I ride in textile.
I do so because I commute in everything from freezing, to rain, to brutally hot and humid. I find my textile overpants and jacket allow for that comfortably. I also never ride at my limit. If I ever did a track day I simply would not do it without a full thickness leathers.
I’ve heard some people say that textile has caught up to leather and is as safe. I haven’t really seen anything that truely suggests that. When you look at the guys who depend on their gear for their life and lively hood (motorcycle racers), they all ride leather. Period.
If you look at the wikipedia table ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_safety_clothing#Textile_clothing ) you’ll see that Cordura and a Kevlar blend are both capable of the same abrasion resistance as leather. However, you’ll notice that Cordura also comes in strenghts much much lower.
So the best made and thickest synthetic materials do appear to match leather. However, that is only the best of them. If out right protection was my goal, I’d spend my money on the one that has been proven to work time and again.
The other thing about leather is that is slides better than textiles. Textiles are like a crash helmet. They save your bacon by failing in a controlled manner that takes the energy instead of transfering it to you. That means all textile gear is one crash only. A low speed slide at 20mph? Your textile jacket and pants are gone – period. Quality leather is multi use. how much multi-use? I don’t have the foggiest. I’ve just been told that low speed slides on well put together thick leather won’t force you to go buy another set.
I’d like to hear Spaz or someone else with experience in leathers chime in on that though.