Safety gear for riding

[Tirving]

Originally Posted by saddlepunk

If you don't put your hands out (which I thought had more to do with reflex than choice) I suggest you wear a full-face helmet when you dismount headfirst.

No..... learning to roll is easy; you do put your hands out but they don't take any force. Look at wrestlers, parkour-ists and martial artists who get thrown/jump forward, they don't wear wrist guards. I've taken some nasty forward falls but the roll seems to keep me safe. No need for a full face helmet as when you roll out, you face isn't in any danger of hitting the deck. Keep you wrist guards; there's not reason to "e-debate" this with me; you'll say I'm wrong, I'll say your wrong and at the end of the day, we'll still do things the way we do them now

You can still break your radius, supracondylar ridge, and clavicle; and you can still sprain your AC joint with wrist guards

[Dane M]

Originally Posted by Tirving

No..... learning to roll is easy; you do put your hands out but they don't take any force. Look at wrestlers, parkour-ists and martial artists who get thrown/jump forward, they don't wear wrist guards. I've taken some nasty forward falls but the roll seems to keep me safe. No need for a full face helmet as when you roll out, you face isn't in any danger of hitting the deck. Keep you wrist guards; there's not reason to "e-debate" this with me; you'll say I'm wrong, I'll say your wrong and at the end of the day, we'll still do things the way we do them now

You can still break your radius, supracondylar ridge, and clavicle; and you can still sprain your AC joint with wrist guards

Oh, but be careful if you try to roll with a big backpack on... I found that out once

[saskatchewanian]

Originally Posted by Dane M

Oh, but be careful if you try to roll with a big backpack on... I found that out once

Yah me too.

Proper falling technique can save you from all sorts of injury but not all of us are judokas. I am pretty good at falling and not hurting myself but there have been many times when rolling out of things is just not possible, that is when those wrist guards can come in handy, as well as full-fingered gloves.

[1-wheeled-grape]

Proper falling technique is useful, I just wish I would use it more often. It would save the expense of having my glasses replaced. After my recent swan dive to face plant I think I will need to invest in something to protect the noggin.

[OneWheelLess]

Originally Posted by Tirving

No..... learning to roll is easy; you do put your hands out but they don't take any force. Look at wrestlers, parkour-ists and martial artists who get thrown/jump forward, they don't wear wrist guards. I've taken some nasty forward falls but the roll seems to keep me safe. No need for a full face helmet as when you roll out, you face isn't in any danger of hitting the deck. Keep you wrist guards; there's not reason to "e-debate" this with me; you'll say I'm wrong, I'll say your wrong and at the end of the day, we'll still do things the way we do them now

You can still break your radius, supracondylar ridge, and clavicle; and you can still sprain your AC joint with wrist guards

I agree, technique is the most important, wristguards and poor technique are a great way to end up with broken arms. Your arms should only help direct the fall and maybe slow you down slightly. Remember trying to absorb the force of a crash (usually several times your bodyweight) with your arms should be avoided at all cost. I feel much safer with decent non-rigid gloves on. They cushion my hands and protect from injury without unnaturaly transferring force. Always roll out if possible.

I believe in good safety gear, I wear shinguards, gloves and a helmet for most riding. There have been times i wished for knee and elbow guards are nice, but I rarely wear them.

[Dane M]

I really like the KH pulse gloves, they have that support for the back of your wrists, but they're not SUPER stiff, so they don't actually weaken your wrists.

[Tirving]

Yeah, given all that..... I rarely fall forward where I cant get my feet underneath me at least a little. I have short legs and I am a card-carrying ninja

[bluesman]

I like the gear I have, I am a noob and still learning and I fall some times and need to get up and go to work the next day, and I am old! So call me a sissy, but I like my system.

I think as I get better skills I will probably ditch some of the extra stuff but for now, since I had much of this gear from ATV riding and other sports I figured I would wear it. I wear a loose fitting shirt or hoodie and it doesn't look that bad.

Five Ten ankle high Impact shoes, awesome!

661 Shin guards (kind of hot), Thinking of going to something lighter and less wrap-around

Triple eight Helmet, with the soft interior, very comfy!

