Putting this here for anyone else looking for impact rated body armour for their little grom as the options for younger kids appear quite limited. More specifically I’ve been looking at over the jersey vests, not under jersey, shirt style armour – which is simply too hot to wear in Australia most of the time.
Pretty much, if you’re on the hunt for something for a kid between 4-6 years old, your options are limited to peewee roost vests which offer limited impact protection. The best options out there I’ve found (in Australia) are the Alpinestars Bionic Action Kickstart Vest or the Leatt 2.5 Mini Chest Protector (110cm-134cm).
From around 6 onwards, the options expand a little bit but really don’t open up a lot until kids are closer to 9-10 years old. The TLD Rockfight (not impact rated) will fit most 6 year old boys (from 120cm in height). The Fox Raceface CE Impact (CE level 1 rated) says it fits kids from 6 years old, but in my experience it’s too big and I don’t like the impact CE insert arrangement. The Scott Softcon Junior Body Armour (CE Level 1 rated) in XXS-XS looks good by was sold out everywhere while I’ve been looking.
Which led me to the Alpinestars A5 Plasma Youth S/M. It’s CE Level 2 rated (highest impact protection rating), has a hard armour chest and soft armour back protector. Fits kids from 120-140cm tall, 60-70cm chest. My kids 122cm with a 58cm chest and I can just cinch it down tight enough for him. The shoulder pads are easily removed (hook and loop) and the side pads can be removed as well if wanted. I was concerned it would be too chunky and heavy, but turns out it’s actually fairly slim and only weighs 765grams (I weighed it as I couldn’t find any info anywhere on its weight) . It’s well ventilated (lots of little holes), comfortable and overall one of the best bits of body armour (in both kids and adults) I’ve ever come across for mountain biking.
by Capital-Cut2331