Women's Specific Armour

K

Katdog

Likes Bikes
I'm starting to get into a bit of DH. I'm getting to old to bounce and since I can afford it and don't mind wearing it I've decided to buy some armour. I found this thread from a few years ago http://www.rotorburn.com/forums/showthread.php?85899-Women-s-Specific-Body-Armour but it seems to be a bit out of date now and doesn't really solve the problem that I'm having.

I have big boobs which make the chest plate stick out on all the non-women's specific armour I have tried so far. Even ones with a slightly contoured chest plate and a zip down the middle just don't sit well.

Based on my crashing experience so far I want something that offers back, shoulder and elbow protection. I guess chest protection would be a bonus too.

These seem to be my options.

1. Buy women's specific. This is a bit tricky since the LBS doesn't stock women's specific body armour on the off chance that someone will walk in and buy it. Since dirt-biking is a much bigger sport I thought I'd head along to the moto shop and see what they had. I tried on an Alpinestars Stella and the first thing I thought was "Wow, this thing was designed by a man". It had these crazy pointy plastic boobs that stick out a mile and aren't even in the right place. It left me and the poor shop assistant pretty freaked out. After that experience I'm not too keen to take a gamble on buying something online. I also looked the Stella up online and it looks pretty normal.

The Rockgardn Lady Flak jacket could be a goer. Does anyone have one?

2. Buy something with a removable chest plate, and just take it out, or buy something with no chest plate

3. Buy unisex armour and cut the chest plate out. This gives me a lot of options. Although I'd feel a bit bad about taking a pair of scissors to brand new armour.

4. Buy something with a soft chest plate. I love the look of the 2012 POC VPD jacket. Unfortunately when POC say 2012 they actually mean it won't be available until 2012. The ETA from the LBS is March 2012. Trying on POC VPD Tee was like comparing a t-shirt to a straight jacket with everything else I tried, so I've become a bit of a POC fan. Oneal do something similar with their Hellraiser jacket which is looking pretty good right now. Has anyone worn squishy armour and can tell me how flexible it is?

5. Buy back, shoulder and elbow protection separately. I'm not sure if it's possible or practical to buy shoulder guards separately. Probably not.

6. Just put up with the chest plate sticking out.

Does anyone have any experience with any of the above? I'd be pretty interested to know what other people are doing. Any ideas or suggestions would be good.
 
Cypher

Cypher

Likes Dirt
I have ancient Dianese armour that I bought circa 2002 - it has a soft chest plate, back plate, shoulders and elbows with a thick velcro strap around the belly to secure the back plate. I don't have big boobs though, so I find the armour comfortable enough (hot though!)

I have landed directly on my belly on a rock and couldn't feel a thing, so the soft chest plate holds up well. However I don't DH particularly fast.

I would think that you would tend to curl up and automatically protect you belly/chest when you fall. Arms, elbows and knees generally get out there first. You might be able to get away with a soft or no chest plate. Falls where you don't get the time to curl are always going to be dicey

Fully body armour seems to have gone out of style, but as I am not a fashion plate, I always wear mine :)
 
hach_bee

hach_bee

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Those flexible mesh options (sorry not sure of any specific models) are really popular with the mums who race bmx, if they want extra protection they often throw a jersey over. I think 661 might have done a ladies version? I know what you mean about the plastic boob bit, feels a bit madonna doesn't it? Best of luck hun
 
B

BikerGirl

Squid
Hmm was going to suggest the Alpinestar Stella Bionic - but see that doesnt work for you. I love mine and find it really comfy..when i wear it... maybe just get something without chest protection...
 
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T-Rex

T-Rex

Template denier
OK, so I'm not a girl, but I am married to one who is size D. And I've been hanging out at a lot of DH races (club, state and national) with our now teenaged son for the last 6 years, and have had lots of practical first aid experience, and seen lots of DH crashes and injuries. So there's my credentials for the following advice.

Firstly, based on all the significant injuries I have seen and heard about from DH crashes, by far the most common are broken wrists, clavicals, hand injuries and concussion. I reckon those four categories would account for 80%+. Torso injuries, in particular frontal torso injuries, are uncommon in my experience. Apart from a few broken ribs, and one dislocated sternum, the most severe torso injuries that I am aware of in my 6 years of DH'ing are two kids rupturing spleens, both of which were life threatening.

Bottom line, I think the chest plates on armour don't do much, so my recommendation would be to buy yourself some eBay armour (there's a very good guy on the south coast of NSW) for about $40 and unpick the stitching holding the cest plates on, and chuck them in the bin, ie your Option 3. Maybe buy yourself a moto style kidney belt, as the belts on the ebay armour are relatively narrow.

PS and dont feel bad about cutting up brand new armour, we've done it heaps of times to get Leatt braces to fit properly. You've got to be comfortable as well as safe!
 
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K

Katdog

Likes Bikes
Thanks for the feedback, especially for sharing your experience with the DH injuries T-Rex. It helps a lot when I’m already leaning towards going without chest protection. I’d rather find something that fits well everywhere else, which should protect me better overall. It gives me heaps more options and might make it a bit less hot to wear as a bonus.

Yeah hach_bee I’m all for feeling like Madonna at Karaoke, but not on my bike!

Cheers for the heads up Shredden, I had no idea that shop existed. It would have been awesome if I was in Sydney (and not down in Vic) but I had good look at their website anyway and was pretty impressed. They seem pretty dedicated to providing quality stuff. I was also impressed to see that TBSM stock a decent range of women’s downhill gear.

