Hi all,
I recently had an accident and it got me thinking that I should really improve my short ride gear, which I am often very lazy with. I know I won't suit up for a 3 minute city drive so one of my solutions was kevlar jeans, amongst other things. Unfortunately, the products that are out there are WAY overpriced, pretty ugly, don't provide a slim fit, and many only provide small patches of protection. So, I made my own which I would highly recommend if this type of product interests you.
I bought a pair of my favorite jeans, Levi's 514 slim fit - $30
2 yards x 56" of k129 Aramid/kevlar - $25
Kevlar thread - $4
Total cost of materials - $59
I then took it to my local tailor, who did the job for $50. So my total cost was $109 and here is the result:
514 jeans that look no different on the outside than a normal pair
Kevlar lining throughout the entirety of the jeans, not just impact areas
Double thickness in the knees and butt (although he misunderstand the instructions and the double patch on the butt could be placed a bit better)
He also constructed a pair of "pants" from the kevlar and then sewed the entire piece into the jeans. Looking at it, it seems this would offer a good safety in the event of seams blowing apart - the entire lining would have to come loose.
All-in-all, a great little project that took no effort on my part. A great deal for $109 and if you can sew, this would be super cheap. Hope this helps some of you since I couldn't really find a writeup/pictures from anyone on the web.
I recently had an accident and it got me thinking that I should really improve my short ride gear, which I am often very lazy with. I know I won't suit up for a 3 minute city drive so one of my solutions was kevlar jeans, amongst other things. Unfortunately, the products that are out there are WAY overpriced, pretty ugly, don't provide a slim fit, and many only provide small patches of protection. So, I made my own which I would highly recommend if this type of product interests you.
I bought a pair of my favorite jeans, Levi's 514 slim fit - $30
2 yards x 56" of k129 Aramid/kevlar - $25
Kevlar thread - $4
Total cost of materials - $59
I then took it to my local tailor, who did the job for $50. So my total cost was $109 and here is the result:
514 jeans that look no different on the outside than a normal pair
Kevlar lining throughout the entirety of the jeans, not just impact areas
Double thickness in the knees and butt (although he misunderstand the instructions and the double patch on the butt could be placed a bit better)
He also constructed a pair of "pants" from the kevlar and then sewed the entire piece into the jeans. Looking at it, it seems this would offer a good safety in the event of seams blowing apart - the entire lining would have to come loose.
All-in-all, a great little project that took no effort on my part. A great deal for $109 and if you can sew, this would be super cheap. Hope this helps some of you since I couldn't really find a writeup/pictures from anyone on the web.