Quote:
Originally Posted by mistermellow001
When riding, the armor in my First Gear TPG jacket and pants sits correctly over my elbows, knees. However, when off the bike the armor droops below my knee and below my elbow. It makes sense that if your arms and legs are bent, the sleeves and pant legs will be pulled up. Afterall, that is why the sleeves are cut long.
The problem I see with this (on-bike vs. off-bike) is that if I were to fly off the bike (knock on wood), it seems that the armor would not necessarily stay in the riding position, leaving my knees and elbows vulnerable when I return to Earth.
I've experienced this with other brands (I've tried on at least a dozen others). My Triumph retro, and my Tourmaster Cortec both do the same thing. All three of my jackets, and both of my pants fit (any smaller and I can't even get into them).
This just seems wrong. What can I, or should I, do about this?
Edit: I just talked to a couple of riders in my office. Both assured me that this is normal. I think I was questioning this because my First Gear stuff has a slightly looser fit than my other jackets, but the armor position is pretty much the same in all.
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In my opinion this is the biggest problem buying off the shelf, which most of us have to do because of price.
Armor should stay in place, if it moves around to much then you are going to lose a lot of protection. In fact lose armor can bind on skid and cause even more damage if it's too lose. If you leave your bike in all likelihood you aren't going to hit the ground in a riding position so if your knee and elbow guards are out of place then...they ain't going to their job.
The only option is to find a line that fits YOU as well as possible. If you have the jack you can buy some custom leathers or at least go with a line that has adjustment straps for their armor like Vanson (which offers both off the shelf and custom fit). I wanted some of those but right now let's just say I'm going through a "fat" phase and money IS an object. So, I'm going to hold off for a year while I try to get down to my "fighting weight". I always buy em tight. Leather tends to loosen some over time anyway. Even if breathing is a bit hard at first after you wear them around they'll loosen up some. Try wearing them around your house.
I have to respectfully disagree with your friends. Armor Should be "in place" all the time. In place on the bike is fine but if it drops to much off the bike...remember that's where you'll use it.
