Hello! I’m RyanF9 and this is the best body armour for motorcycling.
We will see armour suits, exoskeletons, full racing protectors and neck braces. But the logical place to start is with a replacement pad showdown.
95% of riders won’t care to go any further than this. Spend under 100 dollars, keep your comfort level, and get a nice CE Level 2 protector to replace the crappy foamie that came with your jacket.
But which to choose? I have a Pro Lite K from the body armour specialists at Forcefield. I have an Alpinestars Nucleon. I have a D3O Viper 2, most commonly associated with Icon or Klim. And I have an SAS-Tec, usually sold by Scorpion and Scott.
Forcefield offers the best protection. All CE Level 2 back pads transmit less than 9kN, but this one is closer to five. *Slam* - feels like a light breeze.
The Pro Lite K is made from 5 layers – each with a different density for a different severity of impact. They also say it has some Kevlar stitched in for abrasion resistance, but that’s a gimmick. No way in hell you’d grind all the way through a back pad, whether there’s Kevlar in it or not.
Forcefield also talks about RPT – repeat performance technology. Most people think that means you can reuse the Pro Lite through multiple crashes, which is true. But that’s also true of most viscoelastic pads so it’s hardly special.
Where RPT is special is repeat performance within a single crash. The molecular armour rebounds in milliseconds, so if you tumble and bounce and hit the same spot many times in a row, you should be protected for each impact.
Comfort-wise, the Pro Lite K is not great. It’s the heaviest pad here at 420 grams, and it’s the thickest at 22mm – about 5 more than everything else on the table. Also Forcefield says your body heat makes it more malleable, but I still find this a bit stiff. Stiff on the wallet too – 89 bucks for most of the 10 different shapes.
The second-most protective choice is SAS-Tec. Partially because it has the same coverage as the Pro Lite and partially because they only poked a few holes in it. *Bang* - feels like a small tickle.
I wouldn’t buy SAS-Tec though. As far as molecular armour goes it’s outdated – neither as comfortable nor as breathable as the competition.
You’d be better off spending your 40 dollars on D3O. Same price as the SAS-Tec but way softer and more ventilated.
In fact this is the most comfortable replacement pad on my list – by a long shot. That’s because of the mis-named airwave design, which actually doesn’t do that much for airflow but does a lot to make the pad hyper-malleable. Like burrito-level malleable.
I choose to ride in the stuff for that reason. Comfort comes at a cost, however. *Bang* - ouch. The Viper 2 back pad barely transmits less than the 9kN CE-Level-2-threshold. Also coverage is reduced versus the previous two.
Pro-tip: you should take a screwdriver to your D3O before installing it. The backside has an ample number of pores, but most of the ventilation holes are left clogged thanks to some imprecision in the manufacturing mold.
Also a pro tip – make sure to buy your Viper 2 from Icon rather than Klim. It’ll save you 23 dollars just because Klim is Klim.
Final pro tip – try not to ride with D3O below 0 degrees celcius. I found out the hard way that our orange friend curls up and freezes in the cold.
To close with the Alpinestars Nucleon, let me say that it’s the airiest choice.
Most holes, most ventilation. Also 280 grams – lightest weight.
This is a Nucleon KR-2i, which is a standard molecular pad – pliable under low stress and rock-hard under high stress. *Bang* - meh, 7kN.
Alpinestars also makes the KR-1i with a rigid centre plate, but I don’t think it’s worth the loss in bendability just to lower the mean transmitted force by a single kilonewton.
This pad is rated as “full-back,” meaning it has the width to cover your shoulder blades. But of all the FB protectors we’ve seen, it still has the smallest coverage.
The Nucleon KR-2i costs 70 dollars, which is a tad overpriced in my opinion. But Alpinestars sells a bunch of ‘em nonetheless, probably because they refuse to stock their jackets with anything resembling back protection.
Summary! Buy the Pro-Lite K for the best protection. Buy the D3O Viper 2 for the best comfort. Buy the Nucleon KR-2i for the lightest and breeziest. And don’t buy the SAS-Tec at all.
