The Stealth Protector shirt from O’Neal combines a compression style Flycool jersey with light biofoam padding to help take the sting out of crashing.
The stretchy antibacterial material is extremely comfortable and sits close to the skin but still does a good job of wicking sweat when you warm up – which you will inevitably do in this because there are no substantial venting panels.
The biofoam padding offers decent coverage of the elbow and shoulders. But unlike some other compression-style protective jerseys it includes both chest and – more importantly – back protection.
If that wasn’t enough, there are also two pads positioned either side of the abdomen. What’s clever is the modular construction of the padding, which lets you remove the upper portion of the chest to make room for a neck brace.
The rear is already sufficiently proportioned to accept a neck brace and we found the two worked incredibly well together.
The Stealth shirt is extremely comfortable to wear when riding and it doesn’t take long to forget you’ve got it on.
Despite being relatively minimal, the padding will certainly take the sting out of a knock or two and, thanks to the tight nature of the jersey, it stays in place well.
