Chest Protection

[RhadamYgg]

Actually, you might want to consider the suit of armor look.

Not to bust anyone's bubble but a friend of mine was going back to his house from a S.C.A. meeting when he hit one of these wide steel plates that cover large holes in the road. He lost control of his motorcycle and was pitched into a solid brick wall. He was wearing full plate. Broke nearly every bone in his body. He survived but he's a bit fidgity when people talk about motorcycles and protection.

It's called humor...
Why would anyone wear plate while riding? Eek.

RhadamYgg, I personally don't think it would be a good idea to have too much in the way of chest protection. If you used those inserts from Alpinestars, I think that would probably be enough. But seems to me like anything more would limit your movement too much. I never relied on my mirrors, and instead would frequently turn my upper body about 70% to get a clear view of what's behind me, or if traveling at higher speeds, would actually just look upside down on either side to see what's behind me. I wouldn't have been able to do either of those if I had anything too bulky or firm in the way. To me, the ability to be that flexible outweighs whatever benefit I might gain from armor as far as chest protection goes. There may be others who disagree here, but this is just how *I* feel.

Definitely a good point. My mirrors are pretty damned useless and head checks are the only safe way to ride.

RhadamYgg

[RhadamYgg]

Actually, you might want to consider the suit of armor look.

Not to bust anyone's bubble but a friend of mine was going back to his house from a S.C.A. meeting when he hit one of these wide steel plates that cover large holes in the road. He lost control of his motorcycle and was pitched into a solid brick wall. He was wearing full plate. Broke nearly every bone in his body. He survived but he's a bit fidgity when people talk about motorcycles and protection.

As for chest protection there is wearable body armor that the MXers use. it's just that, a one piece set of hvy armor that you put on by placing it over your head and then tighting your side straps. The squids have taken to wearing them along witha $200-$400 helmet . Nothing else mind you but they do have great protection in those areas.

The problem is that like the brain, your inner organs are usually injured by the motion of the organs in your body. So it's like so much of injuries during a crash. Seldom, though it is a numerical possibility, is the accident caused by sharp impact. Protection needs to slow down the speed of the impact as much or more than protecting the injury site from a hit on a hard edged surface. So the weight and uncomfortableness of heavy chest armor is considered not worth the problems of wearing it around. It all about trade offs.

I've been doing a lot of studying of wearable armor and found one truth. If armor is too confiding or heavy and hot, the number of people seem to wear it less. The number of peole that wear anything around here is patheticaly small. It seems armor is wearing tie up sneakers instead of flip-flops.


Again another statisistic is that overweight people are more likely to have deadly injuries than thinner people. It seems the stress of being over wieght has a noticable to your "Hurt" number as a medium sized trauma.

Well, definitely, if it isn't comfortable enough only a glutton for punishment will wear it.

But in terms of chest armor - I'm thinking something is better than nothing.

In terms of heat - you could even have the chest armor mounted on the outside of the jacket (if it could be made presentable).

Statistics wise - a huge amount of bikers involved in fatalities - have encounters with fixed off-road objects. That is the kind of thing I'd like to offer at least a modest protection.

RhadamYgg

[Brackstone]

So sooo many people riding without gear today.

It all depends on our tolerance for risk, I know. I don't think it would be horribly difficult for a little bit of foam in the chest. Maybe formed up to make me look muscular!

RhadamYgg

I think that you could probably find some good foam and maybe stitch it to a shirt and just wear that under your jacket or something similar.

[BuzZz]

I bought this jacket about 2 weeks ago.

http://www.firstturnmotorsports.com/sto ... 32#details

It has dense foam 'protection' in the front, but I seriously doubt the protective value of it. It does have very good elbow and shoulder armour and excellent back protection, but I wouldn't trust the chest protection for much more than a good, long face slide.

It allows me good mobility and head rotation, better than my Alpinestars Drystar jacket does.

Unfortunately, it is last year's model and M2R products are not that easy to find around here. I got lucky at a small independent shop.

[Gunslinger]

What about something like this?
http://www.mxdirtrider.com/h-products/p ... adrant.htm

I can't think of any jackets that have chest armor built into it. Not sure why that is. Maybe it's not considered a "high risk" area. I suppose you could MacGyver some CE plates into the jacket yourself or have your friendly neighborhood seamstress sew them on for you. I have thought about buying some Thor MX hard armour to wear under my mesh jacket. It's relatively inexpensive and the protection is as good as it gets short of chainmail.

[Ryethil]

Not to bust anyone's bubble but a friend of mine was going back to his house from a S.C.A. meeting when he hit one of these wide steel plates that cover large holes in the road. He lost control of his motorcycle and was pitched into a solid brick wall. He was wearing full plate. Broke nearly every bone in his body.

So are you saying not to wear full plate or not to get pitched into solid brick walls on your motorcycle?

Ohhh, nasty! A multiple choice question. I guess there isn't a place to check the niether box.

[Ryethil]

It all depends on our tolerance for risk, I know. I don't think it would be horribly difficult for a little bit of foam in the chest. Maybe formed up to make me look muscular!

RhadamYgg

Would that be the Superman muscle suit or the Batman muscle suit?

[BuzZz]

MX chest protectors are not really that comfortable nor do they offer much 'chest' protection. That plastic isn't all that stiff (for good reason, if it was stiff and hard, it could easily do more damage than it prevents as you bend and fold in a typical dirt get-off), it's primary function is to deflect roost from other bikes.

The real benefit they offer is shoulder protection. The good ones will have a suspension system in the shoulders to spread the impact load. Shoulders being driven into the ground is a common off-road injury. And the suspended shoulders interfere with your lid more than road gear in my experience.

Off-road protection does not always transfer to on-road service very well.

[Gunslinger]

Good info BuzZz, thanks. You just saved me a hundred bucks

[JC Viper]

I have that Icon armor vest and it's not too bad to wear in warm weather but it definitely is a good addition to those not so thick back protectors that come with the jackets. The chest area is a thick foam and rubber (maybe some plastic, can't tell) and the back is foam with plastic plates.

It helped a lot when I fell on my back in a crash but luckily I've never tested the chest part.