What speed is safe to ride?

[Isak Alexius]

I wonder what speed would you consider safe to ride without any protective gear?

I'm thinking about buying a king song 14s or 16s and i wonder if i need to use full protective gear or just a helmet 

[Rehab1]

In my opinion there is no designated safe speed where you can avoid injury. People have tripped and fallen while simply walking and have sustained a closed head injury or fracture. My son’s mother- in- law stepped  on a  hoverboard and fell at zero MPH fracturing her wrist.

That being said I must admit there are times that I ride slow down to the mail box or take out the garbage without wearing any gear. I also pray to the Inmotion, Gotway and Ninebot Gods.   

 

Edited September 18, 2018 by Rehab1

[meepmeepmayer]

I agree, there is no safe speed. How a fall turns out is mostly bad or good luck. At any speed, with or without gear. But without gear, some injuries will be hard to avoid in any fall. Mostly to the hands and knees.

By far the most important piece of gear are wrist guards. Their purpose - in order of real-world importance, is to cushion the initial impact (protects your entire arm, from hand to shoulder joint), prevent horrible, horrible abrasion on your palms, and finally prevent actual broken bones in your wrist area. Wear wrist guards no matter if you wear any other protection.

Knee guards and helmet are second. Knee guards against abrasion mostly. Helmet for your head, especially your face (full face preferred) and mistakes other people (read: cars) make.

And then comes all the other stuff.

Wearing gear isn't as bad as one might think, you either learn to do it after a fall that convinces you (like me) or you act in advance. Wrist guards are no problem anyways, and for knees (and possibly elbows) get protecttors that can be put on from the outside (no sleeves to slide in), these are much more quick and comfortable to use (the slide-ins are plain annoying). Helmet.. well, gotta do it (or not).

For reference, I fried my first wheel after 250km on a steep mountain, and dedided wrist guards were in order. Even that slow speed fall nearly wore through the (cloth) winter gloves I was wearing (dirt path). Then these wrist guards definitely saved my hands from undoubtedly terrible injury in the second fall (25+ km/h after like 2000km) and I learned that knee guards would have been a good idea. Now after 5000+km of riding with wrist+knee guards, I finally decided to wear a helmet before I learn the hard way that I should have used one, and got a helmet recently.

[Marty Backe]

Like @Rehab1, sometimes I won't wear anything when tootling around the house. Otherwise, learned from the school of hard knocks, I always put on wrist guards when riding, even for 1/2-mile.

When I go for dedicated rides I'll add knee pads and a helmet, and sometimes elbow pads.

I messed up my hands and wrists from a 1-mph fall in the early days when I wore nothing. The thing is, we are on pedals elevated above the ground that often do not provide a platform to push off against. So it's different then walking and tripping on something. So even a very slow speed fall has the potential to mess up your body.

Wrist guards are cheap (even $100 pair of wrist guards are cheap relative to injuries and/or long lasting pain) and take like 15-seconds to put on. Really, hardly an inconvenience.

This all being said, given time, expect periodic injuries. Hopefully all on the minor side. This is a contact sport.

[JBoo]

I remember when I first learned to ride, I debated whether I'd keep wearing a helmet or not.  The very first day I went commuting on my wheel, a car in a residential area came out of a side street and turned into the main street; it did not stop or slow down and the main street was so narrow that the driver nearly struck me head-on.  I've always worn gloves and a helmet (at a minimum) ever since.  As others have mentioned, speed isn't so much about diminishing the kind of injuries you might sustain, it's about reaction time.  Just like any other vehicle, the faster you're traveling, the less reaction time you have and the fewer options you have.  If a pedestrian suddenly walks in front of me and I'm going only 5mph, I can pretty much just step off the wheel and stop.  I sure won't be doing that at 15mph.  When someone at work expressed interest in learning to ride and bought one of my old wheels, I told him the most important safety rule is STFD (slow the fuck down).  Just keep in mind that it isn't only about saving your own butt, it's also about everyone else around you.  If you're foolish enough to go speeding down a pedestrian crowded sidewalk at 20mph and lose control, yeah, sure, you might walk away without a scratch, but the same can't be said for someone you or your wheel struck, and you might be on the hook for criminal charges to boot.

