Besides helmets, what other safety gear do some of you like to use? I don’t
see much need for knee pads, but I have thought elbow pads might be a good
thing to get. And wrist guards. Anyone have recommendations? It looks to me
in some of these videos like people are wearing some kind of shin guard. Is
that what it is?
Trying to have fun and stay in one piece,
Joseph
Most people wear shinpads. Most that wear them wear 661 4 x 4’s. You can find them at http://sixsixone.com/catalog.aspx?id=b28d7c14-b415-4522-ab48-d1083034d1dc&pl=BIKE
Some choose to wear elbow pads and/or wrist guards. I just wear shin/knee pads, but thats personally choice.
KH.
I think it depends on the sort of things you want to do. I don’t like wearing protections and always wear the minimum.
I started to learn without any protection and did some freestyle without never inuring myself.
Then i went into little trial and bought a qu-ax trial. I dug some hurting holes in my ankles with the thing where the hub meet the cranks so i made ankle pads that i put in my socks. Now i never practice without them.
When i started tricks that involve getting my feet off of the metallics pedals the shin guards became a compulsory. And i bought the 661 mentionned earlier.
Now that i want to go into higher trials and street, in dangerous environements, i should add the helmet to my equipement.
For those that practice muni, protections for knees, elbows and wrist seem usefull.
Manuel
What protective gear is a good idea depends very much on what kind of riding you are doing and what particular skills you are working on.
When you fall off a unicycle (as opposed to dismounting gracefully) the things that tend to hit the ground first are your hands and knees. At low speeds this is likely to result in bruising whereas at high speeds without protection you are likely to rip lots of skin and possibly even flesh off your self. After ripping my finger and palms to shreds I am a firm believer in gloves. Gloves can save your skin and I always wear them now when commuting, riding trials or muni. I don’t care so much about my knees as they were never pretty anyway and I can survive with skinned knees. Skinned hands make it hard to type though!
The natural reaction when falling is to put out your hands to break your fall. This can result in a broken wrist if the landing is band enough so wrist guards are a good idea if you think it is likely you will come off at high speed (eg riding a coker very fast with short cranks or doing trials over nasty rocky terrain with big drops). I don’t use them but that’s because I haven’t had any bad wrist injuries yet. (I’m sure I’ll buy some once I break a wrist).
Some people get bashed ankles a lot from trials riding and wear 661 ankle armour. I have injured my ankles and torn ligaments badly so I now wear a 661 pro race-brace which is excellent at preventing further injury. It probably would have prevented all the sprains in the first place too.
Leg armour is a fantastic idea as almost any muni or trials rider has experienced the pain of a metal pedal in the calves or shins. Shindentations are not pretty and these kind of injuries can require stiches. I’ve seen two of my friends carted off to hospital by injuries leg armour would have prevented.
Many leg armour designs include knee coverage which can be helpful in big bales but is not as important as shin coverage.
I virtually never use my elbow armour for the simple fact that I’ve yet to have a crash where it would have helped me. Leg armour on the other hand saves me nearly every ride.
I think the critical pieces of equipment are leg armour and gloves. You can walk away unscathed from a lot of UPDs with that combo.
Shin pads of some sort will save your shins from unnecessary bruises… when your feet come off the pedals and the wheel keeps spinning you can get whacked in the shin pretty good. Ouch! If you want to save money, some cheap soccer shin guards are sufficient to keep you protected.
Wrist guards (or at least gloves) are crucial for riders of all skill levels. Your hands and wrists will take a beating when you try and catch yourself while falling… and your hands are rather sensitive (and an important feature of your body!) Your wrists contain many little bones, and lots of cartilage and tendons; bruises and strains in this area can have lasting effects that aren’t always good. I’ve pounded my hands from years of skateboarding, martial arts, rock climbing and uni riding, and sometimes my wrists are sore for weeks after an injury. Save yourself the pain and protect your wrists!
The rest of the gear you see others ride with (kneepads, elbow / arm guards, etc) are all a matter of personal preference. For me, putting on all my armor (full arm and leg protection, wrist guards and helmet) gives me a bit more confidence when I ride… I know I can do risky moves and avoid serious injury.
But as Evel Knievel said: “Bones heal. Chicks dig scars.”
Re: Safety Gear Recommendations?
Cool. Thanks for the suggestions so far. Wrist protection is my primary
concern. Do the 661 2x4 elbow/wrist guards do the trick. From the picture,
it looks like they would do OK protecting your elbow and forearm, but I’m
not so sure about the wrist. Has anyone used them? Liked them? Hated them?
What did you think of their wrist support, in particular?
Joseph Nichols
661 2x4 elbow guards do not provide any wrist protection. They purely protect your elbow and forearms. I find them a little hot to wear and so only bother if I am attempting something very extreme which I know I am likely to end up bailing badly on.
They are fairly bulky BUT they are less bulky than wearing wrist guards over gloves. If you want wrist AND finger protection they are probably the best thing out there at the moment. The people I know who use them think they are pretty good. Your hands will heat up a little so you need to weigh up the discomfort of being sweaty against the consequences of any wrist injury.
If you care only about wrist support and don’t think your fingers are going to get damaged a cheap pair of roller blade wrist guards will protect you fairly well and be cooler. Note that they may not allow you to hold the seat very comfortably whereas the KH gloves are designed so you can easily hold a seat handle.
Re: Safety Gear Recommendations?
Cool. Thanks for the suggestions so far. Wrist protection is my primary
concern. Do the 661 2x4 elbow/wrist guards do the trick. From the picture,
it looks like they would do OK protecting your elbow and forearm, but I’m
not so sure about the wrist. Has anyone used them? Liked them? Hated them?
What did you think of their wrist support, in particular?
Joseph Nichols
I reccomend wrsit guards!!!
I agree with wrist gaurds, check the weight lifting dept at your sporting goods
Store. Harbinger is a good brand available for $10. Use your favorite glove.
For muni, choose your protection based on terrain and equipment. With pinned pedals, I use a helmet and 661-esque leg armor as a general minimum. Gloves come next. Then, if I’m either doing extreme descents or on very pebbly round, 2x4-esque arm armor.
Today iw as doing some descents around 50%, and knowing I would do those at the start of the ride, i used full padding with a helmet, arm armor, gloves, and leg armor. I had multiple falls where I was sent sliding or rolling down the hill, yet no problems other than having to shake the rocks out of my pads. Without the pads the story would be very different.
good point, but im into basic riding on city streets…so i find wrist guards to be enough.
I agree with Peter except I would replace the leg warmers with sturdy footwear. I think the most important safety equipment when Unicycling is footwear. Your feet are always in contact with the pedals, which can have spikey pins, and if you fall, most likely you will land on your feet, so your shoes are your first line of defense. If you manage to fall and not land on your feet, the second most common place to land (and hurt yourself) is your hands, so I think wrist gaurds and or gloves (the KH glove wristgaurd combo is a brilliant idea in my opinion) is the second most important safety gear. Helmets and legwarmers are too hot in my opinion and I don’t wear them, but if someone else feels safer with a whole suit of armour, by all means suit up!