Knee pad and some other gear discussion (split from the 16X thread)

[CampDylan]

39 minutes ago, Mike Paolini said:

Damn straight on the safety gear

I’m starting to think that knee pads are the most important (in regard to what hits the ground first) gear now after watching several vids of riders going down.  This being mainly when the wheel cuts out for whatever reason endo’ing, toes into the ground followed by the knees.

Those are the ONLY pieces I haven’t gotten yet.  Back to Amazon for research, plenty of time before my wheel arrives.

[magicrobots]

Yeah I've ridden a onewheel for ages and never hit my knees over many many crashes and learned to roll it out like a skateboarder.

But an EUC crash seems completely different, and at a much higher speed; so I'm wearing motorcycle jacket, and I'm thinking you're right, I want some kneepads.

[Mike Paolini]

41 minutes ago, CampDylan said:

I’m starting to think that knee pads are the most important (in regard to what hits the ground first) gear now after watching several vids of riders going down.  This being mainly when the wheel cuts out for whatever reason endo’ing, toes into the ground followed by the knees.

Those are the ONLY pieces I haven’t gotten yet.  Back to Amazon for research, plenty of time before my wheel arrives.

You aren't wrong that knees can be important.

Wrists and full face helmet (think teeth) are by far the most important, but knees can be up there too.

I keep meaning to do a video on the safety gear options.  For knees top tier choice , it's a) Leatt Dual Axis, b) motorcycle pants with lvl 2 armor for knees and hips  like the Rev'it Tornado 2, Lowe down it's the Hard 8 stuff followed by D3o G-Form

 

[Reggie510]

51 minutes ago, CampDylan said:

I’m starting to think that knee pads are the most important (in regard to what hits the ground first) gear now after watching several vids of riders going down.  This being mainly when the wheel cuts out for whatever reason endo’ing, toes into the ground followed by the knees.

Those are the ONLY pieces I haven’t gotten yet.  Back to Amazon for research, plenty of time before my wheel arrives.

 

32 minutes ago, magicrobots said:

Yeah I've ridden a onewheel for ages and never hit my knees over many many crashes and learned to roll it out like a skateboarder.

But an EUC crash seems completely different, and at a much higher speed; so I'm wearing motorcycle jacket, and I'm thinking you're right, I want some kneepads.

Knee pads are a MUST. I would say do not even get on that thing until you've got knee pads on. A little over a week ago, I went down while going at about 25mph on a flat, relatively smooth asphalt road. I overleaned and the wheel wasn't able to keep up with me so I fell directly forward. I was wearing these knee pads at the time: https://www.rei.com/product/130749/dakine-anthem-knee-pads. I fell left knee first, then the left side of my chest, then my head. The knee pad did a good job of absorbing the initial impact (therefore no broken or bruised knee here), but the knee pad wasn't on securely enough so as I slid forward during my fall, the knee pad slid down to my ankle and I ended up with some nasty road rash on my knee. 8 days later and it's still weeping and healing -- hoping I'll be healed enough to remove the bandage in a week. Road rash on your knee is no joke. It's been pretty limiting for me. I don't want to imagine what it would be like if I weren't wearing knee pads. Quite possibly a broken knee cap and a skin graft for me. So yeah, you need knee pads. I would say at a very, very bare minimum, wrist guards and knee pads. I just received these knee guards in the mail and will be using these from now on: https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/leatt-dual-axis-knee-shin-guards.

I also hit my unprotected chest during the fall. 8 days later and it's still sore. It's still difficult to get up from lying down. I'm looking into getting something like this: https://demonsnow.com/store/MTB-BMX/MTB-BMX-Upper-Lower Body/X2-D3O-Mens-Top or a jacket with built-in back, elbow and shoulder protection plus a separate chest protector like this: https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/forcefield-elite-chest-protector.

I'm grateful that my fall didn't result in worse injuries. It easily could have. Fortunately, I was already fairly geared up, with knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards/gloves, and a full face helmet (without which I would have ended up losing a few teeth during that fall). But even then, my fall has been very humbling. You only have one body. Protect it.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Reggie510

[Unventor]

44 minutes ago, magicrobots said:

Yeah I've ridden a onewheel for ages and never hit my knees over many many crashes and learned to roll it out like a skateboarder.

But an EUC crash seems completely different, and at a much higher speed; so I'm wearing motorcycle jacket, and I'm thinking you're right, I want some kneepads.

