Advice from the experts

Hairy Bob

I am a fairly experienced recreational mountain biker who likes nothing better than blitzing around Dalby forest whenever possible. I have been blessed that my partner has been bitten by the mtb bug, and has started coming along with me on my outings. Good news so far! however she is a maniac on the trails and has a total attack now, think about it later attitude on the bike.

On sunday we were out and she had a very big off and landed pretty heavily, fortunately she didnt do any serious damage, but i did wince when she landed.

I have been looking at getting her a protective top, but something lightweight. Ive seen the Demon skin longsleeved and wondered if any of you have any suggestions. Preferably something with foam inserts as opposed to hard shell.

I learned the hard way as a kid falling off and crashing, i dont want her to loose intrest if she hurts herself, but at the same time i dont want to slow her down, she is having way to much fun

Anyway who better to ask than the experts who may have been there and done that. Maybe im being over cautious and should let her learn the hard way too

PamPen25

Have you asked her, she might like the scars, I know I do

If she does feel a bit uneasy on some bits, I personally found that knee pads helped my confidence a bit more.

If so, I have a pair of Kyle Straits, a little bulky a first but tend to get used to them fairly qiockly.

Hairy Bob

Thankyou.

I asked her what she thought of the idea and she was open to the suggestion. Knowing her she was probably thinking she could go even madder as she would have more protection lol

I have had a look at the seperate knee, elbow and torso protectors, the bits arent that expensive so its no great waste if she doesnt use them long term.

She has only been riding a couple of months and loves some of the jumps, drop offs and berms on the red route around dalby.

As for the scars, she now has a good starting one from her right elbow down her forearm which our daughter likes to pick at the scab for her.

PamPen25

Ooooooooooooo........gross........cool!!!!

The ones on the arms are the best.

Your right, they arn't too expensive and she might want to explore different types of MTBing, which'll probably mean she use'll different types of protection for diferent types of trailing.

miss notax

Sounds like she has all the right traits to be a brilliant downhill rider!!

(Personally I am far too cautious and stick to xc!)

Hairy Bob

She is definately mad for it. I used to race competitvely and would love it if she tried any discipline as long as she enjoys it. She has my support 100%.

Gingie

Hey!

By any chance you're not Hairy Bob, of the Hairy Bob Skatepark/dirt jumps are you???

Anyhu have you looked at this?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=50262

The new 661 subgear stuff looks pretty nice, could maybe be a consideration...

I tend to just ride with leg armour, mainly as the pins in my pedals love to rip holes in my legs.. and i can hardly see pedal-beaten legs being the 'in' look for the summer lol...

Hairy Bob

Gingie, you got me bang to rights. I just took the name from there:)

I had a look at the 661 gear, and as i posted above got her the elbow and knee protectors to see how she got on with them. Her birthday is coming up soon so the S/S jersey might be an idea. Or maybe some weird valentines present, haha. Dont know how she would react to that one though.

Thanks all for your comments

Edit. Forgot to ask, i noticed the jersey is in blokes fittings and would like to hear if any of you have actually got / wear one and if they are comfy or if i would be better getting a women specific one?

Cheers

cavegiant

Hi,

I often go to Dalby as an easy day with my wife too, red/black route is quite a bit of fun.
(though she normally takes the red options).

The 661 subgear looks an option, but will provide very limited protection.
There is a stunning ixys ladies jacket (look at CRC) but did not fit my wife too well, so she went with a youths 661jacket.

You are going to struggle to have anything to try on in womens sizes. What I resorted to in the end is buy everything at CRC that looked remotely good and spent £15 posting back the ones that didn't fit. When you take into account how much petrol would get you to a good bike shop it was a good investment.

Knee and elbow pads are critical if you damage one of those joints you may not be able to bike again!

Hard shell is a lot better than soft, more protection, better ventilation, and can be designed lighter. The whole soft pad thing is cosmetic.

p.s. if you feel like going for a ride sometime just pm (am in York)