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About a year ago I had a spill, where the worst of the damage to me was a deep, quarter-sized road rash to my knee. I had riding gear for the rest of my body and, it did it's job as evidenced by the scratches, abrasions and dirty spots on my helmet, gloves and jacket. What I lacked was anything for my legs. In riding pants, I wanted something that I could put on in the morning and comfortably wear all day, as I normally do my jeans. This got me to looking at the various riding jeans out there. I eventually settled on Sliders for both me and my wife, the men's, loose-fit jeans for me and the women's Bella jeans for her. The Sliders Bella jean, while not a fashion jean, doesn't look bad with a decidedly slimmer fit than the men's jean. The armor isn't too obvious, even in the ladies jeans.
Overall, I am very happy with what we got although, you've GOT to watch the quality control. My pants have a couple of permanent wrinkles across one leg, which are discolored and appear to have occurred during the dying process.
[attachment=2:3bwr93m9]Slider Pants Wrinkles.jpg[/attachment:3bwr93m9]
The vertical back center seam below the belt also was flawed but I didn't notice it until after washing and wearing the jeans a few times. The stitch had barely caught the edge of the material and after a little wear, the edge worked out and left a frayed area.
[attachment=1:3bwr93m9]Slider Pants Seam.jpg[/attachment:3bwr93m9]
Inspect every inch of seam and stitch, inside and out.
Dena's jeans generally fared better except they had sewn one of the interior Kevlar panels in upside down. The significance of this is that it goes in as an assembly with the net material used to form the armor pocket. With it upside down it made the opening at the top and very difficult to place in the armor. Rather than send it back and get a new pair (which would have cost Comp. Accessories two-way shipping), I got them to give me a nice discount and I went through the trouble of sewing shut the upper end of the mesh pocket, opening the bottom end and hemming it. Both ends have three strips of Velcro to position the armor, and it is the Velcro which actually holds the armor in so, it still worked fine and I could now load the armor from the bottom side.
Back to my pair of jeans...They skip sizes and say if you are near the upper end of one of their sizes, to go to the next size up. I am normally tight in a 32 waist so, ordered their 34 waist with a 30 inch inseam. The length was fine but, even after an extra hot washing, the waist did not shrink up enough and I have to really cinch my belt up to hold them in place. Lots of extra material there. Despite these shortcomings, I wanted a second pair (since my bike is my primary transportation and I automatically put my riding jeans on in the morning, I was having a tough time working out a time to wash them) and ordered the next size down, a 32 x 30 and they not only fit me perfectly, every stitch is perfect as well. With the larger pair, the knee armor works its way out of place toward the inside seam and I have to adjust it now and then. With the new pair, the armor seems to be staying more centered over the knee although, I haven't worn them all that much, yet.
[attachment=0:3bwr93m9]Slider Jeans.jpg[/attachment:3bwr93m9]
I haven't put my jeans to the test yet but, Dena has been down at slow speed on gravel. She got a bruise on her outer thigh and a couple of abrasions from the inside of the jeans themselves but, the fabric held up great. An added benefit I've realized is that, when I need to kneel on the floor, it is much more comfortable. I've got some tendon issue that, my knees on a hard surface I can go from feeling fine one second to having an excritiating pain the next which is so severe I HAVE to get off that knee, even if it means rolling onto the ground. With the armor in place, no such problem.
All in all, I think these jeans are a great way to go for an everyday riding pant. You've just got to be aware of potential quality issues and deal with them. They will pay for shipping for both the return and the replacement pair, just don't remove any tags or get rid of any packaging until you know the jeans are okay.
Overall, I am very happy with what we got although, you've GOT to watch the quality control. My pants have a couple of permanent wrinkles across one leg, which are discolored and appear to have occurred during the dying process.
[attachment=2:3bwr93m9]Slider Pants Wrinkles.jpg[/attachment:3bwr93m9]
The vertical back center seam below the belt also was flawed but I didn't notice it until after washing and wearing the jeans a few times. The stitch had barely caught the edge of the material and after a little wear, the edge worked out and left a frayed area.
[attachment=1:3bwr93m9]Slider Pants Seam.jpg[/attachment:3bwr93m9]
Inspect every inch of seam and stitch, inside and out.
Dena's jeans generally fared better except they had sewn one of the interior Kevlar panels in upside down. The significance of this is that it goes in as an assembly with the net material used to form the armor pocket. With it upside down it made the opening at the top and very difficult to place in the armor. Rather than send it back and get a new pair (which would have cost Comp. Accessories two-way shipping), I got them to give me a nice discount and I went through the trouble of sewing shut the upper end of the mesh pocket, opening the bottom end and hemming it. Both ends have three strips of Velcro to position the armor, and it is the Velcro which actually holds the armor in so, it still worked fine and I could now load the armor from the bottom side.
Back to my pair of jeans...They skip sizes and say if you are near the upper end of one of their sizes, to go to the next size up. I am normally tight in a 32 waist so, ordered their 34 waist with a 30 inch inseam. The length was fine but, even after an extra hot washing, the waist did not shrink up enough and I have to really cinch my belt up to hold them in place. Lots of extra material there. Despite these shortcomings, I wanted a second pair (since my bike is my primary transportation and I automatically put my riding jeans on in the morning, I was having a tough time working out a time to wash them) and ordered the next size down, a 32 x 30 and they not only fit me perfectly, every stitch is perfect as well. With the larger pair, the knee armor works its way out of place toward the inside seam and I have to adjust it now and then. With the new pair, the armor seems to be staying more centered over the knee although, I haven't worn them all that much, yet.
[attachment=0:3bwr93m9]Slider Jeans.jpg[/attachment:3bwr93m9]
I haven't put my jeans to the test yet but, Dena has been down at slow speed on gravel. She got a bruise on her outer thigh and a couple of abrasions from the inside of the jeans themselves but, the fabric held up great. An added benefit I've realized is that, when I need to kneel on the floor, it is much more comfortable. I've got some tendon issue that, my knees on a hard surface I can go from feeling fine one second to having an excritiating pain the next which is so severe I HAVE to get off that knee, even if it means rolling onto the ground. With the armor in place, no such problem.
All in all, I think these jeans are a great way to go for an everyday riding pant. You've just got to be aware of potential quality issues and deal with them. They will pay for shipping for both the return and the replacement pair, just don't remove any tags or get rid of any packaging until you know the jeans are okay.
