Originally Posted by maelstrom

To behonest those would be about as usefull as putting on a t-shirt and a thick hoody...

moto-air vest is new. I doubt anyone has worn one. The only thing I have to compare it to was the race jacket, which looks to be the same material, and once I saw it in person, it looked pretty useless.

Originally Posted by nathank

ok, i forget the exact name, but i have something similar from 661. when i was buying they had 2 different models and i can't remeber which one i got... i think i have the race jacket lite but there is also a half jacket i think.

anyway, the one i have is about 1/4 to 1/2" thick padded with holes for ventilation with a buckle-clip on each side just above the waist. it has removable shoulder pads (very small) and covers almost the entire front and back (goes below mid-stomach on me). and fits under most of my regular bike jerseys.

for XC i find it great as it is cool, light and ventilated enough to ride uphill and for XC but does give light protection - it won't save you from a major major crash but does provide basic protection and would probably change a broken-rib crash into a bruised rib and a bruised-rib-crash into nothing...

just for info: i also have 2 other 661 body armour pieces: the pressure suit which is great but VERY hot so i only use it for downhill lift-access. i also have another short-sleeve jacket which i use for most of my freeride tours. forgot the name, but it provides good protection but is a little too warm for XC.


i'll have to disagree for once with maelstrom. yes, for downhill or any REAL stuff these light pieces are obviously no substitute for good protection, BUT when you are doing light XC stuff where a pressure suit is out of the question and the choice is between nothing or one of those long-sleeve jerseys with the elbow padding and a Race Jacket Lite... then the 661 Race Jacket i have is REALLY great.

anyhow, for XC i am totally happy with mine and i have also used the small shoulder pads (cut a corner too tight and nailed a tree with my shoulder and the Race Light prevented me from getting a scratch or bruise - naturally i would not have been severely injured without it as it wasn't a bad crash)

i think the half-jacket was more neoprene which looked to me to be hotter although i only saw it in the catalog.

@juniorcaveman: e.g. my Race Jacket Lite i could wear for Wissahickon in Philly where my other body armour would be overkill and WAY too hot. (although for Wissahickon i might not even need that - can't remember any other trail names in Phily at the moment)

Originally Posted by santiago

If you guys are looking for additional sources for under-shirt padding, I recommend you look at racing kart "rib protectors". In kart racing the regulating bodies require us to wear rib protectors because the chance of breaking ribs is pretty high under the right circumstances. There are a bunch that are out there that are nothing more than pretend rib protectors designed the minimum to fulfill the rule requirements then there are the good ones. I have one called from a company called RibTect http://www.ribtect.com/ which I like a lot.

Alternative sources for this type of body armour can be found for rodeo riders (!) and for lacrosse players.

Originally Posted by juniorcaveman

i thought about using gear intended for another sport, but i tend to think that something designed specifically for cycling would be better. lacrosse pads aren't designed to be worn while riding your bike and this isn't exactly what i am looking for ;)

Originally Posted by Maelstrom

Being skewered by a bull...

Originally Posted by juniorcaveman

thanks for the great info, nathank. the full back one is the one i was looking at.

i primarily ride at wissahickon, actually (also called Valley Green). i don't know when you last rode there, but last summer all the rain and flooding caused tons of erosion and has drastically changed the trails. there's a pretty big fundraising campaign right now to rebuild a lot of the trails.

did you come to philly specifically to ride wissahickon?

the biggest thing for this protection is just to help me get my confidence back since i've been definitely hesitant since the first endo. CYA, you know?

thanks again!

Originally Posted by nathank

hey JCM!

my sister lives in Philly just a few miles from the Valley Green Inn so i am there every so often... i was there xmas 03/04 for 2 weeks and rode almost every day and we rode almost every trail in Wissahickon at least once. plus, my girlfriend and i bought 2 bikes at Keswick Cycle - Brian hooked us up and i recommend the shop! i was also there 2 weeks in June 2004, but probably won't be back until xmas or later (going to Colorado/Utah/Arizona for 5 weeks mid-may through mid-june)

but yeah, i heard about all the trail damage as a friend of mine (Andy) was one of the organizers of one of the fund-raising rides...

back to topic: for the XC trails at Wissahickon when you sweat A LOT, i do not think i would wear either my pressure suit or my lightweight half-suit or even my thick arm/elbow protectors... as some other guys have commented, you can't expect full protection from something like the RaceLite but it is in my opinion an appropriate compromise - if it's too thick/heavy/hot for XC i won't wear it! but it does provide an extra level of protection - it's like full-fingered gloves: in a real crash they won't protect you from breaking a finger, but they DO help from minor cuts and scrapes and reduce the severity of major stuff (a good friend of mine tore a tendon in his thumb yesterday in a hard-core free-ride tour. he had on pretty much full gear - dianese full suit + full-face + long gloves + wrist protectors, but his thumb was still not protected)

for true XC riding i only wear:
lightweight knee/shin protectors
regular helmet (no full-face - too hot)
long-fingered gloves
my 661 racelite jacket