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I had a light shoulder injury last year in the Alps and exacerbated it in Feb when I fell heavily on my regular road commute (dislocate ACJ and cracked scapula). Been back in the saddle a while now and it's coming along fine and working ok if not a little painful now and again. I'm going back to the Alps this August and think it would be wise to have protection for my shoulder to minimise risk of further damage ( I already have Dianese elbow and lower arm pads). What's your experience and what would you recommend for me? Thanks.
Something with a spine protector....
what kind of riding will you be doing out there? DH or trail riding?
How is a spine protector going to help his shoulder?
Something like the 661 sub layer will offer some shoulder protection as will the nukeproof critical armour whilst still being lighter weight than DH armour. There are also vest style options from Evoc?
Hence "something" with a spine protector, genius.
They are worth the investment in the alps, depending on the kind of riding he will be doing.
Something lightweight like the Nukeproof Critical armor won't do anything more than stop him from getting a small bruise in a walking pace impact. The only thing that may make a small difference considering his prior injury is the kind of thick padding you get on a DH jacket. So my advice would be to find a breathableish one of those.
In reality armour only is going to stop bumps and scrapes anyway, even the hard shell type.
If you hit something hard enough to dislocate or break something, wearing armour isn't going to make much, if any difference.
Would some sort of shoulder support not be more suitable?
"Id like recommendations for something to protect my shoulder following an injury". How about something which protects your back instead?
Who's the genius?
Hard armour isn't really the way to go anyway hob nob - thick soft armour, something that might help his shoulder decelerate a bit slower. It's still not going to make that much difference, high speed hits will still knacker a shoulder.
Thick spine padding has really saved my bacon a few times though, granted I think the padding is usually much heavier duty than the stuff found on the shoulder pads.