leather & helmet saved my skin-Kevlar better?

I recently took quite a skid down the ashpalt road with my bike on me instead of me on it! Ouch!

I was wearing riding (hiking) boots and my left ankle is twisted and the foot is broken because the boot came off. Boots in good shape.

The jacket was a $250 classic style cycle of good quality leather which has road rash all over it especially at the elbows. Something still penetrated it and into my elbow. The sewn seams were ripped open on one arm. Jacket trashed.

The leather gloves were in the box. I wore instead a lighter fabric glove and my hands & fingers took a beating (better than nothing - at least hands were not bare!). Gloves trashed.

The helmet was a 1/2 shell. It has road rash on all 4 sides. My face has 1 small scratch (lucky!)

Paramedics cut up the long legged pants - what was left of them. Ended up with major road rash on both lower legs and some on the butt.

I will be buying a better boot, new jacket, full helmet that opens in front, throw away my open fingered gloves.

What I would like to know if you have any experience with the Cordovan and/or the Kevlan systems riding jackets, I would appreciate your opinion. Thinking of them instead of the leather only because it gets hot in FL behind a fairing & especially in traffic!

For me protection is import, more so than looks, that said I wear a mess jacket in the summer that has armour elbows and back and a pair of Dragon jeans, kevlar knees and seat, but no armour. hope that the rash was not too bad and that your back in the saddle soon. Rush

olympias jackets are nice. but i havent' tested them (thank god) i have a joe rocked mesh which is great in the summer. when you are movin or even sittin still you can feel the breeze, but it has lots of elbow, sholder and back protection. i don't know how they compare to leather. from what i understand leather is tops. you sold me on some kevlar pants though. i wear jeans a lot and i need more protection than that. hope you get back to riding soon.

Thanks for responses - I sat on my butt for 30+ days at home recovering and had lots of time to research the web and forums for opinions & products.

So far ordered a new leather jacket with armor but it is going back because not 1 seam is double stitched. After further study - In its place will be the TourMaster Cortec AIR mesh textile jacket with armor & 2 liners. Should be an all season choice for FL weather. Same in their AIR mesh over-pants with armor. I have winter insulated gloves and ordered Olympia all leather reinforced mid weather glove and will be getting the AIR mesh for summer use - no more department store or 1/2 fingers! Also flip-up FULL face helmet is on the UPS truck. Next is a pair of mid calf boots that will not come off when I really need it to stay on the foot to protect it!

all good choices...
and i hope you have a speedy recovery...
ride safe

I think gloves are one of the most over looked items of safety gear out there, wearing fingerless gloves is like wearing a condom with the tip cut off; that said, if you have access (or a buddy has) to an Army military uniform store you can buy armored combat gloves for around fifty bucks, they have em in black and camo, they are pre-curved for holding an assault rifle all-day; thus, they work great for holding handlebars too, armored on the knuckles and padded palms. The best part is they are mil-spec, which means, the manufacturer had to make them to meet a military specification, in the civilian world of motorcycle safety gear you never know what you’re getting. God speed in your recovery.

I've gone down twice, once with just leather and once with a kevlar armored mesh jacket. the accidents were dissimilair so it's a little tough to compare. but after being pushed over and sliding down the street by someone not seeing me while they were making a right on red, I'll say that besides bruised ribs and thigh I had almost no road rash. Granted I was only going about 40mph. Personally I'd never ride without my full face and armored gloves. That's just my opinion though. Gear up buddy. You're not a cat!