# Field tested Leatt 3DF Body Protector



## bing! (Jul 8, 2010)

I overshot a table top Sunday wearing a Leatt 3DF Body Protector, neck brace, POC Flow helmet and One Industries knees pads.









Landed deep front wheel first, bottomed, twisted the bars and connected my shoulder into the ground.

Dislocated my shoulder and broke the ball off the humerus, wedged it deep in my chest. Not happy with the body protector. The 3df stuff seems to offer pretty light weight protection. I bought these after good results with some g-forms. They are not at the same level of performance material wise. I got deep cuts on my elbow where the padding should have protected me. I understand the dislocation, but I think the 3df stuff could have prevented shattering the ball off my arm.

Regrets are always after the fact. I shoulda stuck with hard shell armor. I think it would have prevented 90% of my injury. Rather than shoulder reconstruction, I'd probably be only looking at a separation or dislocation. 3df doesnt seem to spread loads as much as shells, as evidenced by my elbow cuts. I looking at the armor now after the fact and it looks good as new. No cuts in the material that would explain my elbow cuts.


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## unrooted (Jul 31, 2007)

Can you recommend armor that would have prevented these injuries?


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## OldManBike (Apr 16, 2011)

Broke the ball off the humerus, good god. Heal up.

There's a certain kind of MTBR commenter who lives for posts like this, so that they can come on here and tell you how stupid you were for only wearing blah blah. It gets old.

My two cents: there's always something more protective you could have worn. We all could go full DH power ranger for every XC ride. Protection is a compromise. Maybe the same injury would have happened regardless what you had on your torso, impossible to know for sure. The suit you were wearing was CE EN1621-1 certified for shoulders, and CE level two certified for back. That strikes me as a reasonable choice, even for full-on DH. 

I don't think you should beat yourself up over it, anyway.

I understand that part of your point is to warn other people that the Leatt suit wasn't as protective as you thought it should it should have been. I just don't know enough to comment on that.


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## Waxie (Dec 13, 2014)

Man that sucks to hear, I hope it all heals up ok. I have been on the fence about getting a 3df airfit body protector, currently I don't wear anything so it would be an improvement. I can't see myself going for a full hard shell. I still think it would be ok for what I want it for (light protection).


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## bing! (Jul 8, 2010)

Waxie said:


> Man that sucks to hear, I hope it all heals up ok. I have been on the fence about getting a 3df airfit body protector, currently I don't wear anything so it would be an improvement. I can't see myself going for a full hard shell. I still think it would be ok for what I want it for (light protection).


I got the 3d air fit first, and had it returned when I realized it was super heavy. May not have been a good decision.

This crash surprised my doctor. I have almost no brushing, contusions and abrasions anywhere else on my body. It's like somebody just broke my arm.

I may have been hard on the leatt. I have no impact bruising. So maybe it did spread the load.


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## unrooted (Jul 31, 2007)

Do you think the Fox Titan would have reduced your injuries?


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## bing! (Jul 8, 2010)

unrooted said:


> Do you think the Fox Titan would have reduced your injuries?


Can't say as I only have experience. Don't have a handle on the science. I'm thinking a hard shell suit would've downgraded my injuries from a broken humerus to a separated/dislocated shoulder. There in avoiding joint damaged in high velocity and impact events.

The nanotech foam on the elbows from the suit let this impact and cutting through which left fleshy damage. I've landed just as heavily with lizard skins, gforms, and one industries elbow guards. No flesh damage but always a sore elbow or shoulder.


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## adaycj (Sep 30, 2009)

unrooted said:


> Do you think the Fox Titan would have reduced your injuries?


I know I'm not the one you were asking, but I have crashed the hell out of one of those. I had a very similar accident to the one described here at a motocross track. The 260# bike hit me as I auger-ed in and then another rider clipped me. All of the impacts were torso and shoulders. I was sitting in a chair drinking a beer at the end of the day, bruised, happy, and unbroken. I don't know if the Leatt shown works, but the Fox Titan worked for me.


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## bing! (Jul 8, 2010)

After the pain of my broken humerus subsided, I now see that my forearm muscles are beat to ****. after 2 weeks of healing, theyre still sore and stiff as 2x4s.

I cant say I'm happy with the protection the 3df elbow and arm provides. Ive crashed with hard shell protectors before, I dont remeber getting beat up in the shape of the protector.


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## Fix the Spade (Aug 4, 2008)

bing! said:


> Landed deep front wheel first, bottomed, twisted the bars and connected my shoulder into the ground.
> 
> Dislocated my shoulder and broke the ball off the humerus, wedged it deep in my chest. Not happy with the body protector.


Unfortunately there isn't really an armour system in existence that can protect you from the kind of shoulder first and twisting impact that can snap the head off your humerus. It's not the impact so much as the twisting force of your arm being forced up into your chest.

Fair enough about protecting you from cuts and grazes though, that was a nasty crash to have, heal up fast!


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## bing! (Jul 8, 2010)

Fix the Spade said:


> Unfortunately there isn't really an armour system in existence that can protect you from the kind of shoulder first and twisting impact that can snap the head off your humerus. It's not the impact so much as the twisting force of your arm being forced up into your chest.
> 
> Fair enough about protecting you from cuts and grazes though, that was a nasty crash to have, heal up fast!


you speak truth.

The big question in my mind is, should dump the high tech impact responsive foam and go back to traditional hard shell armor? I'm inclined to.


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## bing! (Jul 8, 2010)

Update: My broken humerus issues are subsiding, but now I can see I have serious forearm contusions.

The exact area which was covered by 3DF from elbow to mid fore arm is hard as a 2x4. I have nerve, blood flow, numbing, weakness (borderline paralysis of fingers and hand) and atrophy issues


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## Procter (Feb 3, 2012)

Sorry about your injury bing, get better man. That's a bad one.

I agree with spade. Broke my clavicle with a pressure suit on. Hard shell or soft, it's still mostly abrasion resistance, maybe some contusion protection. Under the skin, the musculoskeletal forces on your joints and bones are nearly identical with any armor or without it. To reduce impact force you really need thick layers of foam which dissipate the impact force over a larger time and larger area. Hardshell armor just isn't this that much thicker than soft shell, as far as the foam is concerned. Quarterbacks often get broken clavicles or dislocated shoulders from fully wrapped up tackles from linebackers, despite larger thicker foam pads specifically designed for that impact. It's just physics.



bing! said:


> After the pain of my broken humerus subsided, I now see that my forearm muscles are beat to ****. after 2 weeks of healing, theyre still sore and stiff as 2x4s.


Some, maybe a lot, of what you're feeling here may also be residual swelling up and down your entire arm. I had a similar fear when I broke my clavicle, after a few weeks I told my doc I was pretty sure I had also torn my biceps tendon (I knew this feeling from previous bicepedal tendonitis). Without missing a beat he said "No, it's just swelling". He was right.

Hopefully most of that goes away for you.


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