Trials Australia Forums

Do the pro riders actually use any protective gear apart from the mandatory? It seems like most don't, but I could also be fooled by equipment hidden underneath their clothing. I was thinking about getting some slim knee pads as I currently have riding pants that offer no protection at all from even kneeling down in the dirt let alone falling. I've been watching some of the classic, think 90's, riders and they are falling from some pretty big distances and I'm wondering if they are doing it all without any foam/padding. I'm not looking at getting kitted out for battle, more wondering if most riders prefer to utilise protection inbuilt into their gear or do they supplement with other protection, if so, what?

I once hit a hard branch from a trees stump right on the knee cap, doing about 20kmph, the pain was insane, haven ridden without knee protection since[gardening ones from Bunnings]

Having ridden MX i wont ride without knee pads or padded shorts & riding pants, i do tend to fall off a bit so i'm thinking of wearing the elbow guards i wear in the bush ? i used to wear an old open face MX helmet but would get a sore neck, i've bought a proper trials helmet that have a cutaway @ the back of you neck, this makes it so much easier on the neck

I've seen in a few utube vids riders wearing a narrow spine protector & now I can't find ém to direct you, but they looked functionable, my bother busted his knee to bits on a rock trialsing, I think if you can stand ém elbow & knee protection is vary worthwhile, meself I wear sunglasses & sunscreen (helmet,boots,gloves) some circus supply shops have acrobat pads more designed for tumbling mats but may work well for trials as they tend to be light & don't restrict movement. Just as a side note though circus tumblers of yesteryear were apparently much better than todays acrobats much like rider storys you hear, when the climbs were twice as high & the mud twice as slippery & the rocks twice as hard, they practiced without pads over opened jam tins & they got good or else, I can rember seeing these fellas groaning & limping around the lots when I was a kid.

Circus supply shops ?:shock:

Juggle art or circus supply, ones in Melbourne the others in Sydney & there's somebody in Perth whose name escapes me, the ones I'm thinking of a very light bruise pads.

I use the Jitsie knee pads, small and light. I also have a pair, forgot the brand, that have shin guards that tuck into the top of my boots and cover my knees. These are hard plastic, had them since the 1980s. The Jitsies are a hard foam.
Cheers Taff

Both Fox & Shift have budget Knee / Shin guards that retail round the $30.00 mark.
Fox also have a cheap Kids Knee / Shin guard that's quite slim & will fit nicely into the top of Trials boots & go under Nylons or Trials pants ok.
Myself & both my sons have been using the Fox Kids (called Youth Titan Knee Guard) Knee guards for years & they have saved us plenty of times.

Most Dirt Bike shops keep these in stock as do lots of Bicycle stores, but Bicycle stores will be dearer than Motorcycle shops.

Interestingly about a year ago I went to buy some more trials pants and I noticed that they didn't have an internal pocket for knee pads whereas my previous ones did have. I asked the retailer about this and was told that most companies were moving away from the pocket. Seems a strange thing to me to do this given the ever increasing appetite of legislation to protect the human body.

I didn't buy those particular pants but ended up buying some XCTing ones and while they didn't come with the pads, the internal pockets were still there so I can swap the pads between the 2 pairs of pants as need be.

Good to know about the Fox ones as suggested by Gary, I'll look in to these for my son, because he has noticed and commented that he doesn't have knee protection and I do.

Gary B wrote:Both Fox & Shift have budget Knee / Shin guards that retail round the $30.00 mark.
Fox also have a cheap Kids Knee / Shin guard that's quite slim & will fit nicely into the top of Trials boots & go under Nylons or Trials pants ok.
Myself & both my sons have been using the Fox Kids (called Youth Titan Knee Guard) Knee guards for years & they have saved us plenty of times.

Most Dirt Bike shops keep these in stock as do lots of Bicycle stores, but Bicycle stores will be dearer than Motorcycle shops.

Thanks for the replies everyone! I went ahead and got myself the Fox Titans based on Gary's advice and love them. I bought mine from Torpedo7 for a great price and they fit well, don't even notice them once they are on and have already saved me once.