Upper body armor? Necessary or not?

[CoolBDPhenom03]

And this...

Flexibility:
A combination of Armourflex® technology and multi-layers has enabled Forcefield to offer more lightweight and flexible protectors. This allows the armor to flex with the body and not be restricted by it.

Molded Armourflex®:
This contoured armor is available to protect the shoulders, elbows, forearms, hips, knees and shin. It combines Armourflex® technology with a preformed energy absorbing base and offers protection in excess of the current CE standard.

Repeat Performance Technology:
The materials we use offer Repeat Performance Technology. Unlike our RPT which maintains its integrity throughout a multiple impact fall, the majority of hard shell protectors can only take one impact - this is quite worrying when most falls involve more than one impact!

Armourflex® Technology:
This patented technology allows protection evenly across the surface. Most hard shell / plastic protectors will perform differently across its surface. You never know where the impact will strike!

Multi-Density:
By using a combination of specialized high-tech energy absorbing materials, we can provide protectors that are less bulky than competitors while offering unrivalled protection.

Breathability:
The unique triangular Armourflex® outer grid has been designed to allow vent holes at the base, which allows breathability but also reduces weight.

 

[MCSFTGUY]

Hey if this info makes you feel comfortable, you have no question about the testing methods and the gear does not hinder your roadway enviroment riding skills, then by all means use it.

I am only here to provide a little food for thought.

 

[Lovedoc]

This is my point, abrasion is not impact. Joules is a measure of heat or energy... in the case of abrasion I would guess heat. Newtons is a measure of force..... I think its "slugs" in US Units, I could be wrong on this unit of measure.

Abrasion testing is done with something akin to a belt sander. Armor isn't tested for abrasion, just different textiles including Cordura. 1000-Denier Cordura is equiv to 1.3 mm top grain cow leather.

There is no testing protocol for armor in the US, instead the Euro CE cert is used and is based on impact resistance.

 

[Archimedes]

The fact that motorcycle road racers don't wear chest protectors while off road racers usually do should tell you something.

 

[Lovedoc]

The fact that motorcycle road racers don't wear chest protectors while off road racers usually do should tell you something.

Certainly a minority of AFM racers are using them, maybe 10-15% or so when we cut the leathers off. Mobility is important, plus the stuff can be pricey. Full trunk protection is bulky enough that the leathers might have to be fitted for it.

A number of AFM riders are using air vests. Testimonials are starting to accumulate

safermoto-vest-saves-another-youth-rider-from-serious-injury

 

[halbritt]

This whole thread feels like a T-Pro grassroots marketing effort.

 

[Marcoose]

Okay, then, sometimes 4.

I own two Forcefield's: the leggings bottoms that I bought 2 years ago, and the action shirt that I bought early this year. The bottoms came with the option of regular (75 joules) and extra (100 joules) plates. I took with extra for an additional $40-$50, and I guess hence 4 instead of 3 layers. By the time I bought the matching top, Forcefield had changed the models and they all come with 100-joule plates.

I also wear the squid favorite Icon vest on top of the action shirt, under the 1-piece suit. The suit has some plates too, so the whole thing looks very bulky at the end, but worth every penny and discomfort.

My 2 cents.

 

[RRR70]

You might crash, you might not. You might have a crash where that armor would help, you might have one where it doesn't matter. You could live out your days with the protector in place and feel like you wasted your money, you could crash without it and wished you had it. Do ya feel lucky?

http://www.johnsonleather.com/Forcefield_Extreme_Harness_Flite.htm

Was at Johnson's this Monday. Looked at that rig and liked it a lot. I have a T-Pro back protector for the few year and love it. Picked up chest protector. Wanted to do it for the long time.

 

[Marcoose]

I wonder why people call it "T-Pro". Forcefield doesn't. Is it an old/original name and folks haven't caught up with it?

 

[Lovedoc]

I see Alpinestars vests on racers too, has an integrated BP and a trim fit.

