Tandem Pants

[Bryguy1224 12]

What are people using?

[normiss 723]

Tonysuits Pants with a cordura butt.
I should have gotten cordura knees as well.

[DougH 270]

I have a pair of tonysuit pants with padded butt, padded knees. Nice for 182 work.

I got them with booties because I am a dork, and I am short so I like the extra leg power.

That being said the booty material was way soft compared my tony RW suit that I bought 8 years ago, and they booties are stretched out and need to go back for repair. They said it is the same material, but there is no way is possible.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[Beatnik 2]

I use a pair of MSR dirt bike pants. They are made with Kevlar and are bullet proof and cheap. If I remember correctly they cost $60. I have used them for about 500 tandems and they don't have any holes and no signs of wear yet.

[DJL 232]

I use whatever Army pants our guys are getting rid of since they have to switch to the new ones. I unstitch the cargo pockets.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[jtiflyer 0]

+1 on the moto cross pants. $30 off ebay durable and comfortable.

[DJL 232]

jtiflyer

+1 on the moto cross pants. $30 off ebay durable and comfortable.

The only trouble I've had with many of those is that they don't breath at all.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[jtiflyer 0]

I cut mine off to the man capris, I get plenty of ventilation

[fcajump 162]

DougH

I have a pair of tonysuit pants with padded butt, padded knees. Nice for 182 work.

Look nice... what (if anything specific) do you wear for your top?

JW

Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

[DougH 270]

Come summer time I normally just wear a dri-fit type shirt. So nothing skydiving specific.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[JohnMitchell 16]

I have Vskydiver make mine. Supplex legs, cordura butt, zip-up cargo pocket on each thigh.

[DiverStump 0]

I Used BDU pants from army surplus store. Had cordura butt added to mine. Also bought several pairs for my students. If you buy the fun colorful ones in small, med, lg, extra large for the boogies I travel too. About $35 each or 4 for $100. Some times at a boogie there are no suits for students and when they show up in shorts it's nice to have if the landing area isn't soft grass.

I have friends that use the motto cross pants they seem to really like them. Reinforced knees and padded butt.....

If your not here you can't jump

[brenthutch 419]

DiverStump

I Used BDU pants from army surplus store. Had cordura butt added to mine. Also bought several pairs for my students. If you buy the fun colorful ones in small, med, lg, extra large for the boogies I travel too. About $35 each or 4 for $100. Some times at a boogie there are no suits for students and when they show up in shorts it's nice to have if the landing area isn't soft grass.

I have friends that use the motto cross pants they seem to really like them. Reinforced knees and padded butt.....

+++1 I use ACUs, with a cordura reinforced butt, and slid some padding in the knee pouches. 500 jumps before they disintegrated, and I was able to save the cordura butt patch for their replacement.

[DJL 232]

There are a ton of military personnel coming through my DZ so I have a steady stream of BDU's/ACU's they're getting rid of.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[maggyrider 10]

Rainbow Designs Freefly Pants (see http://www.rainbowsuits.com/en/products/freefly-pants).

All of our staff are using the same design. We requested the latests series of our pants with some special modifications:
- No backpockets as those proved as weak spots
- Butt reinforcement made from kevlar instead of cordura
- Lycra slider pocket on right leg (very useful not only for removeable slider but also for handles, etc.)

We not only use the pants for tandem but also for solo jumping. I usually land my VK84 downwind and prefer to slide landings out on my butt, when winds are too strong. Until now - about 500 tandems and 500 solo jumps - the pants only show slight wear and no damage. Can fully recommend.

Nice words are not always true - and true words are not always nice.

[DJL 232]

Does your staff buy them or does the DZ provide them?

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[maggyrider 10]

As the pants are kept in the dropzone design, the dropzone provides them.
I jumped the same model (but a different design and without the mentioned modifications) before I became a staff jumper - and I also was involved in specifying those special modifications.

Nice words are not always true - and true words are not always nice.

[Pobrause 6]

I, too know of a few rainbow pants that seems to be made for eternity but sadly this is just anecdotal.
Please correct me if I'm wrong but IIRC Skydive exit is blessed with green and thick grass and not much sand in between?
When I visited Dubai this winter I witnessed the same style (new) rainbow swooppants show some heavy wear after only 60 downwind landings at the desert dz.
I also have pants (intrudair) that got quite a bit of abuse and are still holding up after close to 900 jumps on them now. But I can tell you they didn't age well in Dubai.

So if you're jumping on grass mostly go buy whatever cheap suit/pants you can find that fit the purpose and are reasonably well build and they will serve you well for years. Land on sand and even the most sturdy ones will suffer damages quickly.

-------------------------------------------------------

To absent friends

[maggyrider 10]

True... We are landing on grass - but compared to previously used rainbow pants (with parapack reinforcement on the butt) the new kevlar version is a massive improvement.

Anyways, as you already said, landing on sand will kill any type of pants sooner than later. If I would land there, I'd probably also go with the cheapest I could find.

Nice words are not always true - and true words are not always nice.

[fanya 3]

jeans, 20$ or less at your local big box store

[wrespess 0]

I'd recommend just wearing blue jeans and learn how to stand your landings up.

[DougH 270]

You consistently are able to shut down your tandems and stand up your landings on no wind days with big passengers? Not trying to be snarky here, serious question.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[wrespess 0]

DougH

You consistently are able to shut down your tandems and stand up your landings on no wind days with big passengers? Not trying to be snarky here, serious question.

I will take people up to the max weight requirement of 500lbs and yes, I can stand them up.

I find that the sigma 340 with vectran is best with a nice gentle 90 (stabilized by 100 ft) to maintain enough airspeed to maintain lift is the secret.

The only difference on no wind days is that I put my feet down slightly wider than a shoulder length apart and "ski" across the landing area to help bleed off energy while I maintain plane with toggles. I recline slightly while doing this and then give a nice push at the end of the toggle range to pop back to an upright position.

I also ask the student to bring their knees up (thighs parallel to the ground) and put their feet out at 60 degrees. This allows for:

-better weight distribution
-easier for them to put their feet down on shut down (once my feet are down)
-less risk of a knee injury since their knees are always bent
-Less risk of back injury since their feet are lower than their butt.
-Out of shape people can pick their knees up easier than their entire leg


Even on the occasional sit down, Its really right at the end of the landing and the there's no sliding involved to tear up jeans.

I'm currently rotating two pairs of levi's with no damage and have over 500 jumps on each pair. They are both one year old.

My opinion is that most people don't refine their landings because sliding in is the status quo, but if you push yourself to become better; I find that you can consistently stand your landings up.

I understand that some DZ's have some ragged out, too large of canopies or different brands and this can be a problem. I'm able to maintain my own gear and this does make a big difference.

I sometimes jump an Icarus TX2 330 which I like, but still find the sigma 340 to have the best shut down in the business.

[Islander-O 0]

Thanks for a tip