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Protective Wear Suggestions for EUC Riding


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On ‎01‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 4:43 PM, Philip W said:

You guys might laugh at me, but I am always focus on being practical and cheap. Face plants are real threat to every one of us. Regular bike helmet will not protect you from face plants. For some reason they don't think protecting the face is an issue, instead they protect mostly the back of the head. In my experience when an EUC suddenly cut off or a pothole trapped the wheel, the rider always falls face front, and no time to react or even turn the head. So why wear a helmet to protect the back when the most needed protection is in the front? I wear a softball face mask when riding EUC, as the picture shown below. It's not pretty but it will certainly protect me from hitting the ground on my face. And it cost only $30. It's light and easily to wear and take off. I can wear it at  the  hottest summer days. Also I plan to add a rear-view mirror to it.

 

softball mask.png

dude you'd be so screwed if you fell off and the side... or any other portion of your head not protected by that sparse frame hit a curb or something - I commend you though on seeking out lightweight solutions

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On 6/1/2017 at 4:43 PM, Philip W said:

You guys might laugh at me, but I am always focus on being practical and cheap. Face plants are real threat to every one of us. Regular bike helmet will not protect you from face plants. For some reason they don't think protecting the face is an issue, instead they protect mostly the back of the head. In my experience when an EUC suddenly cut off or a pothole trapped the wheel, the rider always falls face front, and no time to react or even turn the head. So why wear a helmet to protect the back when the most needed protection is in the front? I wear a softball face mask when riding EUC, as the picture shown below. It's not pretty but it will certainly protect me from hitting the ground on my face. And it cost only $30. It's light and easily to wear and take off. I can wear it at  the  hottest summer days. Also I plan to add a rear-view mirror to it.

 

softball mask.png

Awesome look, lightweight and full visibility! I may return my face guard.

 

Edited by Rehab1
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  • 3 weeks later...

Currently looking at LED vests. Maybe someone has something to say about them, what to look for, what to avoid, recommendations, some other experience:)

Point is to be seen at night and possibly bad weather, by cars.

Edited by meepmeepmayer
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6 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

Currently looking at LED vests. Maybe someone has something to say about them, what to look for, what to avoid, recommendations, some other experience:)

Point is to be seen at night and possibly bad weather, by cars.

A guy in the recent San Francisco ride video had some kind of LED vest on. I've seen them on Amazon and you can pick the color they show. 

https://www.amazon.com/noxgear-T3V-NG01-SM-Tracer360-Visibility-Small/dp/B00GI991NY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1499554551&sr=8-3

Have a look at that video to see how it looks.

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Thanks. I've already seen that thing on Amazon.

I've come to the conclusion that good reflective stripes are much more important than the lights themselves. In pitch black night with only the weak ACM light, traffic signs can be seen from quite afar where everything else is still black. Quite impresssive. Some small LED can easily be overseen with many other lights and reflections around.

So I'll be looking for something where reflectors are built in.

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On 6/1/2017 at 1:43 PM, Philip W said:

You guys might laugh at me, but I am always focus on being practical and cheap. Face plants are real threat to every one of us. Regular bike helmet will not protect you from face plants. For some reason they don't think protecting the face is an issue, instead they protect mostly the back of the head. In my experience when an EUC suddenly cut off or a pothole trapped the wheel, the rider always falls face front, and no time to react or even turn the head. So why wear a helmet to protect the back when the most needed protection is in the front? I wear a softball face mask when riding EUC, as the picture shown below. It's not pretty but it will certainly protect me from hitting the ground on my face. And it cost only $30. It's light and easily to wear and take off. I can wear it at  the  hottest summer days. Also I plan to add a rear-view mirror to it.

 

softball mask.png

Something projecting far out in front of my face like this makes me think it will snap my head back quite a few inches and maybe break my neck.

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On July 8, 2017 at 11:00 PM, Dingfelder said:

Something projecting far out in front of my face like this makes me think it will snap my head back quite a few inches and maybe break my neck.

Your jaw will suffer a hit in a face plant, like someone punches it hard, but it will be lessen by the forehead cushion. This thing doesn't protect you from a car crash, which might actually snap your head and break your neck. It only protects your face from the force of dropping from the EUC. Your jaw will be sour but your eyes, your nose and chin will be fine.

