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How well does something like Bohn Body Guard Adventure Fully Armored
Pants
work while riding a bicycle?

 

Dear SN,

It probably depends on whether you pedal.

If you just sit still and coast, you might be comfortable wearing
tight lycra pants with "armor" inserts designed to be worn by street
motorcycle riders under their jeans.

There's a reason why bicyclists don't wear leathers, much less plastic
"armor".

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

 

Not that any of it is designed for an hour or two on the bike, but
people seriously interested in both armor and cycling may want to look
into what is worn by BMXers and Downhill/4X MTBers. They all wear armor
while pedaling, in some cases furiously, but only for a few minutes at
most.

To a lesser extent, dirt motorcycling armor may be worth considering,
since some enduros last hours, and the riders are quite active on their
bikes. But even there, they're not trying to pedal for power or anything
like that.

Knee armor that works while pedaling is always going to be tricky.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuirass

Pronounced "queer ass".

It's best to ride your bike in such a way that you don't crash
routinely. If you have a problem with that, perhaps you should try
parkour-- it's a much less expensive way to crash routinely.

Chalo

 

Probably not very well. If you're going to wear protective gear, you
might as well use that designed for biking rather than motorcycling as
it's readily available.

Next issue: is protective wear of any kind practical for road cycling? A
quick perusal of the archives of this forum will reveal how contentious
this issue is for even minimal head protection. In order of increasing
importance, I'd put head/hand protection first, followed by face/jaw,
followed by neck/spine. Buttocks, thighs and shins wouldn't even get on
my screen. Sliding on pavement at highway speeds can remove flesh at an
impressive rate -- much more than the "road rash" that is normally worst
case for a cyclist.

For off-road biking, I found knee, elbow and shin protection to be
somewhat worthwhile, particularly in the learning curve period,
particularly in rocky terrain. I did avoid injury once landing flat on
my back on rock when my Camelbak took most of the impact (exploding the
bladder in the process). I also broke my ribs a couple of times, but
still wouldn't have worn torso armor just to prevent that. On the other
hand, I have an annoying bone chip in my elbow that would have been
avoided with simple basketball type pads. Pads on the joints are also
nice in cold weather. I didn't find soft knee pads or soccer type shin
pads to be too awkward for rocky off-road bicycling, but overkill for
anything else.

 

Colesy, I despair of you. What sort of an Irishman are you? Don't you
know about the Leprechaun Wind that reaches out from behind a harmless-
seeming hedge at the crossroads and blows you clean off your bike to
bang on your hip and thigh. I found out about it after I'd been riding
past this crossroads for 15 years (or so) and one day, as I whistled
along, the next thing I knew I was on my side with a hundred buck
worth of crank bent and more damage to my bike's saddle and paintwork.
My physician measured the impressive bruise and abraded scab up my
side at 19in (I trust only old-fashioned doctors who know they're in
the trial and error business -- none of these kids who think they know
everything). A trucky who stopped to pick me up said, "That corner is
dangerous, man. Dinya know? All the panelsiders know about it."

You ask me -- and I should add I never ride without a helmet (not
because I believe one way or another but simply to keep the sun off my
head -- and I would say hip and thigh and side protection comes right
next to face and eye protection for a bicyclist. (Also for a
motorcyclist. I've been on my face on the tarmac at high speed and the
plastic surgery was painful even if it succeeded into turning me into
a matinee idol.)

Andre Jute
Displaced Irishman

 

We don't have hedges, but buildings provide a similar function. I have
yet to be blown down despite my taller mast (so to speak). It must be
reflexes. I play a lot of video games.