Body Armour? Recomendations and advice.
- Thread starter JetSetDemo
- Start date
The TLD5955 feels like it gives pretty good rib cage protection. The ironic thing is that through my latest search, I've been looking for better Rib/back/shoulder protection and have presently settled on the Motion 2 Top, which has crap rib protection - just because I think I've over cooked myself repeatedly armour testing in 36 degree heat
and the Motion 2 top is by far the coolest.I was wearing the 5955 over the 7855, but I need to try it over the Motion Top 2 really - should in theory be cooler.
Last edited:
High Rock Ruti
Active member
High Rock Ruti
If you hit your ribs hard enough there going to get bruised or broken, broke one recently wearing Forcefield adventure harness. There's no practical way to transfer the force of the impact around the rib cage, it's the same problem with helmets slam the ground and the momentum will cause our bodies to act as shock absorbers......ouch? With armor on Shoulders and elbows seem to take higher impacts without injury from many crashes.
Warm Regards
Ruti
Woof Wear used to make these exo Skeleton body protectors for horse riders. I think they were too bulky for most people so weren't that popular and air jackets (like an air bag) were just coming along which do the same thing without the bulk. You'd be pulling the cord by accident all the time on a mountain bike though.
Hit air Equestrian vest :
Hit air Equestrian vest :
I've been wearing this for a quite a while...
POC | Spine VPD 2.0 Jacket Mountain Biking Armor
The shoulder pads tend to cut into shoulder blades when the pads are cold n stiff. I often remove the back and chest pads as the they are heavy and bulky and tend to shift around. I have never used the kidney belt...mainly because i aint got the waist it's designed for. its vastly overpriced but then again it has lasted and there are no issues with materials Deteriorating or zipper not working.
edited at add... the chest pad is made from three separate layers and is quite light in comparison to the back pad which is very thick , heavy and bulky. The elbow pads are excellent and the shoulder pads are good once warmed. I think I will give the kidney belt another go soon so see if it helps keep the back and chest pads in place.
it doesn't get over hot but it is itchy/scratchy if worn on bare skin.
POC | Spine VPD 2.0 Jacket Mountain Biking Armor
The shoulder pads tend to cut into shoulder blades when the pads are cold n stiff. I often remove the back and chest pads as the they are heavy and bulky and tend to shift around. I have never used the kidney belt...mainly because i aint got the waist it's designed for. its vastly overpriced but then again it has lasted and there are no issues with materials Deteriorating or zipper not working.
edited at add... the chest pad is made from three separate layers and is quite light in comparison to the back pad which is very thick , heavy and bulky. The elbow pads are excellent and the shoulder pads are good once warmed. I think I will give the kidney belt another go soon so see if it helps keep the back and chest pads in place.
it doesn't get over hot but it is itchy/scratchy if worn on bare skin.
Last edited:
High Rock Ruti
Active member
High Rock Ruti
Wore this POC armor jacket for several years works well, when it's over 80 F degrees is very hot ? replaced with Forcefield AK adventure harness, looks ridiculous until you fall on it, significantly better than VPD and despite the look much cooler than POC, wear athletic synthetic t shirt underneath or an evaporative vest over 80 degrees.
I've been riding like shit but crashing successfully two hard falls in 3 weeks (many more small falls) but, haven't missed a day (knock on wood...dirt, rocks and trees)
Warm Regards
Ruti
Glasses with full face is a no no ?
Oh well, you know what they say ; "air today, gone tomorrow".
Sapientiea
Active member
Well if you need glasses to see properly I would not give a f*ck to be honest.
A bit of a bargain (£39 !!!!! almost worth buying for the armour as they all cost more than that alone) for anyone who wants something with level 2 back, chest & shoulders - but doesn't want elbows ..
Forcefield Armour Pro Shirt XVS with "be cool" fabric ... I haven't tried these (yet), but the fabric is apparently cool to wear .. Normally costs about €180 ..
Looks like they're clearing a stock line and only have XS/XL/XXL left ..
Size Guide if anyone is interested :
www.forcefieldbodyarmour.com
Forcefield Armour Pro Shirt XVS with "be cool" fabric ... I haven't tried these (yet), but the fabric is apparently cool to wear .. Normally costs about €180 ..
Looks like they're clearing a stock line and only have XS/XL/XXL left ..
