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Spyder protects you with putty

Thu, Apr 3, 2008

Gear, Gravity

Spyder is a company which most people would associate with shredding powder rather than shredding singletrack, but Spyder is hoping to transfer their expertise from one gravity sport to another. Their latest attempt at winning over the mountain bike crowd comes in the form of “d3o”, which is billed as “intelligent padding.” The run-down on d3o is this: most of the time it stays flexible and malleable, so it can bend and move with you as you ride. When harder pressure is applied, however, the material instantly locks together to keep you protected. Once the pressure is gone, d3o becomes soft and malleable again.

The concept is a pretty clever one, and the notion of a material that hardens upon impact and is soft the rest of the time should sound familiar to anybody who has mixed corn starch and water in kindergarten science class. Spyder has put the protective putty into a set of shorts and a jersey so far. There’s no word on the weight or breathability of d3o, but assuming Spyder has managed to keep both of these concerns under control, protection and mobility for body armour could be reaching a whole new level this year.

We’ve managed to dig up two videos about the technology. The first is nice and informative, but painfully dull (although it is partially redeemed by a non sequitur dirt bike jump at the end), while the second isn’t so informative, but has a guy with a d3o hat getting whacked with a shovel. Enjoy!

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