Protective MTB Gear to Keep You Mountain Biking Longer

Hey guys and welcome back to the channel. Today, we're gonna go over safety gear. A few things that we're gonna go over, my helmet, my knee pad, chest protector, my shoes, I guess my bike, there's a couple parts of my bike that I consider safety features. Here they are. Shorts, we've got pants, we've got shoes, we've got fanny packs, we've got helmets, gloves, chest protector, and here's some jerseys. Let's talk about these helmets. These helmets, I have four different helmets. One is my first helmet I ever had, which is a Troy Lee design helmet. It actually worked great, fit great. The only reason why I don't wear this helmet anymore is because there's people that visors shame. I'm talking about you people. For not having a visor because it doesn't look cool or whatever, this helmet's fine, it just doesn't have the visor on it. I wanted another helmet, a fresh helmet, so then I moved on to the Giro helmet. Fits great, the visor hasn't broken off. I also crash a lot less now. We move on from the trail helmet. Now this is the interchangeable switchblade helmet. This helmet snaps off the front here. You take the chin bar off and now you've got like an Enduro style chinless helmet moto looking thing going on, but which is also great, I use this helmet for the helmet view. It's a much more sturdy helmet on my head where it holds that camera shot a lot better. Moving on to my actual downhill helmet. It's not a downhill rated helmet, it's actually an Enduro helmet, but this is the one I use when I ride downhill. I probably will be getting a downhill helmet soon. Maybe a really light moto one, because it seems like I got some good deals on some moto stuff. This is my Fox Pro frame. I've been through three of these helmets. I've had two big crashes, concussions both times when I crashed, but I also hit a tree at full speed. Also went over the bars in a rock garden and landed on my head. I believe Troy Lee Design has got a two stage helmet that is two different types of foam that are in the helmet, which is pretty cool. Plus I think they have NIPS technology in it. Thought I had one laying around here. Maybe not. So if you guys have a recommendation for a full face helmet for riding downhill. So when we're talking about gloves, there's a few things you can look at with gloves. You've got summer gloves, you've got full finger gloves, you've got winter gloves. So we're just gonna, I'm gonna go over what works for me. And a few brands that we have here. These are Alpine Star gloves, no strap. I don't really like a glove that has a strap on it. I want it to be strapless, so it just goes on and sits. These are a little thicker for colder weather or it'd be windy or it's gonna be like super wet, nasty. I'll wear a thicker glove. This is the 100%. See how thin that is? I can see my face through the glove here. And I like how thin they are because that allows my hand to breathe from the drop. Again, I don't like the strap, so strapless is being great for me. Some more BROP gloves from Hand Up Gloves. And then Random Fox Glove. So Landy left this in my truck yesterday and he wears fox gloves because he wears them out. And he always wears out this little spot in the thumb right here. Here we are talking about the chest protector I chose to get. This is the Alpine Star A4 chest protector. I no longer have to wear a camera harness. And I don't use a gimbal anymore. I only use the GoPro 7. I think it works great. But I took a camera mount and put it through one of these little holes here. So you can see, that's for my GoPro mount. And I'll cut a little hole in my jersey so I can wear that or I can just wear this on the outside. So once you get to the inside of it, you can see where this is the only mount that I have. It's smooth, round head. On the inside it mounts my camera to the outside, which is here. With not much worry there. So now I have a bit more protection. Now I did not get this chest protector until I tried to do a 50 foot jump, came up short and went flying the full 50 feet and landed on my back and rolled. And I was a little beat up and really wasn't very prepared for that. It's by the impact of knocking the wind out of you and side hits and stuff like that. So this allows for protection on all those spots. Now my camera's here. I don't have to worry about the gimbal stabbing me or moving around. So let's go ahead and step up to the next part of this chest protector. Working neck brace that intertwinely works with it. This is the carbon neck brace that goes with the A4 chest protector. Pull the tab here. It opens up. Snap this around your neck. Goes back in. Chillin'. And then on the sides here, your little straps that come out and lock right into the side here. And that holds you in place for when you're riding. I think when you're talking about your safety, you should not cut yourself short anywhere. My jersey goes on top of this and now I'm fully protected. My chest, my net. So this neck brace goes down across the back of your spine. So what's great about getting the integrated for the neck brace in the chest harness is on the back of this, this is what it looks like. So when you buy the extra piece, this is solid. You don't need the neck brace. But if you buy the neck brace, it's Velcroed in place. It comes out. I know it's a big investment, but again, once you start breaking in to 35 foot plus jumps and things you haven't done, you really should consider real safety gear, especially most of you guys are my subscribers between 25 and 55. We could use a little extra protection, a little bit more money to ensure that we're gonna make it work on Monday and everything like that is super important. And now that I've transferred over to wanting to do this more full time, actually I looked into some of the data and only 20% of you guys are subscribed. So how about the other 80% of you? Hit that subscribe button for me. I'd love to see a boost just from this video. So I really appreciate all the subscribers and support, patrons as well. So let's go ahead and move