I can beat that. I don't recall the four years before my accident, or the accident itself, while desert racing, so I understand that sometimes 'gear' can be helpful. But to claim that "Normal jeans will offer almost no protection in a spill" is wrong.

Some spills possibly, but not 'a spill'.

 

Ok. I will grant you that "normal jeans" are better than NOTHING or shorts, but they won't last more than a second, maybe 2 at most. If you're going to be doing any "sliding" for a time period longer than that, you should want better gear to keep from losing your skin. Does that sound better to you?

 

All we can do is share our experience. Your experience was bad after tumbling/being dragged under a pickup. I have gone down, at 45 mph, rolled, tumbled, even slid for a distance and my jeans weren't damaged at all. My arms, shoulder, and back weren't so lucky.

When I went down, at 20mph, no damage at all. And after receiving a check from the other guy's insurance, it turned out to be a good experience,

 

I wear Draykos. Have ALOT of miles in em and no regrets. Comfortable and look like regular jeans.

 

Well, I decided to bite the bullet, and just picked up a pair of kevlar lined jeans off eBay. I got them, in part, because the price was right ($45, with FREE shipping!), and because I wanted to get something that would give me the protection, but without the bulk and time consuming task of having to put on chaps every time I ride. I bought these (Force Riders DuPont™ KevlarŽ lined Motorcycle jeans in Dark Blue standard denim) on the 6th, and just received them in the mail yesterday, so 2 days for shipping! As a review, the denim looks good, dark blue, and feels soft. The kevlar lining doesn't make them feel too heavy or bulky, either. They feel and wear like a thick pair of denim jeans; normal 5-pocket, zippered blue jeans. It also came with armored pads for hips and knees. There are pockets on the inside for the armor, and there is velcro inside the knee pocket so the armor won't move around too much. The only thing I'm not crazy about is that the knee armor velcro isn't in quite the correct location, so the armor sits a bit toward the insides of my knees. If I bend my knees to try to kneel, they seem to move to still be under my kneecap, though, so should still offer the right protection should an accident occur. Since I've been a Levi's 501 guy for decades, the only "improvement" I would like to have would be a button fly instead of the zipper. Since they're still lined with kevlar, and it covers almost everything inside the jeans (all except the bottom 10-12 inches of the leg, and inside of the thigh), even without the added armor, they should still protect you fairly well. I'll find out today when I go home from work in the 80-90 degree temps if they will feel hotter or not, so will let you know. So far, though, I say it was $45 well spent!
I also got the wife a pair (LADIES DRAGGING MOTORCYCLE JEANS PANTS REINFORCED WITH DuPont™ KEVLARŽ BLUE WASH), but hers were more expensive ($60 shipped), and I haven't received them yet, but they're supposed to be on their way. Hopefully, they will get here before the weekend, so she can try them on a ride for an event we have. We'll see when they get here, and I'll let you know what the wife thought of them.

 

 

Thanks.

Well, so far, the armor at the knees doesn't quite sit "square" with my knee, and the hip armor seems like it's too far forward to properly protect my hip, but otherwise I think they're great, especially for the price. Last night, I took the armor out, and rode in today with just the linings, and they felt just like a regular pair of heavy jeans, but because of the lining I didn't feel as much of the cold wind as usual. The heat yesterday afternoon, though, didn't bother me for the ride home, but under the armor my knees sweated. So, long story short, I definitely recommend getting these kevlar jeans. The price is right, they offer plenty of protection, they feel soft and comfortable, and they look great.

The ones I got my wife should arrive on Monday, so will let you know later, probably after the next weekend (the 18th-19th), since that's probably when she'll get a chance to wear them. She doesn't ride every day, like I do.

 

I read some of the responses but not all. That being said I used to race track bikes before coming back to the cruiser life, and full leathers are obviously best .That being said, my buddy went down in Kevlar jeans and they held up well, but the biggest, biggest thing was he had the knee armor pocket in them. That is a game changer to me. The Kevlar is fine but the knee armour helps with the bounce on the ground that will happen. That and some reasonable boots. Ankles and knees get punished so protect those. I'm a bit passionate about that .In my old skateboarding days I smacked a knee on the concrete and you don't want it, I promise. Those pants have that knee armor as removable so you can have it if you need it. Don't mean to ramble on but I promise you will want that. You'll be happy you did if god forbid..