Attempt at smarty-pants answer, yet makes no sense to what OP is asking.
The armours are balanced based on weight and cost. You effectively get free stats on gear, if it were +5 it would be +19% free stats for no additional cost or weight.
The way damage is calculated armour is only 50% to 100% of its value at any given time. You can wear 40 armour and take damage like its 20-40, wear 60 and its 30-60. But you always get the manoeuvrability and damage bonus from additional speed so it always has 100% of its weight value, plus you save money. The lower weight is what you loom armour for really, free armour for no additional weight or cost. It might only be 1 armour point, but I guess its an attempt to keep it more balanced