The thickness of the padding and hard plastic coating of the Knox BC9 armour is confidence inspiring. You really do feel like a warrior with this lot on.
The removable shoulder padding doesn’t restrict your arm movement and stays in place nicely when you start getting rattled around. Out on the track, the armour can start to ride up a little and will need to be readjusted to prevent it from interfering with the back of your helmet.
Fitting a neck brace is possible but if you already own one, check it fits first – ours proved to be a tight fit and left the neck brace sitting high above the armour and interfering with our helmet.
With the neck brace fitted as Knox instruct, with the front section sitting under the armour, you need to stretch your jersey’s neck in order to get it over the top of everything, rather than wear the brace on top as you would normally.
Due to the armour’s bulk, you will heat up quickly when out riding, but it’s a small price to pay for CE approved protection. If you’re just starting out in downhill or 4X, this will provide plenty of torso and shoulder protection, although the addition of some elbow protection would be nice.