Size Guide if anyone is interested :
Forcefield Body Armour - Sizing Guides
Forcefield Body Armour specialises in Impact Protection and High Performance Clothing Systems. The brand prides itself on developing and producing cutting edge, innovative and class leading products. Winning countless awards and reviews, the brand continues to grow across many industries and sports.
www.forcefieldbodyarmour.com
Forcefield Body Armour. Pro Shirt XVS | eBay
Based on the Forcefield Pro Shirt X-V, the ultimate all action shirt, the. Pro Shirt X-V-S is a short sleeved version with removable armour at the back, chest and shoulders housed in a highly breathable BeCool™ technical base layer shell but with the option and versatility of wearing a separate...
www.ebay.co.uk
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carlbiker
🛡️🚵🛡️
Any conclusion on what’s best to go for? I’d been looking at Leatt airfit vs Troy lee stuff cheers
@carlbiker @Zimmerframe
Any thoughts on my possible solution:
I would get protective shirt with good pads for local trails and on more serious downhill business you just put the front+back protector on?
Pros
- Modural
- High protection
Cons
- Heavy
Any thoughts on my possible solution:
I would get protective shirt with good pads for local trails and on more serious downhill business you just put the front+back protector on?
Pros
- Modural
- High protection
Cons
- Heavy
carlbiker
🛡️🚵🛡️
Did anyone every try this one?
- Thread starter
- #45
I went with dainese-trail-skins pro vest in the end, it’s such a comfortable fit and feel really like like it, so much so I got the knee pads for general riding
I tried the Leatt's. Nicely made on the whole. The nearest thing to this I tried was the Airfit Hybrid which I had high hopes for but ultimately found the protection it offered for the restrictions it gave didn't balance out for me, which was hugely disappointing as I was really excited about it - we all have different expectations though, the guy I gave it to doesn't wear it either.
It depends what you're doing and what conditions you're riding in. I've found most of the times I've layered/modular it's too hot or too restrictive. I've ridden a lot with the 7855 over the racer motion and the 5955 over the 7855 - which would give you similar to this but lots more protection. In the 7855/5955 combination I find the 5955 back protection too short and when it's 30+c I find things get a bit too warm really.
So I'd guess this would be similar. Alpinestars do something very similar but cheaper than the leatt 6.5. I really like the Alpinestars stuff, but found for MTB all their gear was too hot, badly thought out with poor choice of foams for heat/protection and uncomfortable to wear due to stitch lines and so on.
For me the 6.5 looks to also have an MX orientated short back so for the weight/heat/inflexibility I'd think it was lacking in overall protection - hard shell is nice though for knocks. I also find kidney belts make things uncomfortably hot and if they're not armoured, they're pretty pointless and not really adding anything.
- Thread starter
- #48
True, to be honest if I had worn it rather than leave it in the car I might be able to have reviewed it’s ability to protect you in a fall
Does this mean you need to go back with it on and re-create the exact same incident to see how it performs ????
- Thread starter
- #50
Almost certainly or I could try it naked and see if the fix jacket and shorts saved me from a much worse fate.Does this mean you need to go back with it on and re-create the exact same incident to see how it performs ????
High Rock Ruti
Active member
High Rock Ruti
Forcefield HK Adventure Harness upper armor. This is road racing hard shell armor however the various pieces are strung together with elastic straping this is the coolest (not hot) full upper I've ever used looks stupid crashes like only hard shell can, I've taken some hard diggers with this stuff on never injured. Not much fun over 80 degrees, only use when riding technical rock the shoulder and elbow protection is astounding.
Warm Regards Ruti
Just had my first time riding with the Leatt 6.5. Had 4 days in downhill trails at Åre Sweden. Temperature was around 18 - 22'C degrees. The undershirt feels ok and the soft paddings are reasonable sized. The hard shell is heavy on paper, but didn't feel any heavy at all. I had thin long sleeved sport shirt under the Leatt and that felt like good idea.
Some observations:
- The back plate is so thick that it was hard to wear the Evoc FR Enduro 16l at the same time without it's integrated back protector. Could be issue with other backpacks. Not a real problem as you don't really need all the normal stuff on downhill bike park.
- Didn't feel any restrictions for actual cycling where it was possible
- For enduro trails I will only wear the soft shirt only and leave the hard shell for bike park days.
Also notable for sizing that L and XL torso parts are same size:
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carlbiker
🛡️🚵🛡️
I bought the urbane pro I few months ago, excellent on a cool day, too much in heat, I have the action shirt I’ve been tempted to try or sell new, it just doesn’t seem as breathable as my racer motion 2 top….
How are you getting on with the knee pads?
Those velcro closure tabs get on my fucking wick the way they curl up ..especially underneath
a pair of trail trews ..they have certainly spoilt what was a perfect knee pad with this incarnation imo..
