D3O Diablo armour review

There are only two timelines in the world of motorcycle armour. There’s that period before D3O came on to the scene. And then there’s the new era post the launch of D3O.

Before D3O came along armour was large, heavy, cumbersome, and not very comfortable. Look today at some of that armour, and it seems impossible that we were able to walk to the bike and back when wearing it. And, of course, with the technology that was available back then that armour wasn’t necessarily all that protective.

D3O changed the landscape. Even though that early D3O armour now looks crude compared to the latest stuff, it was always so much nicer than what went before.

And then, about four years ago, there was another paradigm shift when D3O introduced Ghost. And at the time Ghost was extraordinary. Here was flat armour that looked like its most useful function would be as a beermat. But it was proper armour. Initially, it only came as Level 1, but a year or so later it was released in a Level 2 configuration. In its centre, Level 2 was thicker than Level 1, but it was still a lot lighter and thinner than a lot of traditional Level 1 armour.

For us, the greatest impact made by Ghost was in jeans. Particularly in its Level 1 format it allowed you to wear protective jeans but without those bulging kneecaps that were always such a giveaway that you weren't wearing your Levi's. With Ghost, nobody could ever tell that you were wearing protective jeans. More importantly perhaps, as the rider you couldn’t really tell you were wearing armour either.

For us, jeans were where Ghost worked best. Now lots of manufacturers also put Ghost into baggier trousers and jackets. And whilst this undoubtedly aided comfort, we were never convinced that Ghost was the best solution in looser clothing. And that was because it’s so mobile that it could move around, such that if there was an impact one could not always guarantee that the armour was in the right place.

D3O Diablo

Now Diablo may not look massively different to Ghost. And of course, as always, making incremental gains to a product that is as revolutionary as Ghost was when it first came out was never going to be easy.

But the technical gains are significant, as are the improvements from the wearer’s perspective.

Now we are not nerdy, technical people here at Motolegends. In fact, if we are good at anything it is breaking down complex messages, in order to communicate a product’s strengths and weaknesses. I suppose we could get D3O to provide us with a ream of scientific mumbo jumbo. I could even pretend that we understood it. But I don’t see the point. All D3O has told us is that this new armour is made using soft, free-flowing IM material. And we are told that this means it incorporates some of the same technology used in traditional D3O armour.

Anyway, there are, as far as we’re concerned, four real key benefits to Diablo.

First, it is so much more breathable even than even Ghost. Almost 40% of the surface area of Diablo armour is open. That is to say see through. And what this means is that it’s going to be incredibly breathable. And that’s a huge benefit whatever gear you’re riding in, and whatever kind of riding you’re involved in.

Be it boiling hot or freezing cold, we need to be able to sweat.

In hot weather, sweating is vital as part of the body’s natural mechanism for cooling itself down. If our sweat in its liquid state cannot effectively escape from the surface of the skin and transition into a gaseous state, evaporative cooling cannot take place. The result will be that we just get hotter and hotter. Now clearly the clothing we are wearing has a huge part to play, but potentially so does our armour. If our sweat cannot pass through the armour, the cooling down process will be impeded.

It’s the same but different in really cold conditions. Now we sweat all the time in all weathers. Even on a cold day it could be that you are working hard on the bike generating your own, internal heatwave. Or it could be that you're loaded up with mid-layers to insulate body heat. This is what we tend to do when it's cold, but wearing these layers will raise your body temperature; and so the amount of sweat coming to the surface of your skin will increase. If this sweat cannot escape, your base garments will become wet.

But here's the thing. If you start to generate less heat, because the conditions get even colder, you can lose body heat faster than would have been the case if your skin had remained dry. In extreme conditions, hypothermia can be just a few miles down the road. And that's why breathability is still important in very cold weather. And that's why Diablo could could be as much of a godsend in the middle winter as it will be on a hot summer's day.

The second thing is the weight. Diablo really is incredibly light. It’s a lot lighter than Ghost. It’s much, much lighter than traditional D3O. And it’s much, much, much lighter than traditional armour.

In fact, so much so that we are not going even to offer Level 1 Diablo. The truth is that Level 2 Diablo is only a bit heavier than Level 1 Ghost. So we take the view that if you can get twice the protection of Level 1 Ghost with armour that, on average, is only 13% heavier it just makes sense to go for Level 2 Diablo.

