Posts Tagged ‘mountain bike safety equipment’

Mountain Bike Safety Equipment

The helmet, gloves, glasses and body armor are the basic mountain bike protective equipment that provides the safety needed by the mountain bikers when negotiating the rough terrain.

Mountain biking is a sport inherently dangerous, particularly in the extreme styles. Consequently, the mountain bike riders need to protect their physical integrity by wearing special items of protective gear.

The helmets represent the most common protection used by mountain bikers, regardless their form, style, material or degree of protection offered. The use of helmets is mandatory in all mountain bike competitions, at all levels. However, the choice of the helmet type is entirely up to the bikers, depending on their preference or the probability of crashing or other type of accidents. Although they all comply with certain minimum standards, helmets may be typically divided into three types: cross country, skate style (or “piss-pot”) and full face. Skate helmets are the most popular type thanks to their features: cheap, strong and simple. They proved to successfully resist to minor scraps and knocks at the same time with providing a good protection of the mountain biker head. Unlike the skate helmets, the cross country model represents an improvement in terms of weight and ventilation. They are lighter and well ventilated, thus preventing heavy sweating. Full-face helmets are rarely used, particularly in high risk mounting biking events, being stronger and providing the highest level of protection.
Body armor is also useful for the mountain bikers’ physical integrity. The so-called “body-armor” is actually made of items assuring protection of the knees, elbows and sometimes of the trunk in the event of a crash. The more and more extensive use of the body armor is directly proportional to the level of difficulty of the trails. The increased degree of protection is also correlated with a decreased mobility.
Gloves and glasses are considered optional protective items by the riders. However, they provide o high degree of comfort during mountain bike riding, especially against palm’s friction.
The choice of the mountain bike protective equipment varies greatly depending on the individual preferences combined with many other factors, such as mountain biking style and the perceived risks, the obstacles along the trails and the natural terrain, the experience and the technical skills or the mountain bike riders. As a final point, the level of protection and the style of the protective gear are entirely up to the bike riders.

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