I Will Never Wear A Mesh Textile Jacket Again!

[PhantomNext]

Sorry to hear about the off... Glad your ok. You probably remember mine from May of this year when I lowsided the VFR. I was wearing an Icon Titanium Mesh Jacket. I highly recommend it, I went down about 40-50mph as well and the jacket held up fantastic. Not to mention it had so much padding I didn't even feel it when I hit the ground.

Here are the shots of my jacket after the crash:

The only place it tore was in the joint from the shoulder to the arm (that part isn't made with the titanium stuff) and the only reason it did was because it caught some rocks and the edge of the road where I slid off, even still it never made it thru the inner liner, no rash at all from the jacket.

Hey just think now it's time to go get the 07CBR you've been lusting after, see it's not all bad

[UFO]

Glad to hear you're okay. Mesh jackets aren't meant to survive a crash, perhaps like leather...they sometimes go in the garbage afterwards. It looks like the jacket did it's job to me if all you have is a couple small rash marks.

[Guest]

I was headed to work this morning a ~6:30am, and took a different route because my usual(shortest) way to work has new oil & stone(cheap bullsh!t paving!) on the last section of road. I left earlier, and took a slightly longer route that I am familiar with(but not intimately). This happens to be the time of year and day when the sun is just rising high enough in most places to have that occasional "sun in my eyes" effect.

Being that the weather station forecast a nice sunny day with a high of ~80, I opted for my Icon Tarmac mesh jacket.

So here I am tootling along, doing about 50-55mph(speed limit is 55 on this section of road), when the proverbial shite hit the fan. The following pictures were taken about 6hrs later, around 1pm.

Looks nice, right?

Still looking fine, rolling on the gas a hair at this point, and considering lean angle.

When suddenly, I find myself blinded by the sun, and at about the same moment I lose traction at both ends!

The rain from the evening before had created this huge sandbar that covered my entire lane, all the way to the double yellow!

I counted three cars that passed the spot on my return trip for these pictures, and had noted this morning that the traffic flow had been about the same. So, ten minutes, 3 cars, that means this sand has been moved back out by roughly 60 vehicles, and was also dried compared to this morning when it was all damp. It was also clearly to the yellow this morning.

The sand was over an inch deep in some areas!

Getting back to my corner entry, and needless to say, in an instant the bike started slipping and sliding, skimming through the sand, and then just as suddenly I found myself in a tankslapper as the front tried to re-adhere to the pavement past the sand. My Scotts damper may have helped some if I hadn't set it to full soft the other day while trying to isolate a wobble in my front end(suspect an overuse of Dynabeads). I stayed level on the throttle, and tried to ride it out for a second or two, but the rear didn't have a chance to catch up before the front wiped out on me. BANG, lowside.

Which leads me to my point, I will never again wear a textile jacket. The thing got shredded! I do have to say that I only have two small patches of rash on my left arm, but it seems that only the slightest increase in abuse would have had me sliding bareback! :goofy:

I gotta say the helmet did better:

Please take this into consideration when making your gear purchase! Save your beans for the perforated leather!!!

Pics of the bike might come later, I'm too disgusted to look at the damn thing anymore right now. For those of you that know me, I was on the F4i, so imagine how pissed I am.

Outside of the spot of arm rash mentioned, and a skinned knee, my left ring finger is swollen at the tip and hurts like a b. That and a stiff neck, otherwise good to go.

I wish I could get some money out of the town or county for not having proper water drainage, I'm going to look into it, but it's probably a waste of time.

[SEBSPEED]

Thanks for the continued well wishes folks!

Slipknot, did you mean to say something there?

I am back to work today, stiff as all get out. My neck more than anything. Can't wait to go home and pop a couple pills to ease the tension...

I have a couple phone calls to make and I will be checking on the scene again today to see if any clean-up effort has been made.

Bill, there would be nothing easier than washing my hands of this ride for a new one, unfortunately, it's not worth much to anyone in its current state.

[thx1139]

Oh jeez, first the VFR and now the F4? Sucks for me to hear that dude, as I've seen both your bikes up close. Glad you came through mostly unscathed physically.

At least you didn't do as I a few years ago, sliding down the interstate in a Hawaiian shirt -'cause you left your JR textile hanging on a chair at home...

This is timely as I'm commuting around Charlotte now and the summer afternoon drive is HOT. I've been pondering how much gear I can tolerate parked in the 5:30 gridlock.

