real quick, which is a better jacket and why

[cowboyzrus]

Hi, i have narrowed my search to these two jackets. Jacket #1 *NEW* Kawasaki Alien Leather Jacket by: EliteWears - EliteWears

and jacket #2 New Kawasaki Motorcycle Racing leather Jacket Armor L - eBay (item 270233019452 end time May-01-08 18:51:30 PDT)

I can get either one for about the same price. I assume that jacket 1 is a better quality jacket, BUT it is so dark! I do want to be seen at night! But then again i can get a reflective leather patch for the back of it also. Jackt 2 is a good price, but i wonder if it is good quality or not? I dont know who makes it and if it has as think of leather as jacket 1. please help me pick and explain why. Thank you very much

[dinoSnake]

Jacket 2 is synthetic - man-made materials.

Shell Material : 100% synthetic leather (man-made leather) and water & windproof.

No idea how it will stand up to abuse; I'd trust the leather in Jacket #1 more.

But EliteWears' web site isn't working - no pictures at all, even the headers are gone. I take it this is only temporary? (never buy from a web site that seems so "Fly by Night" if this is common for them). The SKU was added to the web site on December 2004 - that's a LONG time to be listed on a web site as "available".

And the web site page is copyrighted 2005 - no updates it seems. The home page has listed a "new 2006 Yamaha Roadstar leather jacket"; even the home page hasn't been changed, it seems, since 2006.

I don't think I'd buy this piece from this dealer myself. They are probably out of business or pretty close to it if they can't update this web page to keep it current after 3 years of product "availability".

Keep looking - you'll find a good deal from a better dealer. Keep an eye out on NewEnough, they commonly pick up surplus Kawi stuff on great deals (because no other manufacturer makes green bikes, so green gear doesn't selll as well as other colors)

[cowboyzrus]

hmm. pic worked for me.. here is another direct pic link to it: *NEW* Kawasaki Alien Leather Jacket , well yea, i see your point on updating the site. Is man made leather real crap?

[dinoSnake]

Leather is used for riding wear because of it's strength. Leather gets it's strength due to the very nature of the material - the skin is made up of highly interlocking, woven together strands of fibrous proteins. Stress across the material is dispersed throughout the fibrous strands in multiple directions simultaneously inside the interlocking "weave". Therefore the material is very hard to stress rip or puncture because of this multiple interlocking fibrous construction - perfect for high wear, high resistance to tear and puncture duty, in other words, motorcycle gear.

Synthetics do not have this interlocking short-strand fibrous protein construction - we haven't been able to duplicate it yet. In other "high strength" synthetic weaves - Cordura, Kevlar, etc. - humans instead create a continuous, symmetrical weave from individual fibers that each have high strength. Instead of taking small, weak(er) fibers and interlocking them randomly to create vast strength, we must take longer, strong fibers and interlock them symmetrically in the expectation that the inherently stronger fibers will make up for the lack of strength due to weave symmetry (by being symmetrical a stress force can act across a unified plane of the weave, stressing it highly)

Although synthetic leathers have come a long way in the last 20 years, I do not believe they have fully duplicated the strength of real leather's protein system. IFAIK almost all synthetic leathers are made by bonding a manmade (petrochemical) surface to a woven underlayment for support (that is, a polyester / nylon / similar fabric base). It won’t / shouldn’t be a tear or puncture resistant, but I can’t say about abrasion.

Oh, and the link you provided still didn’t work I’d say look elsewhere.

For example, Competition Accessories has Miline jackets on sale, available in green (but no Kawi logos):

Miline Pegaso 2.0 Leather Jackets Apparel: Men’s Street: Jackets: Competition Accessories

CE armor (an automatic “trust” in my book), full / half pant zippers, etc, and 1.5mm leather (that’s nice and thick). Looks nice.

If you want “leather”, I’d go with the real stuff. If you want synthetic, go for something that is a known quantity in terms of strength (Roadcrafter, Tour Master’s Cortech, etc.) where the weave of the material has been tested under stress and by riders over the years.