Opinions on body armour

[BBKid 0]

I was just thinking that since I would never get on my bike without some sort of armour, why don't more skydivers, especially swopers, do the same? I know armour adds bulk, but these days it's getting smaller and smaller, like this stuff. It's proven to absorb huge impact forces, so could save great injuries, possibly even lives. BASE jumpers tend to wear pads fairly regularly, so why not wear them if you know you're going to be making a diving approach at the ground.

Just a thought, someone's almost certainly had it already...

Nick
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"I've pierced my foot on a spike!!!"

[darkvapor 0]

1) Price.
2) Reduces flexibility.
3) Adds weight.
4) Adds time to gear up.
5) Complicates fit of gear (especially wearing under/over jump suits).
6) Won't help in fatal accidents too much. Will probably only help in the difference no injuries and some bad bruises and scrapes.
7) Also, these body pads are great in low speed incidents, like biking, blading, or other sports where your most likely gonna fall on your knees, wrists, or shoulders. I doubt they would do much when you slam your whole body into the ground at speeds exceeding those of biking and skating.

[BBKid 0]

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6) Won't help in fatal accidents too much. Will probably only help in the difference no injuries and some bad bruises and scrapes.
7) Also, these body pads are great in low speed incidents, like biking, blading, or other sports where your most likely gonna fall on your knees, wrists, or shoulders. I doubt they would do much when you slam your whole body into the ground at speeds exceeding those of biking and skating.

The whole point of these suits is that you can crash at well over 100mph and walk away (trust me, they work). It is beyond question within the motorcycle industry that they do save lives, that's why professional racers wear them. As far as I'm aware the highest recorded speed crash was around 165mph, the nastiest I have witnessed was Chris Walker crashing at Assen at 135mph qualifying for the Dutch 500cc GP. The entire back of his helmet was ripped off, and he had one mother of a concussion, but his only other complaints were that his shoulders were a bit sore. Good enough for me!

As for the flexibility issue, well, I'm not a swooper but I can tell you that riding a motorbike around a racetrack does require a lot of flexibility, and there isn't a problem there. The price on that website is abnormally high, it was just the first I could find. Mine only cost me £110 (around $170), which I think is not very much considering it could save your life or costly medical bills/insurance.

I think if one top swooper started wearing one, or if there was video of someone walking away from a really nasty impact because of one a lot more people would start using them.

Nick
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"I've pierced my foot on a spike!!!"

[Craig 0]

The big difference between racing and swooping is the angle at which you meet the ground. When you are racing you might "lose it" anywhere between 1 and 3 feet off the ground. This would not be a huge impact, you might have a fast foreward speed but the angle of impact is relatively shallow. With swooping you can meet the ground at a shallow angle, which usually results in rolling and tumbling along the ground. Or worse, impact at a high angle, such as 45 degrees or more to the ground. The latter in my opinion is where most injuries/deaths occur and I really doubt that body armour would prevent the broken bones from the high speed, high angle impact.

[darkvapor 0]

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The entire back of his helmet was ripped off, and he had one mother of a concussion, but his only other complaints were that his shoulders were a bit sore.

Well, as I would claim, the majority of motor sport injuries are also to the head, and thus, the most important aspect of the whole body armour would be the helmet. That body armour isnt going to stop your bones from being shattered if you hit the ground abruptly. It might stop a LOT of bruises and bangs, but if you 'forget' to flare your HP canopy, your legs are gonna crumple under you, body armour or not. I'm not a motorsport expert, but from most of the footage of crashes I've seen, the rider wipes out and slides and tumbles along the ground. The body armour is great here, because it protects the guy from direct contact with the asphalt. It act's as a sacrificial barrier and keeps his skull from being rubbed away on the ground. He isn't impacting the ground straight down, or even any steep angle at all (as was just mentioned).

About the flexibility thing. That armor looks like it is setup for internal rotation of joints (shoulder and back specifically, on a bike, your going to be "hunched" over..). How good is your arch gonna be with that stuff on your back? Are you gonna be able to reach your BOC as easily? I've never worn the full body armour you mentioned, but I have worn stuff like knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, and all of those just feel like they hinder more than they help. Sure you can move around in them, but your flexibility is still reduced at the price of saving a few bruises. How much protection is that chest plate gonna offer when you hit the ground at the same time as the canopy?

Personally, I don't see this stuff as really going to save any lives. It might protect a few people that biff in and fracture some bones here and there, but thats at best.

edited- fixed a typo

[JJohnson 0]

Well said. The B/A may help, but only for the abrasion factor. What is the old saying?? Hriszontal speed hurts, but vertical kills??? something like that.

JJ

"Call me Darth Balls"

[rigging65 0]

Flite Suit Company is working on some soft body armor, specifically for swooping.

Any input on what you guys would like to see implemented will make it a better product...

"...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward.
For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

[AggieDave 6]

Well, there's a reason why quite a few jumpers on the swoop tour wear Motocross pants. It protects them from abrasions.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[quade 3]

That, and it looks cool.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[AggieDave 6]

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That, and it looks cool.

