Which Body Armour

[JonR]

Hey Guys, just a quick question really, i commute wo work and use my bike as a run around. im doing this most of the winter too. i keep reading stuff about back armour but cant find much about full armour kits. was wondering what the best one on a budget would be.

when im commuting my bag has a back plate in it. would this offer good protection.

i only ask because there are a lot of idiot drivers about and iv nearly been hit 4 times now. and i like walking (call me mental)

[olidavey]

Depends what armour you have in the back. Is it foam or a proper protector?

Knox and HG offer good armour, normally the stand alone back protector is better than one in the jacket.

[dimmers]

full body armour kits are very expensive... not sure you'd find one on a budget (depends what your budget is though i guess). Forcefield make CE level 2 full upper body armour kits, but at around £250 i'm not sure that's what you're looking for?

do you have protection in your bike jacket? like in the shoulders and elbows? if so, i'd focus on buying a decent CE level 2 back protector, plenty of them around.

if you don't have armour in your jacket, then perhaps a new jacket might be a good investment, one that includes all the armour you want.. shoulders/elbows/back.

as for the protector in your bag, i'd need to know more about it? is it a piece of foam? metal? CE rated?

[JonR]

Hey Guys thanks for the replies. i have armour in my jacket. and in my trousers aswell. the bag has a hard plastic sheet at the back and 2 metal poles in it too. not sure if its CE rated.

£250 is really out of my budget i was thinking max £80 (im a student) i will have a look at the back protectors. but i saw some body armour on ebay for £35 but thought that was a bit cheap.......

thanks again for the replies

[Chimera101]

The bag sounds like a walking bag to me which means it wont be CE rated. the plastic sheet will probably be 0.5 -1mm thick and will supply little to no protection, the metal bars are intended to support and distribute the weight for walking and would probably do more damage than good in the event of an off.

Personally I'd look at getting a decent back plate and an alternative backpack (probably one designed for biking), or get a bag designed with back protection in mind. I think HG do one and ther are probably others.

It probably wont be particularly cheap, but consider it against the potential of a busted back.