back protectors

[graycat]

so what's everyone's view on back protectors? good, bad or indifferent?

I personally don't have one, but my leathers have a cut down verson of the Hein Gericke one in them. but i was wondering if it's worth getting an 'extra' one to replace the foam effort in my winter ones. what do you guys reckon? :)

T.

[Raf]

I replaced the little one on my Hein Gericke with a proper Dainese one and I haven't looked back, I feel too exposed without it.

[jonboy]

I simply refuse to ride my bike unless I wear a back protector. You can damage an arm or a leg, but your spine? No thanks.

I think Knox offer the best protection out there and I currently use their Stowaway protector as it rather conveniently rolls up when not in use:

http://www.planet-knox.com/Knox/index.asp

Am thinking about going for the complete shirt to give comprehensive torso protection.

My jacket has the short Knox back protector built in (so at the moment I use two together!) but it's the lower spine that's essential to protect fully. People that can't be bothered (yet are happy to spend sixty quid on some bauble for their bike) are (in my humble opinion) somewhat brain dead. Surely it's just common sense and a question of personal responsibility?


.

[firestarter]

I wear a Dainese backpack most of the time - and this has a built in back protector. My regular bike gear is cordura - with no built in protection.

Probably not as good as a dedicated protector, but better than nothing, and I do feel nervous if I'm not wearing it.

[SVStu]

Use the supplied one in my HG one piece race suit, CE approved for a freebe :D .

Use a seperate knox one when commuting in my fabric gear.

It was the first thing I purchased after the bike and helmet, when learning I couldn't get the image of sliding down the road into a kerb outa my head so got one for piece of mind.

As you say arms and legs can get better but head and spine injuries tend not too. Feel nakid without one now.

[sexysi]

yep I think they are really good but never had to use one. My biggest accident was at 50 mph over a bonnet of a car and sailed through the air about 15 ft. Trouble was i landed on my side. So my ribs were bruised and so was my thigh, so I missed the back protector and knee protector and my thigh protector, :( but it did look good doing it. :wink: and two of us walked away from it with nothing broken
sexysi

[Amanda M]

I've got a good back protector in my jacket. I paid extra to have better armour put in than what was already in it.

Amanda

[Nekkid]

Disagree with you Pinkboy. If you land, flat on your back, on, say, a fist sized piece of crash debris or even on another/your bike (very lumpy), it could break your back without a protector if you've fallen from high enough. Obviously having a protector doesn't mean it wont, but it makes it less likely.

[Mike1234]

Back protectors do nothing but reduce bruising, if you think it's gonna help anything else, you're in dreamland

If that's dreamland then I'll sign up right now!

I wouldn't get on a bike these days without a decent back protector. The sort of thing that comes built in to some leathers just isn't up to the job.

I've had numerous crashes on the road and whilst racing on the track. I've had bikes land on my lower back from a great height and I've also landed shoulder first on the edge of the kerb.

In the first case I am convinced that my back protector spread the impact and was the only thing that stopped me from ending up in a wheelchair. In the second incident I was relying on the back protector that came with my leathers - I broke my shoulder blade as it wasn't up to the job.

A back protector is as essential as a helmet and gloves, particularly if you wear a rucksack on your back. If you come off and land on you back whatever hard or sharp objects that you are carrying will do their best to break you in half.

You'd be daft to risk serious injury for the nominal cost of a decent back protector.

[Nekkid]

I think we all know that NONE of our safety gear works miracles, it's just about stacking the odds in your favour.
Now, has it stopped bloody raining for home time??

[Mike1234]

I have always been interested to note that people assume that just because something has been awarded the CE mark that they give the same level of protection. It is perfectly feasible for some of the gear out there to only just pass the standard whilst others surpass it by two or three times.

I've always used the back protectors (and armour for that matter) that uses different density foams and rubber than some of the more fashionable plastic spine type items. Sure the plastic will protect against sharp objects or hard edges but so will some of the other options that have the capability to spread out the impact much more than they would immediately appear.

This web site make some interesting points about how they produce their back protectors. The company has very close ties (I was going to say was founded by but I'm not sure) with the guy who developed the CE standard and continues to use his latest research as a basis for their work.

http://www.tprobodyarmour.co.uk/ff_back.html

Let's try and stack the odds in our favour as much as possible because I know I wouldn't be walking today had I not been wearing one!

