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Knee protection

Posted: Mon May 11, 2020 11:25 am
by stefanb
I'm interested in hearing peoples thoughts on knee protections you guys use and how they worked for your falls.

I'm a beginner rider that made a mistake breaking in a refuge that was covered in gravel but used my front break all the way from asphalt to gravel. Lost the front and fell on the side of my knee. Given that I had a pair of RST jeans with hip and knee armour CE level 2 I was wondering why 2 days in I'm still limping and managing a swollen knee, only fell at 5/10mph.
After doing some research I noticed that there are 3 levels of protection: the pocket d3o armour I have, knee guards which are bulkier and strap to your knee and knee bracers (that seem to only be used by motorcross riders due to their predisposition to rip their ligamets). There is obviously a fine balance between safety and comfort but I have the feeling that the small d3o armour that can move about those pockets lacks quite a bit of safety when compared to how much rigidity and protection you get from other parts of your gear...
I also have a pair of leather trousers that come with knee protection that extends over the shin as well and due to the build of the trouser they sit more firmly on the knee but again it doesn t seem to have anything on the sides... Wouldn t you hit the side of your knee first when you fall over or if a car hits you on the side of your bike?

Have you guys seen anyone ever use knee guards or bracers on a street bike? What if you ride an adventure bike and go offroad a bit or would you depend on the crash bars/sliders on the side of your bike to stop if from falling over your knee?

Re: Knee protection

Posted: Mon May 11, 2020 3:02 pm
by fatboy
Hello and welcome
I have several pairs of armoured jeans some of which I've dismissed as useless because the knee pads have way too much room to move in the event of a spill,two pairs are quite tight fitting on the legs,hopefully the knee pads will stay in place if it goes wrong , ok for short journeys eg 5 miles to work
My leathers have an immense amount of knee protection encasing the entire kneecap and beyond, these are worn for serious playing.
Well you learned a hard lesson, try to avoid gravel and loose shit in the road, try and aim for tarmac and tarmac only, drain covers, white lines, box junctions, diesel spills are all waiting to have you off in the wet

Re: Knee protection

Posted: Mon May 11, 2020 8:17 pm
by katie1
Armour is a funny subject. I've got leathers and textiles with full, knee and shin-covering inserts but also aramid jeans with lighter-weight, flexible knee armour. Mostly it's making the choice of what level of risk you find acceptable.

Ask anyone who's been around for a while and they will say that its frequently the slow speed offs that end up hurting more!
As for your fall, no armour would stop the pain of knocking your kneecap sideways! Hitting the road at speed could have meant that you skimmed the first sideways contact rather than clunked solidly into the ground as you did.

So three lessons
1. avoid riding on the shit
2. definitely avoid braking on the shit
3. don't fall off

Re: Knee protection

Posted: Tue May 12, 2020 8:49 am
by stefanb
Thank you for the kind replies.
I ll start wearing the leathers for longer trips, even tho they are twice as heavy as the damn jeans.
The fall seems to have shifted the forks or handlebars since they are pointing slightly left when I'm going straight... I knew something felt odd about the bike..

Re: Knee protection

Posted: Tue May 12, 2020 2:23 pm
by mangocrazy
In the last year or so I've started wearing Knox Action shirt and pants. These have high quality body armour (and back protector in the shirt) held together by a lightweight elastic mesh material. It means the body armour doesn't move around but is held firmly in the place it needs to be, and I've now dispensed with all the various pieces of (variable quality) body armour in other jackets and trousers and just rely on the protection from the Knox shirt/pants. The outer shell (textile or leather) provides abrasion resistance and weather protection, the Knox base gear means all the sticky-out bits are protected by high quality body armour.

This doesn't apply to my one piece Crowtree leathers, they have their own non-removable body armour. I also need to do my best greased piglet impression to get into them...

Re: Knee protection

Posted: Tue May 12, 2020 6:27 pm
by fatboy
As far as your left pointing bars go,
Loosen front wheel nut, loosen lower fork yoke pinch bolts and ever so slightly loosen the top yoke pinch bolts, apply the front brake about 10 times whilst pushing downwards/releasing pressure on the forks, this will re align the forks and yokes
Tighten from the bottom upwards, if it still points left then you probably bent the bars.
Remember body armour may be heavy and uncomfortable but it always better to sweat than bleed
Ride safe dude !

Re: Knee protection

Posted: Tue May 12, 2020 8:32 pm
by stefanb
Why would you loosen the front wheel nut?
I just finished fitting the new left front fairing that I smashed.. Took a while.. and had to fit it twice once I noticed something was wrong...My hands are way to large for tight spaces under the fairing. Now I got half a mind to change the bent gear shift lever as well tomorrow..

Re: Knee protection

Posted: Wed May 13, 2020 10:17 am
by fatboy
Loosening the front wheel nut allows the forks to shift if they need to, I should have added slacken the axle pinch bolts as well.