[crepitus]

Daaaaammmmm! That sucks. Don't let it get to you. Just remember it's about playing the odds. Get another bike or get that one back on the road. Ride it scuffed for a while as you fix it. Just get back on something.

I'm glad you posted this about your gear. I occasionally get thoughts of buying something textile in the hotter months of the year then things like this remind me why I only get leathers. Ouch.

[muddyh2o]

hey seb. very sorry to hear about the damage, but am so happy to hear that you're walking around.

while i'm sure it's the last thing you want to hear, this sounds like success story to me. you're not in the hospital (or worse) and your gear did what it was supposed to do (you were cooler than in leather BEFORE the crash- you did make a conscious tradeoff before riding).

damage to the bike sucks. cost of replacement gear sucks. being sore and rashed up today really sucks.

but i'm sure the family is so glad they're able to talk to you today!

thanks for sharing. and good luck getting everything back together.

we've all heard too many stories which go the other way. i think we'd all be gutted if this were another one of those terrible stories.

[Burns]

Thanks for the well wishes guys.

I bit my lip hard to load these pics for you.

maybe Martina can find you some matching duct tape? :thumbsup:

seriously... glad yer ok!

[PhatPat33]

Aww, Seb. I'm glad to hear that you are standing, talking and typing at least. I'm really happy to hear that you aren't sitting in a hospital right now.

I'm going to have to reevaluate my mesh gear.

[Nicole]

:goofy: I can't see the pics (at work) but am so glad you are OK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good grief!!

[SEBSPEED]

maybe Martina can find you some matching duct tape? :thumbsup:

seriously... glad yer ok!

No duct tape for my bikes. You know the saying, "if you can't duct it, f--- it"? Well, I'm the f--- it type. :goofy:

[Guest]

Can't speak to leather, but I've tried mesh and was actually cooler in my faithful old Darien jacket with zips full open. I was surprised, but once it's 100 degrees outside, any outdoor activity is hot. I guess the main thing is we stay in our gear no matter what kind it is.

Really glad you walked away from it. I was the 3rd bike through a corner one morning like that (after some overnite rain). I saw the second rider brake, and the first rider got to take a life flight down the mountain. We weren't going that fast either and of course everyone had excellent gear and years of experience.

I hope you continue to heal. Try not to worry too much over the bike. If it's any consolation, your bad day and subsequent post here may save a life......or two! Thanks for letting us in on it and best of luck.

[V4 Rosso]

What a sorry sight to see that beautiful CBR all scraped up Glad you came through relatively unharmed. :thumbsup:

With the sun in your eyes I can imagine you've never seen that patch of sand, from the pictures it looks as if the road was patched with something like concrete.

Heal up, both you and the CBR.

The jacket failing at the seam suggests it could have been a lot worse.

Even cheap leather will be better than textile.

I have to disagree. Cheap leathers usually mean they're not from the top hide of the cow/cangaroo which is the strongest and most durable. Also the amount of attention being paid to the quality of the stiches is very important and, like most things, you get what you pay for. With leathers you also have to take very good care of your leathers or it's strength will degrade rapidly. Mesh (leather or textile) is always more suspectable as it grips the asphalt and by that not only puts a lot of strain on the fabric itself but also on the stitches. I found that heavy grade cordura (1000) flows a lot more air than low grade (500). The heavy grade also being stronger is a big bonus.

but is it me or did Icon design that jacket with the mesh covering important protective areas that should have been made of more protective textile or leather covering (such as on the shoulders and other more susceptible areas)? It looks like the stitching just failed. You should send those pics to Icon and ask them WTF happened!

:goofy:

[BOBINOTTAWA]

Dang Seb, your stuff is a mess but glad to hear you are okay and your spirits are okay too. I hope that you get a ride available soon.

[benSV]

Glad to see you're OK.

One thing I'd comment on.. I don't think it's safe to blame "textile" as the problem here.

I think the design of the garment itself is a big deal. Icon is really getting a bad reputation "through the grapevine" as gear that is designed to look good rather then crash well. I'd be reluctant to try their leather stuff as well. Any company that will sell a denim jacket and claim it's safe motorcycle gear is not a company I need to do business with.

