| REVIEW: Mace Swat Jacket A new entry in the short-sleeve |
Words by Stuart Kernaghan
Photos by Corey Anderson
The more I ride, the more armour I seem to end up wearing. And the more I ride, the more I crash. Which makes me thankful that I’m wearing all that armour. It’s a vicious cycle, but one I also seem to be willing to partake in. I'm not the only one who's taking a bit of a beating in the name of riding, either. Which gives us all good reason to celebrate the introduction of the Mace |
The benefits of upper-body armour are pretty obvious: protection for all of that flesh above the belt-line, but more importantly, the stuff under your skin. The drawbacks are also apparent: it can be hot and can limit your mobility. ‘Can’ is the operative word here.
My personal preference when it comes to these types of pads has always been the short-sleeve option, for two main reasons. First, you’re not stuck wearing arm pads when you don’t need them – like on a long climb. That means it’s going to be cooler right off the bat. Second, you don’t have to worry whether the arms are long enough, which can be a real problem for the taller kids in the crowd (like me).
One of the newer players in the armour game is Mace Apparel, which sponsors Ryan Leech and Shaums March. Mace makes a full line of armour - arms, legs, and body - as well as soft goods, but the standout piece would have to be the Swat Jacket.
The Swat Jacket has solid features: removable articulated spine made of impact-resistant plastic, open-cell foam padding on the chest and upper arms, semi-rigid plastic shoulder cups, a hook-and-loop closure kidney belt, hook-and-loop straps for fit adjustment, large vent holes under the arms, and an open-weave mesh shirt to hold it all together.
 Articulated spine pad, a wide kidney belt, and open-cell foam on the arms |
Strapping it on and riding up
Fit on the Swat Jacket was a little boxy at first, but after a few
wearings, the pads started to round out a bit and conform to the shape of
my arms and chest. The XL Swat Jacket
fit relatively well on my 6’4”,
195 lb. frame, and thankfully the
mesh shirt was long enough that it didn’t leave any exposed skin between
my shorts and the kidney belt. Stitching was good throughout the jacket,
and
there weren’t any uncomfortable seams that might cut you during a crash.
Two things that I particularly liked about jacket were the vent holes in the armpits, which allow for good airflow, and kidney belt with overlapping sections of hook-and-loop closure material. You can do it up as tightly or loosely as you’d like, and still not have any of the hook material catching the inside of your jersey (as is the case with some other brands of upper-body armour).
|
The articulated spine pad and kidney belt are removable thanks to hook-and-loop tabs, but I left mine on for the added protection factor. I don’t find it uncomfortable at all, even when wearing a medium-sized pack with a full water reservoir and camera case. Leaving the jacket on – unzipped – and strapping my leg and arm pads to my pack seems to the best option when I have to climb. It's warmer that just wearing a jersey, but the Swat Jacket isn't as toasty as other upper-body armour I’ve tried. That’s likely due to the vent holes and a looser weave of mesh material used in the shirt. |
 The view is the pits |
Kudos to Mace for doing what it could to combat excessive and unnecessary sweating.
Crash-proof? Definitely
Being the vigilant product tester that I am, I was willing to go to great lengths
to see whether the Swat Jacket does what it’s supposed to. So I stacked
in the creek bed between the end of CBC and the start of TNT, on a particularly
rainy and slickery day.
I went over my bars headfirst and landed hard on my right shoulder and back, in one of the world’s least graceful somersaults. Hard enough, in fact, to toast my helmet and leave me sitting on the trail for a few minutes while I waited for those little cartoon birds to stop flying around my head.
And then I got up and kept going.
No broken collarbone, no shattered shoulder, no spinal injury. Just a torn raincoat and a scratched camera case. Which left me pleasantly surprised when I finally stopped and thought about the whole incident. I had no right to walk away from that bail with little more than some slight stiffness and a scuff on my shoulder from the impact.
A few more crashes (all in the name of testing) have since confirmed that the Swat Jacket does a good job of protecting my upper body during hard landings. It also fits well, and I wasn't even aware that I had it on most of the time. The jacket has been sized generously enough that it shouldn't restrict your mobility - depending on your body shape and how snug you like your armour to fit.
 Rolling the rock on Schleyer, all safely padded up - Notice the lack of bulk |
Yeah, but what about...
So does the Swat Jacket have any shortcomings? A few, but they aren't necessarily
major ones. The first thing that I noticed when the jacket arrived was that
the shoulder cups aren’t made of the same impact-resistant material as
the spine, and that there’s an abundance of open-cell foam used to cushion
the pain, rather than a denser material.
This shouldn’t be an issue, though, if you’re a “normal” Shore or Whistler rider. I've had the misfortune to suffer that crash described above, along with a number of other ugly get-offs, and the worst that's happened has been a bit of a raspberry under the shoulder cup. That said, if you do 40’ road gaps and case the landings, you might want to choose a beefier jacket with some heavy-duty shoulder cups and thicker arm padding.
Come to think of it, most of the people doing huge road gaps don't wear armour. Never mind.
I noticed that the liner shirt tends to move around a little bit during more active sessions on the trail, leaving some exposed skin between shorts and kidney belt. The arms may also be a bit baggy for some people, but that didn't seem to affect much in my case.
The bottom line
I've been pleasantly surprised by the protection offered by the Swat
Jacket. I was a little sceptical when it first arrived, and wasn't expecting
much from the foam padding or softer shoulder cups, but they continue to do
their job. I hit the ground fairly hard when I stack, and I'm confident that
the Swat Jacket will continue to serve me well when - not if - that happens.
I also appreciate the thought that has gone into this product, especially the vent holes under the arms, the open-weave mesh shirt, and the layered kidney belt. All of that is possible for CDN$249, which is a pretty good deal compared to some other armour out there. Contact your local Norco dealer for availability.
Yes, there is tougher short-sleeve armour out there if that's what you think you need. But if you go that route, be prepared to run into less detail-oriented designs, compromised fit, and increased heat.
|
|