So, to put some numbers on that, a Ghost Level 1 knee protector weighs 94 grammes; a Level 2 Diablo knee protector weighs just 106 grammes. That's just 12% heavier. A Ghost Level 1 hip protector weighs 84 grams; a Diablo Level 2 hip protector actually weighs less at just 75 grammes, so a weight saving of 12%. A Ghost Level 1 shoulder protector weighs 84 grammes; a Diablo Level 2 shoulder protector weighs 95 grammes, so it's 11% heavier.

In other words, there is, as I’ve suggested, very little difference in weight between Level 1 Ghost and Level 2 Diablo. Indeed, here’s a thought. Given that Diablo Level 2 hips are actually lighter than Ghost Level 1 hips, if you were to exchange the Level 1 Ghost in your jeans for level 2 Diablo, there would be no penalty whatsoever in terms of weight. Yet there would be a significant increase in breathability. And, of course, a doubling in the energy absorption properties of your new armour. In anybody's book, that is pretty amazing!

There's a third benefit. Because there is no ‘backing’ fabric to Diablo in the way that there is with Ghost it is much more pliable. We admit that, until now, Ghost has been the benchmark armour in our Rokker jeans, yet if one were to be particularly critical one would have to acknowledge that when sat on the bike, you could still make out the outline of the armour. It was not exactly unsightly; and compared with traditional armour it was barely noticeable, yet the armour’s outline was still visible. The softness and pliability means that, even in its Level 2 configuration, there’s no discernible outline with Diablo.

Fourth. Now the fourth benefit to some will appear counter-intuitive, but we think it’s real and valid. Now when Ghost first came out what amazed everybody was that it was completely flat. Before Ghost all armour had been shaped. The benefits of this new flat armour were particularly apparent, as we have suggested, in jeans because it meant that when you got off the bike to walk about the curved portion of the armour that was designed to cup the knee didn’t keep banging the shin.

But, as I mentioned, the downside of Ghost was that it could move out of place such that it wasn’t necessarily where you wanted it to be in an accident. Well, D3O has helped to mitigate this issue with Diablo.

It is very slightly cupped, and so this will serve to mould the armour gently around the knee, the elbow or the shoulder. Yet so soft is Diablo, and so gentle is its curvature that you won’t feel any knocking of the armour, or discomfort, off the bike. It really does offer the prospect of the best of all worlds. Diablo is as comfortable as Ghost, yet less obtrusive. But importantly it will have a greater propensity to be in the right place when you need it.

Where do we get to with Diablo?

We have known that Diablo was coming for a good 6-9 months. I wore it extensively in my Marrakesh and my rokker jeans last summer. In fact I wore it in India at Christmas, although it didn't prevent an out-of-control taxi driver shoving me over the edge of the mountain. That having been said, I suffered no damage to my shoulders, elbows, knees and hips. So perhaps it did work!

In our view, Diablo kills Level 1 Ghost, and that’s because there’s no rationale for wearing it when Level 2 Diablo is more comfortable and almost imperceptibly heavier.

And let’s not forget the benefits in terms of protection. Level 2 armour absorbs twice as much energy in an impact as Level 1 armour.

And so we think Level 2 Diablo is a bit of a no-brainer. We simply cannot see why you wouldn’t go for it. The only potential issue is that Diablo won’t fit into garments that were not originally configured with armour pockets to take D3O. The other application where it won’t work is where the armour in a jacket or pant is fixed in place with Velcro. Unlike Ghost, Diablo will not take Velcro.

So, there you have it. Of course, there’s no free lunch, so if you want to upgrade your Ghost Level 1 to Diablo level 2 there will be a cost. All three pieces, by the way, will be £29.99 a pair.

Because the demand for Ghost is going to diminish rapidly, we won’t be doing any ‘exchange’, deals, I’m afraid, because we’ve already got more than Ghost than we know what to do with.

We will, though, be offering an upgrade in future on all new sales of the Klim Marrakesh, as we always have done. The upgrade will be for Level 2 Diablo in the elbows and shoulders and a Level 2 Rheon back protector. The ‘exchange’ cost will be £70; but with that you really will have the gold standard.

Ultimately, of course, Diablo will become more widely available, but for the next three months or so it will be exclusive to us.

There will also be a Level 2 Diablo back protector. I have ridden with one, but the final production will not be available for a while. Whether that is three, six, nine or 12 months down the road, we don't know. But it's coming, and it shares all the advantages of the Diablo limb protectors.

You can buy D3O Diablo armour with free next day UK delivery online, or visit our store in Guildford to try one on.