Motocross Body Armour for Road Use

[StevRS]

I'm new to biking and need to get kitted up. Being the paranoid type I'm planning on wearing as much armour as my bike will carry me with!!

I've seen quite a lot of 'Robocop style' tops that seem to combine back, chest, arm, collar etc armour in one jumper style piece, they're invariably labelled for motocross use. How does this differ from road use in terms of protection requirements and are they suitable for road use under some textile waterproofs?

TIA.

[Carl-H]

Most textiles have armour built in but its usually best to buy a back protector. The motorcross armour is not good on the road unless you have something abrasive over it but textiles may struggle to fit over.

[StevRS]

Ah, excellent. I just want to keep safe because as a newbie my riding will be far from perfect - I can't understand the guy who's planning to not bother with the kit because it's a hassle

I guess I need to go to a bike shop & try all this stuff on - was hoping to buy online to save money & there's some quite cheap CE stuff on ebay...

Thanks.

[Brite spark]

StevRS said:

Ah, excellent. I just want to keep safe because as a newbie my riding will be far from perfect - I can't understand the guy who's planning to not bother with the kit because it's a hassle

I guess I need to go to a bike shop & try all this stuff on - was hoping to buy online to save money & there's some quite cheap CE stuff on ebay...

Thanks.

You really need to try the stuff on before you buy it, by all means try something on in a shop then find the exact same on ebay, but don't assume it will fit because it's the same size.

[RizzoTheRat]

Agree try befroe you buy, if you get kit and it's not comfortable you'll be tempted not to wear it.

I wear Knoxx motorcross knee armour under my draggin jeans (they're a loose fit and armour that straps to my leg makes more sense to me than armour attatched to loose clothes) but the rest of my kit is armoured. If you're after cheapish gear then a basic black leather jacket and trousers, preferably with a zip at the back to join them, with built in knee elbow, shoulder and preferably hip armour is probably your best bet. I don't currently wear a back protector but keep thinking I should get one. If the kit doesn't come with armour it should at least have pockets for it, Heine Gerrike's Hiprotec armour gets good reviews and is pretty thin so will fit most things.

[SVS]

Hi Steve,

Good to get decent kit. What sort of budget do you have in mind?

StevRS said:

I just want to keep safe because as a newbie my riding will be far from perfect

Yeah, none of us wants to crash. However, the best thing is to learn the skills to avoid a crash in the first place. Check out a day or so with www.rapidtraining.co.uk (or www.ridedrive.co.uk or www.advanced-motorcycle-training.co.uk/Courses.asp )

[StevRS]

I did my IAM car a while back and got a lot from it - I plan to do the same on the bike once I've got the controlling the bike part to a subconscious level...

My budget is as little as possible, though realistically I expect to spend about £100 on boots, about the same on textiles and about £40 on gloves... I already have a decent helmet that I bought from the training place when I did my CBT.

I'll probably get the back protector and armour panels on ebay - there's CE stuff always going cheap on there...

That about covers it off I think...

[RizzoTheRat]

Heine Gerrick are currently doing buy the jacket the get the trousers free on a couple of reasonable outfits, could save you a few quid if they're any good.

[I am Chad]

If you can steer clear of hard armor, current research is finding it is transmiting the impact force through to other parts of the body.

There is a wealth of armor out there for road/race use (not talking about off road armor).

However its worth remebering the armor is not going to do its job unless its held in the right place, hence get good fitting kit, where the armor is secure and not going to roll away form the part of you its meant to protect.
That also depends on the garment you are wearing as well, its no good if the seams burst open or the material holes as you hit the tarmac.

Best tip I can honestly give is go for leather and made to measure form a decent source, also worth remembering that some of the off the peg leather is not so good as they mass produce for maximum profit and try and use lots of small bits of leather to stich up one suit.
Also another trick they use is when they get the hide from the poor donor they cut it in a way they get two pieces sliced form one hide which means the part you really want that has the right fibres in it is effectivly gone.
Easy way to explain it is they basicaly if you imagine the tickness of the hide is say 5mm they cut it to get two 2.5mm hides. However a decent leather suit manufacturer goes for the centre of the overall thickness which contains the stuff that holds the leather fibres correctly, hence why the leather is more expensive as they can only get one piece from one hide.
This was demonstrated by a well known motorcylce leather suit maker to me and some guys at a club night and they showed us the difference between the two types of leather hides.

Stitching in is also paramount in the suits strength as well and how well its done and covered as well as the type of stitching and its construction.

If you work out the cost of geting some decent leathers made to measure and how well and long they last it basically offsets the cheap stuff from off the peg.

Dont believe the hype about off the peg Big Name Leathers in the dealers some are really not worth the price.
I have seen top of the range big brand ones open up like a banana skin at low speed spills or hole through easily.

If you you go for made to measure leathers try, Hideout Leathers, BKS, MW, Crowtree etc.

Just remember once you hit the deck if the suit fails its your skin rubbing away on the deck...remebering falling off your push bike as a kid and scraping your knees and hands etc at 15mph/20mph.....now think of the speed you do on your bike now.......