Absolutely! Remember, its not how you skydive, its how good you look walking to the plane...

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[JJohnson 0]

Good point...safety second...loooking good.....priority numeral ono.

JJ

"Call me Darth Balls"

[BBKid 0]

Just a small point, but it's the leather that protects from abraison, not the armour. The crash I referred to was a highside, in which he hit the ground at a 45 degree angle, from being flipped I would say conservatively 12 feet in the air. Oh, and he landed on his spine, then his helmet.

I'm also aware that most US bikers don't wear this sort of armour, since they typically don't ride the same types of bikes as we do. Here you're almost considered stupid and reckless if you don't have at least some protection of this type when you ride.

Yes, legs crumple, but crumpling legs rarely kill, it's crush injuries to chest and neck which do that, what these pads do is spread the impact to parts of the body which can take the shock better, i.e. protect the collarbone and it reduces the chance of the ribcage collapsing (and thereby preventing heart/lung damage).

Nick
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"I've pierced my foot on a spike!!!"

[JJohnson 0]

I wear leather, no helmet. When it gets hot: jeans boots and t-shirt.......typical cruiser rider. I would probably conisder armor, if it weren't so damn ugly.

JJ

"Call me Darth Balls"

[trigger 0]

Dude,I know where your coming from.As an biker turned skydiver i know what a high side is,and that kinda body armour will protect you at 100+mph,providing you don't hit an immovable mass i.eA brick wall,lamp post,parked car ect.and as i consider the planet to be a extremely big immovable mass.in IMHO i don't think motorcycle body armour would protect you if you "CHOWED"bigtime from a screwed up hook,carve or any other other badly initiated low turn.However i don't think the idea of body armour is necessaryly a bad one if only some/most/preferably all of the problems DARKVAPOR lists could be overcome.

.CHOP WOOD COLLECT WATER.

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Most of us on tour compete in clothing that will prevent friction burns from sliding in. Motocross pants are very popular, as are long-sleeve MX jerseys now. Both of my lower legs are totally covered in very-colorful tattoos, so losing skin REALLY pisses me off. MX pants have saves the sides of my lower legs quite a few times.

Chuck

[trigger 0]

I would probably conisder armor, if it weren't so damn ugly. ***Yeah,Road rash and open factures look DAMN GOOD,especially in hot sunny weather

[JJohnson 0]

Chicks think scars are sexy.........

JJ

"Call me Darth Balls"

[w4p2 0]

Yap

and then I woke up and let the cat go out for a piss

JL

***

[Tonto 1]

Having raced superbikes, and having nearly 4000 dives, and swooping a Stileto 107... I feel...

That racing bikes and skydiving are different in that

1. the angle at which you hit the ground

"Chris Walker crashing at Assen at 135mph.....his shoulders were a bit sore. Good enough for me!"

So Chris would be happy jumping from 14000ft without a rig then, eh?

2. The way the armour works.

"I'm not a swooper but I can tell you that riding a motorbike around a racetrack does require a lot of flexibility, and there isn't a problem there."

Try arch with it. or show me the bike racer needing flexibility bending backwards. The very design is to prevent that from happening. Could you freefly with it on? Will it interfere with fallrate etc?

Swoop. Don't fuck up. Those are the rules.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[andy2 0]

stunt riders use spine protectors. There is definitely an arch involved in doing a backflip on a motorcycle or a bicycle. I have personally worn body armor for downhill biking. Some of the new stuff is VERY flexible. Worth a look.

---------------------------------------------
let my inspiration flow,
in token rhyme suggesting rhythm...

[hookitt 0]

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Could you freefly with it on? Will it interfere with fallrate etc?

I have a set I'll try it out sometime and let you know. I think the restrictions will be arching. A full jump suit should be worn be cause the Back pad drops down below the belt line. If it pops out and over the pants it's a serious snag point. It takes up a lot of space, I'm not sure I can get my current jump suit over it.

The other hinderance would be if the harness tight fitting already. It's very noticeble in the sport I use the armor for.

The pads will help in certain instances no doubt about it. If you impact vertically at high speed then you take what you get . If you just eat shit at 50 mph and that is higly likely if you are a good swooper, It could very well come in handy.

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My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[bobsled92 0]

Hell, I really don't like walking around in my racing leathers, let alone trying to use both of my knee pucks at the same time
new event: RANTOUL TARMAC GRIND
-Grant

_______________________________
If I could be a Super Hero,
I chose to be: "GRANT-A-CLAUS". and work 365 days a Year.
http://www.hangout.no/speednews/

[BBKid 0]

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Hell, I really don't like walking around in my racing leathers, let alone trying to use both of my knee pucks at the same time
new event: RANTOUL TARMAC GRIND
-Grant

Yeah, get some titanium sliders attached to the soles of your shoes! Prize for the first person to ignite their clothes!

Nick
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"I've pierced my foot on a spike!!!"