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Dainese Safety Jacket
James - 7th March 2006
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When I was asking people last year what armour I should get, after seeing some pretty heavy crashes, and it dawned on me, that might be me next time, there was one majority verdict. Dainese. I was a sceptic, what could Dainese have over everything else? Why should I choose it over all the alternatives out there?
Admittedly it is expensive at around £200 for the Safety Jacket as reviewed here. I chose to run the safety jacket, purely because I felt a full top-to-bottom Shuttle Pro would be over the top for the sort of riding I do, and anyway I could buy the pieces separately if needed.
The Safety Jacket is constructed out of Dainese's elasticated mesh, so far I haven't had any problems with this; it is very tough and keeps the armour in all the right places. In terms of actual protection it has hard plastic pads with soft padding underneath to absorb impacts, the back protector also comes with an aluminium honeycomb to absorb even more impact, luckily I haven't had to test this out yet, but i'm pretty sure it'll take the impacts well, as some cheaper guards will just come with a hard plastic shell, whereas if you just pull back the material covering the armadillo style plastic, there has been a lot of work go into the honeycomb design.
The fit is quite snug, there is no point getting armour that is too big for you, because it will slide around on impact. Thanks to the mesh and some strategically placed straps the pads stay exactly where they should be in a crash. Talking of impacts, this does work! I'm not a light guy, and i'm pretty tall too. So when I fall, I fall hard.
Anyone who went to Bringewood the other day will tell you the top section was very greasy, I lost count of the number of times my tyres gave out and I hit the ground, but next day there were no aches, the jacket took the impacts nicely, and I hardly felt a thing.
Most people will cut the thumb loops off their jackets, I haven't done this yet, but that said I don't use them, and they aren't needed, since it won't slip without them. Another niggle, I would prefer it if you could unclip the forearm protection, as for some rides it's just too much. But these are just minor points; overall I've been very impressed with the Safety Jacket.
Go to a race and you'll find the majority with armour will be wearing Dainese, why? Because there isnt a reason not to, there is a high price tag but for that you are getting pure quality, all the seams are held together with some very tough stitching, the pads will protect you from most accidents and the back protection is probably the best MTB specific armour you can get.
There are a lot of cheaper armour around now, and some will function maybe just as well as Dainese, and we haven't tested these yet. But I would definitely recommend the original, i'm sure my armour will outlive my bike, and it is a long term investment. How much is safety worth? After all, the guarantee on your bones is pretty shit.
You can purchase Dainese goods from the guys at Fuel Racing, if you cant see it on the site, they can still probably get it in for you.
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