Got my 24" Surly yesterday, practicing inside our house in the hallway until I get decent. About 4 hours of practice over the last 24 hours and it is going pretty well. I’d like to move it outside at some point, concrete and fences are in my future.
What safety pads are smart for a beginner? I already know I need shin ones,as I marred my left shin on a UPD last night and wacked a pedal. I’m using my 4yo son’s pee wee soccer shin guards right now but since they are the size of a playing card, this isn’t a good long term solution!
So do I need just shin or shin/knee ones?
Elbow?
Wrist?
I have a helmet already.
Brands? Packages recommended? What not to get?
If you are planing on riding muni shin/knee pads are the way to go as they prevent you from bruising your knees on the crown. I’ve only ever used the KH ones and they are awesome, but they can get pretty hot, though I imagine most shin pads do. As for other equipment I don’t think you’ll need it until you start getting a bit more advanced. Wrist guards are a good idea though.
I use KH gloves with wrist protection (some of the time, when I’m more worried about a hard fall - otherwise I have some Troy Lee DH gloves which are less trouble to put on and off). Inevitably if I don’t wear gloves I fall on my hands - though they’re also very handy to protect your hands when catching the uni. I use 661 Riot shin pads which provide some protection to the back of your leg - it’s not solid like the front, but IME the hits you get on the back of your leg are a lot more gentler, and it suffices.
Is that really the reason people wear knee pads? Can’t say I’ve ever hit my knees on the crown - I don’t wear knee pads for muni (I don’t normally wear shin pads either, just KH gloves and a helmet), and haven’t ever regretted that - though I do fairly gentle muni compared to many on here. The first time I ever put on knee protection was when riding my new Schlumpf - where the perception is that I might fall hard as I can’t run out a fall at 15mph.
Damage actualy depends on peadals… If you are planing use “soft” ones - you can ignore shin pads.
But if you will use “grippy” ones with metal hex hole spikes - better use shin guards with plastic insert or plastic shin protectors. Better avoid neoperene cover on working surface.
Here is my leg without shin guards and with Cope shin guard (I also use IXS shin/knee guards and they are deeply scratched as well):
Wow, thanks for all the suggestions and pics(ouch!)
The pedals that are on it, I planing using until they die. They are metal flats with studs that screw in and since it is used, the studs look pretty hard to get out at this point in their life. So I will deal.
So helmet I got, so looks like definately wrist guards and shin guards. Not sure about knee ones or not, I am a marathon runner so maybe just as a precaution since I use my legs so much(and knees) that I should go full shin/knee combo. Think I’ll go soft shell though, full wrap arounds seem smart.
Definitely get ones with knee guards too if you can. Whenever I take an unplanned tumble I land on my knees which would be pretty painful if it wasn’t for my shin/knee guards.
I also wear gloves and a helmet whenever I’m doing trials or muni. The gloves are just to protect from scraping when I fall but I’ve been a bit more worried about my wrists so I just ordered Harbinger wrist wraps that should give some wrist support.
What do you mean by “soft” pedals? Rubber ones? Because IME plastic pins are quite sufficient to make a mess of your legs. IIRC the bottom ones (which were a bit deeper) were made by metal pins, the top ones by plastic pins - I changed my pedals after making the first set of holes and made the second ones half an hour later! The next day I ordered some pads.
by “soft” I meant pedals as below pictured, they are not making holes or scratches, just hitting.
But these ones are work like hole puncher and scratching perfect as well - I using shin guards since some DMR V8 pedals made 6 holes deep to bone on my leg.
Yowch! Mine are like the yellow ones, metal with metal pins. Luckily, my bite is just one nice round hole with a big bruise around it. Thru jeans no less! Guess when riding inside my house in a hallway, I should expect the unexpected 4yo kid popping out of a doorway. I freaked out and forgot how to dismount, chose to take the wrong foot off first, and wacked a pedal straight on. For me, riding doesn’t seem to be the most difficult, dismounting correctly does.
Get hard guards - these pedals will destroy any neoprene or fabric really fast. Plastic or sintetic brided material (or cevlar may be) will be much more durable and usefull.
Does anyone know of good hard shell knee/shin pads for unicycling? My KH pads get ripped up really fast and I still get bruises through them. I’m looking for some hard shell pads that also cover the back of the leg but haven’t found any so far. Does anyone know of any?
I never had a problem landing on my knees, so Veggie Wraps and SixSixOne shin wraps were all I used. A good set of skate style wrist guards is important, Hillbilly makes the best.
Make sure that whatever you get for leg protection, that it has enough wrap to cover the back of your legs, that’s the place you’ll get the most damage; trust me in this and you’ll be happier
OK, I am looking for more protection and more comfort than I have with my lizard skins. Use is for muni and flatland.
I want knee and shin coverage. I have an issue with the lizzard skins irritating the back of my knee until it bleeds. Where the pad ends seems to dig into the back of my knee and cause this problem.
I am looking at KH Percussion. Should I also look at 661? If so, what model. Anybody have both who can compare them?
i’ve done well so far with helmet and wrist guards. the helmet i haven’t hit yet but i’ve gone down hard a couple of times on the guards.
About the pedals i suggest you might try to find some soft plastic non studded pedals for learning. You are going to scrape the pedals up anyways so beat up some cheap ones. then you don’t have to worry so much about the hits getting ugly. I have yet to smack my shins even when i started freemounting (i did wear some some simple soccer guards though).
I did manage to scrape up the back of my achilles pretty good a couple of times and somehow i smashed my little toe with a pedal end from a wierd fall (you’ll have some of these when you start letting go of your support).
