New Piece of Gear

Well I just got back from a long weekend of DS riding up in Tellico Plains TN at an Old School DS Rally that was held by the Cherohala Mountain Trails Campground.

Nice event and good people. Unfortunately on the first day I ended up high siding my WRR on a section of McFarland Road. According to the GF who was behind me I went over the bars and face planted into the road. The bike then landed on top of me and we both bounced. The LH footpeg dug into the road and the bike stopped but I slid down the road for another 40 or 50 feet. I was out cold when she got to me and she figures I was out for about 30 seconds. The last thing I remember was thinking "I got this.... oh fuucckkk".

Rung my bell pretty well and but the helmet and the gear did it's job. I was wearing a MSR DS Helmet and a Fox Titan Compression top along with Klim Dakar pants and Alpine Stars Scout boots.

Stayed down for about 15 or 20 minutes while a couple of the other guys I ride with checked the bike and me out. The bike suffered a bent footpeg and bent rear fender mounting bracket. Since we were about 20 miles from the camp along an easy route I decided to saddle up and head back to camp and chill out for the day. Riding back I noticed that my right shoulder was sore. Over the next day or so it never got better and actually got worse.

So today I went to my doctor and the diagnosis was bruise or cracked ribs. Gave me some pain meds and an anti-inflammatory and told me to come back in a couple of weeks.

So I got home and started to look at my gear again. From the best I can tell between the gear and my GF's account of what happened the bike must have landed on me right were there was no protection on the Pressure Suit. The pressure suit has front and back armor but really nothing that covers the ribs in that area.

So I have been looking around for some ideas on rib protection that I can incorporate into my gear. Saw lots of options but I think I stumbled on something that looks pretty interesting and I think I will give it a shot.

Basically it is an undergarment that football players wear with a custom molded rib protector. Figure I would wear this under the pressure suit. Here is a video of the product:



Curious as to what else everyone wears and other products that are out there.

Glad you're okay.
I'm about the same age & size as you are (I am losing weight down to 240 now). I wear a fox air frame chest protector with separate elbow & forearm guards to spread the impact of a rock or something pointy on the bike. I have cracked & broken ribs just from hitting the ground. I still bounce, but not as high or get up as quickly. If you hit hard enough to knock yourself out, the ribs may just be from your graceful landing.

Those do look like they would help, but for my build I like the chest protector.

Looks like a useful product. From years of martial arts, I usually tuck my elbows against my ribs when I feel myself getting thrown. The armor on my arms/shoulders/elbows then offers some rib protection. Of course, sometimes you hit the dirt so fast you don't have even a split second to think about it and you won't get your elbows tucked in. That's when the football players' rib guard would be especially useful.

Thanks for sharing the product,

Dave

I've been looking for better protection too, and the Leatt 5.5 Pro HD appears to have hard shell side rib protection.  It is also compatible with the Leatt neck brace.

Very interesting. The Leatt "Adventure" model chest protector appears to offer rib protection for about $40-50 less than the pro model. The Acerbis Cosmo pressure suit looks like it has some rib armor and it also has the elbow/forearm protection. When my Thor armor wears out, I will definitely look at these other options.

Thanks!

Dave

Thanks guys! Some great ideas there!

A friend is trying this after he broke some ribs
http://www.unequal.com/shop/ss-cobalt

That cobalt shirt looks interesting, but I'd want the rib armor to come farther forward.

Dave

Well I just got the EVO Shield shirt today.

The gel pads come sealed in a foil pack. You open the pack and flex the gel packs a bit then put them in the pockets of the shirt. You wear the shirt for about 30 minutes while the gel sets into hard plastic so if forms to your body. They do give off a bit of hear while they are taking the set.

Will probably try it out in a few weeks on a decent length ride.

How much mullah for this puppy?

sophijo wrote:

How much mullah for this puppy?

They had two styles on their website.

The first one went for about $90 and the second one was about $70.  I went with the $70 one but they looked like they were only available in XL.

http://www.evoshield.com/shop/sports/football/football-protective-gear

Buddy of mine forwarded this link:

http://www.zoombang.com/

Very interesting option. Looks like they are using D3O armor on their stuff.

Watch the video as a guy places the armor over his hand and whacks it with a hammer.