Tag Archives: motorcycle clothing

MotoCAP employs secretive buying

MotoCAP, the world’s first safety and comfort ratings system for motorcycle clothing, uses a secretive system for buying and selecting gear for testing to guarantee integrity.

The Australian ratings system for motorcycle pants, jackets and gloves launched in September 2018 and has attracted a wide range of support as well as criticism.

Deakin Uni Institute for Frontier Materials Senior Research Fellow Chris Hurren says they have so far not been supplied with any test products by any manufacturer.

“At this point the scheme is totally funded by Australian State Governments, some of the auto clubs and insurers and the NZ ACC,” he says.

“All garments are purchased from retail and online without the manufacturers knowledge or involvement.”

Secretive buying system

Motocap Motorcycle clothing rating system launched target
MotoCAP testing equipment at the Deakin Uni Geelong campus

Their sourcing system is quite secretive with one of the two garments used for testing bought in stores in Australia and New Zealand.

“We never buy more than one garment type at a time so a typical buying run may consist of one leather jacket, one textile jacket and a pair of denim jeans,” Chris says.

“Another buying run may be a textile jacket, a pair of textile pants and a pair of gloves. The person doing the in store purchase is a rider and they try on the garments like a normal buyer so almost impossible to detect.

“We then use the same covert purchasing system for an online purchase of a second garment generally of a different size and/or colour if available.

“The delivery address is changed regularly and never to the University.

“This is all done to ensure that manufacturers can not trick up the garments to get a higher score. The only time industry knows that they have been sourced for testing is when the results are displayed on the website.”

Manufacturer involvement

However, manufacturers have been invited to submit rider gear for testing and rating.

“There are two methods for manufacturers to organise for their product to be tested but neither of these have been utilised yet as the program is still in its infancy,” Chris says.

“A manufacturer can pay for a garment to be purchased using the above method and added to the testing program.

“A manufacturer may also get their product tested before it enters the stores by providing a number of boxes (50+ garments depending on the product and size of company) of their manufactured product in a warehouse where it is randomly sampled for three garments.

“Two of these garments will be tested and the third held to be compared with retail stock when it arrives in store. If what turns up in store is different to what was tested then their rating will be rescinded and they will be prosecuted by the ACCC for false advertising.

More ratings

MotoCAP rates eight textile jackets complex secretive
MotoCAP textile jacket ratings

So far, MotoCAP has tested 18 textile and leather jackets, 18 pairs of jeans and leggings and eight pair of gloves.

The last ratings posted were for textile pants about five weeks ago.

In the next few weeks MotoCAP will post ratings for seven pairs of leather pants and an additional posting of gloves, textile jackets and textile pants.

That means they will have every product class covered: gloves, leather jackets, leather pants, textile jackets, textile pants, ladies leggings and denim jeans. 

Chris says they will have more than 150 products on the website by June 30.

“We have purposely targeted only 10% of the market in the first year so that manufacturers have a chance to come along with the scheme,” he says.

“We do not want to put a manufacturer out of business as we want them to improve their products and think about protection and thermal comfort in their design.”

“If they follow this path like car manufacturers did for ANCAP then the rider will always be the winner.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

MotoCAP rates eight textile jackets

The world’s first motorcycle clothing safety ratings program, MotoCAP, rates eight new textile jackets poorly for safety and comfort.

Unlike the 10 leather jackets MotoCAP rated when it launched in September, none of the textile jackets rates more than two stars for comfort or safety.

An official MotoCAP release says they expect better gear with higher ratings to become available as the industry responds to customer demand.

When it launched, only 10 pairs of protective jeans and 10 leather jackets were tested. No gloves have yet been tested.

MotoCAP has set a target of testing 10% of available jackets, pants and gloves in its first year of operation.

Textile rates worse than leather

The new textile jacket ratings are for the Merlin Everson, Ducati Giacca Tour V2, RJays Dune, Dainese D-Blizzard D -Dry, DriRider Air-Ride 4, BMW AirFlow, Alpinestar Chrome Sports Hoodie and Harley-Davidson Bentan.

All are men’s jackets. No women’s gear has yet been tested.

Prices for the eight jackets vary from the $200 DriRider to $659 for the BMW jacket. They both rated just one star for safety and two for comfort.

Click here to see the full ratings for the jackets.

By comparison, the 10 leather jackets rated from two to fives stars for safety and half to two stars for comfort.

Testing target

Motocap Motorcycle clothing rating system launched target
MotoCAP testing equipment

Last month a Transport for NSW spokesman told us that gloves have been tested and the results would be published “soon”.

Leather pants are also being tested.

The clothing is bought anonymously from stores and local online outlets.

Motocap Motorcycle clothing rating system launched testing

Invitation to industry

When MotoCAP was launched, the motorcycle clothing industry was not invited to pay for testing to guarantee independence.

However, MotoCAP has invited companies to submit products for ratings and pay a low fee to cover testing.

It is not known if these eight textile jackets were randomly selected or provided by distributors.

Companies can voluntarily advertise their rating using the MotoCAP logo.

MotoCAP is a not-for-profit organisation in partnership with the following: from NSW – Transport for NSW, SIRA and the NRMA; from Victoria – VicRoads, TAC and RACV; from South Australia – DPTI, MAC and RAA; from Queensland – TMR and RACQ; from Western Australia – the Western Australian Road Safety Commission; plus the Australian Motorcycle Council and the New Zealand Accident Compensation Corporation.

The Transport for NSW spokesperson says MotoCAP is designed to “reduce road trauma and injury severity for motorcyclists” by informing riders of their choices.

It is hoped this will be achieved by raising consumer awareness of, and demand for, better protective clothing, and manufacturers and suppliers will respond to that demand,” he said.

The MotoCAP rating system will be continually monitored and feedback will be considered to identify any improvements that can be made.”

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com