how much does the right gear lower the factor of how bad your injury will be..
i have been told that wearing leather pants and jacekts isnt the best becuase at high speeds when you fall the road will melt the leather into your skin and will be more of a problem..

if you fall at 60mph are you guranteed road rash, i have seen some videos where the fall on the highway and the slide about 20 feet and are able to jump the there feet and start running and doesnt look like they are hurt?

leathers melt on to skin???

most leathers i've worn have inside lining on them... and i dont think the friction of a crash is enough to melt leather onto you! now if you got doused with gas... then thats a different story.. youre just screwed... stop,drop, roll

injury from a crash imo depends on how you crash, speed, other hazards around you (other cars that will run over you, tree), and how you react to the crash!

If you are wearing the good kind of leather... it should prevent any abrasion in the event of a crash. You might end up with a broken bone... but it will minimize abrasion to your skin! I'm a nurse who has worked at ER & currently works at orthopedic unit so I see pretty much every m/c accident victims that come to our hospital! And believe me... there's a difference when it comes to injury between riders with protective gear vs rides wearing tanktop, short, and a flipflop!

as far as the guys youve seen crash and just get up! they were lucky! probbly jst lowsided... its less violent... as long as theres no hazards coming behind you ei a car!

also I think... this is just me... you can prevent more injury if you dont try to break the fall when youre crashing. Most injuries i've seen were broken arm, tibia, fibula, femur, ankle, foot, wrist, basically an extremity because they tried to break the fall. I think letting your self fall flat on your back or on your side, and just try to ride the crash out would decrease injury. But I understand that its instinct to break your own fall... plus I dont think I'll have time to think about falling on my back if I crash... I'll be just thinking OH SH!T

*KNOCK ON WOOD*

Unfortunately sometimes you have hit the ground/pavement so fast that you did not have a chance to even think. Which means you did not have a chance to correct on how you were going to hit the ground or even try to save the bike.

The idea in mind to not fight the bike & so not end up with a high-side was way past your thought. Also if you intended to try & roll with the prang (crash) was also late in comming about in the mind.

If you end up hitting something solid like a sign, cage, most were things you did not even have control over & those non-moving object are going to break some bones or do internal injuries.

In otherwords if you think you can plan out how to prang in a sensible manner then forget it & even with the most superior gear can still mean dramatic injuries.

So I simply do not try to plan out how I am going to prang for in so many cases as a rider I did not have a chance.

If you worry to much about the above then best not to have a m/c or best to sell the bike & drive a cage.

It really depends on the crash. Protective gear does a really good job of preventing road rash. Textile will melt before leather will, and both can melt to your skin, however leather is much, much less likely to do so. Even if you gear melts to your skin, you are still better off that you would have been without it, since you wouldnt have any skin to melt otherwise.
Leather is also better at working after the crash, you can ussually wash a leather jacket and wear it again, where as a textile will have to be replaced.

What gear is not good at preventing is an injury from striking an object. If you fly into a car, a telephone pole, a fence, you are in serious trouble, and will likely spend considerably time in the hospital, or worse.

This is why its best to speed on a closed track. 100+ mph crashes ussually result in nothing more than some soreness. If you cant keep from tensing up when falling, you might suffer something like a broken wrist, which is unpleasant, but far from life threatening.

I agree.. it was just a thought that maybe there's a remote possibility that you can somehow react better to the crash... but like I said too, I would probably be thinking OH SH!T and nothing else.

And again, injury from a crasjimo depends on how you crash, speed, other hazards around you (other cars that will run over you, tree), and how you react to the crash

also smitty is right, if the crashing is somethin that worries you too much then its best not to ride. The possibility of crashing or getting hurt is one the factor that I had to weigh in even before I bought my first bike........ To me though.... the benefits that I get from riding outweight the risk that comes with it!

im not worried about crashing, im actually kind of expecting to take a few falls with the things i have been hearing. im not one to let my fear get in the way of my fun.
the whole reason to my question is i was just wondering how safe leather is and how much you benifit from wearing it.

The overall concept was covered. I'm certain I'd have had some broken ankles in a past crash if it weren't for the support provided by my Sidi race boots. That's one specific example.