on to the next piece of safety equipment. Let's talk about shirts and jerseys. First things first, if it's bad weather, I wear this Louis Garneau roadie jacket. I've crashed in, it's got super muddy. I wash it, it comes back, repels water. Great piece of equipment. You know, if I go out riding, maybe I'll wear a shirt just like this. Maybe I'll wear this. Just a regular old beer shirt, whatever T-shirt I'm wearing. Most times if I'm casually just hanging out, just riding with the bros, it's gonna be the half shell helmet and just a beer shirt or whatever. But let's say that I wanna go out and I'm gonna be risking it a little bit and I wanna stay cooler, feel a little more airflow and be more ventilated, then I'll probably wear something like this. So this is the more straight jersey material. These are the ones that have logo with my own stuff. So if I'm going out and I wanna perform well, I wanna make sure my body stays cool. So I always wanna wear a jersey that allows sweat and heat to wick off of me and not sit on me. I don't mind sweating and stuff like that, but if I'm going out with some people that are really gonna hammer and really gonna make me work, I'm gonna wear a jersey because of the properties of the jersey allow you to ride harder, faster, longer, drier, more comfortable. Everything is better. And then if it's gonna be some conditions where I think I might fall and I don't wanna mess up my arms, I usually put on this jersey. So these are my new jerseys. And same design, different color combination. A lot of times when it's rainy or wet, I'll have my safety gear underneath this. I really want long sleeves on to keep my arms from getting scraped up across rock gardens and stuff I'm gonna fall in. And if you're interested in one of these jerseys, you just wanna see some more stuff, again, you can find that information on Patreon. So we're here to talk about pants and shorts. Super basic version of what you can ride in or what I choose to ride in. Just some soft sport shorts that are very loose fitting. So you can do whatever in them, really. I mean, I wear them whenever. This is BMX style racing shorts. And then we can move on to specific mountain biking shorts. Like these are specialized shorts. I think quite a few of my friends have these matching shorts. They work great. Stay held up really well. They have a pocket on the front, both sides, and a zipper pocket to hold your stuff. So we all, quite a few of us have enjoyed these. The other thing you might see me riding in is I love riding in khaki pants. Paula Putters is the one that called me out and like, even in my riding gear now, I still got a belt in the khaki pants. The pads slide under there, they're comfortable, lightweight, they breathe. Let's talk about when you're going to the bike park, going to rock gardens, it's been raining, it's a messy, it's wet, it's just gonna be gnarly. This is when I'll bust out the moto pants. These are my official party pants. These are my moto pants that are reinforcing the crotch, the knees. These are again, Alpine Star. If I'm gonna go out and it's gonna be dirty, I wanna put these on so that when I get done riding, I can just peel them off and I'm perfectly clean. When it's in messy conditions, always dress that way. So I'll be wearing these pants and probably wherever that jacket went, very important. So shoes, some people overlook the importance of having a good riding shoe. I personally have clip-in shoes for my road bike and for my gravel bike. I'm still really enjoying flat. So as of right now, I'm only rocking flats on the mountain bike for the really extreme stuff. This is my regular dad's shoe. Old man's shoe right here. Super cheap, flexible, walking around, comfortable shoe. Problem is with this shoe, it's very flexible, okay? So what happens is when you get on that pedal, the shoe shrinks around the pedal and doesn't stay in shape and give you support when you're on the pedal. So it's very flexible and you can do it. I mean, I've ridden a bike in flip-flops and jump stuff in it, but this is not what you want. What I personally use are the 510 Freerider Pro shoe. You can see this shoe doesn't flex as easy as the other one. It locks in because this is where you need to be. But there are other flat pedal shoes out there, just nothing that I've experimented with or used. Now Brock, he uses the Shimano, it says Michelin on the bottom, that's how we know that. So it's probably something to do with their tire rubber. Again, I don't really know just what the difference is. But again, still flat shoe, not clipped in, Shimano trail shoe. So it gives you a great platform for that pedal to be on. Let's talk about shin guards and knee pads. First one I have is gonna be my regular trail pads that I have. These are actually called the 5450s, work really well. I would size down rather than large, extra large, big legs. Nope, those are for really big leg people. This slides on, so you actually have to take your shoes off. But once it's on, it's not bad. You can wash these and they tighten back up on you too, which is really nice. Now, if I'm gonna go to the park and I'm gonna go do things like big rock art, big danger, big things I can get messed up on, I go ahead and step it up to the Fox Lounge. These are also still soft, still flexible, but these actually Velcro across the back and they're just longer, a little bit bigger, a little better protection. They're gonna be a little bit more heavy duty than what I have. I got more coverage with this, but this is more comfortable. I've worn both at the park, but I think I should wear this one when I do go to the park. So let's talk about the hydration packs and how that's a safety feature. I used to have a camel pack, big one, the monster one. I figured if you're gonna get a camel pack, you should get the biggest one you can get because the point is to get a small one. Now, if I'm gonna go out somewhere and I'm really gonna shoot, I'm not gonna do a whole lot of production stuff, snacks, speakers, extra batteries, gimbals, tripods, whatever I'm gonna