Upper Body Protection

Anyone out there have any recommendations on some lightweight shirts that offer a little padded protection? My riding isn't too technical or extreme but being new to the sport and North Shore I tend to lay myself out from time to time and the older I get the longer I am taking to heal. A buddy of mine uses a Demon Skin padded shirt but they don’t seem to make them anymore? Any thoughts

661 makes something called sub gear

a lot of people like the TLD option.

Yup, big fan of the Troy Lee shock doctor body armour…but am now an even bigger fan of the new Race Face D30 core/body armour….Flank or Ambush.

661 makes something called sub gear

a lot of people like the TLD option.

+1 for the 661 Sub Gear.

I use the TLD UPS 7850-HW Shirt (shock doctor, https://www.troyleedesigns.com/products/5231-02) for DH and the G-Form compression shirt for everything else (http://g-form.com/products/protective-compression-shirt/). Like that you can fold up and G-form compression shirt and stuff it in your pack for the climb up before putting it on for the downhill.

You can buy the G-form compression shirt @ http://www.futureshop.ca with free shipping.

I haven't tested out the sub gear crash protection yet, but it sure does feel good, definitely don't know that you're wearing it. I have to imagine that one scrape incident against some rocks though and that would be that for the lightweight material.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=72484

also comes short sleeve. Basically just shoulder and elbow protection and some chest padding so you can fight crime at night once you're done riding.

I had a look at a few of the other offerings, but everything else seemed a little overkill for my needs.

Check out the Alpinestars Comp Pro top, it has a removable back pad and will work with a neck brace. If you plan on riding bike park as well as using it for the Shore, it is very versatile.

I thought the TLD Shock Doctor stuff to be too bulky. I have had Dainese jackets in the past but wanted something that didn't hinder my mobility as much. I ended up buying a Leatt Adventure Lite Vest and it has been awesome. It offers a ton if impact protection for the torso and integrates beautifully with my neck brace (as you'd expect). It's so low profile that you can't even tell that I'm wearing it. Typically I wear the vest over skin then my jersey and the brace on top (attached with the loops that come up off the vest). I also run a pair of POC elbows. They're super comfortable and just enough to protect me from this glancing blows.

It's sort of a different approached from the TLD, which I think would offer better protection to the more frequent smaller impacts. But I don't suffer too much from those. I wanted something to protect me from big high speed dismounts and impacts and so far the Leatt has worked really well. I bought my vest from FanatykCo in Whistler.

I had the 661 Sub short… it sucks. I ripped the crotch…. they would only warranty it if i spent shipping to send it to them in California (I believe?) which wiped out the replacement value of the short anyways.

Cheaply made, it's just like a compression short with some foam pad… BOO!

Nuke Proof looks to have some stuff out as well