There's an essence of truth in it, if you think about the human structure we are designed with progressively stronger joints as we get closer to the core / torso so the idea is that ankles should fail first, followed by knees, followed by hips.
Protect the outer joints and the load goes on the bigger, closer joints but they are capable of carrying the bigger loads so you have to try really hard to rip a hip apart.
Protect those weaker joints, as a 53 year old I can atest to the pain of arthritis in joints I destroyed as a 20 year old.
Alternatively, just go faster and don't crash (for the bullet proof brigade)
Sometimes wonder if the stiffness of boots doesn't translate to some unfortunate extra wrenching transfer to the knee. Modern boots are a lot stiffer than they used to be as well, hardly any ankle flex in mine.
there are theorys that the knee braces may save your knee at the risk of breaking your femur which may possibly kill you due to the chance of the broken bone cuting an artery
have some of those thor force knee gaurds definitly not braces but they do help have no problem walking around or riding while wearing them. I would buy some decent gaurds if I was rideing more
"The world is a strange sad place. Ride as often as possible and try not to think about it".
Below is my thoughts when I was shoping for knee braces last June. It formed an emailed to my mate so the prices may be different now and I haven't tried the new PODmx
Asterix - work well, lots of parts, laces, dangly bits, makes them annoying to put on and off. Have a good name as they seemed to be first to come out with a decent brace but the design was old. Expensive at $1200+pair. These may have been replaced by a new model since I tested them.
Evs web -
Look nice, carbon fiber, have a self locating floating knee cap. These are quite heavy compared to the similar PodMX. Due to the linkage, they don't work overly well with your natural knee motion but are ok, you know you have them on though. My main dislike over the podMX was that the 'fusible link', or weakest point as such, isn't the joint. The joint is made from hardened steel so the load in a crash can be transferred to the carbon fiber body and they break there, meaning time for a new brace. Also there is a high proportion of resin compared to carbon so they are heavy and not as strong as they could be, a cost trimming exercise imho. Expensive at $1150 pair.
661 - look cheap, aren't cheap, didn't bother to try them on, similar to evs vision. $800pair.
PODmx,
Look same as evs web, but a lot lighter as have a higher vol of carbon in them(stronger). Have a great hinge system which works the same way as your knee, it has a strong ligament thingy in it, quite cool. Designed to break with really high impacts with the thought of saving bones like your femur. These felt the best wearing them, couldn't really tell they were on, I was still recovering from surgery but these were the only ones I could run up and down in and pivot etc without feeling any tweaks in my knee at all. They are fully rebuildable and parts were priced well. They were cheaper than the other 2 high end braces and far ahead in design.
Cycletreads cut me a deal for a pair of PODmx and I've been happy with them. I can hardly feel them when I'm riding, that includes during a 2wk sweaty trip in Asia.
They don't interfer with my riding and haven't really worn at all in the 1.4yrs I've used them.
Important to get the sizing right.
honest question. whats the main cause of knee injuries? sticking foot down and twisting knee? hard landings from jumps? crashing and landing on it?
It was completely random when I tore apart my knee. I wasnt even going fast, just smacked into a tree and landed funny. A huge amount of pressure somehow smashed the outer of my left leg, pushing it inwards towards my right leg. Ruptured both the ACL and medial ligaments. Not cool.
Anyone whos considering getting braces, do it now. I'm kicking myself for not getting a decent pair. I was only using the knee guards. Such an idiot!
I came off though a rh.turn, right boot snaged with the ground pulling my boot right while the rest on me went left. nice twang sound of ligament breaking. Not going fast either.
surgery and physio was a p.i.t.a.
Bought the braces soon after.
since then I've clipped an obscured object with my rh boot which twisted the knee clockwise. thought i'd done something bad but the braces did thier job and 20sec later I gave myself the all clear.
http://www.cycletreads.co.nz/product...nee_brace.aspx
$1000 a pair ?
Are these normally this cheap?
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Mo...-259213827.htm
i run asterix, and we sell more asterix than anything, there is a run out on the older pod braces and we haev sold a few as well,
the best thing about asterix is the spare parts, all the braces wear out but asterix back up is 3x any other things, EVS braces were ok for back up, then they changed distrubtors and the new guy was not interested in repairing them, they are now back with teh original distrubotr but the back up is better, but not at asterix level,
the pods'are a good brace, and at the deal price pretty good value, (cycletreads prices is the new rrp on teh older model, but there back up and parts supply is not near the asterix,
I managed to get one of these of Darryl King.. Thanks to ACC![]()
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