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Best EUC leg padding


Williamkeddy

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I am new to electric unicycling and just purchased a gotway mcm3. After only a few short rides I have noticed decent bruising on the sides of my calf and ankles. What padding/materials have you guys used to prevent bruising on long rides?

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I pack a squirrel between each leg and the machine.  I stop every time he wants to pick up a nut, so we both win.

Seriously though, I did an invasion of our local Big 5 sporting good store checking out the alternatives.  It's not easy to get stuff that protects your shins on the sides rather than just the front.  They also tend to be extremely short -- like child-size even in adult large/XL.  The trend has gone over to tiny shin guards.  That's a shame because some, like the Adidas Ghost ones I tried, integrated ankle and (lower) shin protection into a single sleeve of what felt like breathable cloth which was extremely comfortable, and I would have been very happy with them if the shin guards weren't absurdly small.

So I got loose shin plates I can move around a bit.  It's still not the ideal solution, as they tend to be contoured to fit over the front and don't reposition sideways all that well. I also got Ace Wrap rubberized elastic sleeves to give just a bit more padding to both shin and ankle (separate pieces). and help hold the shin guards in place a little more firmly too.

I haven't found any ankle guards that would prevent bruising outside some with a hard plastic ankle cap-type attachment riveted onto the shin sleeve, but they have a weird hard plate under the foot which cuts right into my feet and cannot be removed without ripping out rivets..  Amazon does have some foam ones with pads directly over the ankles which would provide a little more padding than the simple Ace Wrap foam sleeves, but they don't appear to be as protective as that hard plastic would be.  Luckily they come cheap.

It seems to me that I am going to have to pad both the machine itself and my body.  

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6 hours ago, Williamkeddy said:

I am new to electric unicycling and just purchased a gotway mcm3. After only a few short rides I have noticed decent bruising on the sides of my calf and ankles. What padding/materials have you guys used to prevent bruising on long rides?

These are the best ankle stabilisers in my experience and offer some degree of padding. I have been using them of over a year and swear by them. I have also posted about them several time before on this site.

You could also insert medium/high density foam on the inside before lacing up. I used pipe foam insulation that was flattened for a while, and it worked really well. 

AnkleStabiliser.jpg

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6 hours ago, Williamkeddy said:

After only a few short rides I have noticed decent bruising on the sides of my calf and ankles

It will stop happening. At first you grip the sides far too tightly, once you are comfortable you should both find you more stand on the peddles than grip the centre and your muscles will also harden as well.

Having said that, I found that sturdy hiking or army type boots with good ankle and lower leg support (actually the steel toe capped ones supplied by the DIY store I worked for ?) protected my legs better than anything else and gave better control as well by supporting the ankles.  Even if the bruising is currently higher than boots go, the boots still tend to be what presses against the shell. 18 months on now, I can ride around the garden in bedroom slippers!

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1 minute ago, Keith said:

It will stop happening. At first you grip the sides far too tightly, once you are comfortable you should both find you more stand on the peddles than grip the centre and your muscles will also harden as well.

Having said that, I found that sturdy hiking or army type boots with good ankle and lower leg support (actually the steel toe capped ones supplied by the DIY store I worked for ?) protected my legs better than anything else and gave better control as well by supporting the ankles. 18 months on now, I can ride around the garden in bedroom slippers!

My only problem with that is that I found rolling out of a fall with heavy (snow boots) or cumbersome (inline skating) footwear was all but impossible, so when I fell forward hard, bad things tended to happen.

Perhaps some people are simply better at doing that than I?  I did years of jiu-jitsu training and became very good at falling, though.  I have come through some pretty bad crashes and falls with normal shoes on.  Then again, I can't say I actually practiced rolling out of falls with my rollerblades or snow boots much.

At any rate, at this point I am hesitant about using footwear that doesn't integrate with my legs as a natural part of my body.  But again, maybe other people are just rolling with shoebox-sized footwear better than I do it.

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4 minutes ago, Dingfelder said:

At any rate, at this point I am hesitant about using footwear that doesn't integrate with my legs as a natural part of my body.

