If, like us, lockdown is driving you a little bit crazy, as soon as it’s safe to return to the trails we are going to ‘hit send’ on absolutely everything. We checked out the new Bluegrass Armour Lite and Armour B&S D3O Back Protectors to get ourselves ready for freedom.
Protective Armour such as knee pads, elbow pads and back protectors are always a compromise between safety and freedom of movement, a gamble. Not enough protection means you will be sorry in a crash, while too much means you are uncomfortable and ironically you may be more likely to crash as your freedom of movement is reduced. Look at the World Cup Downhill crew, you would imagine at those speeds they would wear every piece of Armour available, like a medieval knight, but no, they take on the world’s toughest tracks armed only with minimal protection and a ‘can do’ attitude. Are they insane? Well, yes, but freedom of movement is essential for safety, and they are also built like tanks. Every rider needs to make their judgement on what level of protection they want to wear, if they’re going to wear a full-face on smooth trails or take on a bike-park in a trail lid, as long as they have weighed up all the advantages and disadvantages, then who are we to argue.
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From Enduro MTB
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