need, jacket, like a more adventure style, bigger pack, but it makes you very limited on how aggressive you can get because you have a giant pack on your back. What I switched to and will always be wearing on an average trip is a fanny pack. Osprey hiking pack. This actually has water balls that goes into it rather than a bladder. So I went with the two water ball holders and it has actually been great. One goes on either side, putting your room in the pack, the extra camera in here, snacks, cell phone, extra gloves, and two things of water. And I don't even feel it going downhill. It really makes a huge difference. And now I'm gonna worry about that pack. And once it's locked onto my hips where I like it, I can go over jumps, and I've done 35 foot jumps with a fanny pack on it and didn't even realize I had it on. Any nice cable pack or fanny pack will always have this support in there, but never get one without because that'll be a lot of heat stuck on you and it's the last thing you want is something stuck against your body. I want a tall sock for when I'm riding because a lot of dirt will come up off the trail and then drop in on top of my foot in my sock or into my shoes. So I want a nice, thick, durable, soft sock. But my sock selection is a little crazy right now. Let's see, what socks am I wearing right now? Let's check them out. These are flip flops with socks, and these are my Buddha socks. I feel like they're more like spirit enhancers. When you got a cool pair of socks on you feel good about, you're just having more of a good time. So these are a couple that I just happen to have in my riding box. These are my Angry Birds socks. They have flapping wings on them. So when you're riding, they actually go like this and they flop up and down. So they're pretty funny when you're going down the trail. I actually rate wore these when I was doing cyclocross and I kept them. We got MJ as himself and then him as the wolf on the other one. Now, if you're in a tight spot, somebody sees you with the MJ socks on, they'll probably let you slide. But these are stance socks. Really nice high-end socks. I think you should have fun socks, but it is a safety feature by having a good pair of tall socks that are thick that can let you ride all day and add a little more cushion to you from standing on those pedals. So we're talking about goggles. We wanna have eye protection. Eye protection that's gonna protect us from anything flying into our eyes. So these work really well for nothing being able to get into these things. Probably why they're open water swimming goggles, not mountain bike safety goggles. What we do need for mountain biking is something that's gonna be comfortable on our face. So what I started was with a pair of Oakleys with the off-road mountain bike lenses in them and they work great. They're all scratched up and banged up now, but anybody that sees you riding in the glasses, especially all the park riding I do, will quickly tell you that you shouldn't wear regular sunglasses when you wear a full-face helmet. I don't care, I don't care, because whatever glasses I have are gonna give me some kind of protection for my eyes is gonna be what I use. And if I only have these, I'm only gonna use these. If I have goggles, I'll use those. And sometimes it's so muddy that when you put the goggles on they don't work anyways. Let's go ahead and go into some of the goggles that I have gotten now. These are two pairs of goggles. Be reflective, as far as have a lens on them. So when you look at them, they're tinted. These are actually a little bit more polarized. What I did is I got a junior size one goggle so that actually the bridge is smaller and doesn't cut off my breathing at the top of my nose. All different brands. This is EKS. These are 100%. And these happen to be Sky Dragon. And I'm just gonna grab whatever pair is clean and good because eventually I'm just gonna scratch them up and I'm not gonna be able to use them. One of the other big things about, even if you have eye protection, that can really save you if you're not really into the goggles thing is a fender. This is probably gonna be more useful than any pair of goggles, any pair of glasses, any kind of tearaways you use or anything. You have to have a fender. So this fender is gonna tuck behind back of the wheel and create where nothing's gonna be kicking up in your face as you're riding. And you might as well, if you don't have a fender in your bike, go buy one because you've obviously never ridden where it was wet or muddy somewhere where you really just don't have a choice but you have to have a fender or you're gonna walk your bike because the mud and the water is spraying up so much. Fenders are super important, like 10 bucks, 15 bucks. You can make your own. I think Seth's got make your own templates on one of his videos that he has. So I'm gonna go ahead and wrap up this video. Thanks for coming out and watching it. Welcome back trail bangers, new viewers. Again, 20% of you guys are subscribed. Just hit the subscribe button. Thank you, I appreciate it. Share a video, like, comment. If you wanna support more, go over to Patreon, check out that account. It's just a way you can support directly if you like my content. Have a good ride, always stay safe. Hopefully some things in this video really assisted you or gave you more of an idea of maybe what you would prefer. And everybody's personal preference about safety gear is different. So find out what works for you and works best for you and stick with it and don't feel like just because someone else has a certain type of gear that you need that certain type. We're all different, we all find different things comfortable. But definitely, go grab all your safety gear you can and stay safe so you can do some more stuff. Last but not least, make sure, pedal a little harder, don't touch the brakes, and we'll see you on the next adventure. Oh, and another thing. Here's a little sneak peek for next week's video. New brakes, new chain ring, new bash guard, new chain. So then downhill bikes, gonna be kicking.