I’m pretty keen on a 2011 661 Evo Pressure Suit since it is low profile, gets good reviews, has a squishy chest plate that is completely removable, and is within a price range that I’m happy to spend ($150-$200 delivered depending on where I buy).

http://tbsm.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=149_155_296_299&products_id=7394

I reckon I would go for a small even though the sizing chart puts me at a small around the waist but a large around the chest. I watched a YouTube clip of an enthusiastic European punter trying his medium on. His looked pretty well suited to a medium male build. I usually wear a small in men’s stuff and I suspect the shoulder padding would be in the wrong place and that the arms and spine protector would be too long with a bigger size. Would that be a fair assumption? The lycra jacket part looks stretchy enough to cope with my 'large' chest too.
 
dasboomsticks

dasboomsticks

Likes Bikes
hold the scissors

i thought i just might mention that if you cut off peices of the armour then it might lower the structual integridy or compromise other parts of the armour. best of luck
 
K

Katdog

Likes Bikes
dasboomsticks said:
i thought i just might mention that if you cut off peices of the armour then it might lower the structual integridy or compromise other parts of the armour. best of luck
Click to expand...
Good point. Cutting through armour sounds like trouble. The only cutting I will be doing is to remove a chest plate altogether, or to alter the fabric jacket part that holds all the bits together, to make the sleeves shorter for example. Even then it would be un-picking the stitching and sewing it back together, which I think will be okay.

If the armour bits don’t fit I’ll get something else instead of trying to cut them to size.

Since I wouldn’t have the 661 Evo in time to race, I figured I had time to do some more research. I was pretty interested in POC’s magic squishy VPD material. I found out a bunch of stuff which I will post in the DH section since it doesn't seem directly relevant here, but the short version is there are a heap of other options made from the same stuff as POC.

For me, it came down to a question of which long-sleeve squishy jacket would be available soonest. Oneal beat Nukeproof by a couple of weeks so I ordered an Oneal Stealth Protector. I couldn’t find anyone in Australia who imports Oneal bike stuff, so I ended up buying online. I'll share my thoughts once it arrives.

0280-002.jpg 0280b-002.jpg
 
rubikat

rubikat

Likes Dirt
Rockgrdn Women's Pressure Suit.
Try googling it or CRCing it.
Size M will fit up to a small 14 / D cup.
Nothing worse than putting on a pressure suit to find your boobs have headed north for the winter.
 
K

Katdog

Likes Bikes
So it arrived this week. EXCITING!!!

Here are my initial thoughts from parading around the house and going for a half hour spin on the XC bike. I’ll add more when I have my inevitable first crash in it.

Pros:

  • Good value for money ($115 + delivery, no discount, that’s just what it cost)
  • Super light and comfortable with complete freedom to move. The padding moulds to your body shape and after a while you forget you’re wearing it
  • Looks good. I could get away with not wearing a jersey over the top
  • Neckbrace compatible
  • Machine washable
  • The SAS-Tec bits are awesome. It’s made by the same company that make POC’s VPD. It claims to be 60% lighter than hard-shell protection and absorb 50% more impact energy than traditional hard-shell protectors. I think legitimate testing has been done to back this up since it meets European Moto Standard EN1621-2. I pulled the pads out for a bit of a play. On average they’re around 8mm thick. You can fold them in half and watch them morph back into shape, yet it was super rigid when I hit it. Warning: you will hurt your knuckles doing this!

Cons:

  • Doesn’t seem very breathable, but I don’t see how it would be worse than any other non-mesh armour available at the moment
  • Hard to get on and off, no zips just pull it on over your head. This may be a problem once it gets sweaty. I can see myself stuck in it and calling piteously for help
  • The back protection seems pretty light on coverage wise. The SAS-Tec is only a 65mm wide band down the middle which is enough in theory but I would have preferred a bit more. The stuff either side is not SAS-Tec
  • No adjustability (straps etc) to customise the fit
  • I couldn’t find anyone who distributes Oneal in Aus, so I couldn’t buy locally or try one on. I ended up buying from Europe

General Comments:

  • Removable elbow and shoulder pads
  • Elbows, spine and shoulders are SAS-Tec. The chest, rib and 2/3 of the back protection is not - it is 3-4mm thick closed cell foam, so doesn’t add bulk but I’m not sure how much protection this will offer
  • Sizing issues. Even though it is quite snug and fits better than anything else I tried on, it rides up, not much, but enough. This is probably because the shirt bit is longer than my torso, and the chest padding is wider than my chest. The sleeves are a bit long and shoulders are a tiny bit wide too. I am considering moving the shoulder padding in and remove/cut down the chest padding so things don’t move around in a crash
  • Purely from a coverage perspective it won’t offer as much protection as other armour, but I figure I’ll wear it more often, instead of skipping it for easier tracks or when I’m just going to do a few runs. For what it is I'm very happy with it so far
 
C

Cubie

Squid
This is well after the fact but while we're reviewing body armour, I may as well chip in...

I recently bought a Troy Lee vest with short sleeves , shoulder caps, and removable plates on a mesh backing. It's designed for the summer with the light weight, loose neck and open underarms. I'm just starting out so it was a bit of a basic one but the advantage is that you can remove the plates where a neck brace sits and wear a brace and it's only armoured to the bottom of the ribs (depending on how tall you are!) so you can add a kidney belt too.

I'm 182cm (6") and size 10ish and the small fits nicely, if a little loose around the biceps. It is comfortable enough over my (medium sized) boobs and doesn't stick out or feel too uncomfortable. Small is the smallest size and I'm fairly big so it might not be for everyone but certainly worth a try as an entry-level bit of kit.
 
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