I was up around the DH area of Hamsterley on Saturday and couldn’t help noticing that body armour has seriously increased in that last few years since I was last near anywhere like that
It seems to be head to toe now, Hans style neck braces, big M/C style helmets etc.
I was behind 4 guys pushing back up the hill at one point and they resembled Sontarans from Dr Who
Are these guys walking away from ever increasing bit hits or are they just more concious of human frailty or more risk adverse?

Not in anyway criticising them just wondered what the driving force for more and more armour is – I guess marketing plays a big role too

Why didn’t you ask them? it’s a fairly long walk/push up

A lot of the heavily armoured brigade are 30s-40s with kids and self employed so cannot afford to get injured hence armour everywhere.

Last Wednesday a group of us very nearly crashed into a fully armoured lass who had decided to push back up section 13 on the actual trail!! She’d have needed her armour if every one hadn’t managed to avoid her.

Not sure it’s marketing- younger DH riders tend to be slavishly led by world cup racing and DVDs, and those guys aren’t usually seen wearing this stuff. It’s soft knee pads these days.

I reckon it’s mainly just availability and quality- good armour is easily available, that wasn’t always true, it’s less of a drawback than it used to be. Also pragmatism- time off with injury is a pain in the bum. If your older it takes time to recover and you might lose money, if you’re younger it’s just time off the bike.

I’ve seen people out wearing leatts and full faces but no elbow or leg protection which seems a bit weird to me. Sure it’s worse to injure your spine than your knees, but which is more likely?

Why didn’t you ask them? it’s a fairly long walk/push up

It was a hot day and I was struggling to breathe let alone talk 🙂

I’d say the opposite – the advent of Sam Hill et al has meant that a lot of DH racers now tend to wear a lot less armour than 5/6 years ago – typically just knee pads and a neck brace, whereas it used to be standard to wear full upper body armour. Just goes with fashion really.

I think Dirt mentioned something about a lot of WC racers now starting to go back to wearing more armour, so perhaps the guys you saw were just ahead of the curve.

image is everything….

more is now mandatory for the kids, neck braces seem to become more popular, as for larger MX style lids some are getting bigger but still light

riding in “the heath” (hampstead heath, NW London) last year my buddy and I were surprised to see guys wearing neck braces, full face helmets, etc.n on DH bikes, on what we consider ‘slightly steep in place’ XC trails..

needless to say, we overtook everyone of these guys riding our “XC” bikes wearing regular helmets and no armour

fashion??

I’ve started wearing a bit more armour as I don’t like getting injuries, even scraped knees and elbows are annoying when they’re healing. It also makes me feel a bit more confident so I tend to ride a bit better and maybe try to go a bit bigger than without the armour. I don’t really like wearing my xc helmet any more even for xc trails, just feel so much safer and confident wearing the full face. I don’t wear the ff on these trails though as it’s far too hot.

erm, are you saying you did the DH trails at hamsterly without armour? there are big injuries waiting there for any minor slip or loss of concentration.

There are far better places to laugh at people with armour on, Hampstead Heath is one of them.

erm, are you saying you did the DH trails at hamsterly without armour? there are big injuries waiting there for any minor slip or loss of concentration.

er no, I rode up the track back to the DH hut on the XC course [8 times] where the DH boys were walking back up

I’m not laughing at anyone FFS

Leatt braces definitely seem to have got a lot more popular recently. ‘The look’ in MTB vids seems to be Leatt brace and FF helmet but no other pads or even gloves.

gloves are bloody ‘orrible things to wear.

I have never really bothered with armour simply because I thought I didn’t need it, as I stated in another thread, I came off nigh on 2 weeks ago and smashed my shoulder up badly and a few other places as well as smashing my lid up. Balls to fashion, I’m going to get some body armour.

I’ve just bought a Leatt. I put it off for ages but then continued crashes where I land on my head convinced me that it is a worthwhile purchase.

of the racers I know its leatt, back protector, full face and shin pads. Otherwise naked.

I’ll never laugh at anyone wearing armour regardless of the trail.
Protection is a personal thing and I have no idea about anyones circumstances (injured, self employed, risk averse etc etc)
It’s just none of my business. They’re enjoying themselves and that’s all that matters.

I’ll never laugh at anyone wearing armour regardless of the trail.

I would have agreed with that, unless I’d seen the riders on Hampstead Heath mentioned above.

gloves are bloody ‘orrible things to wear.

I like nothing more than picking grit out of my palms after my sweaty hand slipped off the grip, causing me to crash.

Actualy, I’d say a lot of WC riders do still wear full upper body armoured jackets. Yes there was the fassion for wearing short sleves and knee pads a few years back, but, UCI rules now mean you have to wear long sleaves and IIRC elbow/knee pads became compulsory?

Shin pads disapeared with DMR V8/12 pedals and the new thinner/grippier designs so pedal/shin interfaces are less common.

Even in the skinsuit days, people were still wearing armour underneath.

Shin pads disapeared with DMR V8/12 pedals and the new thinner/grippier designs so pedal/shin interfaces are less common.

