For me, one of the absolute worst things about mountain biking, at least enduro and downhill mountain biking, is the fact that you pretty much have to wear some form of armour, at the very least, knee pads. It is all too often bulky and sweaty, nigh on impossible to find the perfect fit, hinders free movement and will probably give you friction burns after about a week’s worth of wear. Aye, you can pull your knee pads down to your shins when you’re pedalling up the climbs to minimise the friction burns, but by doing this you leave yourself unprotected and, from an aesthetics point of view, it is just not cool. I won’t despair just yet however; D3O have just launched their lightest ever flexible impact protection technology in the form of “fit & forget” armour, aptly named D3O Ghost.
D3O Ghost Impact Protection Tech for MTB and Moto
A bunch of protection brands use D3O’s impact protection technology, including Bluegrass, Endura, Raceface, Scott & TLD to name but a few. Even shoe brand Ride Concepts and saddle brand Selle San Marco are finding cool ways to use this smart material. Thus, I would expect these brands to be scrambling to launch redesigns of their body armour around D3O’s all-new Ghost material. Made with D3O’s revolutionary new Impact Print technology, Ghost should bring unrivalled comfort and flexibility to MTB and Motocross body armour. The Impact Print process involves the direct imprinting of D3O material directly onto a lightweight black lycra fabric.
The knee, elbow, shoulder and hip protectors are designed for use as fit and forget body armour in motorsports and mountain biking. The construction of the D3O Ghost protection pads should mean they are really well ventilated. The low-profile design coupled with a geometry which conforms to the limb, means that the armour should fit perfectly against the body.
For motorcyclists, the D3O Ghost knee protector should fit seamlessly under a pair of motocross jeans, without being visible from the outside. I would hazard a guess that the MTB freeriders, trials and BMX riders amongst you might like this feature too. D3O Ghost is certified to the EN 1621-2:2012 (Level 1) safety standard.