Honourable mention would be the new rubber lattice pads – like this Bio Air protector from Alpinestars or the Dainese Pro-Armor G1 and G2. The rubber lattice design allows for a much thinner piece of armour when compared to the viscoelastic pads we just saw. Great for shoulders and elbows, but in my opinion this design is a bit stiff on the back.
And if I’m going to go stiff on the back, might as well go all out with this – a Forcefield Pro L2K Evo.
This is a full back protector , and when I say that I’m referring to coverage. We have our standard Nitrex-based back pad, just like the Pro-Lite K we saw earlier. Plus extra to the base of the neck. Plus extra to each kidney. Plus extra down to the tailbone.
A protector this large needs a full harness to keep it in place. Two elastic straps and a waist belt, plus two tensioners. When it’s done right the protector molds flush with your back, easily fitting under race leathers.
Forcefield pretty much always offers the best protection – in this case we’re transmitting around 4.8kN. It is possible to do one better with the Forcefield Pro Sub 4, which brings that number down to 3.4kN and is also lighter.
But I didn’t choose the Sub 4 because it’s almost twice as thick. In my experience that can be a pain in the ass to fit under leathers whereas the L2K isn’t. Also the 1.4 kilonewtons I’ve lost isn’t enough to keep me up at night, especially when my head is resting on the 50 dollars I’ve saved by choosing the L2K.
Sizing is done by torso length, and if you actually measure yours there’s no reason why you shouldn’t nail it. Anyone who orders the wrong size was just too lazy to find a soft tape measure, guaranteed.
And oh yeah! There’s a chest protector too. They call it the “elite” and the harness is removable, so if your leathers are properly tight you can just tuck it in like the MotoGP riders do.
And you can also buy all that stuff together – plus Level 2 shoulder protectors – with the EX-K Harness Flite Plus. I probably wouldn’t do that though, since the back and chest armour here transmits slightly more force than the individual protectors. Also you’re not really saving anything, since at $419 this costs exactly the same as the sum of its parts.
At this point someone will undoubtedly ask about the Icon Stryker Vest, so here’s my take.
This thing is popular because it looks good and costs 189 bucks. But all you’re really paying for is this piece. Everything over the kidneys is just cosmetic, same with the entire front. Yes there’s a plastic chest plate, but it’s only half as big as it looks. Plus it isn’t backed up with a shock absorber and is essentially useless.
The back protector is backed up with D3O, but that’s also more bark than bite. The highest point doesn’t reach the base of your neck, the lowest point doesn’t reach the tailbone, these rivets have a knack for popping out and the dragon-scale design doesn’t actually inhibit movement in the wrong direction.
Trust me – I’ve crash tested a Stryker Rig and it didn’t fare well. Actual science says the back protector transmits around 17 and a half kilonewtons, which is way too shitty for CE Level 2 and only barely good enough for Level 1.
But I don’t blame Icon! They make helmets and jackets and gloves and boots and wallets and bandanas. It’s a lot on their plate.
By comparison Forcefield only does armour, so they do it best. Plus they just dropped their pricing in Canada so I wouldn’t even save that much by going off-brand.
And finally, if you want a neck brace go with Leatt. Nobody has much experience building these for road motorcycles, but Leatt braces the crown in the motocross world, so at least they have transferrable knowledge.
These work on top of most jackets, and with most helmets, because the function is so simple. Limited movement, limited movement, limited movement, limited movement, limited movement. That’s it.
I think the protection from hypertranslation – the backwards force on your head – is a bit weak. This upward lip is supposed to catch the helmet when pushed straight back, but it seems like a pretty small margin where that would actually work.
Anyway, wear this as high on your shoulders as is comfortable, and hopefully your helmet will hit it in a crash. That way the force bypasses your neck and goes into your body.
It is very possible that you’ll get a nasty bruise all around here from the brace. That means it worked.
You only have two model options – the STX Road and the STX RR. All adventure and street motorcyclists will want the former – even if you have a speed hump. The STX RR just adds foldable front wings for the full tuck position and shaves 90 grams with its full carbon chassis, bringing the weight down to about 700.
It’s probably worth the extra 200 bucks if you’re a racer. Otherwise … 450 dollars for the regular STX Road is plenty.
And that’s it for my favourite body armour! Thanks for watching.