Yes, true, but at the point that you were still bruising up your legs as a beginner, were you REALLY going fast enough to have to roll? 

Personally I found, probably not helped by being over 60 years old, that whilst still going at speeds whereby I could run off of a fall boots both helped prevent me twisting my ankle and, absolutely most painful of all, stopped the peddles whacking into my ankles when I fell off.

Additionally beginners tend to start wobbling once they reach a certain speed, several of my run off type falls were as a result of that. I found that boots also reduced or prevented that because they better supported the ankles.

Admittedly when I "graduated" to trainers, it did feel very unsure and wobbly for a week or two and I had to force myself not to just go back to boots all the time.

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Hard soccer shin guards (turned to the inside) worked perfectly fine for me. I wouldn't have been able to learn riding without, just too much pain and too low pain tolerance. 

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4 minutes ago, Mono said:

Hard soccer shin guards (turned to the inside) worked perfectly fine for me. I wouldn't have been able to learn riding without, just too much pain.

When I first started riding on a Ninebot One E+ two years ago I had a lot of pain and bruises after the first day so I bought some football shin guards and wore them facing inwards, as Mono says, and it worked perfectly. I wouldn't have been able to ride daily when first learning if I didn't use them as it was just too painful.

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5 hours ago, Dingfelder said:

I saw a few brands of ankle support like that.  To me, the laces made my foot effectively so much bigger that it was hard to get it into my shoe.

I can see how that might seem to be a concern, but the excess laces are secured under the wrap-around bands above the ankles and should not be tucked into the shoes. The laces on the lower part are flat and take little to no space. I wear running (athletic) shoes when I ride, and these stabilisers actually make it easier to slide my foot into and out of the shoe. I've even worn them with dress shoes and had no problems with thickness. If one wears high-top hiking boots that cover the ankles then there could be issues. 

I wear them for safety and stability. When I don't wear them I really notice how vulnerable I feel to injury.

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13 hours ago, litewave said:

I can see how that might seem to be a concern, but the excess laces are secured under the wrap-around bands above the ankles and should not be tucked into the shoes. The laces on the lower part are flat and take little to no space. I wear running (athletic) shoes when I ride, and these stabilisers actually make it easier to slide my foot into and out of the shoe. I've even worn them with dress shoes and had no problems with thickness. If one wears high-top hiking boots that cover the ankles then there could be issues. 

I wear them for safety and stability. When I don't wear them I really notice how vulnerable I feel to injury.

That's a strong recommendation, and if I go for that type of protection, I will choose the ones you recommended first.

I think it must depend on the shoe you are wearing too, whether or not the protectors fit inside.  It worked for you but not for me, on the brands I tried.

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20 hours ago, TremF said:

When I first started riding on a Ninebot One E+ two years ago I had a lot of pain and bruises after the first day so I bought some football shin guards and wore them facing inwards, as Mono says, and it worked perfectly. I wouldn't have been able to ride daily when first learning if I didn't use them as it was just too painful.

It's hard for me to picture how that would work or make things any better ... my fault I guess.

Not trying to be argumentative .... just wondering why facing them inwards would help?  Maybe they're different from the soccer shin guards I'm used to ... I've never seen football shin guards.

I definitely feel the painful thing.  I've got a big hard bruise on my shinbone in an area that doesn't even have any muscle on it.  Like the bone itself is bruised, though I don't think that could happen since there's no real blood supply on the exterior, from my understanding.  Anyway it's literally a pain and does make me a bit reluctant.

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4 hours ago, Dingfelder said:

It's hard for me to picture how that would work or make things any better ... my fault I guess.

Not trying to be argumentative .... just wondering why facing them inwards would help?  Maybe they're different from the soccer shin guards I'm used to ... I've never seen football shin guards.

I definitely feel the painful thing.  I've got a big hard bruise on my shinbone in an area that doesn't even have any muscle on it.  Like the bone itself is bruised, though I don't think that could happen since there's no real blood supply on the exterior, from my understanding.  Anyway it's literally a pain and does make me a bit reluctant.

