[Closed] Protective gear: where will it end?

Pads + droppers + e-bikes = MAYHEM!

Shhhhhh, don't tell anyone, I've stopped wearing a helmet on short rides. By the time I've put my bag and helmet in the basket there's no room for shopping!

Swings and roundabouts though, I'd probably not have missed two years riding if I'd been wearing knee pads for a bad crash in my second year of uni.

Well ideally in a situation where you can throw yourself off a cliff Josh Bender style and only suffer light grazes when you bin it thanks to your inexpensive protection that’s so light and breathable you forget your wearing it the moment you put it on. Well unless that would take some of the thrill away from it.

Anyway, it’s ebbs and flows, I recall DHers setting off looking like the Defensive Line of the Miami Dolphins with full length pressure suits, knee AND shin pads that meant you look like you were going to Bat against the Windies and those bloody awful 1st Gen Met Parachutes at every TC. (I may have owned all of the above at some point).

The current gen softer more flexible knee and elbow pads are really good and aren’t a bother to wear and the Enduro style XC lids offer good protection for the base of the skull with little or no weight / heat penalty, so why not?

I need to wear it or Mr Stevens, Head of Catering, will kill me with a tray.

I don't wear protection.  Life on the edge.

Didn't used to when I mostly rode in the fairly gentle Chilterns. Now however, on the less than forgiving slopes of Calderfornia I'm pretty much always in at least lightweight knee pads.

I wear what I think is an appropriate amount of protection for what I consider the risk for the riding I I'm doing.

I don't hark back to ye old days when men were real men, women were real women, and an MTB festival was 24 hours of riding round a muddy field 😉

The last big off I had was as <10mph.  Pootling along a trail, front wheel hit a branch hidden under some leaves, only the branch was at 45 degrees to the trail.  Wheel deflected to the right, then dug in, and I had an OTB into a tree.

No amour on upper body where I hit the tree, resulting in 2 cracked ribs which was muckle painful for weeks after.

Bell Super 2R chin guard also hit the tree.  Rather than than my OEM chin.  I haven't actually used the 2R without the chin guard, as the straps need adjusting, but that convinced me it was worth it, even for trail riding.

The thing is having a bit of protection gives you a bit more confidence so you relax and fall off less. In theory anyway...in practice this may be offset by higher speeds...

Where will it end? Round the back of Nat West in Swindon

It stopped for me at anything more than a helmet and gloves as if I wear anything more I feel invincible and do really stupid stuff!  I'll wear a full face helmet for uplift days or if I'm going to somewhere like Windhill or Tidworth as you push up anyway but for everything else it's an Enduro-style lid and gloves.

We are at least moving back form the ridiculousness that P-jay mentions for even a gentle XC pootle that some people went to.  Now there is so much good, lightweight protection like knee and elbow pads around it's much easier to protect yourself without the burden of cooking in the stuff.  It will be interesting to see how the whole E-bike/protection scenario evolves as you can go as fast on the ups as the downs so there's more scope for bouncing off rocks!

Learning to fall is the best way of saving yourself from injury.  I think these days people do tend to pad up, and not think about how to fall more safely.

Padding helps but it isn't going to stop you breaking stuff.

I don't ever wear a helmet on an XC or road ride. Never wear pads on Enderpo tracks and rarely wear any protective gear at all dirt jumping. But wear a full face Downhilling (uplifted)

Nothing against others wearing as much as they want but it's pretty funny the amount of people who try to advise me on what I "should" be wearing. I wouldn't dream of telling anyone what NOT to wear.

Yes but you're like a superhuman geex. Online anyway.

I reckon road is where you most need a helmet.  Not cos you're going to fall off, but because cars might clobber you and A-pillars are hard.

Somebody earlier!!!

Saw a commuter today in office-wear, on a BSO and a full-face helmet, a full-face MOTORBIKE helmet. Not sure whether he had pads underneath his shirt and trousers though.

What makes you think where (and when) I ride my roadbike it's busy with cars?
It's very rare to see as many as 4 or 5 vehicles being driven in an hour on most of my regular local road loops.

