Body armour when road riding.

[biker7]

(I asked this question on a sportsbike forum but would be interested to hear the replies too on here)

I wear a 2 piece leather suit most of the time when riding on the road. I have the usual leg, arm and back armour and have recently added chest protection. I was looking at a neck brace today when I thought..... 'Is this just ott for road riding'? What do you guys have when riding on the road - not just down the shops but a proper ride? Some say that too much armour spoils the fun and anyway you take too many risks when you feel well protected. I'm not sure on this one. I ride fast but not mental! I do like getting home unscathed I know that much!
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Swansea area
Fat Bob (2019)

[MarJay]

I don't think a chest protector is worth it. I tend to wear a soft foam back protector, elbow, shoulder, hip and knee armour on the road... but thats only because its fitted to my jeans and my jacket really.

Remember, armour is no substitute for good riding.

Neck brace on the road? OTT IMO.
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Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[J.M.]

I've generally turned very lazy for a few reasons. As a result I rarely wear full gear. I generally now only wear full gear if I'm:
- Going long distance
- It's terrible weather outside
- I'm cold
- I don't have to wear the gear all day when I arrive at my destination

My commute is mainly low speed... my textiles aren't going to protect me from much.

My main items are boots, gloves and helmet. Usually I wear the jacket but I have no second thoughts about wearing my leather jacket (not a bike one, from Next) instead.

I definitely feel too safe whilst wearing gear which I think is slightly dangerous because it doesn't make me invincible.
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[biker7]

[_Iain_]

I dont know.

If the neck braces were affordable (£50-75) then i'd have one. At £300+ its well out of my budget.

Reason being is that when i went down, i rolled a lot. I diddnt slide, just bounced & rolled. The result of this was my neck was just fucked completely. Stiff, very uncomforable wearing a lid for a month or so afterwards, and that was a fairly low speed crash (50mph). Also had a mate come off and break his neck. The shit he's been going through scince isnt brilliant.

If i've got the kit i'll wear it.
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Please be aware that the above post may be full of complete nonsense.
Riding: '07 KTM Duke II, Baotian BT49QT-20 Driving: '88 Volvo 340

[Ayrton]

I could see why you would want one. If your bouncing down the road then your head is just going to waggle about. I guess a neck brace would stop that.

Bit over the top though i think, unless your going just going for a leisure ride.

Im with J.M. I usually only bother putting a jacket and gloves on most of the time. The only time my trousers come out are when its cold...

[covent.gardens]

A motorcycle neck brace sounds like something I'd wear after an accident, not before

I ride more carefully in summer if I've just got a T-shirt and normal jeans on. There's something about KNOWING - for a fact - that if you come off, it's going to hurt. Whereas when you have all the gear on, you know that if you were to just slide along the road, chances are you'd be fine, so you (maybe subconsciously) care less about having an off.

Does a neck brace restrict movement? Because if it's going to stop someone from doing the lifesaver that might've prevented the accident in the first place, then I don't think much of 'em.

[biker7]

[Pol Anorl]

It would LOOK over the top for road riding as pretty much no-one wears them on the road, if everyone started wearing one it wouldn't look out of place.

Its personal preference though, do you want to have that added protection for your neck or notm personaly i probably wouldn't bother but its more 60% no and 40% yes i would use one.

As for back protectors, i may be wrong but aren't they "known" to sometimes ride up and damage your neck if you crash?
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[Shinigami]

I wear Armour textile jacket (shoulders elbow and back foam) & armoured overtrousers with cusioned hard armour in the knees day to day.

Glad i did when i had my off as although the shoulder padding didn't stop my shoulder breaking the knee armour did save my knee caps!

Had warn down to the plastic armour and left my knee nicely undamaged
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[MarJay]

[pooley_99]

[Magnet]

I normaly wear textile trousers with padding, but no armour and a leather jacket with elbow and shoulder armour with padding to back. If I am just doing a local run to the shop for cider I just wear my jeans with the leather jacket. Always wear boots and gloves though
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It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.

GPZ600R Sold, Now ZZR600

[Shinigami]

if i'm just nipping to morrisons i just wear jeans to be fair, it's a 1 mile straight 30 road with speed cameras, though obviously you could bin it anywhere
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Current: Honda City Fly CLR125 2003 Honda CB600F Hornet 2008 Yamaha FZ6 S2 + 1991 Kawasaki GPZ500
"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.

[Magnet]

I am always more aware when riding without full gear on and tend to ride in a more careful manner. That said, even a low speed off can resut in some nasty injuries. I seen a guy a few weeks back waeing shorts, T shirt and trainers riding an R1, he claimed he was confident so didn't need any safety gear LOL idiot!!!!
____________________
It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.

GPZ600R Sold, Now ZZR600

[Shinigami]

Personally i'd never ride in shorts and tshirt, I won't tell anyone else not to though as it's their choice at the end of the day.

I won't due to the fact there are too many unpredictable conditions on our roads so no matter how good or confident you are you could still come a cropper from something like oil, gravel, hidden ninjas doing flying kicks from nearby bushes.
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Current: Honda City Fly CLR125 2003 Honda CB600F Hornet 2008 Yamaha FZ6 S2 + 1991 Kawasaki GPZ500
"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.

[Knightsy]

Full body armour?

https://www.tensionnot.com/pictures/images/Motorcycle/Knight-Motorcycle.jpg
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09' Versys 650 | 07' FJR1300A

[pits]

What is it with all these faggotry threads about gearing up to the max? If you're that worried buy a car or a suit of armour
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[UrbanRacer]

Commuting and going to the shop i wear Jacket, boots, gloves and helmet.
Out for a hoon its full gear minus body armour
Body armour is reserved for trackdays.

[pooley_99]

when i was in Thailand I hired a cbr 400 think it was a 95, and rode around ko samui in shorts and trainers, no tshirt and no lid just sunglasses and a cap for protection... Wasnt one of my brightest moments, just did it because i could, and thought im never gonna be abe to do this again... but you do a lot of silly things when in Thailand!
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CBR 900RR Fireblade

[_Iain_]

[WannaBeDude]

[G]

I do have a neck brace, which I got at Weston-super-mare (when actually riding).
For general trail riding I wouldn't worry about it and certainly not for road riding.

Not sure if you can get road models?

They do quite significantly reduce movement and I'd consider could well be dangerous on the road.
Think I did use mine on the road riding the bike back from the race above as didn't want to take the motorhome in to the congested town centre.

The absolute best protection is not being involved in an accident in the first place - it's quite possible to acquire the skills to do this if you do want 'good protection'.

Most armour will only add useful protection in a fairly small range of forces.
With leathers alone, you'll get a fair bit of protection from injury.
Add in armour and get too much force and you'll still get stuff broken. A fairly low force and there won't be any difference or possible the armour could make it worse.
Armour can not reduce force, merely spread it over space and time.
So hitting a curb could then spread the force of the sharp edge impacting your shoulder over your entire shoulder rather than 1cm square - also it may say spread the time over 10ms rather than 1ms or whatever, which may be enough for your body to take it without breaking anything.

[_Iain_]

https://www.thebikerstore.co.uk/products/Leatt-STX-Road-Neck-Brace.html
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Please be aware that the above post may be full of complete nonsense.
Riding: '07 KTM Duke II, Baotian BT49QT-20 Driving: '88 Volvo 340

[keggyhander]

I've removed all the armour from my jacket. It's much comfier and I don't intend coming off.