# Whats a good kids chest protector? Needed?



## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

At time I wonder if this is going overboard but then I think about the little dude missing a turn on some steeper downhill or some of the jumps he is hitting. What are you thoughts on chest protectors? Unecessary?

Fox Titan Roost Protector:
https://www.amazon.com/TITAN-ROOST-...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3YM46SS8ZWR4QKFJ7Q01

Fox R3 Roost Protector:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002TJTZ8I/ref=psdc_404841011_t1_B01N5FD38U?th=1


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## Mr Pig (Jun 25, 2008)

I guess it's like any form of insurance, only necessary if you need it. 

I look at it this way. If I think a certain level of protection for myself is wise, how can I be comfortable if my child is riding the same trails with less? 

It is true that kids are much smaller and lighter so tend to hurt themselves less when they fall but if one of mine was riding nasty trails on a regular basis I'd want them to be appropriately protected.


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

Think that peewee padding with rubber area is good idea or should I bump up to the hard plastic R3 style?


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## Mr Pig (Jun 25, 2008)

svinyard said:


> Think that peewee padding with rubber area is good idea or should I bump up to the hard plastic R3 style?


I know nothing about body armour, you're asking the wrong pig.


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## DigitalBoy (Dec 28, 2016)

I used to be in the camp of let em ride, accidents happen. And still mostly am. However my son had a really bad crash a couple weeks ago. Riding a very steep, technical, black descent on solid granite. Well he hit a awkward angled rock, OTB'd and flew out over the bike. With the ground falling away in front of him, ended up falling about 6 feet onto solid rock. End result, fractured pelvis.

So...I guess I'm more towards the 'if some basic protection enables you to ride more and keep safe, it's worth it'. However I'm still opposed to completely unnecessary protection from head to toe when riding smooth, flat trails.

Back to the more direct question - in my experience, most of his hits have been to his hips, thighs, then knees, elbows and hands/wrists. Haven't seen anything to his chest or back, but I guess you only see that it's needed after a crash when you didn't have it.

db


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## slapheadmofo (Jun 9, 2006)

My son wore the Fox R3 a lot when learning. Saved a few good hits. 
Also spent a lot of time in a full-face helmet when he was little. That thing definitely paid off in spades.


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

slapheadmofo said:


> My son wore the Fox R3 a lot when learning. Saved a few good hits.
> Also spent a lot of time in a full-face helmet when he was little. That thing definitely paid off in spades.


Good to know. I pulled the trigger on the Titan, thought it might be a little less obtrusive but we will see. We are def wearing a full face and g-form pads around. It has paid off on some of the jumps gone wrong and nasty downhill


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## BikePilot1 (May 15, 2006)

Fwiw I wear a chest protector or pressure suite for DH. Definitely makes crashing hurt less! The fox pee wee is good, but really small. It fits my 3yr old perfectly.


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

BikePilot1 said:


> Fwiw I wear a chest protector or pressure suite for DH. Definitely makes crashing hurt less! The fox pee wee is good, but really small. It fits my 3yr old perfectly.


I got the med/large one, hoping it covers my big 5yr old. They say it covers 6-9yr but yeah they look little. If not the R3 looks nice.


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## silvascape (Sep 11, 2014)

We found that when little chest to head stem landings were common so our sons PeeWee armour saved many tears. The size M/L still fits my 8 year old with room to spare so should be fine for your 5 year old. 
Now that our son is bigger/faster/hitting bigger stuff we have found the Demon armour a great investment as he now tends to go for handlebar end to kidney landings. He also wears ixs carver knee pads which are excellent and go down to small sizes and when not wearing his Demon upper body armour he wears GForm elbow pads (the knee pads were not standing up to the abuse and he wanted/needed a bit more coverage). 
Armour for kids is not over the top if their riding warrants it. It is good insurance and from my point of view makes my rides more enjoyable as he gets up and back on the bike rather than needing first aid and trips to the hospital.


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

silvascape said:


> We found that when little chest to head stem landings were common so our sons PeeWee armour saved many tears. The size M/L still fits my 8 year old with room to spare so should be fine for your 5 year old.
> Now that our son is bigger/faster/hitting bigger stuff we have found the Demon armour a great investment as he now tends to go for handlebar end to kidney landings. He also wears ixs carver knee pads which are excellent and go down to small sizes and when not wearing his Demon upper body armour he wears GForm elbow pads (the knee pads were not standing up to the abuse and he wanted/needed a bit more coverage).
> Armour for kids is not over the top if their riding warrants it. It is good insurance and from my point of view makes my rides more enjoyable as he gets up and back on the bike rather than needing first aid and trips to the hospital.


