Re: Gear that survived or failed (pics)?
Sidi Vertigo: Very good ankle, toe, and shin protection. Tested in numerous crashes, during one of which the bike fell on top of my left foot.
Caterpillar workboots: worthless for motorbike operation. One minor tipover resulted in ankle injury and two months of hobbling. I should've known better.
Alpinestars jacket: 1 lowside @ 60mph in the canyons including subsequent tumble down a cliff; 1 lowside @ 60mph on the track; 1 slow lowside in the canyons. 1 40-50mph lowside on the track. I replaced the hokey plastic zipper that zips it to the pants with a manly copper one, but other than that the jacket is still very serviceable.
Alpinestars track pants: same accidents as jacket above, leather is getting thin but they're still good enough to wear.
Joe Rocket Speedmaster gloves: no crashes. The palms wore through after one year of riding. I wouldn't recommend them.
Held Galaxy gloves: Several crashes, the left thumb has a hole from turn signal operation during approx 10k miles. I've seen this happen on other gloves, I liked these overall.
Kushitani GPR gloves: my favorites so far. Several crashes, at least one lowside where I was sliding while putting a lot of pressure on my palms. I have to pairs, that's how much I like them.
Never hit my head hard enough to say anything about my helmets (Arai Signet GT and Suomy Spec 1R).
Kushitani full race suit: One minor lowside, one whicked highside. Both on the track. Had to have some repairs done after the highside, but they were mostly cosmetic (script ripped off). Very nice suit, I can't say anything bad about it.
One thing I know for certain is to stay away from synthetic mesh stuff, no matter how hot it may be. I'd rather not ride because it's too hot than risk going down in a mesh jacket regardless of who the manufacturer is.
-R.
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