Back to Biking after 25 years

[Vapour_Trail]

$500....for a helmet. I don't think I paid $50 for mine & it's DOT approved.

What about the CE armor? Is it mandatory?

Much CE armour is rubbish and far worse than vintage padding from quality manufacturer's like Lewis or Belstaff.

I am very interested in your sources for this.

Hello,

My sources:

I did my own research. I contribuited it to poached.info or poachedtraders.com and some of it may have been published.

I was expecting to come off a few times having not ridden for many years whilst I found my limits.

I looked up the CE armour specifications:
"In Europe there is a system of grading armor based on the force that it will transmit if impacted by a certain amount of energy. Armor can be placed into one of three categories with level 1 armor being the least protective and level 3 being the most protective. Level 1 armor is rated at 50 joules, level 2 at 75 joules, and level 3 at 100 joules. In order to achieve a rating armor must be able to absorb that amount of energy in an impact and transmit less than 35 kN of force. Level 1 armor is acceptable if you are only planning on riding a scooter around on surface roads at low speeds. Level 2 armor is recommended for people riding larger displacement motorcycles and level 3 armor should protect people who race."

I would suggest that 100 joules is quite good protection compared to say a typical steel toe cap at 200 joules

So some CE armour is just soft foam (level1) and is removeable but the manufacturer still gets to put CE Armour on their products and 'who' gets fooled.

I bought these jackets on eBay (I left a review of jackets on eBay):

Vito, vintage Belstaff, Hi-something that looked like a Wasp (made in China), knox armour in Spada, Frank Thomas
& a vintage Lewis Leather

The Knox armour was very good and was the best I found. Some no brand armour was as good as the knox but this was rare.

Most of the jackets were appalling when compared to the vintage Belstaff or Lewis. These had much thicker leather and held the CE armour more tightly. If the armour slips, it can be useless and this isn't covered by their certification.

I think CE Armour is a Euro certification. I have no faith as a guide to practical durability whatsoever.

Some of the foam was very rigid but compressible in a soft way. I adapted this and put it into my Belstaff jacket.

I learnt that the durability of the jacket is just as important as the armour. Most new jackets were too thin and the CE armour was held loosely.

I kept the vintage Belstaff & Lewis and sold the others on eBay. These jackets had good well compressed padding all round & more heavily at injury points. Parts of the Lewis jacket had leather 4-5mm thick. Velcro pulls my beard and these had old press studs that still worked. No tears or wear after 20 years use (or maybe storage).

Perhaps this helps. If not, please remember I am not here to offend nor do anything other than be sociable.

best regards
Vapor Trail

[blues2cruise]

to TMW.

You will be in fine company in the soap box section of our site.

[Skier]

The post helps, Vapor Trail. We should start a new thread in the appropriate forum to continue our discussion so we don't derail your intro thread.