So I am a big fan of armour, the hardened shell in particular. I pretty much don’t ride off road without at least my knee pads. The one time I went without in years I damaged/ tore my plc in one of my knees.
Tuesday night I was at the scene of the crime with our club ride at mcfight. Things went wrong and I took a hard fall to what else but exposed rock. I got up and rode away with my tail between my legs but having fallen on the same knee without protection I don’t think I would have. I’ll let you be the judge.
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Jeez.
I had a front seat, it was not nice to watch. His armour definitely saved the day. It could have been much worse. To take a fall like that on the granite and to be able to finish the ride speaks volumes for good protection.
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Ive been seriously debating picking up some pads. This post has me sold.
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Wish I had been wearing this for my ride at MacIntosh on Saturday (it’s for galloping and jumping horses cross country) because maybe my ribs might still be where they were originally placed!
Is there an equivalent for mountain biking?!
Sorry to hear that even legends fall victim.
Glad you weren’t hurt!
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And that’s why I posted this up. If you’re not wearing protection you’re not protected.
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What’s people thoughts on elbow pads? I’ve only really injured my arms.
I mainly wear knee pads because I went through a stage of continually hitting my knee on my stem.
Ok soooo. I wear elbow pads anytime I’m riding Fight or Wentworth because 6 weeks off work, months of a wound and skin sensitivity one year later isnt worth it. The same crash destroyed my claw knee pads
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I wear arm protection on most rides also. Had them on Tuesday night and they came into play as well during my adventure.
They also have a hard cup over the joint as well as padding down the forearms. It’s hard not to tell people to use them when we ride somewhere like mcfight or whopper with so much exposed rock.
I find I am more relaxed and comfortable riding with armour now but that could just be the weed. Seriously I feel much the same as if you rode without a helmet as I do without my armour. I may not fall but I’m not worrying about it in the back of my mind the whole ride either. And if I were to fall I have that much more chance to ride away unhurt and that’s the result I’m looking for in the end.
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So elbow and knee pads are the recommendations?
How often should a helmet be replaced?
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When they are broken.
Helmets are recommended every 5 years because the foam becomes brittle over time and looses effectiveness. If you use it daily it’s recommended even sooner then 5y, sun UV speeds things up. Or and hard falls with visible damage or not. Foam can be cracked inside the shell reducing effectiveness even if you can’t see damage
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Thank you all for this conversation. I now have a new helmet, some pretty sweet elbow pads and my knee pads are on order.
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I fractured my elbow 3 years ago on the Whopper power line. I wasn’t doing anything super risky, just a little wheelie off a rock maybe 30cm high. But my front tire flattened on the landing, and I got dumped onto granite. It was a long time healing, just had surgery last December to get out the extra bits floating around that weren’t supposed to be there. I don’t ride without my armour anymore! I just bought some Dainese knee pads with shin protection, and also ride with G-Form shorts, shirt, and elbow pads. The G-Form stuff is comfortable, but the knee pads I had didn’t hold up (even before a crash). I crashed on them a few months ago and really did them in! The “soft until impact” doesn’t really like sharp rocks much, and that probably applies to granite as well.
I don’t care if I look like a grade-schooler bubble-wrapped for their first ride by a worried parent. I definitely care that I can ride away from a crash and not be off the bike for weeks or months at a time.
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Where can one buy some armour locally in the HRM area? I have some soft pads made by fox where the elastic is getting a bit stretched and was thinking of getting some hard shell knee pads at least. Cyclesmith doesn’t seem to have much in stock right now, at least according to their website
After the crash I had the other day, I’m thinking of getting a new helmet, starting to wear a mouth guard and have been looking around at some elbow/knee sleeves, would like something that works with lycra rather than requiring a switch to baggies. Thinking POC helmet wise based on what I have read online.
In the past I mostly rode Spider Lake but have just been riding Mcintosh since I’ve gotten back to cycling as it sounds like Spider Lake is mostly shut down but a fall at Mcintosh seems a lot less forgiving than a fall at Spider Lake! So need to beef up my gear.
Aside from the usual local bike stores, there’s also a roller derby supply shop near Oxford Street and Bayers Road (Coffin Skate) that @TamBan went to recently for some gear.
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