Awesome. Thanks! Good to know Demon is a next step if he keeps Hucking stuff.


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## dc40 (Oct 4, 2013)

leatt and tld have some light weight chest protectors... Also, recommend going to any motorcycle dealer that focuses on offroad/motocross bikes or if you have cycle gear... so you can try them on for fit and comfort.


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## slapheadmofo (Jun 9, 2006)

dc40 said:


> leatt and tld have some light weight chest protectors... Also, recommend going to any motorcycle dealer that focuses on offroad/motocross bikes or if you have cycle gear... so you can try them on for fit and comfort.


Good point. Far more likely to have a good selection of peewee stuff IME.


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## BikePilot1 (May 15, 2006)

Yes I got ours at the local mx shop (we ride Moto also). I think we got the smallest size they had. Was the only one that fit our then almost two year old shredder!


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## Steve-XtC (Feb 7, 2016)

I guess you can never predict the accidents, only insure against them. 
Jnr recently took a tumble at very high speed on a really easy trail... perhaps because it was so easy but his confidence got the better of him and he turned two singles into a near double... near enough to land front wheel on the lip of the next jump.

We usually use that route as a fast route down.... rather than take it seriously.. and if we were not using the uplift he would not have been wearing a full face .. as it happened the full face and knee pads took nearly all of the crash on an artificial rock hardback surface and he only bounced a few feet before being thrown into a big bramble bush which was a bit painful but stopped him... 

The sides of the chin guard are scratched up in what would have been his face and where his leg did briefly touch the ground above his knee pads he lost a layer of skin... and the knee pads themselves are tattered.. 

It's still a bit of a dilemma as we have ridden the same route without the full face of we'd cycled up... and he was lucky to walk away just missing some skin (or technically he got dragged out of the brambles) but its easy to see it could have been a lot worse.


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## Jim Mac (Jun 29, 2004)

My kid used this for BMX for quite some time, good chest/back protector, neck brace compatible (skeleton drew him in):


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## BullSCit (Mar 26, 2004)

Some kids need it, some don't. We got both our kids full armor from Chain Reactions. I don't remember my daughter ever having a fall that the armor saved her, but my son did it almost every ride. They were really young when they started wearing it 3-4 years old, and when we ride a real technical trail, we sometimes make our son still wear his. We ride a lot of up too, but they seemed to get used to the heat build up, even riding in more deserty places like Moab and Hurricane. Just had to give them lots and lots of water to drink and pouring water on them at stops.


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

So I tried out the Fox Titan Roost protector. It was garbage. No protection in lower half of body where my kids fall sometimes when the X their wheel and slam their guts into the bars. Returned it. Got a Demon Youth Armor combo. Tried it on today. Insanely nice. Like a padded shirt with foam padding and optional hard pads as well. Shorts were too big so going to swap out for smaller size. I really like this. It's nice that it covers all the bases from chest to ribs to shoulders and elbows and collar bones and spine all in a simple jacket that is easy to put on and zipup. Shorts are great too. We won't use the suit all the time but def on the downhills/jumptracks etc etc.

I also got him some really sweet leg guards. Normal shin guards don't cut it. It's always ankles getting wrecked or the stays landing on the inside of his leg etc. We found the Youth Storreli leg guards for soccer. Really light slip on with full (thin) ankle padding and calf guards as well. Plus a shin guard slot. Good for soccer and biking all in one. Now he will look like Batman on a bike.
BodyShield Leg Guard & Shin Guard - Black | Storelli Sports


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## silvascape (Sep 11, 2014)

Glad to hear you like the Demon armour. We have found it to be very good.


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## slapheadmofo (Jun 9, 2006)

svinyard said:


> So I tried out the Fox Titan Roost protector. It was garbage. No protection in lower half of body where my kids fall sometimes when the X their wheel and slam their guts into the bars.


It's not 'garbage', it's a roost protector. It was never intended to provide the type of coverage you're looking for. You buying the wrong product doesn't make the product bad.


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

slapheadmofo said:


> It's not 'garbage', it's a roost protector. It was never intended to provide the type of coverage you're looking for. You buying the wrong product doesn't make the product bad.


This is true, I was commenting regarding mountain biking functionality/context. I thought that was clear. I would pass on it for Roost Protection too though (we use hard gear for moto).


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## slapheadmofo (Jun 9, 2006)

svinyard said:


> This is true, I was commenting regarding mountain biking functionality/context. I thought that was clear. I would pass on it for Roost Protection too though (we use hard gear for moto).


Yeah we went with the R3 for moto and also for BMX/MTB.
I think for my son the Titan would've worked fine for bicycles, but the hard gear seems to 'breathe' a little better, as well as better roost protection.


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