Quick Review: Forcefield Pro Pants, For Riders Who Refuse to Retire Their Jeans
Today I heard an expression that pretty much sums up my philosophy about motorcycle safety gear: Don't expose any body part you wouldn't want to run against a belt sander. That's what asphalt feels like at speed, and jeans don't stand a chance in the unfortunate event of getting dumped off your bike.
Because I enjoy the look of jeans, I investigated Kevlar reinforced denim. However, it lacks the impact absorption of armor. Recently, I stumbled upon another product: Forcefield's Pro Pants, which can be worn under jeans. I can thankfully say I haven't crash tested them, but I have posted my observations in my Forcefield Pro Pant Quick Review. Check it out, and comment if you can't give up riding with jeans.
Photo © A. Wyckoff; Click for Quick Review
Comments
Good article…and every word rings true. If you ride, you will fall off sooner or later…it is as sure as the sun rising.
Asphalt Rash is everyone thing it’s cracked to be. It hurts like hell!
I wear decent riding pants & jacket with armor….have done so for years. There’s stil lots of jeans out there and they don’t last much more than 10 feet on pavement…then you’re grinding away at what nature gave you.
The practice that never ceases to amaze me is the shorts, t-shirts and sandals crowd. BREATHTAKINGLY STUPID!!
While I have no experience with under-armor like this, I can attest to needing something better than simple jeans. I went down about 2 weeks ago wearing Olympia overpants over my jeans. My main impact point (before the motorcycle fell on my left foot and crushed all my little toes) was my left knee. The Olympia pants have several layers of thick textile over CE armor. Even though I was only going 15 mph I lost all the layers of material down to the plastic armor cover over my knee. Other than my foot, I suffered no other injures than a tiny skinned spot on knee where the jeans rubbed. I have absolutely no doubt that with only jeans would be also recovering from a bad case of road rash on my left leg.
And Pete’s comment reminded me… Although we were only going 15 mph, it was on “smooth” asphalt and me and the bike still slid 20 or more feet.
I truly believe in all you say. When you live in southern Florida it is so hot….I would think these are so hot under jeans…it would be wonderful if something were invented for climates such as ours that wouldn’t be any hotter than wearing jeans(which I always do) which could protect under these jeans.
Basem, another great column and right on review…thanks! Comfort and protection in riding pants for warm climates is problematic, but there are companies like Alpinestars who have developed a ventilated fabric with armor. Maybe you could do a whole column on protective gear for spring and summer climes.
Pete,
Just yesterday I was with a rider who went down; I didn’t see what happened, but when I found him his nylon pants had torn and his knees were skinned– without his armor it would have been a lot worse, and I don’t think he was going very fast. His Arai got heavily scraped up, yet another reminder of why helmets are a good idea.
Sloan,
Amazing how quickly clothing can disintegrate; are you healing quickly?
Susan,
I’ve worn the Forcefields on warm days (including the day I rode the Buell XB12XT), and they’re actually fairly well aerated, thanks to the armor’s perforated design. Not as cool as jeans, but a worthwhile tradeoff in protection, in my opinion.
David,
Thanks– good to hear from you! More reviews coming and I’ll be expanding my gear section, so stay tuned!
Ride safe y’all,
Basem
What about the abrasion resistance of the Forcefield pants? I would think perhaps a combination of Kevlar reinforced jeans for abrasion and the under-armor for impact would be a good combination.
Chuck,
Abrasion is a good (and important) point; Kevlar jeans seem like they’d make a good combination. Maybe another review…
Basem
This seems like a great option. Even when it’s really hot here in Ohio, I still wear my perforated leather pants. They’re hot and weigh quite a bit but I always think about how much hotter it would be with my skin rubbing across the pavement. I see guys on sport bikes with a girl on the back in jeans, tank tops, etc. The guy is stupid, the girl is even dumber for getting on with him!
Good write up. I do think those pads would make my butt look enormous. I also think that would actually be hotter in South Florida than armoured mesh pants. But it’s a good alternative! Especially if you are thin in the hips LOL.
hsartteacher
That would probably look and feel a lot better than the textile riding pants I wear now. Ladies sizes too?
Anyone who thinks that a textile riding suit is sufficient should watch this video from the German Automobile Club ADAC: http://www.adac.de/adactv/test_technik/ADAC_Test_Motorradbekleidung.asp . Even if you don’t know German, the pictures make it obvious. The first test shows a cheap textile riding suit. Not much better than jeans, the asphalt wore the fabric all the way through to the test dummy’s skin. Then they tested an expensive Kevlar textile suit, which fared better. In the second half of the video, a cheap leather suit is tested. Even the cheap leather suit performs much better than the expensive Kevlar one. And nothing can compare to a well-made (higher-priced) leather riding suit shown at the end.
I have a well-ventilated leather jacket and leather riding pants with armor. Even here in Southern California, I often have to put the liner in the jacket or it gets too chilly while riding.
I agree with Pete: anyone riding in shorts, t-shirt, sandals, no helmet (or fake helmet, same as no helmet) and no gloves is blatantly ignorant of the risk.
That belt sander image is haunting me.
Except that asphalt is much more abrasive than a sander.