Asphalt versus chip seal - Abrasion testing motorcycle clothing on the two most common road surfaces

Asphalt and chip seal are the two most widely used road surfaces in Australia and New Zealand. Asphalt has a negative texture as the bitumen and aggregate is mixed and spread over the road base. Chip seal has a positive texture as the bitumen is sprayed onto the road base and then the aggregate is spread onto it to. How these surfaces interact with motorcycle clothing is important as some roads may pose a higher risk to riders in a crash than others. The texture of the surface influences the level of cutting and abrasion damage that can occur to motorcycle clothing during a slide.
Motorcycle clothing is made from a range of different materials including leather, textiles and high-performance fibres. Strength, thickness, structure and material type all have an influence on how a material will perform in a crash.
An abrasion tester was developed by Deakin University’s Institute for Frontier Materials to analyse the effects road surfaces have on different motorcycle clothing materials. It replicates the Cambridge-type laboratory abrasion tester and enables a direct comparison between the laboratory and real-world abrasion of motorcycle clothing. The video shows how protective textiles, leather and para-aramid lined protective denim perform on an asphalt and chip seal surface.
The key findings were:
Chip seal was 4.5 times more abrasive than asphalt.
Single layers of 500D nylon and 600D polyester protective textiles provided minimal abrasion resistance on both surfaces.
Leather and the protective denim measured both provided good abrasion resistance on both surfaces tested.
The laboratory test machine provided similar times to hole as the chip seal used in this research.
This research was conducted by Deakin University on roads in Victoria, Australia. It was funded by the Motorcycle Safety Levy and managed by the Department of Transport and Planning and Vicroads.

[@shivpalpatine]

NICE VID!
we need more tests like these from people with all different kinds of fabrics and gear! 50 amazon hard plastic torso armor, vs CE rated armor, vs etc etc.

[@paulvarnsverry11]

Shared on UK motorcycling social media.

[@bksmadetomeasure4964]

Fantastic work....will share this video with all of my client police force departments here in the UK

[@jeffreyblose8295]

What was the speed of the truck? The speed is highly importance as 8 seconds at 60 mps is different that 8 seconds at 10 mps as the varying speed generates different heat therefore burn thru is faster at higher speeds.

[@rienkhoek4169]

This begs the question, why is 500/600D so common if worse then regular jeans?

[@martinfoster5163]

It's cheap and strong enough for chassis material but for impact and high risk zones it should be and almost always is doubled up with some thicker, load spreading or high tensile material.
One aspect not explored in this type of test is high impact. Cotton denim will most likely tear open due to low tensile strength, whereas 500/600D polyester and nylon might not but will abrade through quicker.

[@christopherhurren629]

@@martinfoster5163500/600D polyester and nylon are not better in burst resistance when we did this testing when compared to the denim by itself. They predominantly failed in burst on chip seal. The synthetic fibres are used in garments as they have minimal water absorption and can enable water resistant garments to be made. In our testing we have seen many textile garments and they predominantly only have one layer of 500 or 600D nylon or polyester in the high risk zones. If manufacturers did as you said and provided two layers of protective materials in the high risk zones we would see protective textiles improve in the MotoCAP star ratings and their protection levels for riders.