Mountain Biking - pads and body armor?

How important are pads and body armor for Mountain Biking? I know there are different elements of MTB like XC, Downhill, and Casual riding. I'm more into XC, but I've come across some technical situations where I thought pads wouldn't be a bad idea. I've accumulated a nice series of bruises, scrapes, and abrasions on my arms and legs from several small crashes. Granted, all of my crashes occured on technical downhills, or things like stairs. I don't see any off-road cyclists in my area wearing pads or body armor. So, either they're better than me, or they don't do crazy stuff. Or, maybe pads are for wimps? No matter what though, I always wear a helmet.

If anybody does suggest I wear pads and/or body armor, please give me some product suggestions.


Thanks,

-Matt C.-

How important are pads and body armor for Mountain Biking?
depends on the type of riding you do. for extreme freeriding and especially for downhilling, i’d say pads and armour are pretty much a must. for not-not-so extreme freeriding and general trail riding, i’d say pads and armour would be good but not so much a must as with extreme freeriding and downhill.

with me, i almost always wear knee/shin guards when i go out riding (unless i know i’m not going to be jumping off or onto anything – which is kinda rare).

if you’re looking into getting some pads/armour, 661, fox, roach, hoots and lizard skinz all make some cool stuff (of course there are more – but that’s just off the top of my head). if you want expensive, top of the line race worthy stuff, there’s always dainese.

FWIW: I wear LizzardSkinz arm shields (always) along with safety glasses (always). I also 95% of the time, wear my helmet.... My DH shorts & pants have inner thigh pads as well as outer thigh & butt pads....

Who cares what others wear... Don't be a "Follower", be a "Leader".. Do as YOU wish, not as others do.

FWI:, don't fall prey for the big name in any sport (including MtnBiking). There are several excellent brands of bikes out there, not just Santa Cruz.

For XC I don't wear much. Gloves and my helmet. If I might do something a little nutty I wear my shin gaurds. For dh I always wear a full face and upp body armour. Too risky not too. Just because of where I live, everyone seems to wear armour...even some of the racers :)



FWI:, don't fall prey for the big name in any sport (including MtnBiking). There are several excellent brands of bikes out there, not just Santa Cruz.


Agreed. There are a lot of small companies offering similar or exact products to big name companies cheaper. You pay for the name.

I wear my gloves and a regular helmet for XC. But for downhill and some freeride (depends on the craziness of the stunts) I wear a full face, some shin/knee guards and some elbow/forearm pads. I'm thinking of getting a chest protector for DH racing though.

I always wear my helmet, usually XC only sometimes full face, always gloves and usually shinguards. The only time I don't wear my shinguards is when commuting, my shins are already scared enough from not wearing shinnies :D

I've come across some technical situations where I thought pads wouldn't be a bad idea.

I've come across those situations, too...100 percent of the time they occur to me at the same time as a painful crash. :D

I always wear helmet and gloves.
I add knee/shin protection (old skool Hammer brand) during dirt jumping and urban.
I add padded shorts and elbows for lift/shuttle serviced DH & FR (and would wear full Dainese if I had it).

I broke my tailbone last monday on a nasty spill off a boulder on a single track.. I was going slow and everything too :( I think I sat on a rock... Not sure.

I've been hunting around for decent armor shorts, I'm not coming up with very many hits in my usual places. I dont have a LBS nearby.. can someone throw a couple URLs out for me?

I'm not gonna go trail riding anymore without some sort of a$$ protection... My right butt cheek is entirely purple and hard as a rock, and my tailbone is broken. I dont wanna do this again to myself.. ever! heh

Your tailbone is broken?
How can you sit? God that must hurt! And I thought a kick up my butt hurts (crazy idiot in my class)!!

I can't sit. :( I've been in bed last two days, working from home on my laptop with wireless networking.... :P

I'm lucky that all my work is online, and it doesn't matter where I am :)

The only thing is.. painkillers the dr gave me makes my work suck. hehehe

it's not so much what you ride but it's more how you ride. Of course there are some DH and Freeride trails i've done where nobody is caught dead riding down without armor and fullface. But when i trail ride in the mountains or even catch some XC in the lowlands i almost always wear Dainese F/R knee/leg armor so i can still ride hard and when i crash i can get back on and ride and not sit there for 5 minutes wincing in pain or maybe worse get injured....
http://www.ridemonkey.com/mountain-bike-photos/data/500/3282RM_30_.jpg

I want leg armor and Kevlar gloves. Be fine for the occasional xc turned extreme dh accidents I am sweet on.

i got some 611 armored shorts off beyondbikes.com.. too bad I didnt have it Monday. :(
hehe

lol atleast you dont have a big cast around your waist...thatd be so funny...