Bull-it

BULL-IT – TESTING

Bull-it has been working alongside Covec materials to develop innovative, high performance impact and abrasion resistant materials, specifically for motorcycle use. Innovation in material design has been done in conjunction with international test houses, the University of Manchester, Hampshire Fire & Rescue Road safety division and Materials KTN, a UK government body specializing in technical material innovation.

Bull-it’s DNA has certified testing at its core, in 2012 Bull-it became the first Motorcycle jean in the world to pass the highest safety stand, CE Level II for CE EN13595. It was not a mandatory test, the industry in general largely ignored it, reason being the high cost of garment construction. In years to follow, the motorcycle CE technical committee, consisting of a variety of entities from product manufacturers to test houses, both with a vested interest in safety and profit generated a new standard, allowing achievable performance grading, the new standard is known as EN17092.

17092 provides the end consumer with choices on levels of tested performance, B, A, AA, AAA.

There are multiple tests carried out on clothing for the new CE standard from strength and performance to ethical chemical tests. 3 of the performance tests include, abrasion, seam tear strength and tear strength.
The abrasion element of the test originally used KPH (kilometres per hour) as a unit of performance to underpin the level achieved, for example AAA was equal to replicating a slide at 120KPH, AA 70 KPH and A 45KPH. The intent behind using KPH as the unit of measure was admirable, giving the end consumer an idea of what he was buying, however on review, that number could not be verified once a persons weight and road conditions were factored in. The unit of measure switched from KPH to RPM (revolutions per minute), So the abrasion test is carried out at RPM from 265 to 775, A to AAA.