Full Body Armor?

[Crankin]

I wish I had a front view picture. It looked pretty funny.
I remember the first time I saw him decked out. I kept blinking my eyes, thinking, "what is wrong with this picture?" And given the fact it was 98 degrees out that day, and we were riding steep hills in Harvard, MA, I wondered how he could stand all of that stuff on his body.

[OakLeaf]

Whatev', I guess. Buddy of mine just broke a few ribs in a road bike crash. Maybe this guy has incompletely healed ribs from one of his earlier crashes?

Is it possible that Italian roadies just normally wear what we'd consider MTB gear? Certainly European motorcyclists tend to wear full gear, which you rarely see in the USA except California.

[salsabike]

Maybe he has a medical reason?

[spokewench]

I've often thought about this issue lately; since I took up riding motorcycles and scooters. I don't think twice about wearing gear (jackets with elbow pads, back, and shoulder pads, a full face helmet). Long rides, I also wear pants with knee and hip pads and material made to withstand abrasion and at least ankle length substantial leather boots

I think back on the 20 or so years that I rode and raced both road bikes and mountain bikes and thought about the many times i have been going really fast downhill and what kind of injury I could have had say if a tire had blown, or I had hit something and not been able to save it. You know, mountain passes at somewhere around 50 mph or above at least once; or just around 40 toodling down the local mountain after a hillclimb on Thursday night. I am just wearing lycra shorts, jersey, short fingered gloves and of course a bitty bicycle helmet.

I think what we forget is that we as cyclist because of the reality of the heat and energy expended on a bike do not wear as much gear as perhaps we really should be for protective reasons.

Anyway, this gentleman may be a bit odd to you, but I don't see any problem if he feels more comfortable with more protective gear than the normal cyclist in the US. Actually, I can kind of understand it, but of course, I would get too hot and would probably never wear that gear on a bike either!

[Kiwi Stoker]

After my accident I was told I shouldn't ride for 6 months in case I fell on my shoulder again and would punch the metal plate through the bone. No way I was going to not ride my bike for that long.
I seriously considered getting some BMX/Downhilling protection gear just in case. Hey I got road rash on my chest/breast when I went over the handlebars!
In the end I didn't and they only time I did fall was due to DH trying to u-turn the tandem on a narrow road- I fell onto that side but caught myself on my knee. Really frightened me and DH got yelled at big time. But it was a slow-mo fall so not really so bad.

Also crashes are often not the rider's fault- someone else behind him could touch his wheel, drop a bottle in front. I would say he could be recovering from a serious break or simply is fed up with injuries. And yes that gear does work.

[Crankin]

Yea, I am pretty sure he has a reason; I only heard snitches of the conversation about "a crash," but I don't think the other person was asking him about why he was wearing the gear.
I am such a downhill weenie, that the thought has not crossed my mind. DH, on the other hand, routinely reaches 40 mph on local downhills and has hit 50+ on mountain passes in Europe. While he has superb handling skills, anything could happen. I guess we don't think about that stuff, or we would never ride.

[Aggie_Ama]

It is odd on a road ride. I know a lot of mountain bikers who were them on the trails around here. We don't have downhill courses but tons of rocks and those can bruise pretty dang bad. I know several mountain bikers riding with ribs still healing from crashes.