By the same token I posted up about my track crash on Tuesday.. I was wearing Teknic leathers. While the leather held up extremely well the suit was a budget suit and as such was not constructed nearly as well as other leathers. Sounds like I ended up with about the same amount of rash as Sebspeed, because I had a seam give out (no injury) & a zipper break (small rash/raspberry). A far cry from the Vanson suit the instructor following me was wearing, he didn't even know how many times he'd crashed, the entire suit was scuffed up, and yet it had never broken or failed him.

Whether it's mesh or leather there are some companies that have the in depth knowledge & years of experience to properly build gear that will have a higher level of protection & durability. You pay more but it's worth it. Just like you can't say Vanson leathers suck cause my Teknic suit failed, you can't say Aerostich or Dainese suck because Icon & Joe Rocket gear falls apart. Some of these companies are led by riders who care nothing more then to make the safest thing they can, others are led by bean counters & marketers who are making huge amounts of dollars by having everything built in China by people have never rode a bike in their life.

[fishhead]

Whether it's mesh or leather there are some companies that have the in depth knowledge & years of experience to properly build gear that will have a higher level of protection & durability. You pay more but it's worth it. Just like you can't say Vanson leathers suck cause my Teknic suit failed, you can't say Aerostich or Dainese suck because Icon & Joe Rocket gear falls apart. Some of these companies are led by riders who care nothing more then to make the safest thing they can, others are led by bean counters & marketers who are making huge amounts of dollars by having everything built in China by people have never rode a bike in their life.

here here brotha! Notice the marketting saturation ICON has done?

[cozye]

man, that sucks dude. Maybe its a message from God to buy him an 07 RR.. LOL..

[bikeorski4me]

glad you are pretty much ok and sorry about the bike, but you should check the label on your jacket, i was told that on icon gear it actually says "not meant as protection" dont know if that is true or not but it might be just the brand of jacket you had. And like said above it actually did protect most of you and no matter what brand of mesh jacket you were wearing i dont think they are ment for more then one slide :D

You survived realatively unscathed and your gear did the job to a point...ICON is far from the best quality stuff out there so I don't think it's fair to judge all Mesh Jackets by this one, I've seen where guys have gone down at 60-70 with other brands and other than expected damage have stayed in one piece and provided decent protection.

Having said this, you'll never beat good leathers but as a compromise for hot weather good quality mesh gear can work. Good to hear you came out of this as well as you did, be thankful...

[SEBSPEED]

Thanks for all the input guys, I think it's safe to say that the minimum you will see me dressed in from here on out is perforated leather. :thumbsup:

[skuuter]

Thanks for all the input guys, I think it's safe to say that the minimum you will see me dressed in from here on out is perforated leather. :thumbsup:

Good choice................. :thumbsup:

[KanadianKen]

Well - Seb - you should be in sales i think, as you have convinced me to get the leathers I own finally altered so that I can wear them. I found a guy that does leather work nearby and he is going to take a run at my Kobe two piece suit.

Hopefully real soon, I'll be wearing the uber thick Leather skin as well..... :thumbsup:

[SEBSPEED]

Well - Seb - you should be in sales i think, as you have convinced me to get the leathers I own finally altered so that I can wear them. I found a guy that does leather work nearby and he is going to take a run at my Kobe two piece suit.

Hopefully real soon, I'll be wearing the uber thick Leather skin as well..... :thumbsup:

Nice! :thumbsup:

[Earthshake]

Thanks for all the input guys, I think it's safe to say that the minimum you will see me dressed in from here on out is perforated leather. :thumbsup:

I believe you have convinced me as well. Glad you are still whole.

[TN_VFR_Girl]

Hey Seb,

Glad you were able to ride away from this one. I understand your reluctance about mesh gear, but must say, my JR textile held up incredibly well during my '05 off ... so I might make a distinction there. Nevertheless, I do feel most secure in full leather as I think most of us would.

Hope you're back on two wheels soon! :thumbsup:

Shannon

[massvfr]

Sorry about the crash, Seb, but glad you're ok...

I'm surprised no comments about the solar glare and gear that helps....I commute every morning straight into the sun and same on the way home..I opted for the ugliest but utterly functional Super Visor (Whitehorse Gear, I think)...the thing really works! It is removeable but the tabs stay glued to the shield so I have other shields w/o the clips. I couldn't commute without it...damn thing is fugly but nothing else works as well.

good luck getting the bike back on the road.

Steve