[Rywokast]

I haven't fallen per se on an EUC but in my early stages riding my first Ninebot, especially at night with no headlight, I was thrown off quite a few times but at its meager 20 kph top speed was able to easily run off every single one of them even if completely unexpected.. I very much doubt I could run off of 25 kph+ or like the speeds I go now 35-45 not even the fastest man on earth could run off that.. So to me anything over 20 kph is no longer a "safe" speed and is a speed where you need to act not like you're on a toy, but on a motor vehicle and dress/act appropriately.

[The Fat Unicyclist]

Today I rode around the block with no "gear" at all... And it felt very unnerving.

TLDR - Wear protection ALWAYS!!!

[Mono]

18 hours ago, Isak Alexius said:

I wonder what speed would you consider safe to ride without any protective gear?

 I'm thinking about buying a king song 14s or 16s and i wonder if i need to use full protective gear or just a helmet 

Don't overestimate the effect of protective gear. We have seen quite a few reports of serious injuries despite of it. IMHO, riding responsibly is more effective for your safety than wearing protective gear. However, it's also more difficult.

Learn to separate from the wheel without falling (i.e. "running off") and without getting hit by the wheel. Learn to reflectively bent the knees as emergency measure (like this the flat foot can reach the ground if necessary).

I do not wear protective gear and feel 20km/h to be comfortably safe. I never ride faster than 25km/h, which I am also able to run.

[Marty Backe]

3 hours ago, Mono said:

Don't overestimate the effect of protective gear. We have seen quite a few reports of serious injuries despite of it. IMHO, riding responsibly is more effective for your safety than wearing protective gear. However, it's also more difficult.

Learn to separate from the wheel without falling (i.e. "running off") and without getting hit by the wheel. Learn to reflectively bent the knees as emergency measure (like this the flat foot can reach the ground if necessary).

I do not wear protective gear and feel 20km/h to be comfortably safe. I never ride faster than 25km/h, which I am also able to run.

I really have to disagree with Mono. But he has been very consistent through the years, never advocating using any  protection. Most of the people on this Forum do not agree with his recommendations concerning safety gear.

I think it's irresponsible advice to offer new riders. If after you've developed a lot of experience on the wheel, enough to form your own opinions regarding safety gear, then by all means listen to what he has to say and act on it if you wish.

That's my take.

[Ipsiain]

I don’t wear saftey gear either and I don’t feel particularly safe about it. 

I wouldn’t advise anyone to do the same. Its a risk. And there are dozens of different factors to include. Know your limits, and know the limits of your wheel, and stay within them. 

Its a personal choice and i guess everyone has their own views and preferences. 

Personally, i think that if you are worried about falling off definitely cover yourself up for piece of mind.

Now if i lived in a country that didn’t provide free healthcare. I couldn’t afford to take that risk and perhaps wouldn’t ride a wheel at all. (with or without saftey gear ) 

[csmyers]

I’m young and I come from the world of downhill and freestyle long boarding, bombing hills with no brakes. I would wear gloves, a helmet, and sometimes elbow g-forms but my elbows got all sorts of road rash anyway. I’m used to falling safely (many times a week!)

On an EUC, I’m going similar speeds as when I’m bombing hills but with brakes. I trust myself to fall safely and ride intelligently, so I haven’t worn any safety gear in years. Last time I fell was when I overleaned the puny 260Wh IPS Zero, and I ended up with a pretty badly sprained wrist.

@Marty Backe is right, as much as I trust my new wheel to not die (ACM2) I’m definitely in the market for some wrist guards. Hands are often the first thing to hit the ground. That’ll be my new minimum.

[US69]

Without any other words:

[Rehab1]

34 minutes ago, US69 said:

Without any other words:

 

Perfect ‘to the point’ depictions!  

[Rehab1]

54 minutes ago, csmyers said:

Hands are often the first thing to hit the ground. That’ll be my new minimum.

Unfortunately hands don’t fully stop the forward momentum. 

[kasenutty]

I dunno, those head scars are pretty badass looking

[Mono]

5 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

Most of the people on this Forum do not agree with his recommendations concerning safety gear.

I am not aware of having (ever) given any individual safety gear recommendations. I do occasionally give safety riding behavior and practicing recommendations. I have said that safety gear may have a variety of unexpected negative effects, which is likely to be true. Representatives who reflectively point out their benefits and recommend to wear them are vast in this forum, so there is no need to add myself to this list. I have also said that active safety (riding style) is likely to be more important than passive safety (gear) which could be wrong, who really knows. I will also say that if you fall on the back of your head hard, wearing a helmet is almost invariably a good thing.

