Talk to me about armour

The cycling kind, not the mediaeval stuff.

Never used any before, never felt the need on Welsh mountains, but I’m bringing my Patriot to the Alps soon and I am wondering if it’s worth investing. Thinking about what needs protecting, it seems silly to put on elbow and knee pads and neglect your torso, doesn’t it? But you can’t ride up and along in the summertime with a fully body suit, surely?

I’m thinking a full face lid would be the most important thing, and knees and elbows are the only other practical things.. and perhaps shorts with armoured hip inserts… Knee/elbow stuff being removable.

Strangely was thinking of asking the exact same question. I have a pressure suit I wear off road motorbiking, but have never felt the need to wear it on a bike. 2 weeks in Les Gets – am I going to need it? Not interested in super full on DH, more the normal uplift type trails. Elbow and knee pads OK, but a full suit sounds miserable in the heat of summer.

Am I going to need a full face? Strikes me as overkill unless going for big DH actions.

Sorry mol for threadjack, but same questions.

I have a Grr Gnarr camelbak of some kind which is long, goes all the way down to my bum almost and according to the literature it’s a kind of crude spine protector. There’s apparently been a study that showed that camelbaks can actually help a bit in crashes protecting the spine. Ok so it’s not armour but it’s a bit of padding.

Not a threadjck at all DB 🙂

I’m probably going to be riding up as well as down, at least for part of it.

Anyone know of a good site to browse specifically for armour, other than the obvious?

Oh.. this looks good:

Depends what and where your riding, and what you feel comfortable with.

If I’m just doing fast DH stuff (Mega for example), I’ll wear the lot.

More Singletracky, but still lift assisted (ie a bit of, but not much, climbing), I’ll generally cut back to knee pads and Xen, but still wear the suit.

I’ve got a (now quite old) Dainese safety jacket, which fits me really well. Once I’m moving I barely notice I’m wearing it, although obviously I’m not desperate to do hard 3 hour climbs in it. Fine for an hour hike a bike though. It’s proved its worth over the years – the shoulder and elbow pads, and the bottom of the back board are all scuffed to hell and back. Need to buy a new one before this summer.

I ought to wear the full face more, but I find that on tech singletrack the FF/goggles combo takes away too much peripheral vision. That kind of riding ends up mostly being “stumble off the bike at 10mph, limbs flailing, then trip over in the undergrowth” type crashes, rather than coming up short on a monster jump at 40mph style stacks. The open lid also makes you feel a lot more vulnerable and speed aware, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing!

Hip padding is a bit awkward – I always land on my hips , but I’ve yet to find anything that’s properly comfortable to ride in that offers any significant protection.

I’ve got a (now quite old) Dainese safety jacket

Interesting – presumably easily removeable for climbs? If it’s an outer garment it could be perfect.

If I were to get a FF then it would have to be something pretty lightweight and XCish. I know there were convertible lids a while back but they seemed a bit pants. If the rides end up being one huge winch up somewhere then a huge descent, as some have been in the past, then I could conceivably jut not wear the lid on the way up.

This looks like it could go on over the top easily enough:

No its not an outer garment – normal “suit of armour” effort. Just loosen off the kidney belt for easier breathing and get on with it. WAY to bulky to carry any other way than by wearing it. I rode up Innerleithen in it 8 times in a day 2 weeks ago in mid teens °C, to give some idea of comfort. Hot, but not crippling.

My SO loves her Spesh Deviant, which is about the only FF that has significant venting. Still hot and unpleasant to climb in though – its the hot fetid breath rebounding off the jaw guard that’s the unpleasant bit!

After years of getting irritated by wearing anything on my upper body other than elbow pads, I tried one of these:

POC Spine Tee

Granted, it’s pretty expensive (but Cycle Surgery are selling at a discount at the moment), but seriously, it’s streets ahead of anything else.

It uses loads of that VPD stuff (soft until you hit it), especially around the spine. Plus it’s POC, so it’s generally tested to much higher standards than run of the mill armour.

Try it on, if you don’t like the feel of it in the riding position then don’t buy it. I barely notice it when I’m riding (which was always an issue with Pressure Suit Pros for me), so don’t mind sticking it on for DH days.

I didn’t put it on 3 weeks ago, first time out on the bike in 7 months. Stacked it after 2 hours riding and broke 5 bones in my upper body. Some I would have broken anyway, but it did leave me with a bitter taste in my mouth!!!

