Learther vs textiles
- Thread starter Relax
- Start date
Mad Mike
Well-known member
He’s on a creeper cart, he’s rolling not sliding.
When I was in the textile biz, we looked at this a lot. Textile for road bikes always won. On the track leather always wins. I was one of those textile designers that argued (and always won) that composites offered more street rider safety for jackets, pants and suits. Here’s why:
Comfort, which is a significant factor in rider safety and rider performance. Textile is both warmer and cooler when necessary, lighter, and does performs better in the rain. Considering the majority of riders don’t get past novice levels of proficiency, this is critically important.
But the biggest factor is slide length. Leathers have a much lower coefficient of drag on pavement and concrete - which means you slide further and slow down slower. Great at 200mph on a circuit that has as no trees, curbs, signs posts or traffic moving in the opposite direction. Not so good on the street where the distance of your slide multiplies the chance of contacting an immovable or substantial oncoming object - textiles have about 2x the drag, and about 3x on wet roads - you come to a stop faster.
Sorry Ryan, if you’re preaching to street riders yer dead wrong.
