The Hard Truth About Armor / Function, Then Fashion

[Motofool]

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ho...bout_ce_armor/

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ho..._then_fashion/

[JohnnyBravo]

very informative links... Thanks

[Motofool]

You are welcome

[Jiggles]

Armor that's functional is fashionable

[NevadaWolf]

I liked the bit about the synthetic cow. Give SCIENCE time, they'll think of something!

[adouglas]

You learn something new every day…. I had no idea that this was the case.

If the pads in your gear are marked with the CE logo, but not with EN1621-1 or -2, they might be approved for some other purpose like skateboarding or bicycling, and probably won’t protect you as well as the right armor. If they don’t have any markings at all, get your hands on some real CE-approved armor.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by adouglas

You learn something new every day…. I had no idea that this was the case.

It only applies to limbs, not spine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_armor

"European Standard EN 1621-1:1997 assesses devices that are designed to protect the shoulder, elbow and forearm, hip, knee and lower leg regions. The test apparatus consists of a mass of 5 kg with a 40 mm x 30 mm striking face, dropped onto the sample mounted on top of a 50 mm radius hemispherical dome. The anvil is further mounted onto a load cell, allowing a measurement to be made of the force transmitted through the protector. The kinetic energy of the falling mass at impact is required to be 50J (36.7 ft-lbf).
A protector subjected to this test method is deemed to conform to this standard if the average transmitted force of nine tests is less than 35 kN (7868 lbf), with no single test result exceeding 50 kN.

European Standard EN 1621-2:2003 defines two levels of performance for CE approved back protectors. The test apparatus and procedure is similar to that of EN 1621-1:1997, but with a different impactor and anvil configuration. The impactor is a rounded triangular faced prism, of length 160 mm, base 50 mm, height 30.8 mm and radius 12.5 mm. The anvil is a radiused cylinder, with its axis orientated to the direction of impact, of height 190 mm, diameter 100 mm and rounded end radius 150 mm. When tested to the procedure defined in the standard, the two levels of performance are:

-Level 1 protectors: The average peak force recorded below the anvil in the tests shall be below 18 kN, and no single value shall exceed 24 kN.
-Level 2 protectors: The average peak force recorded below the anvil in the tests shall be below 9 kN, and no single value shall exceed 12 kN.

Back protectors are often not included in the standard complement of armor although many jackets allow a back protector to be installed."