Not having bothered with body armour in the past... what is the correct form for an AM rider who wants to "look the part" rather than "look like a part"?
base layer, body armour, then spangly shirt on top?
base, body armour on top, no shirt?
body armour, cheap T-shirt on top that will get ripped when I crash?
or slightly odd looking:
T-shirt under body armour?
so many variations seen on this plethora of alps vids recently :/
the folk that dont care what you are wearing are the ones whose opinions matter most.
Skin suit, shin pads, neck brace, piss pot.
EDIT: and at least 3 pairs of goggles.
Not a DH'er by any stretch, but I wear DH jersey over my pressure suit. Nothing under the pressure suit.
Brightly coloured pyjamas seem to be popular.
Nothing under the pressure suit
This gives me jogger's nipple 😕
If you want to be comfortable, then a thin wicking base layer under the armour, then wear whatever you want (or not) over the top of the armour. If you want sweat and armour rash, then wear the armour without a base layer.
Brightly coloured pyjamas seem to be popular
The pyjamas are only to be worn by those who are spectacular on a bike. Any mere mortals wearing race jammies look like utter tools.
(I don't own any race pyjamas)
Dave
base layer underneath can be good, i get a bit of nipple rub but it gets very hot! so normally armour on silky smooth skin and then jersey on top, ss jerseys are good for a bit of extra venting too
Never, ever wear your body armour on top. Ever.
Never, ever wear your body armour on top. Ever.
This.
Wear whatever you want over the top. Though as above, if you're in PJs your riding better be able to talk the talk... Unless perhaps you're ironically wearing sam hill style pink/yellow race PJs and have used a marker pen to give yourself a monobrow...might get away with that 😉
This gives me jogger's nipple
Me too. I had to resort to taping up my nipples in Morzine with black gaffa tape, which caused much hilarity for any passers by in the morning as I generally applied it while standing on the balcony!
Wear whatever the f*** you want and stop being a sarky troll maybe.
base layer underneath can be good, i get a bit of nipple rub but it gets very hot
A cooling baselayer would solve that.
taping up my nipples
Not my kind of kinky 🙂
Am too manly-hairness for such activity.
anything more than kneepads is overkill.
I found using chammy cream/sudocreme/moisturiserprevents the worst of the nipple rash, base layers made it far too hot.
On the other hand some of the DHers I've met on holliday don't wear armour at all, just knee pads. Their reasoning being allong TJ's lines that if you wear it you're more likely to crash either by bailing out, over confidence, or fatigue from the heat, and in a big crash it doesn't do much more than prevent soft tissue injuries, your arm/leg/collarbone will still break exception for back protectors which prevent hyper-flexation, neck braces and helemts (broken bones break and heal, skulls tend to be a bit more serious).
T-shirt (either a normal one or a berghaus tech t) and shorts with knee pads and a full face seems to work for me. I don't like arm guards or gloves, too hot and scratchy.
I met someone on a DH holiday who insisted jeans were plentiful protection whilst I was all power-rangered up.
We probly crashed about the same amount but I was able to walk properly at the end of the holiday and could stand 1 more day's uplift riding than him 🙂
Does TJ not wear a seatbelt when he drives cos he'd be more likely to crash?
taping up my nipples
Yep, I tape my nipples too, but use sticky plasters which come off nice and easy if you get sweaty or can keep them on until you shower (this is often difficult when mates know about them during post ride pint!)
A t-shirt or a non-flashy baggy top over the top of the armour, as anyone who wears a racing jersey when they aren't racing or sponsored is a big timing walt.
If you really want to be cool, T-shirt, riding shorts, no armour and a full face. That's a bit daft though.
I think in the future my usual DHing gear will just be a discreet back protector, neck brace, full face, goggles, with a t-shirt and baggy riding shorts.
all i know is if you crash you gotta maintain the dontgivafuc attitude
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epic pic lol, were u get it?
I wear the body armour straight on skin, just because I boil over otherwise unless it's freezing. DH jersey over that to help keep it cleaner 😉 But also because armour without jersey just looks odd.
TBH you'll see a lot of people wearing very little armour, I'm sure some folks will look down on you for wearing it. **** 'em. There was a feller on this weekend's uplift in a pisspot and jeans and tbh he mainly looked wet and miserable.
TBH I bought some armour 2yrs ago for a trip to switchbacks. I've worn it once - too hot! There's no way I could ride @switch-backs in it, Mike expects you to ride uphill!!
knee pads I've worn a couple of dozen times, but never when I've actually crashed (in the UK).
Elbow pads, worn 20(?) times, never when I crashed in the UK (I crashed LOADS outside GB) 😀
armoured under shorts, again worn 3 times, never when I've actually crashed.
When riding outside the UK I prefer to wear the pads; mainly to reduce the chances of missing/not enjoying a day on holiday.
crotchrocket when we do the uplift at festiniog youll wanna armour up
Lightweight armour like subgear with a long or short sleeve jersey over the top and then shorts with knee pads, aswell as a full face, gloves and goggles. I don't see the point in shin pads, I hardly ever hit my shins and if I do then it's just a bit of bruising and tissue damage, nothing major. There's even less point in shin protection since I've moved to clips too.
Pressure suit plus jersey over top. Never needed to tape nipples but I have experienced major chaffage from a couple of the pads on those 661 'bomber' armoured shorts, and on my kneecaps if my kneepads aren't wahed frquently enough 😆
For me, the big draw of proper 'pressure suit/safety jacket' over a 'subgear' type baselayer is the spine protector in the former one. I suppose my elbows have benefited a few times from the pressure suit too and I really slammed a bony last-turkey-in-the-shop shoulder onto a tree a couple of years ago (Super-tavi at Gawton) that I reckon would have been a weekend-ender if I hadn't had a big bit of foam and plastic between it and the tree.
But then as above, if I had been going much faster at the point of impact then all the armour in the world wouldn't have stopped me dislocating it or breaking a collarbone.
DHers, what is the correct form?
Blend in. Hopefully no one will notice how crap you are. This is my strategy.
661 Assault suit Short sleeve one with optional nipple tape.
Dainese armoured bib shorts (bibs can be worn tucked into shorts)
Top over it all
knee/shin at all time - if it's too hot then your just complainin
elbows at discretion - hard to find a good set that fit
NO LYCRA EXPOSED
Full face lid and y-fronts!
Like Rob Warner!
DHers don't care what you look like, it's the XC jeyboys and all-mountain fagmasters who worry about this stuff.
DHers don't care what you look like, it's the XC jeyboys and all-mountain fagmasters who worry about this stuff.
They do though, it's more subtle. For example, you have to have your peak on your lid pointing as skyward as possible. Gangsta style.
Also, flat skater shoes in lairy colours was de rigeur.
At least that used to be the in thing at races.