Chest protector etiquette?

[Headrope]

Complete the sentence: Wearing a chest protector while riding dunes is _____________.

a) something only douchebag posers do.
b) required, like wearing a helmet
3) a matter of personal choice but I wear mine

After several years of riding both woods and dunes I've been called out on my not wearing a chest protector. And since it was my 10-year-old son who called me out I have to lead by example but in doing so I don't want to inadvertently raise him to be a dork.  Y'all dads out there will know what I mean.

Please and thanks.

[Colorado700R]

3 for me

[rappyfreak]

B for me, guess this is from my dirbike riding days... sucked to have the handlebars poke the ribs and bruise you badly.

[SprinterX]

Wearing a chest protector while riding dunes is a matter of personal choice but I wear mine most of the time.

Usually depends on what our riding plan is.

[Busby]

Serious abdomen & Head injuries will kill you faster then almost any other kind of injury so I personally think that it is just as important to wear one as a helmet, its not always your ability to ride that can cause you to have an accident but it could be someone else's fault.
 

[Krandall]

I don't ride dunes very often, but when I have, I did not wear my chest protector. I think either or.. I don't think the people that do look like dorks or anything.

[Kamakazi]

chest protector is simply a roost guard, it is not made to take a falling impact or to stop a handlebar from puncturing a lung.  I u want to be safe get some body armour from evs

[Colorado700R]

Did some one say body armour?

http://www.raptorsource.com/forum/index.php?topic=5066.0 

[Segkast]

chest protector is simply a roost guard, it is not made to take a falling impact or to stop a handlebar from puncturing a lung.  I u want to be safe get some body armour from evs

Very true, but it does offer some level of protection. We have a member who watched his friend collide with another bike, stand up, then fall down - dead on top of a dune. He broke a rib wich punctured either his heart or lungs, or both (I forget). Would a chest protector have helped this ? Hard to say at this point, but it sure would NOT have hurt...

So out of A,B, or 3 () I say 3. Though I don't wear it as often as I should and it depends on the ride I'm going on really, I would like to say that I do. After hearing the story above, I think I will. And when you get down to it, I have a kid - she WILL be wearing one when she starts riding.

PS... anyone making fun of anybody for wearing any kind of safety equipment for riding a 300+ pound machine going 35-70MPH is a douchewaffle. It's all funny till you get T-boned.

[Headrope]

Don't get me wrong. I'm not worried about vanity. And I always make my son wear his chest protector.

My main concern comes from riding at Coos Bay at the end of the season last year. Buddy and I were hillshooting through the trees and he took a branch to the chest. He was OK but had it been me - knowing my luck - it would have all ended right there with me being gutted by a f'in tree. I was considering a chest protector anyway and then this season my son called me out for not wearing one. I figure it's someone upstairs giving me a nod, and I ain't crossing that dude.

Thanks for the help, and for the new word. Douchewaffle ... that's awesome.

[Mad Dog]

I used to always wear one on my motorcycles, they saved me from broken ribs more times than I can count.  My father had an accident on a 660 a while back when he wasn't wearing one, and the first thing he did when he got home from the hospital was buy one and insist I wear it.  I have stopped wearing it since as I've spent all of my time in the dunes and getting air under the tires scares me, but I still think about buying another one (the old one is missing the arm straps) and wearing it all the time.

I have been thinking about the tek vests popular with the snomobiling crowd. 

[socalrappy700]

chest protector is simply a roost guard, it is not made to take a falling impact or to stop a handlebar from puncturing a lung.  I u want to be safe get some body armour from evs

VERY untrue, I say from experience.  A few years ago I rolled my quad down a cliff.  I landed first the quad flipped on top of me, rear grab bar and flag mount being the first thing to impact me.  I was wearing my fox airframe chest PROTECTOR and I suffered 2 broken and 1 cracked rib.  The doctor said if I wasn't wearing my chest PROTECTOR I wouldn't have lived long enough to see the life flight.  I can't see why you wouldn't think it would stop a handlebar from puncturing a lung, I know mine would stop one all day long. 

[Kamakazi]

Socal, dont get me wrong here, all i am saying is that a chest protector is designed to stop roost, it is not designed to save your body in an accident, yes there are tons of cases where they have actually saved lives, but that was not thier design intention.  Where as a full body armor and/or neckbrace is designed to save you from impact, not to stop roost. wearing a chest protector is always a good idea, but if keeping his son extra safe is his goal he should probably purchase some body armour not just hope the chest protector does the trick.

[Gunz]

Socal, dont get me wrong here, all i am saying is that a chest protector is designed to stop roost, it is not designed to save your body in an accident, yes there are tons of cases where they have actually saved lives, but that was not thier design intention.  Where as a full body armor and/or neckbrace is designed to save you from impact, not to stop roost. wearing a chest protector is always a good idea, but if keeping his son extra safe is his goal he should probably purchase some body armour not just hope the chest protector does the trick.

a matter of personal choice but I wear mine. I prefer a roost protector over a shirt for safety. Kamakaze, why do they have a full back piece equal in strength as the front? Not to often am I riding 50-60mph backwards chasing someone... Juuuuust curious, don't let the name fool ya.

[socalrappy700]

Socal, dont get me wrong here, all i am saying is that a chest protector is designed to stop roost, it is not designed to save your body in an accident, yes there are tons of cases where they have actually saved lives, but that was not thier design intention.  Where as a full body armor and/or neckbrace is designed to save you from impact, not to stop roost. wearing a chest protector is always a good idea, but if keeping his son extra safe is his goal he should probably purchase some body armour not just hope the chest protector does the trick.

I don't know how you can say they don't save your body in an accident.....mine stopped a 300+ pound quad falling off a 14 foot ledge.