It all depends on what is the cause of it. I had a flat on my back/butt fall. A twisted left shoulder top down this on my shoulder (dislocated) and superman dive at low speed (Chest first  contact, knees last). Oh and almost forgot my pothole "parking lot" but wheel forgot to tell me, twisted/tumbling shoulder/back first, hip second, wrist guards). 

Wrist guards, have saved me a lot, and so have the hip pads. If I can I try to get into a tumbling position, but it is not always possible. Had I only be 25 years again...now I am 25 years + some extra + tax and vat....Have become stiff as a door compared flexible as a cat before. This is why I need to gear up as much as possible, my head recall my old skills, but body do not agree at all with that. 

It is also why I choose a brand/wheel that have safety on the top list. Speed is not important as long as I can keep up with ebikes so they don't keep trying to push passed me where there are no space to do so. 

[CampDylan]

40 minutes ago, Reggie510 said:

the knee pad slid down to my ankle

Yes, this is my concern that the knee pads perhaps should be lower profile and have the Knox Slider material so that they’re not just torn away from gripping rough pavement.  I already have gloves with the sliders for that reason (ScorpionExo SGS MKII).  Those big bulbous-looking pads don’t seem right for our application. 

[Mike Paolini]

@CampDylan  Propper fit, and as close to the skin at you can get them.  The Leatt dual axis don't feel like they are going anywhere when I wear them.  And they fit under the motorcycle pants if you remove the motorcycle knee pads.

(The motorcycle knee pads on their own are more about better than nothing and comfort - because lets face it, we don't always want to dress like Robocop).

[Reggie510]

27 minutes ago, CampDylan said:

Yes, this is my concern that the knee pads perhaps should be lower profile and have the Knox Slider material so that they’re not just torn away from gripping rough pavement.  I already have gloves with the sliders for that reason (ScorpionExo SGS MKII).  Those big bulbous-looking pads don’t seem right for our application. 

I agree -- in retrospect I've come to see that they really are too high-profile and the fact that they don't slide easily is a big drawback wrt EUC falls. I plan on returning them soon. I opted for the Leatt Dual Axis guards instead...

[chrisjunlee]

11 minutes ago, Reggie510 said:

I agree -- in retrospect I've come to see that they really are too high-profile and the fact that they don't slide easily is a big drawback wrt EUC falls. I plan on returning them soon. I opted for the Leatt Dual Axis guards instead...

I don't see the logic of mountain bike knee pads - they use cotton/spandex, which is going to snag and rip at best.

On the other end you have skateboard gear, which is low friction slider plastic.

Motorcycle textiles are usually high denier cordura, which is somewhere in between. They're excellent for sliding and abrasion resistance.

[meepmeepmayer]

Wrist guards and knee pads should have hard plastic for sliding and shouldn't be too skimpy and thin. Here Chooch makes an excellent case for nice fat hard knee pads in the first few seconds of the video:

[magicrobots]

I would argue that the above is his reaction because he is used to having knee pads - you can see him purposefully sink to his knees from a step or two -- if your instinct is to roll I'm not sure you'd go knee first like that.

Of course I say this having only run off the wheel at lower speeds off road and never having needed to bail with my whole body yet...

[meepmeepmayer]

When doing the standard superman (the most likely way to fall from a sudden bump or unseen pothole), you'll hit with the wrist(guard)s first, but your knees still slide pretty badly along the ground (it's the other main point of contact for your sliding body). At least that's what happened to me. So while falling on the knee pads first is harder on the pads, I don't think it's so much worse, and you still need substantial knee pads even "just" for sliding (and they must slide freely in the first place).

Also falling on the knee pads is good. No stress on your wrists, arms, shoulders! When I bought my knee pads in a skate shop, that was the tip I was given: just fall on the knee pads.

Edited September 6, 2019 by meepmeepmayer
wrong word

[magicrobots]

Yeah, when I see kids doing stuff on vert ramps or big ass half pipes, they pretty much always bail to their knees. 

[meepmeepmayer]

Falling on the knee pads is unintuitive and God help you if you instinctively do it one day when you don't wear knee pads But in principle, it should be the best way to hit the ground if you can't avoid that. So if you can train yourself to fall on the knees...I think that's what Chooch has done.

That's the theory so far, luckily I didn't get an opportunity to test it yet.

[CampDylan]

7 hours ago, Mike Paolini said:

Leatt dual axis don't feel like they are going anywhere when I wear them.  And they fit under the motorcycle pants

 

7 hours ago, Reggie510 said:

I opted for the Leatt Dual Axis guards

I'm really liking the way these look too, and they look like they'd slide good as well.