 

[Marty Backe]

27 minutes ago, Mono said:

I am not aware of having (ever) given any individual safety gear recommendations. I do occasionally give safety riding behavior and practicing recommendations. I have said that safety gear may have a variety of unexpected negative effects, which is likely to be true. Representatives who reflectively point out their benefits and recommend to wear them are vast in this forum, so there is no need to add myself to this list. I have also said that active safety (riding style) is likely to be more important than passive safety (gear) which could be wrong, who really knows. I will also say that if you fall on the back of your head hard, wearing a helmet is almost invariably a good thing.

 

Good points. Just to be clear, you've given lots of safety gear advice - that is, not to wear safety gear 

[Mono]

7 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

Good points. Just to be clear, you've given lots of safety gear advice - that is, not to wear safety gear 

Then you seem to know better than me what I have done. I am pretty sure though I never recommended to anyone that they should not wear safety gear. And I can easily be proven wrong, if there actually is such a post around (which should be easy to find if I have done lots of them, as you say).

[Marty Backe]

7 minutes ago, Mono said:

Then you seem to know better than me what I have done. I am pretty sure though I never recommended to anyone that they should not wear safety gear. And I can easily be proven wrong, if there actually is such a post around (which should be easy to find if I have done lots of them, as you say).

Maybe I'm on drugs right now and am not reading properly today. I think most people (but I'm willing to accept that I'm wrong - it's the drugs) reading your post on this thread would consider it a recommendation not to wear safety gear.

[Mono]

12 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

Maybe I'm on drugs right now and am not reading properly today. I think most people (but I'm willing to accept that I'm wrong - it's the drugs) reading your post on this thread would consider it a recommendation not to wear safety gear.

I see, you mean that most people would take my personal behavior as wisdom  and recommendation that should guide their own behavior. I can kind-of see why, but I wouldn't have expected or experienced most people to see that either 

[Lukas83]

The Answer is easy : The Safest speed to go without protection is 0 mph!

I fell my first time bad on my hands going about 7mph...i had pain for 4weeks in my left Hand. 

So: i would never ever go without a Helmet, wristguard etc...

 

After my first hard accident i bought a fox Motocross jacket with full upper body protection. 

[LanghamP]

On 9/20/2018 at 3:59 PM, Lukas83 said:

The Answer is easy : The Safest speed to go without protection is 0 mph!

I fell my first time bad on my hands going about 7mph...i had pain for 4weeks in my left Hand. 

So: i would never ever go without a Helmet, wristguard etc...

 

After my first hard accident i bought a fox Motocross jacket with full upper body protection. 

I'm going to be a whiny bastard and down vote you, nothing personal, as the worst crash I've ever had was actually a zero speed crash where I stopped (under 1 mph) to hop over PVC pipe.

Nearly two years later and my jerk-off wrist still hurts. Basically a long-term injury.

[Ipsiain]

11 minutes ago, LanghamP said:

I'm going to be a whiny bastard and down vote you, nothing personal, as the worst crash I've ever had was actually a zero speed crash where I stopped (under 1 mph) to hop over PVC pipe.

Nearly two years later and my jerk-off wrist still hurts. Basically a long-term injury.

Haha, i think he meant there is no safe speed. Zero mph as in you are only safe when you are not on your wheel. That was my interpretation anyway!

[Electroman]

On 9/18/2018 at 6:59 PM, Rehab1 said:

In my opinion there is no designated safe speed where you can avoid injury. People have tripped and fallen while simply walking and have sustained a closed head injury or fracture. My son’s mother- in- law stepped  on a  hoverboard and fell at zero MPH fracturing her wrist.

That being said I must admit there are times that I ride slow down to the mail box or take out the garbage without wearing any gear. I also pray to the Inmotion, Gotway and Ninebot Gods.   

 

Absolutely, well said Rehab1!

I feel my MSX is much safer at higher speed vs the ACM at lower speeds, it's just a lot more stable, harder and not as "flimsy" or however to describe it no good English word come to me atm? Just feel a lot safer and calmer to ride

[Lukas83]

21 hours ago, Ipsiain said:

Haha, i think he meant there is no safe speed. Zero mph as in you are only safe when you are not on your wheel. That was my interpretation anyway!

Yep!