Hillbilly full fingered gloves/ wrist guards (have seen the most crash use)

661 padded bomber shorts protects hips and tailbone

One of 2 compression armor suits:

A. Bohn lightweight with elbow, shoulder and back protection

B. Velocity compression suit with full heavy CE armor, when learning new stuff like freemounting my 36er

[Dane M]

Hey whatever makes you have fun and feel confident with your riding.

I wear KH gloves, 661 knee/shin, and a bell helmet. But if I had em, I'd be wearing protective shorts too, tail bone injuries SUCK. Also if I had nice ankle protector shoes, or ankle protectors, I'd wear them too.

So far I have not hand any injuries to my elbows shoulders, chest or back, not even scrapes. So no protection there yet.

[saddlepunk]

Highly recommend the protector shorts - tailbone injuries certainly do suck. My incompetence is only matched by my impatience so I'm falling over a lot and if I could only have two pieces of safety equipment it would be the Dainese shorts and gloves. You can shake off scuffed knees and elbows, but the shock that goes up your spine in a bad fall will spoil your day.

The shorts don't prevent all bruises, but they do take the unpleasantness out of falling on your arse.

I started off wearing them over my jeans - superhero style - but now I've lost weight I put them under my shorts and they don't feel self-conciously bulky or restrictive.

[Tirving]

Originally Posted by saddlepunk

Highly recommend the protector shorts - tailbone injuries certainly do suck. My incompetence is only matched by my impatience so I'm falling over a lot and if I could only have two pieces of safety equipment it would be the Dainese shorts and gloves. You can shake off scuffed knees and elbows, but the shock that goes up your spine in a bad fall will spoil your day.

The shorts don't prevent all bruises, but they do take the unpleasantness out of falling on your arse.

I started off wearing them over my jeans - superhero style - but now I've lost weight I put them under my shorts and they don't feel self-conciously bulky or restrictive.

I have some downhill shorts with padding that I used when I started Muni riding. I found that after a while, I never fell in a fashion that required them. I also have body armor that I use when doing tight, rocky, class V kayaking but there's really no situation that I would need it at the moment. If I decide to push my limits, I may use these things for Muni but as I progressed, I found myself taking fewer injurious falls and doing more run-outs and rolls that anything else. Don't get me wrong, I fall, and I push my physical limits; I just find it interesting that as I progressed, the safety gear I thought was necessary became obsolete. I too have to go to work and, as a chiropractor, I really can't injure my hands and wrists so it's not that I'm throwing caution to the wind

[Tirving]

Originally Posted by Dane M

Oh, but be careful if you try to roll with a big backpack on... I found that out once

Yeah, I ride with a pretty bulky camelback but I wouldn't call it a big backpack. I don't see myself riding with a big backpack..... The self-supported stuff doesn't appeal to me

[DavidHood]

I am having the hardest time finding a set of wrist guards that do not interfere with operating the brake lever on my 36" Nimbus Impulse with Shadow handle and disc brake. My config is set up just like the picture on UDC website.



I have tried ProDesigned, Hillbilly fingerless, and DocMeter's Fleximeter guards and I enjoy (well that might a bit of an overstatement) wearing any of them on my right (disc golfing) hand as long as I am wearing a KH Pulse glove on my left hand so my middle finger can operate the brake lever without having to cock my left arm way out to the side because of a plastic bump in the palm of my hand.

I understand most guards were made with snow skiing and skate boarding in mind, and they are not totally useless on my Giant MTB, but all of them (except the KH pulse which are too hot and don't come fingerless) make stretching that left middle finger to pull the brake lever very difficult. Anyone else have a set of wrist guards that would work well with my setup?

[saskatchewanian]

I just cut the fingers off a set of KH gloves.

I can't stand the hard plastic splint in other wrist guards.

[One Wheel Good]

DavidHood . . . I have the same set-up as you (Nimbus Impulse with shadow handle + disk brake)and also have the brake leaver up top in the middle. While learning the rolling mount I missed the second pedal and went over the top (no chance of roling out of that one) and broke one set of wrist guards, thankfully no my wrist. I now use RED wrist guards 2010 under my gloves (make sure you get big enough gloves). They haven't had a proper test yet (I have nailed the rolling mount), and i'm not keen on falling on my wrist on purpose to test them. They DON'T have a plastic palm cup so I'm not sure how much protection they offer. I'll let you know what happens if I have a bad UPD that I cant roll out of.

With regard to braking, so long as you don't do the palm strap up to tight they don't impede my left hand fingers.