Hmm.. looks good PF.. but might be more than I need. I’m still basically an XC jeyboy at heart although not slow, so I’m not going to be attacking stuff like a DHer. I’ll be in the Alps too so could easily be 30 degrees or more. I suppose the best thing is to have something I can easily carry in the ‘bak and stick on at the top of the descent.

I’d say, Full face, Knee/shin and elbow are essential, then . . .

this is what I wore in the alps, very light, minimal protection, but in no way prohibiting!

Bout £26 from CRC

I wear soft knee pads pretty much always, not for falling off but because I got sick of bruising the insides of my legs against the top tube. Apart from that I don’t ride with armour unless it’s downhill or in the alps.

If you’re wearing a Camelbak then I’d go with full face helmet, knee/shin and elbow/forearm pads. I’ve got the RaceFace Rally armour. Really comfy saved me a few times and easy to strap to a pack when riding up.

I’ve got a pressure suit for DH and I really wouldn’t want to ride up hill in it

The armour really is only going to stop (some) cuts & grazes, if you wreck hard enough you’re going to break bones regardless.

I have one of the POC jackets above, I ride and race DH, but don’t wear it all the time. In fact I don’t think i’ve ever worn it in the Alps, it’s normally way to hot & stuffy.

You have to look at it subjectively towards what you are going out there to do. I personally don’t see the point in wearing any more than you do in the UK, you’re not all of a sudden going to be turning into Sam Hill out there & trying all manner of stupid things are you?

I’d never worn any armour before but in a doomed attempted to get into downhilling bought a Dainese impact suit. I have been really impressed by how comfy and how little I notice it. I’ve not done any 3 hour epics with it but you really don’t notice it when you’re riding, I suspect the back guard could get a little hot but that can be removed if needed.

Full faces are a different game though, I would be inclined to attach them to your pack for climbing and only wear them when ging downhill.

For most Alpine stuff I never used to bother with any armour, but as I’ve got better/faster/stupider I now routinely wear a pressure jacket. As long as you’re moving it’s fine, though on long climbs I just take it off. And if it’s up/down/up it’s most likely to stay off, if I’m honest, at least until I get to a biggish drop.

Knee pads stay on all the time

Helmet’s a tough one. I was on a gentleish ride with my son, with a fast final descent to Les Lindarets. A rear tyre blowout saw him on the deck, and without a full-facer he’d have been facing either surgery or at the very least extensive dental work. But any time there’s a climb a full-face helmet is utterly horrible; overall, I’m probably 60% full-face, 40% open face.

What about heat tho WHISN? Looks hot for climbing.

I am thinking a full back protector might not be needed in fact, since I’ll be on my own I’m not going to be going nuts. Although Russ Pinder was on the easy part of the trail.. hmm…

How easy are these jackets to carry when not wearing?

I’ve some Dainese body armour in medium, detachable spine protector if you do decide to buy some. You can have it for £45 posted

Email in profile

Link to the specific type?

I’ve ridden a lot of motorbike off road – Sahara and the Alps – I’m not talking about jeying about on greenlanes – and offroad at 70mph+ on a 200kg bike I definitely wear full face and full armour – obviously. I just cannot imagine wearing full face and a suit in the heat on a bike. Guess I need to reset my expectations here as this is my first MTB trip to the Alps since 1997 and things were a bit different back then.

I suspect a knee/shin/elbow and Xen combo with some kind of lightweight back protector would be the most I’d want to wear but interesting to hear the feedback from those who’ve been and done.

More CRC expenditure for me then!!

depends on the riding really if you are gonna be riding the gondolas up then plowing through boulder fields, drop-offs and stuff on the way down then armour up

if youre just gonna be hitting up the endless singletrack with the odd tech bit thrown in then a xen/recon/flux and some knee pads will probably be fine

When I go to Spain, I take knee & elbow/shin pads.

I’ve got some Fox elbow pads that were cheap & cheerful but seem to do the job pretty well. They’re quite scuffed up, but my elbows have never been injured when falling.

I used to have 661 racelite knee/shin guards, but they never stayed put. They used to slip down when pedalling, which meant they weren’t really helping much, and also rubbed something chronic and the knee pad would eventually put uncomfortable pressure on my knee cap.
I swapped them last yr for these:

and they are 10x better. They are a bit more of a pain to put on, but stay rock solid when riding, they articulate well and don’t rub. They’ve got a neoprene sock bit at the top (that velcro closes) so if your shorts aren’t that baggy then they do tend to get bunched up, but most baggies should go over them.

