haplorrhine

I'm wondering why anyone wears it.
I'm thinking there should be cycle wear with protective padding, kind of like knee-pads and elbow pads, that would protect you from road rash. Its placing could be based on road rash statistics collected from cyclists.

MichaelW

Helmet and gloves provide the main crash protection.
Most anti-abrasion materials are too rigid to be used in lycra style road cycling gear. A good solution is to wear 2 layers so the outer layer slides over the inner layer.

JerrySTL

Gloves certainly do. Shorts and jerseys may help a little against road rash when skidding. I know that you aren't allowed to go sleeveless on road races and I believe that's one of the reasons.

As far as wearing arm and knee pads while riding, maybe while doing downhill mountain bike racing. I wouldn't think it would help much in road riding. Seems that the sides of legs, arms, and shoulders get bloodied the most. My worse road rash was on my back.

I've seen people wearing elbow and knee pads while riding. The word 'fred' doesn't do them justice. Plus how often do you plan on crashing? It's been over 10K miles since I last hit the tarmac while riding. Dang! Now I've jinxed myself.

Drakonchik

There's a gel-like material called D3O going into some cycling garb.

haplorrhine

I don't care about how I look on my bicycle.

That's not an option when it's warm out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D3o

ThermionicScott 

Just don't crash.

haplorrhine

So it's like the kinetic energy causes D3o to freeze rather than expand. How odd.

fietsbob

Event specific would help.. hockey or figure skating?

Downhill and dual slalom MTB racers buy and use padding, roadies dont. [other than gloves and helmets]

Leebo

I wear elbow and knee pads when I'm mountain biking, not road commuting. If you're crashing on the pavement a lot, change your technique.

Myosmith

One important skill is to learn to roll or tumble rather than slide. Some time ago I went over the bars at a relatively low speed, maybe 12-15 mph, thanks to a collision with a big dog (dog unhurt and still wanted to play). I landed on my hands with my elbows bent, tucked my head and did a shoulder roll, almost coming back to a standing position (that would have looked cool if I could have stood up out of the roll and walked away, but I'm not that coordinated). Both palms were bruised and the wrists sore, but other than that, absolutely no damage to my body nor clothing, just some dirt marks that washed out, didn't even scratch the helmet. My hands would have been burger without good gloves. The bike ended up with more scuffs than I did. I know that rolling/tumbling isn't always an option but when possible, it distributes the force and reduces the amount of clothing/hide that gets ground off.

When touring, cycling for recreation, or just out solo, I often wear jean shorts over cycling shorts, which should add some abrasion resistance over the hips, but I've never had occassion to try that out.

wphamilton

No, not the roadie getups anyway. FWIW I've gotten road rash inside a leather jacket (motorcycling).

That's intriguing. Do you recall who the distributor is?

erig007

There is another one that do exactly that : corn starch as do most non-newtonian fluids
When you move corn starch at low speed it is soft, at high speed it harden

A fun experiment to do



For what i know bulletproof vests are made of a hard outer layer and a fluffy one inside to help spread the impact on a bigger surface.
Give an idea on how to layer

Drakonchik

Six Six One has some 3Do stuff but mostly sold out last I checked.

Machka 

1. How often do you crash?

2. Are you wondering why cyclists wear cycling clothing?

StephenH

I've gotten scraped hands when there was not a hole in the glove above the scrape, and scraped side-hip when my shorts did not get a hole in them. IE, you can get scraped up pretty good through your clothing.
Cycling clothing is handy because it doesn't flap in the breeze and doesn't soak up moisture like cotton and does provide some saddle padding. Gloves help keep sweating hands from slipping and pad your hands a bit. It's not all intended for wrecking.

Little Darwin

When you cycle eventually you will crash. The question is not if you will crash, ut when...

As mentioned above, the main protections for typical riders are gloves and helmets. I know personally how my hands can feel after a spill when I wasn't wearing gloves.

Perhaps some day, if safety issues other than head injuries get attention, or someone figures out a way to successfully market their whiz bang safety items, I suspect that we will see more items designed for safety.

TrojanHorse

People wear two layers in hot weather all the time. Base Layer + jersey.

If you think a base layer is going to make you too hot to ride, I can't imagine how you're going to arrange pads to provide the protection you're seeking.

StephenH

You can do the testing on that one, I'll pass.

dcrowell

I'm more worried about falling in the tub or on stairs than on the bike. Granted, I'm more of a utility cyclist rather than racer or mountain biker.

I usually wear a helmet, but that's just because it's a great place to mount the mirror.

wahoonc

Gloves... helmet optional, everything else heals. Hands, especially the palms are the one of the hardest places on the body to repair if you trash the skin due to a variety of reasons.

Aaron

SpeshulEd 

This thread reminded me of this guy...

"Posers" wear cycling clothes, true cyclists wear full body armor!!
https://www.alpinicycling.com/cycling-ability-levels/

DataJunkie

Most forms of cycling are relatively tame in comparison with something where body armour is frequently used like DH.
The trade off being your comfort with safety. In my opinion, the occasional crash is no big deal. Live a little.