Body Armor

***mknutson*** · May 6th, 2009, 06:17 PM

Body Armor comes in several variants. Most commonly, it is a top holding protection for the back, the elbows, the shoulders, the chest and sometimes the stomach. Sometimes it is a fully body suit including protection for the knees, the hips and the tailbones. Occasionally, a person only wears a back protector (turtle-back) and this can be considered body armor as well. This section mostly deals with the full top style armor, although the other variants can be quite useful too.

Body armor has three major purposes

The back protector reduces the risk of breaking your back.
The elbow and shoulder padding provide general protection to those areas.
The chest protector saves you from sharp objects penetrating; imagine landing in a tree and being staked on the branches. If you were a vampire, that could be deadly.

Properly fitted body armor doesn’t have to restrict your movement too much, but it is something to take into consideration, especially if you need maneuverability for [][/]. Another thing to consider is the bulkiness. It is going to affect how well your rig fits, and it might have an effect on your pin tension. If you are concerned about aerodynamics for [][/] or [][/], body armor might slow you down.

The above reasons is why some people jump with just a back protector or no body armor at all. It is a trade-off that you have to make for yourself. Most likely you will rarely need your body armor, but when you do you’ll be happy you were wearing it. It can make the difference between coming out unhurt and becoming paralyzed because you weren’t wearing a back protector.

What to look for

The following things should be considered when shopping for body armor:

How solid is the hard shell protection offered? Pay close attention to the back protector.
How well can you move while wearing it.
Does your rig still fit when you wear it.
Does it have snag potential?
Can you put a longsleeve or something like that over top of it?
How warm is it? Are you going to be sweating like crazy on a hot summer day?
Have you considered getting just a back protector, or perhaps a full body suit?

Michael Cooper says: My brother and I both jump with Dainese Shuttle Pro suits. A couple of months ago, he had a tailgate hang-up on a 1652 span. He covered the distance to the ice in 5 seconds, roughly equivalent to jumping backward off a 15-foot platform. His tailbone and head took most of the force of impact. It looked bad, but he got up and did two more jumps that day. Without the armour, I’m sure he would have broken his back.

Dainese armour isn’t cheap, but I think the quality is far superior to the cheaper Bohn armour.

The Shuttle Pro doesn’t restrict your movement at all, and is very comfortable. In fact, I’ve done several jumps in a day without removing the armour just because it’s that comfortable. With my old Bauer elbow/knee pads, I’d take them off right after I landed, because they weren’t so comfortable.

The Shuttle Pro also has a sort of “cumberbund” that holds the lower part of the back plate in place. It also provides some abdominal pressure which I suspect stabilizes the low back.

Where to look

Have a look at the list of protective gear manufacturers [][/].
The best place to shop for body armor is your local mountain bike store. There you can try some on and see how they feel. Unfortunately, you are often being ripped off there too, paying more for brand-names than for quality.

To illustrate; High Velocity Gear offers a body armor top that has the exact same shell padding as an older Dainese suit, at half the price. The back protector, elbow and shoulder protectors, and chest protector are all identical between the two brands, probably coming from the same mold.

It helps to shop around and compare some different brands. The price and quality difference can be quite significant.

Tim Mattson says: My friend was jumping in a foreign country, snagged a light post and ended up on his back on the sidewalk. With only the wind knocked out of him, he reached up with his hook knife and cut the lines that went over the pole. He escaped unseen and only bruised.

The fall I took was the end result of a jump from a low crane into a construction area. The fall was from about 15 feet. I landed on concrete directly on my back in the fetal position. You would hardly believe all the stuff on the ground that I missed.

There is no doubt that it would have killed or paralyzed me. My friend who witnessed this, was certain I was messed up badly, but I got up and walked away several minutes later. Everything hurt for a few days but that’s it.