I've been slowly upping my armour amounts as I hurt myself in new ways. I've been a full face wearer for a while--first an old Giro thing with a wimpy chin bar that definitely didn't pass DH standards, now a Leatt DBX--and I'm convinced the practice has saved me some knocks my jaw did not need. Haven't had a big crash in the Leatt so it is still going, but I face planted from very low speed once and mostly caught myself, but the chin bar did keep my face safely off the ground. Two years ago I got elbow and knee pads after a bad crash had me limping around and only sleeping on my left side for a bit. Last year was some shin guards for mucking about in my back yard learning to jump, after tearing my shin open with a pedal. They're too uncomfortable to wear normally, but I'll put them on to practice new skills.
99% of the time I wear the FF, and 90% the elbow and knee pads (essentially, unless I'm just going for a leisurely fire road/bike path pedal). They're hot and do start to get annoying somewhere in hour 2, but are worth it for the peace of mind if I'm planning to push it at all or learn new things.
I've noticed my friends getting curious about the pads. Nobody else in my riding group wears a FF, and no one seems to want to, but I've now got 3 people interested in knee pads and another in elbow pads. And these people aren't hardcore.
Jan. 12, 2022, 6:52 p.m. - eriksg
I've been slowly upping my armour amounts as I hurt myself in new ways. I've been a full face wearer for a while--first an old Giro thing with a wimpy chin bar that definitely didn't pass DH standards, now a Leatt DBX--and I'm convinced the practice has saved me some knocks my jaw did not need. Haven't had a big crash in the Leatt so it is still going, but I face planted from very low speed once and mostly caught myself, but the chin bar did keep my face safely off the ground. Two years ago I got elbow and knee pads after a bad crash had me limping around and only sleeping on my left side for a bit. Last year was some shin guards for mucking about in my back yard learning to jump, after tearing my shin open with a pedal. They're too uncomfortable to wear normally, but I'll put them on to practice new skills. 99% of the time I wear the FF, and 90% the elbow and knee pads (essentially, unless I'm just going for a leisurely fire road/bike path pedal). They're hot and do start to get annoying somewhere in hour 2, but are worth it for the peace of mind if I'm planning to push it at all or learn new things. I've noticed my friends getting curious about the pads. Nobody else in my riding group wears a FF, and no one seems to want to, but I've now got 3 people interested in knee pads and another in elbow pads. And these people aren't hardcore.