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So I'm thinking of getting a protection vest.
Mostly I ride local trails and bridleways some trails with small jumps and occasional bike parks.
Never big dirt jumps or big gaps.
If at a bike park I wear paragon plus knee and elbow pads
If on local bridleways I wear race face charge knee pads.
I'm thinking of alpinestars paragon lite or Vector tech short sleeve jackets.
Does anyone have experiences of these (or even what the main differences are - is the vector tach heavier duty?) How hot are they to wear when going uphill?
Thamks
What is it you are worried about that makes you want to wear one ?
I use the alpinestar vector one most of the time except maybe on a big day out or xc racing. definately saved me from significant shoulder pain and abrasions when hitting the odd tree or coming up short on bike park doubles and sliding along that horrible hard pack gravel.
Being able to go without a bag as the Camelbak bladder fits in the back alongside the back protector is big plus for me (I don't really like loading stuff such as water bottles on to my frame). Warmth wise about the same as a light base layer and I use it as such in winter.
The vector tech is fairly light duty, anything lighter would be completely pointless in my opinion, anything heavier would be overkill unless doing uplifts. You can take out the shoulder pads if you want to bulk it down even more.
It will give some back protection, some shoulder protection, and some abrasion protection, won't protect collar bones or ribs but doubt anything will.
https://www.alpinestars.com/collections/mbk-protection/products/vector-tech-prot-ss-jacket
I’ve got the paragon pro, it is very good. Although I would hate to wear it for any climbing, it’s reserved for uplift days for me.
I've got the long sleeve paragon pro, comfortable enough and I use it for pretty much all my riding, why wouldn't you? You don't get to pick and choose when and how you fall off.