TRF Forums

would appreciate any advice with regards to identifying/purchasing good body armour. I recently did an enduro holiday wearing the forcefield armour jacket, unfortunately it was far less protective than needed, broken rib and bruises on the first off! looking for advice on hard armour? Please.
Paul.

I use 661 vapour pressure suit.

Very comfy - hardly notice it. has good reputation for protection although I have not fully tested this!!

i use knox body armour bit pricey cost £140 for the harness and thats not including elbow pads plus side fully adjustable very comfy and it can take some punishment .fully ce approved TBM review ..the undisputed daddy of impact protection.

Acerbis koerta is one of the best on the market ,most only offer a small amount of protection at the ribs anyway

was the armour in the jacket or as part of a built-in vest ? I have found that armour built into the jacket moves on impact, providing protection upon first impact but not the second third fourth etc. I use a vest with force field armour built into it. In my experience ( I am a serial crasher ) the soft force field armour provides much more protection then the hard armour.

logically, the human body is soft tissue over a hard skeleton, we are not turtles. in my opinion the hard armour spreads the impact to the joints. Bruising heals relatively quickly, whereas joints, when damaged, heal very slowly if at all. cars used to be designed to be very strong, now they have crumple zones built into them to absorb the impact. Perhaps the same philosophy should be used on armour. My first use of the force field vest and back protector was in a long distance trial, due to my lack of skill I tested it a great deal. It was like rolling downhill wrapped in a duvet. Despite a serious series of falls I suffered no injuries at all.

I know that there are a lot of companies doing a great deal of research into this and they will know much more than me but my direct comparison through experience tells me that soft armour is better and more comfortable.

Hi to all members, this is my first post (as a new user and TRF member)

My wife, my son and I all use GP-Pro body armour (look it up in the on-line Demon Tweeks catalogue) - they're the mesh vest type with all the armour attached and an itegrated kidney belt.

After quite a few falls (at our local MX practice track, on a little 125 trail bike and a CRF 100), none of us have suffered and real injuries and the kit has done it's job superbly. We've also used similar kit when we were trail riding in Herts and at the Wheeldon Farm scholl a couple of times earlier this year. Worn under a lightweight jersey and jacket, they're comfortable as well.

The ones we have were only £80 each and seem, to us novices, very good value.



Hope this helps.

Cheers.

I use the 661 Vapour Pressure suit (same as your 1st reply) and would agree that it is very comfy, but can also vouch for for the fact that it is really good in a crash (OK in several crashes!)

Highly recommended

I use an older 661 suit too, and have been ok so far, in several tumbles.

When it needs replacing / I come into some money, I'm looking at getting the forcefield armour, it seems to me to be amongst the best protection on the market.

I'm not of the opinion that cheaper, hard armour would be more effective. Newtons cradle springs to mind, when something hard is hit by something hard into something hard, the energy is transfered, not absorbed or spread.

That's what appeals to me about the Forcefield systems. The impact getting through to the user is reduced significantly if it can be spread or absorbed.

Body armour probably saved my life last weekend. I have broken bones and severe brusing but at least I will live.

One of the most common bones broken by motorcyclists is the collar bone, so why is there no impact protection for this area in any of the armour I have seen ?

I've got some UFO armour which does have a limited degree of collarbone protection, but as I understand it a lot of collarbone fractures are caused by transmitted shock from landing on an outstretched arm, so armour in that area would not prevent those injuries. I've heard the collarbone described as a 'fuse' in that it breaks to stop shock being transmitted to more critical areas.