Safety Gear Recommendations?

Most people wear shinpads. Most that wear them wear 661 4 x 4's. You can
find them at http://tinyurl.com/cca5z

Some choose to wear elbow pads and/or wrist guards. I just wear
shin/knee pads, but thats personally choice.

KH.

--
juggle508

----------Joshua 1:9 ----------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
juggle508's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/6701
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/44758

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

--
manu2015
------------------------------------------------------------------------
manu2015's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/9834
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/44758

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.

--
peter.bier

-Peter Bier
------------------------------------------------------------------------
peter.bier's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/1506
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/44758

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."

--
maestro8

Those are my principles. If you don't like those, I have others. --
Groucho Marx
------------------------------------------------------------------------
maestro8's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/7871
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/44758

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?

Or what about the Kris Holm Pulse gloves with wrist support. In the picture,
they look kind of bulky and hot. Does anyone have anything to say about
their comfort and/or wrist support?
--
Joseph Nichols

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?

Or what about the Kris Holm Pulse gloves with wrist support. In the picture,
they look kind of bulky and hot. Does anyone have anything to say about
their comfort and/or wrist support?
--
Joseph Nichols

Joseph Nichols said:

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.

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.

Quoted message said:

Or what about the Kris Holm Pulse gloves with wrist support. In the
picture,
they look kind of bulky and hot. Does anyone have anything to say
about
their comfort and/or wrist support?

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.

--
peter.bier

-Peter Bier
------------------------------------------------------------------------
peter.bier's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/1506
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/44758

I reccomend wrsit guards!!!

--
babyivan

*NO SLEEP TILL BROOKLYN!*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
babyivan's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/11031
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/44758

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.

--
unidad

Momma says this is a waste of time.
So who wants to go uni?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
unidad's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/8151
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/44758

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.

--
gerblefranklin

http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Trials-Muni

Nick's main man.

"I love freedom dearly, ideally, in theory, but in reality we're not
there yet--Not nearly."--Cold Duck Complex
------------------------------------------------------------------------
gerblefranklin's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/4295
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/44758

gerblefranklin said:

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.

--
babyivan

*NO SLEEP TILL BROOKLYN!*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
babyivan's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/11031
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/44758