Kevlar jeans

I'm going to buy a pair of kevlar jeans for next season. I thought there would only be one or two choices. But there are a lot more. Dragon jeans,sliders,diamond gusset, agv,alpinestars etc etc. What brands do people on here have experience wearing? So far I'm leaning towards dragging jeans because they are 14.5 ounce denim others are a little thinner. I would like to stay around $150 max. I'm also going to purchase under pants and top from bohn armour unless anyone has found a brand they like better I would consider looking at them.

 

I wear the Bohn armor under my Slider jeans most of the time, otherwise I wear Alpinestars compression shorts and Fieldsheer knee/shin guards. Motorcycle Consumer a news did a review on a handful if different Kevlar lined pants and gave the Sliders a "best buy" award. I have three different pairs of them, a pair of jeans, a pair khakis, and a pair of Cargo pants. So far they have held up under several wash cycles and are pretty comfortable. Only thing that can be bothersome is the Velcro closures for the knee guard pocket, but that's if I don't wear the fore mentioned armor and use their add-in knee protection. Although I have not "battle tested" them to their max potential, I did have a low side whilst wearing the cargo pants and they do t even has a mark on them.

 

I also wear "Sliders: Jeans, Kakhis, and mesh moto pants, 5 pairs altogether. I wear Nike "Pro Combat" shorts underneath

Ride Red!

 

i have a pair of icon victory, they fit nice, had to chop off the bottom 2" but are comfy, they are only slightly better than just wearing jeans but they fit big enough you could wear armor under them.
next pair i buy will have pockets for inserts.

 

I have a pair of Draggin' Jeans, and can give a few comments on them:

1.) Construction: High quality. I can see these lasting decades if they're just occasional use riding pants. Even if you wore them 5 days a week, I'm sure they'd last years barring a fluke.

2.) Fit: Decent fit, though a little weird. The waistline goes up pretty high, so they feel like old man pants at times. I have no doubt this was intentional, so that they could be linked off to a jacket a good 4 inches past the hem so that your back isn't exposed in a crash. They also run a little small I think, so I recommend buying via amazon so you can ship back with no fuss if they don't fit.

3.) Armor: Here's my one gripe. The knee armor that comes with it fixes to the inside of the pant leg with...heavy duty velcro? Really? You went to ALL this trouble to make some excellent jeans and then resorted to velcro? It's idiotic. The good news is it's an easy fix, though one I haven't done yet. You can just sew the knee armor with heavy thread directly to the pants (the armor has paired holes you could loop through) or take it to a clothing alterer with the armor velcro'd right where you want it, and have them install some pockets for them or something. If anyone has a better idea for this I'd love to hear it. Alternatively, I guess you could just wear slip on knee armor under the jeans.

 

Thanks for the thread. I have been looking at jeans myself and yes there are a lot out there. I definitely want a pair that have pockets in them to slip in armour to add to the Kevlar. Personally I like the idea of velcro fasteners for the armour. That allows for the opportunity to take the armour out and wear the jeans around for the rest of the day without the look of severely knobby knees. SO to sew the armour in permanently is not for me.

At my age, bones do break a little easier. I have broken enough limbs in my career life in the past, I prefer not to do so any more. They healed up quite nicely in my younger years but I don't think I would recover quite as well new. I suppose I could go out to Value Village and buy a nice pair of flannel pants, checkered shirt,straw hat and a pair of those wrap around dark glasses and stick to taking public transit.

 

Thanks everyone for the info so far.

 

I bought a pair of Sliders a few years ago to check out, they were built poorly, bad seam lines , the knee protection was located in the wrong place on one knee. I were leather all year round. I have seen what even a low speed fall in these type of jeans look like. You might get a few more feet of slide than regular jeans before you start leaving flesh on the road. And if you bounce.... forget it.

 

Although having armor pockets sounds like a good idea, in practice I don't think they will perform as one might hope. The reason is that most of these pants have a little "wiggle" room and unless your sitting on the bike with knees bent, the armor does not sit that close to you knees as they should, leaving the possibility of them not being in the right spot when "falling off" the bike. This is why I wear the Bohn armor (better) or the knee/shin guards (best) as they are more likely to be where you need them when you fall. YMMV

 

agree w/ ootv, my jacket is same way, if its part of pants/jacket it may be there for the impact but the looseness its going to move and you'd be sliding on material only. icon pants are very baggy, some type of catchers knee shin guards would be best protection under them.

 

While true of normal jeans, this is not true of Draggin' Jeans. There are quite a massive number of crashes with photos of these things sliding significant distances without falling apart. The exterior gets ripped and torn up, but the hips, knees and butt (which are the vulnerable, protruding parts of the lower body in a crash) are there totally intact with the kevlar scoffing at the asphalt. Unless there is a massive hoax behind this, I'm afraid your speculation is not accurate. Indeed, it may well be that kevlar lined jeans, if well made, protect the knees and butt better than leather, which is for the record overrated. Unless you're wearing a $500 pair of Vanson lowers, leather can easily fail in a mere 20 foot slide.

 

I have had some big get offs at the track and I will take leather any day. The Dragon jeans may be better but I doubt that the best Kevlar jean out there would even be close to a decent set of leathers with CE armor in them. I am going to check out the Dragon jeans. It is hard to believe how they will not move and rotate in a crash though.

If your wearing leathers that fail in a little slide you need to buy something different.

 

I've been wearing the Draggin' Jeans for about 2 years. Quality made, thick, durable, good pockets.
I mostly wear them during the colder days with under armour/ thermal wear underneath. Worth the price.

 

Got a pair of Cycle Gear's Knock off brand. Bilt. Battle tested and approved. had a buddy in the same pair over-clutch a wheelie on his zx6r. the denim was gone probably instantly, the kevlar held up nicely. the padding in any pair of these jeans are worthless IMHO. but any slide below the 50mph mark, and the kevlar will save your arse (litterally). ive been down in both kevlar jeans and leathers. Nothing can beat a good pair of leathers, Your padding wont shift, and the leather wont "grab" at the pavement like a fiber would.

 

I've been looking for some good jeans too... It's so much more convenient when you can wear jeans because they actually need to go with your outfit.
I've been checking these out because of the price realy.. http://www.motorcyclehouse.com/mens-motorcycle-pants-chaps-dsx-denim-pants-12309-prd1.htm can anyone show me something better?

 

http://e.compacc.com/HM?a=FtX7Cq0lgglM8SA9MKJt-yfnGHxKLJ0hDQjtS5kGaDMw0bBhOG5mpqVsje_HhdBjiUuY

SALE

Ride Red!

 

i ordered a set of the sliders 4.0 jeans in black. good price compared to other sites.

 

+1 on the Draggin's, mind preferring my leather pants tend to only wear the Draggins on the Hotter of days or a work commute.

I know one guy who had a slide at 45mph on Draggins and while he got a little heat burn they held up very well without any wear through while a different friend with a more "Stylish cut " brand had a slide at 30mph on similar reasonably smooth bitumen had a little wear through though was still better than standard Jeans would have been.

 

Yes, Great prices and they also have some really interesting bike (test ride) videos. I am interested in their Aeromoto leather pants which I can attach to my leather jacket... I will then have a Track worthy suit.

Ride Red!