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This question is partly motivated by having broken myself recently but also, because every time you come off on the road, skin gets shredded.
So Santini do their Impact bib shorts and I think Scott also do some with some abrasion resistant sections, but why don't more companies do it? I mean just cos it's unlikely/shouldn't happen....Endura used to do MTB shorts with Kevlar and what was a bit less than silk fine lycra... But doesn't seem like it any more.
Probably 3/4 of the road races I've been in last season had a crash.
And why nothing like the POC hip shorts built into a bib short for a bit of proper impact (broken bone) protection?? Doesn't have to be bulky or look like American football surely??
I might be paranoid about breaking things again, but is there no market for this kind of thing? Tarmac and road furniture is hard. So let's wear gossamer fine threads eh!!??...
For road? Anything that adds bulk adds time.
Anything that adds unnecessary material adds chafage.
You can always wear your mtb stuff but most roadies will probably scoff at you 😉
As above - kevlar linings are warm, and body armour is warm AND uncomfortable.
Being a (motor) biker I don't ride without gear, I've come off at low speeds (under 30mph) and a combination of d3o armour and either leather or textile motorbike gear has meant no injuries.
You come off a road bike at 40mph and yeah, it's going to hurt. But, aerodynamics.
Doesn't have to be full Kevlar but I can't believe some panels down the hips would be too obstructive.
Mtbers don't get too hot with padded shorts and they go slower.....
You'd need some pretty tough material to hold up with sliding down the road, and lycra is just so comfortable . But manufacturers could have a go if demand was high enough. Perhaps they don't think there's a market ?
Seeing as it tends to be elbows and knees that get skimmed and most road gear is shorts and short sleeved I’m not too sure it would work
Elbow and knee pads would be the most obvious form of protection. Do you think it's a look you could pull off?
Seen a few middle aged Frenchies rocking the Lycra and pads look out at the PPdS, but you really need an old style Met Parachute helmet to pull it off properly.
The images in my mind are Tour riders with wounds seeping through shredded shorts and jerseys. Knees and elbows are easily patched up.
Missing skin that is too large an area to cover with a dressing, the ones where dressings stick to the seeping goo....
Not to mention Adam Yates broken pelvis(?) and various other pro riders broken hips etc
Missing skin that is too large an area to cover with a dressing, the ones where dressings stick to the seeping goo….
I think since the budget cuts at NASA kicked in the chances of coming up with ultra light, breathable, flexible and super abrasion resistant materials are slim.
Anything I've had before has been either plastic or extra layers of material so not sweaty or heavy or not flexible
That's the kind of thing ac, but £180!!!! Wow!!! I guess protecting against skin loss costs a lot!?
You'd think there'd be an equivalent of the geography teachers leather elbow patches on the tweed jacket type thing.
But it would enevitably add weight and potential seams and stitches.
I think tall Paul is right, you can't have it all ways.
The Endura MT500 range was lycra aimed at mountain bikers and was certainly a lot more robust than the paper thin stuff commonly available. I still have a couple of garments from that range, including a pair of tights that have just come back from Endura after having the ankle zips replaced foc. Not bad support given they are more than 5 years old. I guess mountain bikers all adopting baggies has ended the production
That's it scotroutes, I remember the old tougher mt500 stuff. Is there no call for it even in XC MTB racing??
The problem is even if the material is abrasion resistant, all that does is resist superficial injuries.
I'm sure most people have had one of those falls where your trousers/jumper appear fine at first, then a minute late the blood soaks through and you realize you've done yourself a misschief. And it does zilch for broken bones. Cuts and bruises are just an acceptable risk.
And even on a grand tour the odds are slim, of a field of 180 or so doing 20 days racing, the actual number of race ending injuries from crashing is pretty small (5-10?) . Most retirements are either planned because they have Olympic/world championship commitments to train for, from illness (probably impacted by dehydration and heat) and saddle sores (which aren't going to be helped if you make shorts from leather and kevlar!
the actual number of race ending injuries from crashing is pretty small (5-10?)
I'd sort of agree and sort of agree in spirit that road rash generally isn't the cause of retirements.
But I'd still get some abrasion resistant shorts for the velodrome if they were more readily available - I've only crashed once, but won't forget the smell of burnt skin/lycra in a hurry.
I realise that abrasion resistant clothing does nothing for broken bones, but when the padding in say something like POCs VPD hip shorts is probably no more than a few mm thick and claimed to reduce impact force by 30percent, is there still no call for it, to minimise the risk even further?
Didn't Rapha do a limited collection called Rashe du Gravele dedicated to the early pioneers of the Tour de France and aimed squarely at a new breed of straight-backed, miserable roadies who've accidentally found themselves on short stretches of dirt where they instantly crash like dogs?
Gaunt, dirt-crusted men, with stubble and thousand-mile stares sliding down gravel tracks on their skinny monochrome butts, but looking so cool doing it in a very retro way. And this is the key, wearing thoroughly modern fabrics to minimise the damage.
Double panels of interwoven silk and kevlar stitched together with organically-farmed spider's web thread. Le Rashe du Gravele, c'est magnifique...
I think it was sold off cheap at one of their garage sales 🙁
I used to take part in inline speed skate races - held on open roads in Germany and Switzerland where you'd have a paceline of 50+ skaters doing 40-50kph with no brakes and so close together you'd be touching the skater in front - apart from gloves and helmets, very few wore protection only a lycra skinsuit and boy, you would slide a long way if you crashed, particularly on downhills! You can get protective shorts from the likes of Powerslide, but the extra layer feels restrictive and lycra sliding on tarmac still melts. Been racing road bikes for nearly 40 years - at no stage have I ever felt the need for more protection - broken bones and serious injuries are quite rare. The problem with the heavyweight material used on the Endura MT500 shorts was that it wore-out quicker.
Broken bones do appear to be rare but I broke my hip three months ago now, only just getting back out on the road and whilst I wouldn't say it's overly on my mind or stopping me riding, it just seems like modern technology could fairly easily just add a little protection.