 

[RRR70]

 

[motobigboy]

coolbd its like this, you nor anyone else knows the future the only thing we riders know is that any ride can be our last. we can control our bikes to a certain degree but we can't control other riders, cages, ect. your friend benefited from wearing upper armor (so you think) but you reality is you dont know. people ride for decades with minimal gear and others are suited to a "T" and die days, months, weeks or years later. we ride bikes, we know the risks, if we wanted to be safe we wouldnt be ride'n. OP asked is it needed, no but if someone feels safer or wants it or whatever then get it. some of my friends have it and other dont. its all about choice.

 

[sliverstorm]

I don't know if it's been discussed yet, but I was always told that armor was good for two things, and two things only: Keeping sharp things out of your body, and keeping your bones inside it. That is to say, armor helps prevent puncture wounds and compound fractures; it does not protect you from impacts, or abrasion, or anything else.

 

[SummerLove]

I was thinking about this thread on Friday afternoon and pondering picking some chest and back armor. About a 1 minute later a dump truck swerved into my lane in front of me on 85S near Sunnyvale and hit a pot hole. I got hit squarely in the chest with a quarter sized rock. That fucking hurt. I'm sold.

 

[kevin 714]

The fact that motorcycle road racers don't wear chest protectors while off road racers usually do should tell you something.

nearly every rider on the grid in any world class race is wearing a chest protector

 

[kevin 714]

I don't know if it's been discussed yet, but I was always told that armor was good for two things, and two things only: Keeping sharp things out of your body, and keeping your bones inside it. That is to say, armor helps prevent puncture wounds and compound fractures; it does not protect you from impacts, or abrasion, or anything else.

let me hit you in the back with a back protector on and then not on

 

[sliverstorm]

let me hit you in the back with a back protector on and then not on

With your fist there will be a difference, sure.

With a rock you fly into at 65mph? The shock wave has to go somewhere, the armor just spreads it out. You aren't going to be a whole lot more comfortable. At least, that's how it seems to me. I haven't experienced it personally, I'm just running off what dirtbikers on BARF? SBR? told me when I asked about armor.

 

[Lovedoc]

I don't know if it's been discussed yet, but I was always told that armor was good for two things, and two things only: Keeping sharp things out of your body, and keeping your bones inside it. That is to say, armor helps prevent puncture wounds and compound fractures; it does not protect you from impacts, or abrasion, or anything else.

CE armor is designed to absorb energy, that's all. The energy in the testing is delivered as a blow, not a puncture or sharp object. Any resistance to penetration is secondary.

The open fracture deal I've heard before too. I don't think leathers do much to "keep bones inside", in fact a spot of blood on the arm or leg of otherwise undamaged leathers is a sign of compound fracture, say a spiral fracture with a sharp fragment poking through skin and leathers, and then retreated back inside. Open fractures also occur just from mangling or shredding down to bone, so leathers and armor probably could prevent that sometimes.

A disproportionate number of bad track injuries are caused when a rider gets run over, usually rib and pelvis fractures and spleen, lung and liver injuries. I think body armor and airbags can prevent or lessen those.

Bones fracture when they absorb more injury than they can withstand in that force vector. Bones transmit injury across joints to the next bone in the chain. For example, shoulder armor could protect the shoulder joint and transmit injury uphill to break the clavicle. That wouldn't be such a bad thing, shoulder fractures are worse to recuperate than clavicle fractures in general.

 

[kevin 714]

With your fist there will be a difference, sure.

With a rock you fly into at 65mph? The shock wave has to go somewhere, the armor just spreads it out. You aren't going to be a whole lot more comfortable. At least, that's how it seems to me. I haven't experienced it personally, I'm just running off what dirtbikers on BARF? SBR? told me when I asked about armor.

how bout with a bat?

 

[sliverstorm]

CE armor is designed to absorb energy, that's all. The energy in the testing is delivered as a blow, not a puncture or sharp object. Any resistance to penetration is secondary.

Oh. That would probably explain my confusion, I'm thinking of dirt armor, which I believe is mostly armor in the more classic sense.