The coverage dimensions on the paperwork is a welcome improvement on previous information.
It looks like a nice piece. I should be more excited as I normally complain that the leatt coverage is insufficient and the 5.5 was like a mobile sauna.
The sub shirt looks excellent. The elbows look like they give a really good coverage area and have the additional hard plastic, likewise the shoulders look like reasonable coverage and again with the hard plastic and also good upper arm coverage. Not sure if it's better coverage than the airfit hybrid or not, I found that to be a bit lacking when I had mine.
Not sure what the point of the kidney belt is ? It doesn't hold the hard armour in place and the hard armour doesn't connect to the shirt, so it seems like just a hot belt with no protection for no reason ? The shirt itself is a compression top, so it doesn't need a kidney belt to hold it in place. Maybe there's a really good one, but Leatt's own site gives the minimum amount of information possible on the whole thing - which seems totally stupid after all the development work.
It's a real shame you can't buy the sub shirt on it's own. I'd like 2 or three sub shirts so I could wash the base layers and use with the outer shell. OR even buy the sub shirts and wear on their own or with other armour options - Leatt and otherwise. It looks to have the nicest elbow/shoulder combination of any sub shirt/armoured base layers out there.
I've recently bought the leatt armoured Tee shirt (just shoulders) - as their open mesh airs well and have matched with Leatt 6.0 elbows, which have good coverage and are comfortable. I wear that with the TLD5955. So a similar setup to the 6.5 but with less bulk and maybe cooler ?
Presently not buying anymore TLD stuff though as their websites give zero information on the difference between products, so if they can't be bothered I'm not sure why I should spend a week researching to find out the difference between short a and short b, plus most of their own images are now cartoon CGI so you have no idea what you're getting and every re-seller has a different spec and description for the same product. Most of their gear is 10-15 years old now and whilst it's good, CGIing the images to make things look different and modern is just a bit of a scam. Leatt aren't much better on that front in fairness though. You try and work out the differences between all the different elbows and the positives and negatives - at least Leatt show a picture of the actual product though.
7idp Sam Hill. Comfortable .. Cool .. Effective !
Was just looking for more mesh undershirts with shoulder and elbows - similar to the Leatt 6.5 which they don't sell separately.
Found Acerbis do one. Only half length with an elastic support under your boobies. Mesh construction elsewhere. Unlike Leatt you can buy this with the hard armour, just buy this, or buy the hard armour outer. It's also considerably cheaper than the 6.5 - though the hard armour looks like it could be quite warm.
Want to try this with the TLD5955/5900 as for twin base layers with the leatt setup I need to buy another set of elbows and another armoured T-shirt - which is expensive and a faff putting on and taking off.
The acerbis has a zip running to the left of the chest so it should be convenient to put on and remove.
Acerbis Galaxy Jacket : (about €60)
Acerbis Body Armour Galaxy (about €160)
Comes with the short shirt with elbows and shoulders with a removable hard armour. The bottom coccyx protection is removable and the front and rear top panels so you can use it with a neck brace.
I think the hard armour on it's own is illogically called the Acerbis Jump !?!
Found Acerbis do one. Only half length with an elastic support under your boobies. Mesh construction elsewhere. Unlike Leatt you can buy this with the hard armour, just buy this, or buy the hard armour outer. It's also considerably cheaper than the 6.5 - though the hard armour looks like it could be quite warm.
Want to try this with the TLD5955/5900 as for twin base layers with the leatt setup I need to buy another set of elbows and another armoured T-shirt - which is expensive and a faff putting on and taking off.
The acerbis has a zip running to the left of the chest so it should be convenient to put on and remove.
Acerbis Galaxy Jacket : (about €60)
Acerbis Body Armour Galaxy (about €160)
Comes with the short shirt with elbows and shoulders with a removable hard armour. The bottom coccyx protection is removable and the front and rear top panels so you can use it with a neck brace.
I think the hard armour on it's own is illogically called the Acerbis Jump !?!
Big savings just now on Bliss protection for you clumsy guys
www.freewheel.co.uk
Freewheel | UK Online Bike Shop | Bike Accessories & Clothing
Your local bike shop online supporting a network of independent stores across the UK with every purchase. Order online for Home Delivery or Click & Collect from a local Freewheel store for free
www.freewheel.co.uk
I was just about to post the same.Big savings just now on Bliss protection for you clumsy guys
Freewheel | UK Online Bike Shop | Bike Accessories & Clothing
Your local bike shop online supporting a network of independent stores across the UK with every purchase. Order online for Home Delivery or Click & Collect from a local Freewheel store for free
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