These are the ones I used -

 81808640_xxl.jpg

By having them on the inside of the leg they provided support and padding so that when gripping the EUC (as most do when learning) the pressure was spread across the guards and not on one area of the leg/shin. As I said - without these I was in too much pain to ride the EUC as the pressure was on the damaged/painful area. 

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On Thursday, June 15, 2017 at 7:05 PM, Williamkeddy said:

I am new to electric unicycling and just purchased a gotway mcm3. After only a few short rides I have noticed decent bruising on the sides of my calf and ankles. What padding/materials have you guys used to prevent bruising on long rides?

I have always used these long strips of this padding. Extremely cheap for long rolls. I add layers of it for super soft learning and lessen it as time goes on for new riders. I have seen people band it to their leg similar to a leg guard but most find a way to attach it to their wheel. Helps a ton. The density is inconsistent between orders but it just means you might need one more layer sometimes than others. I know anothe seller uses EVA foam, same concept. I imagine it may be even cheaper but I haven't tried it yet.

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2 hours ago, TremF said:

These are the ones I used -

 81808640_xxl.jpg

By having them on the inside of the leg they provided support and padding so that when gripping the EUC (as most do when learning) the pressure was spread across the guards and not on one area of the leg/shin. As I said - without these I was in too much pain to ride the EUC as the pressure was on the damaged/painful area. 

Oh I see, thanks.  I have no idea why, but for some reason I was repeatedly thinking of people wearing the shin guards inside out; that was what was throwing me.

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14 hours ago, Dingfelder said:

Oh I see, thanks.  I have no idea why, but for some reason I was repeatedly thinking of people wearing the shin guards inside out; that was what was throwing me.

This is how you can mount them on the wheel, inside out ;) In fact, that is what I did after a week or so: I mounted them on the wheel (using the same strips) to be in the same position where they were when attached to my legs (while standing on the wheel). It worked very well with the model I used and I kept it for several months. It probably would not work as well with the above shown model.

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I never used padding when I was learning. My legs and shins were in so much pain. I wear hard toe boots and my falls always ended with one knee making contact with the ground. I didn't know shin splints were a real thing or that shin splints cause pain. I have a super high pain tolerance so I brushed it off, riding everyday since it arrived two months ago (almost). 

If I could do it over then I would have bought lower leg padding. Now? Maybe those ankle supports. 

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I never had any bruising with any wheel, neither with sneakers nor hiking boots, but I've used these kneepads from the start (probably similar are available about everywhere):

82-889_l_2.jpg

They've got three velcro-straps and go down close to my ankles. I didn't realize it at first, but they're wide enough to partially cover the sides of my shins (never tried turning them "inwards", just wear them like they're supposed to be worn), guess that's why I never had any bruises or discomfort.

 

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2 hours ago, esaj said:

I never had any bruising with any wheel, neither with sneakers nor hiking boots, but I've used these kneepads from the start (probably similar are available about everywhere):

82-889_l_2.jpg

They've got three velcro-straps and go down close to my ankles. I didn't realize it at first, but they're wide enough to partially cover the sides of my shins (never tried turning them "inwards", just wear them like they're supposed to be worn), guess that's why I never had any bruises or discomfort.

 

Interesting ... those look high for shin guards ... the ones I've seen lately for soccer go very low on the shins and in genera are smaller than that.

It's funny, lots of the products out there look like you can mix and match them ... but really you can't.  

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  • 1 month later...

yoga mat is cheap. Cut them as to your shape likings and double tape them on your EUC. in my case, i've widened it according to my likings. and you too can choose whichever color :) no wearables to put on your legs thereafter :) 

20272938_10212531756704003_90692743_o.jpg

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6 minutes ago, Kalmar said:

...or Beta 7800G :P

beta_workwear_knee_pads_1.thumb.jpg.f4d99b46a10787efcc463e1aa191b0ab.jpg

agree! better fixed the paddings on the EUC body... and let your feet no wearables hanging in it... a great freedom to walk around every after getting off the pedal.

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