There is no back protection, because if your head got hit from the back then you are either hit by a car, or you make a wild turn and fall off. In both situation you need the full body protection. Here this thing is for face plant only. Nothing more.

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For warning pedestrians that I'm approaching I usually use some cheap bike bells that @dmethvin recommended, but I found that they are a little tricky to ring with one hand plus the bell distorts on the mount stopping them from ringing.  After hiking in bear country recently, I picked up some of these bear bells which seem to work better for me.

https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5007-542/Bear-Bell-with-Magnet

358500_img2928.jpg

Edited by Hunka Hunka Burning Love
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On 2017-07-03 at 9:27 PM, Marty Backe said:

 

At last, today, I got the message that my flexmeter wrist guards are available for pickup! :clap3:

Not a second too early, my old ones are really uncomfortable.

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7 hours ago, Scatcat said:

At last, today, I got the message that my flexmeter wrist guards are available for pickup! :clap3:

Not a second too early, my old ones are really uncomfortable.

Actually they were sent to my door. My two teens were home, but neither of them bothered to answer the door.

Did I mention the sales campaign on teens that just started?

Oh well, it will go back to base, and then be available for pickup tomorrow or friday... Are you all sure you're not interested in two little used 14 and 15 year olds?

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4 hours ago, Scatcat said:

Actually they were sent to my door. My two teens were home, but neither of them bothered to answer the door.

Did I mention the sales campaign on teens that just started?

Oh well, it will go back to base, and then be available for pickup tomorrow or friday... Are you all sure you're not interested in two little used 14 and 15 year olds?

How does $50,000USD each work for you? NB: shipping not included. 

I'll send you the delivery address, once you've deposited the money into my account...

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16 minutes ago, mrelwood said:

KS-16S made me rethink my protection, as the speeds available are insane. Since I need the protection to be easy to put on and off, I bought myself a second hand motorcycle jacket and pants for 40€, which should serve me well with a few modifications. The jacket was waterproof, so very hot in the summer. I cut off an inner layer of rubbery fabric, and now it's quite passable atleast in 20•C temperature.

Hillbilly Wrist Guard Gloves are on the way, and I'm off to check a pair of used motorcycle boots for 50€.

Here's the jacket:

IMG_1702.thumb.JPG.4329da76ec7537f177de65ec1c6d1a88.JPG

I probably should look for something similar, as my wheel has its first alarm at KS16s's max speed. :D 

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@mrelwood's jacket looks pretty nice.

I have two jackets.  One is a mesh that really lets a lot of air through.  At 13C it gets pretty chilly riding when you factor in the wind chill.  My other jacket is rainproof and better for colder temperatures.  At 27C the mesh jacket gets pretty warm in the back, but it's still tolerable.  

The jackets I have are from AliExpress, and I had to order large sizes instead of medium which is what I normally wear.  Even still I find that they are a little short at the waist as they end ride at the pant level.  They are nicely padded with shoulder pads, elbow, and a backpad which I don't use since it makes the jacket even shorter when in.

The Hillbilly guards seem okay to me, but the fingers seem a little on the long side.  Trying to give people a thumbs up ends up with some other fingers sticking out which looks a little weird.

Edited by Hunka Hunka Burning Love
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19 hours ago, WARPed1701D said:

 Nice finds @mrelwood at good prices and great protection. Have a look at the thread on "wrist injury even with protection". I understand there is some question about how well the Hillbilly gloves actually project the wrist.

I did. Though I still think a combined support glove is the best option for me due to lot less effort to put them on and off. I'm afraid I ordered them too big though, but the seller wasn't able to change the order anymore. We'll see.

I was actually expecting the shields on the jacket to be a bit sturdier. I might add additional padding. And they won't stay in place, so I'll have to sew them in properly. A bit of work, but I believe it's worth the effort.

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6 minutes ago, Rehab1 said:

I just receive my new Bell helmet with face protection. Very comfortable and it even has a Gopro mount on top! 

That is a perfect helmet for EUC riding.  I have one as well.  

It does not block your view, very light weight,  very comfortable with excellent ventilation.

Should slide off a faceplant easily.

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