Chest Protector

A good, high quality motocross style chest protector is a piece of dirt bike safety gear anyone that is going to be riding a dirt bike should wear whether they're riding casually on the weekends or they're hard charging through moto's, trying to last in the gnarliest of all off-road courses or even hucking the meanest gaps and working on the sickest trick combo's.

A chest protector is a great idea to be wearing and even though these are mainly marketed as “Roost Deflectors” they also do a good job at protecting a riders upper body / torso and back from more than flying roost & rocks by dispersing the energy from an impact across the front or rear panels. (ie: hitting the ground, getting hit by your own or another rider's bike, being impaled by a tree branch or the like, as well as providing protection should you find yourself being used for traction)

When shopping for a chest protector it's important to ensure you're looking at one that is neck brace friendly and is advertised as being compatible with most if not all neck braces, as some of the older roost guards frequently don't provide adequate clearance to fit comfortably with a neck brace without modification (ie: trimming, hack sawing & cutting the front or rear panels and supporting straps or shoulder pieces).

An important consideration to keep in mind is whether or not you are going to be wearing this under the jersey or over.

There are deflectors which are designed to be worn under a jersey as well as chest and back protectors designed to be worn over the jersey and these differences also provide different levels of protection as an "under jersey" roost deflector is primarily designed to only protect a rider from flying roost with minimal crash protection, while a more popular outer protector generally offers better upper body, shoulder and bicep protection in the event of a crash while also providing excellent roost protection if you're on someone's back wheel, although some riders have noticed that the outer protectors are somewhat restrictive in allowing movement and overall bulky.