Design Classic - Dainese Body Armour
Posted on March 22, 2007 @ 2:12 PM
Riding a downhill bike is hard enough but trying to race one at top speed over the toughest terrain the mountains can throw up is a completely different ball game. As bikes have improved courses have got tougher, riders have got faster and competition is tighter, so much so that the top dogs of DH hang it out more than ever before.
Today riders hammer through terrain once thought unrideable on a bicycle at an unthinkable velocity. With all this speed, hard terrain and competition accidents will happen and when they do they’re not pretty. For the top riders this is a job and a broken body doesn’t exactly pay the bills, so these days protecting themselves and trying to limit injury is of the greatest importance. Alongside a helmet, body armour is an essential piece of protective kit for any rider to use, whether they ride at this top level or not. Truck around the pits at any downhill race and one brand stands out as the clear favourite among pro and amateur riders alike, and that is Dainese, and for good reason too, it is the best bar none.
Before Italian company Dainese were even a name on the lips of mountain bikers they were happily gaining a name and reputation for themselves in motor sport, where crashing at even higher speeds is the norm. It all started back in 1972 when Lino Dainese, who still remains as president of the company to this day, started making leather pants for motocross riders. With time Dainese gained a reputation for quality and protection among the petrol heads on two wheels, clothing top names like the legendary Barry Sheene and Giacomo Agostini.
It was with riders like Agostini that Dainese developed comfort in their kit while Sheene certainly needed some back protection with his reputation for taking high–speed flyers. It was at this time they developed back and composite protectors, which were unheard of at the time. What Dainese did was to combine a hard shell with a soft base so that shock was then dispersed over a larger area rather than one hard focal point, thus providing injury limitation.
From back protection Dainese then went on to produce knee protection when a whole new school of ‘knee down’ riding round corners became the fashion with 80’s riders like Kenny Roberts. Once again Dainese were catering to the needs of riders and their styles as they changed along the way. From here with continued research they started to use composite protectors for all parts of the body that were vulnerable in a crash situations, such as knees, shins, shoulders, forearms and elbows.
In the mid 90’s they turned their hand to sports beyond motorcycling and this is when they entered the mountain bike world. At the time body armour used in downhilling was usually borrowed form the motocross world in the form of large plastic chest protectors, roost guards. These were certainly good at stopping you getting pierced but not truly offering the coverage needed for our sport. When Dainese first came on to the scene in Europe their protection was lapped up, especially with such a good pedigree and reputation in the motorcycle world.
Dainese being a European company catered to that market. Neon colours where at one time ‘cool’ but they were on the way out over here in the late 90’s, but in mainland Europe it was still in vogue and the first Dainese products were certainly on the lairy side. That said the ideas and main premise behind the kit was functional in terms of mountain bike use. At the time it didn’t have the cool persona of motocross kit we were experimenting with but this was during the period where downhill was trying to find its own identity.
People joked about the beetle and armadillo looks of Dainese back protectors when they first hit the shelves, and they were right to say this because this is where the idea came from. It was nature and using an organic approach to safety that Dainese had discovered worked for motorcycles, and with refinement it could work for downhillers too. This idea is typical of Lino who has a love of nature. He is a natural observer who sees nature as being very complex, important and good at what it does. He uses nature to help him generate ideas, which can then be transferred into new or useable products.
So with his vision he created a bastard hybrid of the beetle and armadillo shells to protect humans. This plastic back protector was then morphed with other real world ideas in the form of a scaled down and more appropriate version of plastic motocross armour. Dainese made sure he included all the shoulder, elbow and forearm protection, along with chest guards to shield the vital organs and did away with all the unnecessary stuff…the Safety Jacket was born.
The Safety Jacket was wearable, comfortable and less cumbersome than the moto protection we were used to wearing, making it ideal for the slower speeds of downhill, it was ergonomically designed, shaped and moulded to fit the body. With the top Brits racers beginning to hit the Euro circuit they were exposed to this new armour. As courses got bigger, scarier and more dangerous protection became more of an issue. Dainese worked better than the other protection that was currently available and racers started to bring it back to the UK, soon everybody wanted it. But it wasn’t cheap, but it worked so well for mountain bikers that most didn’t mind the price for the added safety and comfort factors. Soon the whole world caught on to what Dainese had produced. Their Safety Jacket became a must have essential piece of kit for any downhiller to own.
They didn’t stop at just the Safety Jacket either. Dainese worked to produce all–in–one suits that protected the whole body, this later became the Shuttle Suit. Once again listening to riders they found that not everyone wanted the full suit. So Dainese made separate jackets and leg protection along with separate shin and knee guards, ankle protection elbow and forearm guards. They have since moved into head protection with their own line of helmets. If that wasn’t enough they now produce a complete line of riding clothing that is tough enough to cope with the rigours of hard use.
It was only a matter of time before other companies ‘borrowed’ these ideas and used them in their own ranges. Many have copied but Dainese has never looked at threat from other companies stealing their limelight. They remain one step ahead of the game and are at the forefront of body protection development keeping their roots firmly at the hard end of the dangerous sports they help to safeguard. Their R&D takes place on the tracks by the best in the world so you know they have done their homework. With their background in making the best protection, combined with true Italian style, the Dainese range of body armour looks set to stay, and is certainly worthy Design Classic label.
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