Protect Your Hide

[Jeff F]

I bought my riding gear because it was cheap, looked good (or at least not dorky) & seemed like it would protect in the event of a mishap. I assumed all gear was made from pretty much the same stuff. That's wrong, according to the attached article - an easy reading 1 pager.

Unfortunately my Joe Rocket stuff is polyester which doesn't seem to rate very well.

Like most things found on the `net or otherwise one can't be sure of the source nor accuracy of this data, so use it as you will. Article found on the MTF board.

Cheers,

[hig4s]

What is 600 Rock-tex ??? that is what my wife's JR jacket is made of.
What is Polytitanium mesh ?? that is what my Fieldsheer mesh jacket is made of.
My Tourmaster Cortech GX, is 800 denier nylon and 1680 denier Ballistic nylon shell. So that looks pretty good.

[mcrides]

I bought my riding gear because it was cheap, looked good (or at least not dorky) & seemed like it would protect in the event of a mishap. I assumed all gear was made from pretty much the same stuff.

Not at all. Like everything else, it pays to read the specs and then look at the gear. Take a close look at extra protection that might be used for high stress areas (shoulders, elbows, Knees, etc)

Unfortunately my Joe Rocket stuff is polyester which doesn't seem to rate very well.

I haven't looked over all their jackets, but I wear a Joe Rocket Meteor 4 jacket made with 600 denier Rock-Tex. It's quite substantial feeling. When I chose it, I used rating grid that included criteria that was important to me. For example, impact and abrasion protection, visibility, weather protection etc. My short list included half a dozen jackets. But everyone's criteria in a jacket is personal to him her. You might not weigh something the way I do.

Usually, a jacket should have a denier rating of 500 or more. The higher the denier number, the heavier the fabric. Too high, ie 1000, will make the fabric more resistant-stronger, but also heavier and stiffer for wearing comfort.

Many manufacturers have their own proprietary names for fabrics. But reputable manufacturers will tend to use fabric that has abrasion resistance.

You should be looking for re-inforcements at the shoulders and elbow/forearms for increased abrasion resistance. This is where some manufacturers use a higher grade of denier or some even leather.

Cordura is sometimes coated on the inside to make it waterproof. This also makes it more windproof but also less breathable.

As always, you tend to get what you pay for.

Hope that helps,

Bruno
Montreal, Canada
Gerbing Heated JACKET LINER Review
http://pages.videotron.com/mcrides/product_evals/gerbing/liner.htm
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