The Cambridge machine is used to test abrasion resistance under EN13595, and gives a time to failure

Road surfaces across the UK vary massively, but you’ll find more and more of the highly-abrasive surface dressing (or chip-seal) on country roads. Having a pair of protective motorcycle trousers is important to make sure you’re taking the necessary steps to keep yourself safe. When you buy cheaper alternatives, you’re putting yourself at risk of potential injury, whereas with Bike Stop’s high-quality range, you can find trousers that’ll keep your legs, knees and ankles protected in the unfortunate event of a crash. Visible studs in the SEESMART™ protector are hexagon-shaped and connected by narrow connection bands. This construction enables the protectors to be extremely flexible and remain relatively thin; exactly what a protector designed for clothes that integrate into daily life need to keep from looking like motorcycle gear. The hexagon shaped studs expand externally under impact, allowing them to absorb energy. This combination of external expansion and the use of SEEFLEX2925 material reduces impact energy, giving the protector its impact absorbing properties. In jeans, to achieve an AA or AAA rating, armour must be fitted at the knees AND the hips, but as to which is best… well, in all claims of safety, testing should be the final arbiter, so Level 2 offers the best protection. Some brands of armour achieve that with thinner materials than others, but it’ll come down to what feels comfortable to you, and what looks good. UK roads are often thought of simply as ‘asphalt’, which is about four times less abrasive than chip-seal, or surface-dressed roads. It’s the surface you’ll most likely find on the main arteries of our road network.

Motorcycle Pants

If all this math is numbing, we'll translate: a single kN equals 225 pounds. That means even Level 2 armor should average "only" transmitting 2,023 pounds of force to your body in the event of a crash. ( Ouch.) The Level 1 stuff would send through 4,046 pounds. That should be sobering when you think about rolling with no armor at all. How comfortable are the pants? Under EN17092, abrasion testing is carried out on a Darmstadt machine, which spins samples at an rpm specific to the performance classification being aimed for (A, AA or AAA), then drops them onto a concrete slab where they slow to a stop. If there’s no hole bigger than 5mm in any direction, it’s a pass.

Motorcycle riding jeans are now incredibly popular – as bikers move away from sportsbikes and focus instead on adventure, street, custom, naked and cruiser machines, denim is often the trouser of choice. The innovative 100% polyamide double layered Power Shield (PWR|shield) panels stitched into the critical seat and knee areas offer abrasion resistance in the event of an off. The PWR panels are created with a unique Aramid fibre and knit technique which results in a fabric with unsurpassed cut, tear, and abrasion resistance level yet is far lighter than its Kevlar equivalent. Layered with the Cordura outershell, that also provides 3x times the abrasion resistance of regular cotton used in most motorcycle pants, theREV’IT!Alpha Chinos offer 5.9+ seconds of abrasion resistance which is greater than leather pants. Armour Protection

When I’m riding faster and further, I tend to wear AAA-rated lined jeans. Not the heaviest-duty ones as I still want to be able to spend the day in them comfortably, and I’ve done that in the much hotter climates of Spain and the US. I wear these as I understand that layering of materials can significantly increase abrasion resistance. Again, I’ll always have full armour fitted. There’s little reason for a good-quality pair of single-layer or lined motorcycle jeans – with knee and hip armour – to not be rated as AAA, so make that your first filter. You might hear some excuses for products not having the top rating, but the only way to know for sure is through testing, so be wary of bluster. Oxford's Original Approved Chino pants are a slim-fit, casual-looking pant with workwear roots, receiving a significant fabric upgrade through a monolayer Armourlite® construction. This specific variant of Armourlite® stretch twill has been interwoven with cotton to create a soft hand feel that performs to rigorous CE AA testing standards.

You might argue that this is just a sample of two, but MotoCAP has done a lot more. It’s an independent motorcycle clothing assessment program based in Australia that uses rigorous and proven testing to help riders around the world to choose the safest motorcycle kit. It’s not a bad system, but like any lab test it shouldn’t be considered a guarantee that something that’s passed AAA will remain intact should you slide down the road at 70mph. Here’s why: Third Generation Infinity K-tech Para-aramid: Extensive coverage of hi-tech K-Tech para-aramid for the highest level of protection. The new double layer construction improves the softness and breathability of the jean, making the K7 (S) and SK11 the most comfortable and safest motorcycle jeans Hood has ever produced. Usually, the highest (AAA-rated) clothing for moto is made of leather, making you look like a Marvel extra who wandered off the set. Dainese flips that script with what looks like traditional cargo pants, right down to the cotton feel of the fabric—which is woven with Armalith yarn, which isn't too different from the Dyneema Sa1nt uses for its jeans. The fit's different here, however, with a looser cargo cut, but like those jeans, the idea is the same—exceedingly high resistance to abrasion during a slide. These only come in regular length 32" inseam. I usually wear 34"in jeans. The length is actually OK for me when not on the bike buy once sitting on the bike they do come up a bit short. I will probably wear with a pair of my longer boots so won't be an issue. Would be good if Oxford offered long (and perhaps short) leg lengths.Besides the knees in all levels, the hips in AA and AAA, and the bum in AAA only, the rest of the jeans are tested with the rig spinning at much lower speeds, so potentially offer less protection. You can see all the info in this article . Armour does not just protect you from an impact injury – it makes a huge difference to the abrasion-resistance of the material. Not just because it puts more stuff there to wear out; it absorbs a lot of the energy that would otherwise rip at the fabric.