I have owned four suits in 27 years of racing Two Vanson one custom one of the rack. Custom one lasted eight years till it was cut off me. Fractured pelvis. They started cutting before I knew what was happening.. Second one lasted 14 years leather got dry otherwise I would still race in it. Third suit was a joe rocket went three years till the 1st crash and it came apart . I now rock a Cortect suit that I like a lot. Have not tested it yet but it build is far better then the Rocket not as heavy as the Vanson.suit ,and for half the price Just my two cents.
Oh lordy, don't get me started, crashed on the banking at Daytona in Fieldsheers many years ago, waked up with my bare arm lying across my shield, and my first thought was, where did my leathers go? many popped seams, holes, ouch. After that, I wore only quality leathers. Like I said above, Z Custom. Heavy, protective.
Just to throw my 2 cents in here. I recently bought a used suit from our own mr cretu. It was custom made RST and it fits me better than probably any off the rack ones I've ever bought. So if he's selling and you're the same dimensions as me, go for it. ...or I guess you could just get it made yourself https://www.rst-moto.com/custom-leathers
Vanson is 3 hours from me, Heroic 15 minutes from me, or do i go off the rack. Astars and Dainese fit me very well. I dont mind spending a little more to get a better suit. Im a track day rider not a racer. After walking the NY MC show i am confused by looking at all the suits. I also want to use an Helite GP Air Bag over an Astars or Dainese air bag, any one have a review or thoughts they would share on those as well. Thanks
I bought a custom Vanson about four years ago. It feels like it will last forever. It's heavy, but I don't notice the weight when I'm riding/wearing it. Prior to this I was rocking a Moto GP kangaroo suit which felt like my favorite PJ's and blew appart on impact.
Recently picked up a dainese suit. Love that they have “tall” sizing which fits me as well as a custom suit. Fit and finish on it feels amazing.
I will keep the suggestions in mind for my next suit. For your crash report statistics: thus far I have had two pairs of Alpinestars Motegi (the 2015 edition, then the v2). One crash in each. The first crash was 100+mph entirely on asphalt; lowside, but with a lot of spin imparted so I did a lot of rolling, sliding and flipping. I destroyed the suit. Small holes in hips, sleeve torn halfway around at the wrist, leather peeled from the knee armor (which fortunately still held), small hole in elbow flex material, scuffing all over. None of those did me physical harm though; the only real failure was that my knee wore through the accordion flex material above the armor and ground on the pavement, and had me changing bandages for two months. I am considering getting it repaired but not sure if it's practical. In my second suit, I had a 50mph lowside in the rain. Pavement, then dirt. Cosmetic scratches on the butt, and a lot of mud to clean off, but other than that just fine. Still using it. So I guess it just depends on how hard you hit.
https://www.mithos-usa.com/ Looks very promising. Swiss quality is renowned, nice to see that you can get an airbag in there as well.
I actually wore one this past Sunday at a track day. It was the Air Bag model, but didn't have the Air Bag installed. One of their Rep's(Ken) left one at our shop. He said I could try it. It fit me pretty well not being custom fitted. A little short in the torso for me. He thought it was a 58, but might have been a 56. I'm 6"2 and 210lbs. Very high quality, looks cool and pretty light compared to my own suit(Held Slade). Very, very nice suit. He actually didn't care if I crashed in it. Kinda of seemed he wanted me to. Wanted to show how well they hold up. I didn't crash so no input on crash worthiness(is that a word?)
you can't think of safety in terms of "racer" or "track day rider"... a crash, is a crash. Your bones and flesh won't give a shit if you were racing or just doing a track day