Lightweight alternative to racing leathers

Leathers are super heavy. Race teams spend big bucks on the bikes to lose a few grams, the riders go thru crazy gyrations to re-shape their bodies to be strong and light, and then racers put on a 25lb leather suit. I always wondered why an effective, lightweight alternative to cowhide hasn't been developed. I remember the kevlar suits from years ago. I think they were too flappy?

 

a friend of mine has the only AMA approved kevlar suit for racing. Its very power rangerous...
https://www.motoport.com/product/gp-1-stretch-suit/

 

Kangaroo

 

Just don’t crash. Duh.

 

They did but there was no substitute for moo and roo.

I tried one of thos motoport suits way back in the 1840s when they first came out and mainly used it as a rain suit. Weirded me the f out.

 

Interesting that they make no mention of weight in the specs.

 

Kangaroo is generally lighter because it can be made thinner than cowhide and offer similar abrasion resistance. I don't recall how Lorica measures up in this dept. It's a synthetic leather that Sidi has used for years to make boots out of.....I don't think it really ever caught on for suits, maybe for some gloves. Good for the vegans to lol.

 

Also, leather sucks when its raining. There should be no excuse for MotoGP riders to wear garbage bags over their suits when racing.

 

The high end Kangaroo suits are pretty damn light.

 

I was looking for the weight, too. A bullet under the description drop down on their site says "three to six pounds lighter than a leather one piece suit".
Is that a Vanson suit or what, with or without armor, what kind of armor, etc?

I have a vague recollection of someone telling me they tried out B.Spies kangaroo suit. He said that despite the proverbial fitting like a glove, the freedom of movement and lack of weight made it feel like like he was riding naked.

 

I did a bit of reading and it seems that roo is only around 20-30% lighter than moo. Prices are around 2X compared to moo.

 

Custom Bison Kangaroo suit with a tech air race vest installed weighs 17 lbs 1600.00 retail
Alpinestar Absolute Kangaroo suit with Tech air race vest weighs 19.4 lbs 2600.oo retail

 

Dude, you need to find a way to check out some of the pre airbag suits that the motogp riders wore. I doubt you’d buy a set.
They were one and done suits that had plastic zippers, the patches were silk screen and where you and I want double layers they settled for one layer of roo.
Say a set of vansons weighs 40 lbs, a set of non air bag kushitani weighs 25, some of those are under 15.
Remember, one crash and they are retired.

 

Kinda getting the idea that consumer grade roo suits weigh around 11 lbs with protection installed, which is better than I thought. Was just thinking that with all the textile tech these days, an effective pro level suit should weigh more like 5 lbs. Seems like an issue that factories would throw big $$$ at.

 

Whats the $ per crash with roo suits? With my cowhide it was.. $400/8 ish.. . Maybe $50 per crash?

 

I crashed the shit out of my two Alpinestar Absolute suits this year and sent each back to Anthonys one time each just to be redyed. They were never damaged beyond use. I think he charged 400.00 for a complete redye

 

Here's a lightweight roo suit for only 1300 euro with claimed 11.4 lb weight with protection (no air vest)

https://www.4sr.com/e-shop/racing-ultra-light-ar-d335.html

 

Yeah...you gotta realize these guys are NOT getting Consumer grade equipment that's designed for Joe Club Racer/Track Day guy.

They have a travel case/locker filled with suits/boots/gloves. They go out, if they crash, they come in and change into a new suit.

You'll NEVER see them on the grid on race day without a new suit on that doesn't have a scratch on it. Just like on game day every NFL player
more than likely goes out with a brand new pair of shoes. You pay Von Miller $100million....you take care of his feet.

 

Remember the motogp brand roo leathers? Made by berik. First run were great and light af. Later were not so great.

lighter ain’t always better. Ask Zarco.

 

You don't think they don't toss big money at these? Even though their probably disposable/consumable items, I'd bet these roo MotoGP suits are NO less than $5,000/each (easily more..I'm lowballing here). I have a D-Air I got from STG as a floor model for $2000.

You also gotta remember these suits are build for riders built like my 12 year old. He's 5'7, 120 pounds.