THEFIRSTTHINGtonoteisthatpretty
muchallthemanufacturersconsider
ridingjeansfor‘urban’useandas
such, any accident should be around
30mph or below. That’s why we chose
that speed for our drag testing butwe
realise many people will use themfor
riding at potentially higher speedstoo.
Which is why we carried out repeated
tests. Clearly our tests won’t show the
effect of heat build-up for longer slides
but multiple tests give an indication of
how damage could occur.
What is encouraging is that every
pair of jeans here remained intactin
the first test, ie they didn’t expose a
wearer’s skin to the road surface. So
for a single fall and resulting slide,on
the butt, at 30mph, a rider would be
protected from abrasion injury.
However, for higher speed or longer
slides, then we can see how damage
begins to build and could result ina
potential injury. Two runs saw holes
begintoappearinsomejeans and by
thetimewehadcarriedout all four
tests, only two pairs — the Draggin
Rebels and the Hood Infinity —
maintained complete protection. Of
course, you’re not likely to suffer
several 30mph offs and then wear
them again and have another off (if you
do, maybe consider getting a bus)but
it is indicative of the level of protection
likely in the worse-case scenario.
As a result, thanks to their complete
protection and all-round performance
on the bike, the Draggin Rebels get a
well-deserved Best Buy triangle. The
Hood Infinity K7s are also awardeda
Best Buytriangle— a strangesituation
THE
VERDICT
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HoodInfin
K7-AA
— great
priceand
complete
protection
perhaps, to havetwo
Best Buys but wait;
the Draggins we
tested were pre-CE
certified examples
(next batch will be
AA) but the Hood
examples, while also
offering complete
rider protection but
not quite so good on
the bike, do get a AA
rating on the
upcoming CE
certification.
You’ll see we’ve
given the Spadasa
Recommendedtag,
as they gained an
8/10 for protection
with a reasonable
£140 price, and so
they too are worthy
of a triangle.
How do normal
jeans fare?
We threw in a pair of several-month
old cheap supermarket jeans to
see how they would fare, since
we know some people chance
their luck from time to time. We
didn’t expect great things here
but were surprised by how
well they appeared to resist
the initial 30mph slide,
though one hole already
would have been straight
through to the skin.
However, by the time they
had done all four tests,
they were destroyed, as
the rider’s arse would
have been too.
Spada
Rigger
Selvedge
— good
protection
andnice
price
Draggin
Rebels
— total
protection
andgood
feelon
thebike
70 | JULY 2019
PRODUCTS
RiDE test lab or swanky
West End boutique?
