So you are saying that in your professional life you are able to limit yourself only to draw conclusions from direct interpolation of the fully documented and analysed previous outcomes of the precise scenario you are interested in? I don’t know what industry you are in, but pretty much everyone else working with relatively complex scenarios, as RTA outcomes certainly are, has to use extrapolation from appropriately weighted overlays of relevant primary data, drawing inferences, building models and testing the theories that were suggested by the available data, adding that new outcome data to refine the model going forward, and aligning with known real world results, to end up with a working hypothesis of how every variation of the event is going to play out in the real world, and only then we can draw inferences on how effective any mitigation is likely to be. Expressed very basically, at primary assessment level of the forces used in the actual CE tests vs the forces experienced in a falling human mass, and those required to break humans, without considering the many other complicators, the physical forces applied for the CE level 1 & 2 tests for impact absorption and abrasion resistance are orders of magnitude lower than the actual forces experienced by a real motorcyclist in a real crash, and the forces transmitted through the armour are similarly, many times higher that the force necessary to fracture major human bones. That certainly does not make this type of PPE irrelevant or entirely ineffective, but useful for users to be clear that motorcycling introduces a risk not effectively mitigated by this level of PPE. Better equipment can offer more protection, more aligned with the frailty of the human body, but we also have to accept that risks remain, which we have all implicitly accepted by doing what we love in riding bikes. Everyone is free to wear /not wear; trust / not trust as they so choose, but these are simple physical facts. Belief has nothing to do with it.
I'm not, i'm not relying on a bit of fancy padding to save me from an injury other than soft tissue bruising. Just as I wouldn't rely on a crash helmet to save me in all scenarios.
I am struggling to understand how this level of safety quibling manages to emerge from people who are willing to ride rather speedy motorcycles on public roads.
I have always been under the impression that the big advantage hide has over textile is that it sheds layers as it slides making it less lightly to grab and spin the rider which then in turn breaks stuff.
Yes, surviving/ being unhurt in an RTA as a biker is more likely if the unseated rider can slide, unobstructed, shedding their speed as opposed to any sudden stop or impact. Deceleration on a road surface -"sliding"- is best done wearing leather garments which are both conducive to this and protective.
And what do you base those hypotheses on? Evidence………… Not rocket science (but that works the same as it happens). Some bloke creating click bait videos with no evidential methodology is not evidence, it is not repeatable, it is not unbiased, basically it is not credible scientifically in any way shape or form. It amazes me that people are arguing the toss over an internationally agreed standard versus some bloke posting a quick a video on YouTube. But it shouldn’t surprise me as this is evident across so many things these days where an expert with decades of expertise will be pitted against someone so thick they failed their birth certificate and both are given equal weight by the interviewer.
Sliding on the road is not something you want to be doing too far as eventually you will hit something. That's where the damage will occur (to the body).
Very true. But falling off/ being knocked off your bike and coming to a sudden stop is far worse. For example if your jacket catches (or wears through) on the road surface and you cartwheel through the air at 30 mph, you will be wishing you were sliding instead.
The fact remains though you are unlikely to slide far on the road. I would never dispute that leather is likely to be the best material to prevent gravel rash but I’m just not sure that would be a rider’s biggest concern in a road accident. I wear various different combinations of biking gear dependent on the weather, the trip or the destination.