I’ve never bothered with full face helmet, but don’t ride particularly hard and anywhere where I am out of my comfort zone I am normally going at a fairly slow pace.

Sounds like good advice Stumpy – think I’m with you. I’ve also had a problem with lighter weight knee pads falling down/moving, so tend to stay away from knee/shin combos, so will try the ones you suggest. On motorbike, I wear either Asterix or Thor Force but wouldn’t want to pedal in them! So those 661s look ideal if they offer decent protection and stay put.

What exact model are those 661s??

I think a back protector and ff are the only really important bits of protection you need- if those bits get hurt you’re in trouble. Surprised no one has mentioned the core saver yet? I wear knee pads too to stop the minor injuries.

I can’t see that full upper body armour actually saves you anything other than maybe a few grazes at the price of being hot and restricted.- like someone above says it’s not gonna stop you breaking an arm or popping a shoulder. I suppose if it provides a confidence boost it might be worth it.

Take a full face helmet, and clip it to your backpack on the climbs.

I’d guess for most people going on an alps trip or similar the pads are there to stop minor offs ruining their holiday. if you badly graze/bruise knee/elbow you’re off the bike for a day or two, no biggy at home but major PITA when your on your jollies.

Hobnob I responded to your ad, you wanna get in touch?

I have two of those subgear vests for XC – pretty good although I removed the sternum padding as I am not sure I would need it and it makes it a bit sweaty.

the fabric wicks ok but I was thinking about actually trying to transplant the pads onto a HH Lifa top as I find these are excellent even in the warm.

I have hit a few things with them on and they seem to work and spread the impact across a wider area. I wanted to get the 661 evo xc pads as I think they use the same type of padding, but not many places seem to sell them.

Plus they make my Endura tops look like they fit – although maybe I look a bit like an extra from rollerball…

This one:

Mine’s the older version of that.

The armour won’t prevent broken bones/joints from twisting/wrenching injuries, buts it’s pretty good at dissipating straight impact, and great for sliding on.

The important thing, as always is fit. I’ve got a good selection of scars from crashes where the armour has simply moved out the way – the worst being on my left elbow, where the 661 pads I had on just ended up in my arm pit, leaving me to get cut right down to the bone. If it fits properly, it’s also more likely to be comfortable, at which point you’ll also wear it without thinking about it.

dazzlingboy – Member

What exact model are those 661s??

They are the 661 Pro knee/shin guards.
Here:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=48509

Definitely worth trying them on if you can. I think the size of the protection stays the same for differing sizes, it’s just the strapping that changes.

I tried mine at Rutland Cycling and spent ages walking up and down in them, crouching, bending my knees, faux-pedalling and they stayed put.
They look fairly bulky, so I expected them to be loads hotter than the racelite, but didn’t notice it when they were on – and last time I used them was in Spain last July when the temperature was getting up to 42deg. C.

They are a bit more of a pain to get on & off than the race lites, but once you’ve done it a few times, it’s pretty quick.

EDIT – 2 of my mates have got some Dainese knee/shin guards that they rate highly. Same style as that jacket above.

like someone above says it’s not gonna stop you breaking an arm or popping a shoulder.

Yeah but you might be better able to protect yourself by sticking an armoured limb out to fend off an approaching tree/rock etc. Maybe!

Amos that looks like a bargain.. is it scuffed up/multiply crashed/sweaty and stinky or something? 🙂 Otherwise I might be interested if it fits me at 5’11 40-42″ chest.

I’ve got a 661 pressure suit that I bought for an alps trip in 2006, I didn’t find it too prohibitive when doing chairlift runs, but left it off for long pedally days as there’s no way to carry it other than to wear it.

This is not a recommendation for 661 though, the fit for me is poor, as is the quality of the armour, the spine protector being particularly poor, although I only picked up on this once I got a proper back protector (an Alpinestars track vest for when on the motorbike), have to say that the dainese ones are very good and worth every penny of the, admittedly high, price.

No none of the above, i’ve cut the webbing slightly on the neck as I found it a little restrictive. Nothing wrong with it not stinky as I haven’t used it much. Not scuffed as I normally ran a moto x jersey over the top. It should fit you. Mail me (in profile) if interested.

Cheers Mat