Transcend said:Basically it is only good right now for replacing the shin and forearm guards that they normally wear. It isn't really body armor, as such.
Pretty much, i could see it being really handy for Slalom racers are the WC level.
Transcend said:Basically it is only good right now for replacing the shin and forearm guards that they normally wear. It isn't really body armor, as such.
Fraser you slacker, read two posts above this post. I posted about this exact stuff weeks ago.Transcend said:Some American and Canadian skiers competing in the Olympics have a secret weapon: a flexible form of "body armor" that's molded to the shape of their bodies and hardens on impact. The material, known as d3o, and developed by scientists working with skiwear maker Spyder, contains a proprietary polymer that has "strain rate flexibility." While normally flexible, sudden impact hardens the molecules of the material, making it as protective as the traditional arm and leg guards worn in slalom runs. The developers envision expanding d30's uses to other purposes, including protection for military and police personnel. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have any plans for a material that can protect Bode Miller from himself.
For ski applications that seems all that it is feesible for right now. But for downhill armor I see it beeing great for stuff like shoulder, elbow, forearm, chest, and backplate protection. There are allready alot of people who cut off the hard plastic shells on Dainese armor on the places that it feels like it restricts movement. It really would work well for those parts of the armor I think. I thought about it for shiguards but I think it is a softer, flexible material and would probably be succeptible to ripping on sharp pedals and tree branches and such. Something to think about though.Transcend said:Basically it is only good right now for replacing the shin and forearm guards that they normally wear. It isn't really body armor, as such.
That price is actually not bad at all at retail. Current downhill suits that are available usually run about that price anyway at retail. There really isnt as much of a significant price jump for this suit compared to older ones as I was expecting.Zutroy said:Spyder is going to release it to the public this fall...suppose to be $800-900 for the suit, with all the bells and whistles.
Transcend said:a flexible form of "body armor" that's molded to the shape of their bodies and hardens on impact. .
They don't mean that kind of impact, they mean when the vest itself hits something hard.bdamschen said:Could you imagine landing after a big drop and having the armor harden on impact accidently? That would be freakin hilarious to see....
"WTF?! I can't move my arms!" *biff*
bizutch said:Can't believe I read all 4 pages to pose this 1 single question no one else has. OK...so the stuff hardens on impact right. Sharp objects, projectiles, rocks you land your ribs on...whatever. But the thing I'm NOT seeing mentioned is any disbursement of the energy from the projectile.
Body armor disperses energy with the bio-foam padding, styrofoam, etc. If you're wearing this thing on your arm and a bullet from a Glock pops your arm....it is not going to break the skin. But isn't it still going to equate to a miniature sledgehammer and practically bludgeon your arm still?
Here's another instance...you tackle a boulder on your shin at 25mph and this stuff is on you. Without foam padding behind it, it's still going to transfer the brute force straight through the material. Being hard doesn't mean crap.
So....are they saying in "body armor" this material can take the place of the external plastic elbow/shin/forearm pad and be layered over top of bio-foam??? Or are we just talking about hucking on your NoFearMX moto pants with no other padding underneath and barrel rolling off Niagra Falls with nary a scratch or dent in you????
so you're saying that the liquid solidifying is the actual energy displacement? guess I'm having a hard time picturing it.profro said:Butch, the hardening is the effect of absorbing the energy.
nerd:love:profro said:I don't know about this material exactly, but certain non-newtonian fluids can have a shear-thickening effect, which means that the viscocity increases as you try to shear (apply force) the liquid. So the more force you put into it, the more the liquid gets thicker. It absorbs the force.
Get him talking about diesel when you're curious and watch the passengers drop like they've been chloroformed. Jeremy and Crackhead's started sawing logs before I finished my question. :love:spoke80 said:nerd:love:
They're testing now. I'm one of the crash test dummies. :biggrin:Saw an article on Discovery about this stuff. Showed it being applied to motocross, dh biking and gs skiing. Nice suit with knees, shoulders, elbows and back. Very flexible but gets hard when hit at speed. Could be the future. Found their website:
http://www.d3o.com/index.php?cont=1_home§ion=0
Looks promising.
That's cool,They're testing now. I'm one of the crash test dummies. :biggrin:
Essentially, they needed someone who would give feedback who has a high probability of crashing at a trail near you. Kind of a "OK, who on the team here crashes at every race?" I was one of 2 chosen. I received my jacket in the mail last week, but it needed some alterations, so I had a tailor mark it, took some pics and I'm shipping it back to them.
When I first opened the package, I was really conflicted. On the one hand, I was excited and couldn't wait to try it out! On the other hand, setting out with the intention of chronicling my crash experience was no fun to think about (kind of a "YESSS! I finally received the... oh. Yeah. Gotta test it. Right.)
So, I'll go out and do what I always do... eventually the crashes will come.
It doesn't quite work like that, though. It's not really "supportive" as much as it is an impact absorber. You usually don't land on your neck for a neck injury - you land on your head.It would be really cool if this could be used to make a non/less restrictive neck brace, would be good to see a proliferation of that, too many debilitating injuries.
My guess is that the impact of your head twisting back isn't a sharp enough impact to cause the material to harden enough. Sort of like a drop on a bike being a low speed compression.It would be really cool if this could be used to make a non/less restrictive neck brace, would be good to see a proliferation of that, too many debilitating injuries.
Here's a write upHopefully someone that got a "dog tag" wins the top and can do a write up.
I'm with you on that one! I need a full body suit made of that stuffIf that works as well as advertised, and in real world situations, it would become the ultimate knee pads material for ANY action sport. The ability to move freely, along with the protection of a hardshell. Good stuff.
Is this the same stuff spyder is using in their ski racing suits?
He should have used a bat or something smaller. That large surface area on the shovel spreads out the hit over a greater area and absorbs more of the shock - not that impressive.