Motorcycle Jackets Sale Australia

Eight out of 10 of the most commonly worn motorcycle suits in Australia have failed abrasion tests conducted by Dr Chris Hurren at Deakin University in a joint study with researchers from Neuroscience Research Australia in Sydney.

Senior Research Officer Dr Liz de Rome says only two passed at the minimal level of the European standard.

“Eight failed miserably, ” she says.

“They are supposed to give four seconds of slide time but quite a number of them got less than half a second.

“The gear that is out there is not good. We need to get the manufacturers competing to improve, without a set upper limit for performance.”

While the study has not yet been published, preliminary findings were presented at the Australasian Road Safety Conference (2015).

“We will not be publicly releasing the names of the brands we tested. It would be unethical and unfair. The aim was to inform and spur action by government to support the development of the five-star rating system, not to name and shame industry who are often as much in the dark as their customers.

“There are no standards nor any accredited testing facilities in Australia. We will release the results of individual products to their manufacturers on a confidential basis to help them in quality improvement.

“We are supporting industry by determining the thresholds for injury protection and thermal comfort, to set guidelines for products that are fit for purpose. The major objective is to set up an independent assessment system, like NCAP (New Car Assessment Program), which has led to substantial improvements in the safety of cars by providing independent assessments to customers.

“Improvements have to be market driven, no one buys a one-star car any more, so now industry can invest in the production of 5-star cars. We are working towards a program so that riders can choose five-star gear and know they are getting what they have paid for.”

Liz says a five-star rating system for motorcycle protective clothing s preferable to mandating protective clothing.

She says that if protective clothing is mandated, it could create a market for fraudulently labelled garments.

“I really think the five-star rating is absolutely the way to go, ” she says.

Liz, a rider since 1969, recently told the NSW Parliament’s Motorcycle Safety Inquiry that there “is no association between the cost of garments and their protective value, when you look across the spectrum of what is available”.

“Cost and brand name is no indicator of whether the garment is fit for purpose, ” she told the Inquiry.

“We have to find a market mechanism to force the manufacturers to improve their products, and to enable that through what the riders buy.

“The best quality product in the market in Australia today is probably the stuff in Aldi.

“I introduced Aldi to a manufacturing consultant who advises companies on how to make gear that will comply with the European standard, and that is what they have done. Nobody else in Australia is producing full sets of motorcycle gear – jackets, pants and gloves – that comply with the European Standards.

“Most of the garments coming in from overseas do not comply.The European standard is a good standard, and we should use that as the benchmark—as the international standard—because the clothing has an international market.”