onhc0I/AAAAAAAAAO0/bOi996G7hb4/s640/IMG_3004.jpg

My Scorpion AX400 wasn't damaged except for a 3 inch scratch on the shield where I believe I smacked the edge of the windshield. If I was wearing anything less than a full face I would of had a scar that chicks dig.:rolleyes:

My SetUp Vision boots show little scuffs all over and did their job.

I am planning to wear all the gear again. I will be purchasing a back/chest protector and maybe some armored shorts to wear under my pants. Those were the two areas that hurt afterwords. My ribs and hip still slightly hurt almost a month later. I think that a bit more gear would have mitigated my injuries. I was lucky I didn't get hurt worse.

Jeff

Played pinball with a guard rail doing 50mph.
Then lowsided and continued to slide and tangle up in the rail.
Lucked out, no injuries.

Gear protected me fine. Need new gloves (was already planning on buying new ones previous to the down) and I sowed up my jacket for another round. Pants had a rock go straight through the leather. Sidi protected broken feets again.

Bike still rideable. Most of the replacements on the way too.
Will have to do new plastics/paint.

http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab288/ninja250Rse/DSCN7899.jpg

Somewhere in this picture is a tear from a blunt rock being forced straight through the leather.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab288/ninja250Rse/DSCN7900.jpg

The bandaid was covering a 1/4" deep gash from a rock that wouldn't stop bleeding until the day after the crash.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab288/ninja250Rse/DSCN7902.jpg

Gloves destroyed. Joe rocket GPX
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab288/ninja250Rse/DSCN7903.jpg

My new jacket
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab288/ninja250Rse/DSCN7904.jpg

http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab288/ninja250Rse/DSCN7906.jpg

http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab288/ninja250Rse/DSCN7908.jpg

Here's where my hip ground through. Two piece not as protective as I thought.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab288/ninja250Rse/DSCN7910.jpg

Boots saved broken heel on my left foot. These boots save my life all the time.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab288/ninja250Rse/DSCN7911.jpg

More later.

Knew I forgot something..
Ogio No Drag backpack. Took the crash with ease since it's leather.
I had glasswares from my move in the backpack at the time that did not break even though I landed on it and slid a ways.
The water bladder did not puncture either. No leak discoveries yet.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab288/ninja250Rse/DSCN7944.jpg

Well all of my gear held up great in my lowside, the only thing that got tore up was me, my boots and pants got dirt on them pretty much the same with my jacket but you can see where the helmet got it's own beating.

http://img532.imageshack.us/img532/7758/sdc10568.jpg (http://img532.imageshack.us/i/sdc10568.jpg/)

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/4979/sdc10569pk.jpg (http://img30.imageshack.us/i/sdc10569pk.jpg/)

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/5134/sdc10579j.jpg (http://img194.imageshack.us/i/sdc10579j.jpg/)

This is quite a bit smaller than it was, but still not too bad, would have been much worse if I had been wearing anything but good gear.

So I'm actually kind of surprised we don't have a thread like this here. I saw it on SBN the other day, and I know a few of us have made posts about our gear we've crashed in.. So one big conglomerate thread that people can browse/search through before they buy gear! Of course, details of the crash, and pictures of the gear will likely best represent how well it held up.

I can start (no pictures yet).

Crash: Low-side out of a turn from catching a bit of grass, probably 25-35 MPH. Cold road, warm tires, was likely going too fast and broke in the turn. I easily could have leaned farther, before the edge to cleanup the line. We live and learn, right?

The Tumble: I got lucky though, and a half of my body was in the grass, while my torso was on the tarmac. I flipped axially (rolled, really) only twice, maybe three times. Hand went down first, bike hit a guard rail, spun and stopped where I kept going.

The Gear:
Jacket: Scorpion Strike
http://www.motorcyclecloseouts.com/dir/image.php?id=161577
This jacket is 600D textile, with appropriate CE Armor (not the back pad, though). I went down on my left arm/forearm. There is a roughly 2 inch hole where the asphalt burned through the jacket. There is evidence that the upper arm/leather accents touched the asphalt as well, with a less than 1" hole right at my shoulder. I definitely landed on the pad. This jacket has an ideal fit for me, and I think that helped a lot. I was also layered underneath for cold weather. I felt absolutely no soreness at the time or the following days. For the 50 dollars I paid for the jacket, I am proud of it. I still wear this jacket today and I may try to find a way to patch the damage up.
Rating: 4/5 -- It really is a 1 time use jacket (though I think with a good patch, it should be okay). It did it's job perfectly, and given the price, it almost deserves a 5/5.

Gloves: Cortech Scarab
http://images.motorcycle-superstore.com/ProductImages/OG/2008_Cortech_Scarab_Winter_Glove_Black_633233679062656250.jpg
The gloves are leather with textile covered plastic sliders and armor. The gloves took a lot of the force and sliding. I think pictures will do the best justice here, so I will take pictures later on and until the provide my rating.
Rating: 5/5 -- It did it's job, and they are still usable, no holes ripped stitching.

Pants: AGV Solare
I was wearing two layers of riding pants, and they only hit the dirt so I don't think it makes a difference. The Solare's are 600D textile pants. These are not designed to be overpants, but I wore them as such anyways because it was so darn cold. The knee pads, as one might expect, do not stay in place. And I don't think they did. I had a slight soreness in my knee (between my knee cap and lower knee) after the ride, for about a week or so. I did not, however, feel it while walking, running, or cycling, only if I pressed on it directly. I do believe these would have prevented road rash, but I think my knee would have been much more sore had I not hit the grass. I think with some strapping, the knee pads would work with much greater reliability.
Rating: 3/5 -- Knee pad issue is an issue, really. I have since then ordered some leather pants :D

Boots and Helmet:
My head didn't touch the ground, and I don't think my boots made a difference (and if they did, they did a damn good job because there are no signs of wear).

crash: hit on the left side at about 20mph, bike went to the right, i slid forward.

A* smx-5 boots: some scrapes on the sliders, no damage to the boots themselves

A* gp pro jacket: slid on the right shoulder forearm then back. some scrapes are visible on the shoulder. hardly any damage. only visible if you look for it. still use the jacket. been about a year.

speed & strength "no limit" gloves: barely lasted the single crash. holes in the palms and sides. gloves barely held together. hands were a mess after.

scorpion exo-1000: actually held up pretty well. scuffed but the foam was undamaged. the shell didnt crack at all, just surface scratches. the visor broke in half on the side.

unarmored heavy jeans: a small scuff on the side of the knee. no holes. i am actually wearing those same jeans right now... maybe i should buy new pants sometime....

/merged

The Crash: Pulled out in front of at 35mph and went down being a new inexperienced rider

The Gear:
A* SMX Gloves: Palm completely ripped and my palm was tore up pretty bad but healed well. The knuckles did their job well and had a few gashes but still were intact would have held up at a higher speed also.

Joe Rocket textile jacket: The right side looks like it was hit by a lawn mower, but only my elbow had and injury which looks to be from a rock from the injury. Armor in the jacket did not hold up it actually ripped out during the accident.

AFX-90 Helmet: Only damage to it was the lense which held in place didnt pop out or anything just rashed. No cracks or anything else. Minus the shield it looked brand new.

American Eagle Jeans: hole in the knee but held up well

DC Shoes: Road rash only.