It’s very rare to see as many as 4 or 5 vehicles being driven in an hour on most of my regular local road loops.

Given how high and far you are gapping not surprised at all!!

I see someone's left the mikewsmith drivel generator on again.

🙄

I see someone’s left the mikewsmith drivel generator on again.

Aw princess, just leap higher 😉 I thought you would be in Switzerland this weekend

Somebody please switch it off.

red button near the power switch or just select mega awesome there, whichever is easier!!

Wow if that is your promo vid you need to work on it a bit

Do you even jump bro?

@ mikeswsmith - Them shorts are all kinds of wrong though arn't thee?

I've got to the age (47) where a rock to the knee has longer lasting consequences so I'll wear knee pads at places like the Widowmaker descent on Dartmouth.  I've also just invested in a Bell 3R for BPW type weekends after my mate smashed his face in there last year.  It's my first year with this sort of protection and the lightness/convenience of modern kit means it's not too much of a faff.

I reckon if it gives me a few more years of riding, even if I have an off or two, then it'll be worth it.

I’ll have the penné al arabiata.

Here in Hong Kong, the temperature and humidity makes wearing a load of protection desperately uncomfortable for much of the year. I wear knee-pads, padded gloves and a MET Parachute when I'm being all #enduro, but otherwise it's just a lightweight lid and trying not to fall off. Mostly OK.

🙂

Normal trails it’s a giro chronicle enduro style lid most of the time - then gloves and lightweight knee pads. I always used to think knee pads were a bit much until I had a fairly innocuous off at Cwmcarn and hit my knee on my dropper lever. Snapped the lever and ended up with knee bursitis and cellulitis- cue a week in hospital on iv antibiotics to kill the infection. So I now always wear knee pads!

Uplift / push up days I’m in a full face with heavier knee/shin pads and forearm/elbow pads.

Knee pads were added after working in a hospital for a while and finding out how hard it is to fix knees. With the modern lightweight ones so good its a no brainer for me, Full face is only for uplift days and the alps.

The only thing I have done is added a bag with a built in back protector

I’ll have the penné al arabiata.

You'll need a tray.

Did you dry these in a rainforest?

I reckon road is where you most need a helmet. Not cos you’re going to fall off, but because cars might clobber you and A-pillars are hard.

I think you may be misguided if you think a bicycle helmet is going to much use in protecting you from direct hits from a car.

What makes you think where (and when) I ride my roadbike it’s busy with cars?

I said road as in road generally.  I've no idea where you ride.  But point stands as a general statement.  Your head, your rules.

Lid, helmet and knee pads. I spend my time at work crawling about so best to try and save my knees.

knees are so fragile that you would have to be pretty stupid to not wear pads when they are so lightweight nowadays.

not wearing a helmet or appropriate padding is fine as long as your don't expect anyone else to stop and help you if you have an accident...

Each to their own. I ride with lots f guys who wear loads of armour - knees, elbows and convertibel full face at a minimum, -  in places where I'd wear just knee pads, or none at all. I find the amount of armour folks wear stongly depends on their ob - guys who work for themselves and can't afford to get injured because it means missing work tend to take a bit more care to cpver themselves.

I cope by doing what suits me, and letting them do what suits them

Can't stand knee pads. Makes me stupid I guess. *insert appropriate rolly eyes*

Plenty of offs, never damaged knees, except a bit of grazing. I'd rather wear rib and shoulder protection as that's what I actually hurt when I crash, but you can't get that.

not wearing a helmet or appropriate padding is fine as long as your don’t expect anyone else to stop and help you if you have an accident…

probably trolly, but I'm going to say eff off anyway. horrible sentiment.

probably trolly, but I’m going to say eff off anyway. horrible sentiment.

only as selfish as the person who decides to not wear appropriate protection.

It's a bit like going up a mountain without appropriate gear and then expecting mountain rescue to pick up the pieces.

but everybodies massively entitled these days...

I do not need a tray.