Australia’s internationally awarded MotoCAP motorcycle gear safety ratings service has added ratings on safety and comfort for eight jackets and eight pants to its growing list of tested products.
The new ratings brings the total number of items of clothing to 297, comprised of 125 jackets, 80 pairs of pants and 92 pairs of gloves.
Draggin Holsehot jeans top-scored on safety with four out of fives, followed by the Klim Artemis with twi stars.
Only one safety star was awarded to Merlin Route One Hardy, BME Waterproof Herren, Melbourne’s Saint Unbreakable Straight, Bull-It Easy Tactical Cargo, Triumph Urban Jeans and Macna Club.
While the Holeshot jeans performed well, MotoCAP says it could have done better if the knee and hip impact protectors were better quality.
Many of the others did not feature both sets of armour, marking them down on impact protection.
It was a similar situation in the jackets.
The new ratings for jackets can be viewed here. The new ratings for pants can be viewed here.
Deakin Uni Institute for Frontier Materials Senior Research Fellow and Honda GB400 rider Chris Hurren says there is a need for a holistic approach to safety.
Dr Chris HurrenHe says rider jackets and pants should include proper impact protection, as well as high abrasion resistance.
Chris says many garments don’t come with impact protectors or only a few protectors.
“Some of the garments could be five star if they just had a full set of certified protectors,” he says.
“Then it’s the rider’s choice if they want to throw them away if they don’t want to wear them.”
MotoCAP is a partnership between Transport for NSW, State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA), VicRoads, Transport Accident Commission (TAC), Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC), Lifetime Support Authority (LSA), the Department for Infrastructure and Transport, Western Australian Police: Road Safety Commission, Department of State Growth, Insurance Australia Group (IAG), Australian Motorcycle Council and Accident Compensation Corporation in New Zealand.
Testing is carried out by the Deakin University Institute for Frontier Materials on behalf of the MotoCAP partners.