Bumps, Bruises and Crashes

Taking a spill is inevitable while learning to ride a bike.  Kids’ learn by testing their limits,  whether its asking for cake for dinner 7 nights in a row or leaning their balance bike on a 65 degree angle to make the turn at the bottom of the driveway.  The urge to cover them in bubble wrap comes back with every crash but in reality even getting gloves on them can be a challenge.  Constant supervision in addition to staying away from moving vehicles and other dangerous hazards is a given.  That said, no matter how on it you are, the crashes will come.

What we can do as parents is put our kids in the protective gear that will best mitigate the bumps, bruises and crashes that come with the freedom of learning to ride a bike.  Each kid’s temperament is different and some will take spills better than others but everyone can benefit from a good helmet, gloves, elbow and knee pads.   Of course, a long sleeve shirt and pants will also help reduce scrapes and cuts.

Helmets

We spoke about helmets in a previous post but the best helmet is really the one that fits. Make sure chin straps are tight and the retention system is snug. We have personally been using the Kalia, Bell, Giro, and TSG brands for a half shell helmets. It offers extra rear head coverage and great retention/strapping systems coupled with great ventilation.  We have had the unfortunate occurrence of actually testing the Chakra to its capabilities and happy to say it did its job.

For our full face pick, we have used Bell, 7idp, and kali helmets due to their light weight and small fit.

Gloves

Getting the gloves on the little ones can be quite the struggle but once on, they are amazing. Hands seem to be one of the most common causes of tears and running back in to house after a crash. Gloves can go along way by turning a spill from a full-on toddler scream fest to a quick dust off and try again. The best gloves are the ones you can get on somewhat pain free. Look for thin, stretchy material and full finger protection like these.

Elbow/Knee pads

Hands down the best knee pads are those with impact hardening foam. Soft and malleable, these pads stiff’n right up upon impact. G-Form, 7idp, TSG, and ixs, although expensive, offer some great pads with numerous sizes in both youth knee and elbow pads.

Another trick is to use adult elbow pads as kids knee pads. Simply measure your kid’s bicep/mid forearm and match to leg openings measurements of manufacturers adult knee pad. We did this for Race Face’s ambush elbow pads and they made exceptional knee pads for my four year old.

The traditional hardshell knee pads didn’t do do as well for us. They always fell out of position and the hard plastic scratched the top tube of the bike. However, we did find the Pro Tec knee/elbow were very good.

Have any suggestions for protection? We would love to hear in comments below.