I thought that as well, until I went to the Alps recently…

Spen1 wrote:

I have never really bothered with armour simply because I thought I didn’t need it, as I stated in another thread, I came off nigh on 2 weeks ago and smashed my shoulder up badly and a few other places as well as smashing my lid up. Balls to fashion, I’m going to get some body armour.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing :wink:. Much the same here. I never used to use any protection bar the helmet. But having seen so many gashed legs/knees etc from silly offs I now wear it all the time. The minimum is shin/knee and when in Alps I go full body suit. I know that I do not “bounce” as well as I used to and I also do not mend as quick as I used to. I would much rather be riding my bike than wishing I had worn some more protection and not be nursing an injury.

It is a personal thing though so each to their own. Wearing a helmet is not up for negotiation in my mind though.

wrecker – Member
I’ll never laugh at anyone wearing armour regardless of the trail.
Protection is a personal thing and I have no idea about anyones circumstances (injured, self employed, risk averse etc etc)
It’s just none of my business. They’re enjoying themselves and that’s all that matters.

Exactly.

As for you seeing more people wearing it, I’d say its a case of it being far more affordable and easier/comfier to wear than in years gone by.

Armour also seems to come down to experiences a lot. Someone falls on their knees a few times – they buy knee pads. Someone falls on their elbows a few times – they buy elbow pads. I daresay that Dan Atherton breaking his knee prompted quite a few DH’ers to buy neck braces too.

He broke it dirt jumping didn’t he? Neck brace won’t help if your wearing a piss-pot.

Yeah but I still think that it may have triggered a few downhillers to buy one!

He broke it dirt jumping didn’t he? Neck brace won’t help if your wearing a piss-pot.

Indeed, but it’s interesting that after the incident, all the Atherton’s started wearing neck braces for DH.

Full suss or HT for sontaranians?

Probly orange fives huh?

toys19 – Member
of the racers I know its leatt, back protector, full face and shin pads. Otherwise naked.

*reaches for Mind Bleach*

loving this thread.
I have been wearing FF helmet (albeit giro switchblade) knee pads and elbow pads since the early 2000. When i raced my first MM I wore my only helmet and the knee pads. People though i was bonkers. Now, if you want to race enduro around here, gloves, FF helmets, knee pads and back protection (camelback or body armor) are compulsory. You see a lot of people in knee pads around here so do you in scotland. In the south of the UK, a lot less…
It’s all down to where and how you ride.

Have been motorcycling long enough to know that armour does very little in the event of an off except prevent gravel rash. If you hit something hard enough no amount of armour is going to save you from injury.

I think with MTBing there’s a lot to be said for armour/pads that prevent niggling injuries but getting kitted up like a stormtrooper won’t make anyone indestructable

I have started wearing a lot more protection. I prefer to wear the full face any time I can stand how hot it makes me.

the reason? scared of crashing. pure and simple

rocketman – Member

Have been motorcycling long enough to know that armour does very little in the event of an off except prevent gravel rash. If you hit something hard enough no amount of armour is going to save you from injury.

Armour is for all those crashes where you don’t hit something hard enough that it can’t save you from injury 😕 It can also reduce the injuries it can’t prevent. Motorbike armour is exactly the same. I almost certainly wouldn’t have broken my hip if I’d been wearing my cordura kit with its hip armour instead of my leathers without.

“getting kitted up like a stormtrooper won’t make anyone indestructable”

I doubt anyone believes it will.

Slightly O/T: Does it make someone a uber-riding God if they ride a big superbike on the roads in a t-shirt, no gloves and standard jeans?

Anyone who laughs at people in armour needs to get a life. Live and let live.

Rocketman leathers prevent you removing your skin and muscle though.

From my motorcycle racing days [road and MX] wearing all sort of protection, I concluded that it does a fair old job of protecting you from damage enroute to the end of the accident – passing trees and rocks etc – and much less if there’s a final sudden stop

I rode up that hill 8 times over 8 hours [training for Kielder] What struck me was the vast differnce in what armour people were using or not using for the same course on similar bikes.

The guys at the hut at the top must of thought I was a right nutter, continually going past and dumping gel wrappers in their bin every time 🙂

have you ridden the downhill tracks at hamsterley? no way i’d be wanting to do any of them without my body armour and full face/goggles. if anything since i used to ride dh regularly there about 8-9 years ago the actual DH’ers wear less body armour. the weekend warrior brigade are definitely wearing more

I didn’t wear any knee protection for years until earlier this year gave me abit of surprise. That ickle accident could have meant upto a year of non-riding, non-walking much hassle. (the date on the pic’s wrong by a year).

After that I don’t ride without knee pads. Just can’t afford not to.

uplink – Member

From my motorcycle racing days [road and MX] wearing all sort of protection, I concluded that it does a fair old job of protecting you from damage enroute to the end of the accident – passing trees and rocks etc – and much less if there’s a final sudden stop

That’s it, perfect. Nice one!

have you ridden the downhill tracks at hamsterley?

Are you crazy?
I didn’t pay good money for tyres to have them off the gound