[Mike1234]

But to quote the web site I mentioned in the previous post:

Back Protection for Motorcyclists

Only a few motorcyclists receive a direct blow to the spine causing serious injury; more spine injuries are probably due to direct blows to the shoulders and hips. The products commonly known as motorcyclists back protectors, if correctly designed and constructed may alleviate some minor direct impacts on the back, but will not prevent skeletal or neurological injuries to the spine in motorcycle accidents.

[DeeJay]

i think these are very important... i just wish i could afford a really good one... i have a knox already... but i want the top of the range beauty.. plus.. if i come off and ain't got one one.. and i can't walk.. which would mean i can't ride.... ad that's just not good enough!!!

[weegaz22]

yep i have one, not a top of the range jobbie but its 100% better than the piece of foam that came in my leathers (oeeerrr) when i crash/come off(and i will) i want to know that i have worn the best gear i can afford to help protect me when i slide/bounce along that road at god know what mph, every little bit helps

[sevy]

I use a Knox foldaway but I find it a bit bulky, any ideas on a better one?

[Skeeter]

One of the reasons why I bought my jacket was because it has Knox armour built in, including the back. Are the add-on ones from Dainese etc any better?

[Sid Squid]

Best back protector available? An armchair.
I think I'll stay at home put my feet up, maybe watch a bit of telly, if something exciting like motorbikes is on, I might get worried and upset myself, so, carefully now, none of that dangerous standing up I might fall, I'll get the remote and turn over, watch something soothing, like tellytubbies perhaps.
But I'd best not sit still too long, I could get DVT, and that would never do, perhaps I'll just go have a nice lie down, but wait, statistically most people die in bed, so that's best avoided, so what do I do? I know a nice cup of tea, but hang on that's fraught with danger, more injuries are received in the kitchen than anywhere else in the home, no surprise, all them sharp things, and hot water and cookers and gas and whatnot, but what now? I need a pee, I'm not going to the bathroom though, thats the second most risky room in the house.
F**k it, I think I'll go for a ride.
Please stop with the 'you're a fool if you don't do (whatever)' stuff, if you were really concerned about safety there a million things you wouldn't do, of which biking may be one.
For the record all my bike jackets have a back protector of some variety, mostly CE approved, now and again I go for a ride in jeans and a denim jacket, was that a sharp intake of breath from the safety nazis I heard there?

Sid

[jonboy]

...was that a sharp intake of breath from the safety nazis I heard there?


Er... yup! ;) Stilll think you're crazy if you don't wear decent safety gear as every little has to help surely?

(You made me smile Sid, many thanks. I have to say your sense of humour is excellent - you genuinely should be writing for a living)

- Kommandant Jonboy


.

[Warren Isaacs]

. . . now and again I go for a ride in jeans and a denim jacket, was that a sharp intake of breath from the safety nazis I heard there?Sid

I also ride in good old-fashioned denim every once in a while (jeans only; jeans and jacket is a bit too Shakin' Stevens for my taste).

Such dress is usually reserved for short trips into town on warm days; or when my GF's riding pillion and I absolutely don't want to go mental. It certainly slows me down and reminds me of my teenage years when denim jeams and black leather jacket was the norm.

I find it quite liberating not to be wrapped in head-to-toe CE-approved kit. It feels like going back to my roots. I'd recommend it to anyone, if only to see how it changes your perception of your own vulnerability.

Taking the discussion a controversial stage further, I'd also like to be able to choose to leave my lid at home. It's not something I'd do often and probably never on my SV; but just once in a while, tooling along country lanes at sub-50mph on my 25-year old TS185. There must be a load of people here who have ridden across car parks at race meetings or the BMF Show before bothering to pop their lid back on. It's real low speed stuff (which would usually be a chore) but it just feels good.

Go on, tell me I'm wrong.


Cheers
Warren

[svpilot]

There must be a load of people here who have ridden across car parks

:) Always run mine around the car park at work after washing it to "dry it off" :wink:

No lid and I feel like i'm Steve Mcqueen! :lol: