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Safety Gear from Head to Toe
Abdomen
This month, we are talking about safety gear for your abdomen, chest, trunk, or whatever you want to call it. It houses your organs, so it is important. If you missed my article on gear for your head, you can find it here. If you are looking for last month’s article on neck gear, you can find it here.
You might think that this topic would be the easiest one of all. Not much can change regarding the best protective gear for your chest, a leather jacket, of course. Riders have worn them since motorcycles were invented; if not, then damn close. Racers wear full leather suits on the track, so it must still be the best. Article Done. Or is it?
Materials have become more resilient, and jackets now include pockets for armor. How do you know the armor will do you any good? Many brands of gear have CE ratings, “CE” stands for “conformité européenne” (which is French for “European conformity”). The latest set of standards for motorcycle gear was set in 2020. The tests cross a variety of different attributes of a piece of gear, including but not limited to abrasion resistance, impact absorption, rotational cut resistance, tear strength, seam strength, transverse rigidity, and more. A third party must conduct these tests. Gear brands cannot use their own in-house tests to pass CE certification.
Different types of gear have different tests; boots undergo one set of tests and jackets a different set. Apparel items that meet the most minimal rating are considered Class C; the ratings go up to the most protective standard of Class AAA.
Class C garments are meant to hold armor in place; they don’t meet any other standards. Class C is meant to be paired with higher class gear to improve impact protection. One example of Class C gear is a mesh armored jacket.
Class B garments meet Class A abrasion resistance protection standards, but do not have impact protection. It is recommended that Class B garments are paired with Class C or other impact armor protection. Many riding shirts fall into this category.
Class A garments meet the minimum necessary required protection levels for both impact and abrasion as determined by CE regulations. Many entry-level, light-duty summer mesh jackets and riding jeans fall into this category.
Class AA garments offer a greater degree of protection from impact and abrasion, using materials and constructions that meet higher requirements than Class A and below. Many textile and leather jackets and pants fall into this category.
Class AAA garments have the highest CE rating that a piece of motorcycle gear can achieve in terms of impact protection and abrasion resistance. Generally, only full racing leather suits can provide this level of protection, although some rare instances of riding jeans and jackets can meet these standards.
Regarding the armor itself, there is another rating, CE level 1 or CE level 2, and, of course, another set of tests to determine impact absorption. CE Level 2 has a higher level of protection.
What about gear that doesn’t have CE ratings?
Some companies don’t sell in the European Union, so they don’t want to pay for their products to undergo rigorous and expensive testing. Some make multiple products the same and don’t want to pay for each product to undergo testing. You will also find products that use the same materials, so they advertise that, instead of labeling them with the approved certification.
Do you need to only buy the certified brands?
Well, that is completely up to you. Do your research and make your own informed decisions. I will say that after doing research for this article, I pulled out several different types and brands of Jackets that I own, and none of them are certified. I live in the United States, but I was still a little surprised that at least one, wasn’t certified. I am still very confident they will do their jobs just fine, but that is just my opinion.
I want to mention one more type of safety gear that is becoming more popular with its technological advances—the motorcycle airbags. I have seen two types: one on the motorcycle and the other on the rider. From my research, these have changed over the years of being on the market. Tests claim that Inflation with most models happens within milliseconds. Statistics indicate that forward momentum in a crash is reduced by roughly 60 percent for the rider in an airbag vest or jacket, and head trauma is reduced by approximately 80 percent.
Please remember that you can wear all the best gear, but crashes still happen. Be ready with Accident Scene Management training and a trauma pack. The more of us trained the better off we will all be!
I hope you have safe travels! ?
If you are looking for further details on CE ratings, I found revzilla.com to be very helpful.