[Gaz Bon]

Always plan for the worst hope for the best 

I never really plan a ride 

But always suited and booted 

Full face helmet 

Wrist guards, soft gloves worn under 

Flex upper body armor with  elbow pads over that

 knee pads 

Ankle protection comes in the form of basketball Nike hi tops

Safety glasses as eyes are essential for riding 

That's for every ride

Just ordered some Kevlar jeans

And occasionally padded under wear with hip protection if I'm feeling adventurous 

[ir_fuel]

On 9/6/2019 at 10:29 PM, chrisjunlee said:

I don't see the logic of mountain bike knee pads - they use cotton/spandex, which is going to snag and rip at best.

On the other end you have skateboard gear, which is low friction slider plastic.

Motorcycle textiles are usually high denier cordura, which is somewhere in between. They're excellent for sliding and abrasion resistance.

I have a lot of G-Form equipment.That is going to protect the knees from the initial impact, but they for sure are not made to slide on (and I wear them under my pants, not helping the sliding ether).

When I ride off road I now use Leatt knee protection. The only downside is that they tend to slide down if I have to walk a certain distance. Need to fiddle a bit more with the velcro I think.

[CampDylan]

Yesterday spotted a guy riding a EUC (not sure what model but older, smaller) wearing no protection whatsoever and footwear was flip flops, lol, zipping along very confidently.   I wanted to try to catch him and talk to him a little bit, not to castigate him or anything,  I just wanted to know how long he’s been riding and such because it’s actually a rare sight to find anyone here in Honolulu riding EUC.  

My LEATT’s are on the way, S/M Black...Amazon.com for only 55.00 due to a nice accumulation of over 35 point bucks accumulated on my AMAZON Prime VISA!

Still waiting on my 16X and continuing to follow the saga here surrounding it, edge of my seat...

[GMan]

I have been using a cheap pair of knee pads for my commute. I bought a set of Leatt Dual axis but haven’ t used them because they seemed cumbersome to wear on the train etc. I bought a pair of armored motorcycle jeans with knee and hip protection. That seemed a simpler way to go but it seems like some of the forum members think it’s not enough.

[Leucistic]

I`v had 2 falls now whit leatt dual axis. They are now looking not so good anymore but my knees are an scratched. Will be buying a new pair again if needed. Bought a kevlar jeans with knee pads with level 1 certification but after removing them made me laugh how small in size they are. If landed side ways and not head on it would be nasty. I will never compromise safety over looks, comfort or easiness. You could put leatt under jeans if you`r afraid of what other think but taking them on and off will be a hassle and sliding would be not so good anymore.

[CampDylan]

On 9/15/2019 at 4:08 PM, GMan said:

they seemed cumbersome to wear

I was concerned myself regarding the Leatts for that very reason especially thinking they’d be a pain to pull on & off over pants with all those harness straps, but when they arrived the other day I was surprised to see they have easy harness push-on buckle/hook stays so you don’t have to pull them up over shoes or pants.  They just wrap around at 3 different points very easily.  Plus they’re not over bulky-looking and actually have a very nice high-tech design look about them.    I almost didn’t want to scratch them because it has such a nice shiny surface but as soon as I put them on I immediately started jumping to my knees to test them out onto the floor at my work and they felt great. But even with that they still didn’t get scratched up that much, of course our floor is kind of shiny 

[CampDylan]

I made this short vid wearing my Leatt Dual Axis.  I have super skinny legs so got the smallest size, S/M, they fit perfect:

 

 

[DragonFZ]

I already have the Demon D3O knee pads. They are great if I'm hitting the ground, but that KS16X pedals keep finding gaps in my protection. Tonight I did a group ride, I can't remember what happened, but definitely wasn't my superman dive when I hit a curb. I think it was when I saw a curb that was brightly painted concrete color to match with the ground, I jumped off landed on my feet, the wheel popped up 2 ish feet in the air and somehow hit 2 inches below and a little to the left of my knees... right at the spot of no pad. I'm going to get the Leatt Dual Axis.

[Leucistic]

On 9/28/2019 at 12:25 PM, DragonFZ said:

I already have the Demon D3O knee pads. They are great if I'm hitting the ground, but that KS16X pedals keep finding gaps in my protection. Tonight I did a group ride, I can't remember what happened, but definitely wasn't my superman dive when I hit a curb. I think it was when I saw a curb that was brightly painted concrete color to match with the ground, I jumped off landed on my feet, the wheel popped up 2 ish feet in the air and somehow hit 2 inches below and a little to the left of my knees... right at the spot of no pad. I'm going to get the Leatt Dual Axis.

This happened to me as well. Left with tennis ball size black mark for week. Well live and learn.