Light Protective Gear
 

I've been curious about the need of light protective gear. We all wear helmets but what of other light protective gear for XC style riding.

I'm talking about stuff like:
- helmet
- glasses
- gloves
- shin guards
- light ankle support
- wrist guards

Helmets. Without question.

Glasses. Keeps branches and stuff out of our eyes. Enough said.

Gloves are probably the most common light protection. This is obvious. If you fall, the glove will take any scuffs your hands would have received.

Shin guards are probably the most common light protective gear after gloves. This is presumably to protect form getting a pedal wacked against the shins. There's a fair amount of threads covering this if you do a search.

Ankle guards/support. A couple of weeks ago I twisted my ankle after falling going down a set of wide stone steps. I'm convinced that if I had ankle support i would have not had my injury. I was referred to the SixSixOne insole/ankle support insert in a thread. I asked my LBS to try to get them but they're backordered.

Wrist guards. There's almost nothing on this at least from what I could find. I have a bad wrist probably due to Carpel-Tunnel-Syndrome thanks to being a desk jockey. I'm worried that if I fall hard enough and try to brace myself my wrist will take the brunt of the hit and get injured. There are threads about broken wrists and stuff so I figured wrist guards should help. There are three wrist guards for sale over at PricePoint.com and I figured that if rollerbladers wear them, mtbers (at least I should) should wear them since it's a higher fall.

Of the above I use a helmet, glasses and gloves. I am seriously interested in wrist and ankle guards. Shin guards would be a nice bonus.

Anyway, what are your thoughts about light protective gear? Have you had injuries that you think would have been prevented if you had some protection? Are there injuries you know were prevented because you were wearing protective gear? What light gear do you wear especially in the above categories? Are there other light protective gear you wear that you like, not like?

Let's share our thoughts and experiences here.

SO far ive stuck to gloves,glasses and bucket. thats about all that i feel the need for while I am trail riding..Now if i started to free ride the other stuff might come into play. But since i ride clipless i dont see the need for shin guards, i have yet to get smacked in the shin by my pedal..Just my .02 though

anyone wear a jock?

lol just kidding XP

Lets see, I have gone through helmets like a rhino through a pack of natives. I currently have a Prime AL full face, it has saved my beautiful dome more than once. I ride with the oakley MTB Factory Pilot gloves, too expensive for my blood, but I have a loving rich older sister. After a nasty NASTY gnarly 5ft drop wipe out, I'm going to order Roach/Raceface shin/keen combos. They seem to be the best. Other than those things, i ride sleeveless and would ride naked because it's so damn hot here in TX. But of course, I can not.

If you want wrist and anke support check out 661 line here 661 support

I know of a few riders that use the anke and the wrist support and they like the comfort and protection the gear provides.

:beer:

Yeah, I think you're the one that had pointed out the 661 ankle support to me. Unfortunatlely my LBS didn't have any in stock and was told by his distributor that the ankle support was backordered with no known date for availability.

I may try some other shiops in case they happen to have them sitting in the store.

I did come across this EVS ankle support rated over at MTBR.com.
http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Pads/product_87812.shtml
Looks a little too S&M to me.
http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Pads/EVS...nkle_Brace.jpg

Edit: I jsut noticed that 661 has two other ankle support models one of which looks like that S&M one.

http://www.sixsixone.com/gear/support_racebrace.html
http://www.sixsixone.com/gear/bodyar..._racebrace.jpg

http://www.sixsixone.com/gear/support_racebracepro.html
http://www.sixsixone.com/gear/bodyar...cebracepro.jpg