Knee Guards-Rider's Recommended Kit

Recently I pillioned a fallen rider who was wearing the standard armoured jacket, full face and gloves to the hospital. Such gears, if u must insist, is the highly recommended but seldom seen set of gears for local riding or tours. The rider suffered deep tears on the knee which took more than a month to heal although no surgery or stiching was required. The rider painstaking cleaned her knees everyday with sodium chloride and applied dressings to bandage the wound as instructered by the doctors.

Today evening, i pillioned another rider to the police station to make a report. This rider was wearing the same set of safety gear, but plus knee guards.

In both accidents, the riders' gear absorbed full damages. In both accidents, the rider was not at fault and could not have prevented the accident through rider's action. However, the rider without knee guard faced more than a month's inconvenience on public transport, having fat people banging into her injured knee, spending several hours a day travelling both ways to work, and endured much pain and suffering. The second rider only has a sprained wrist.

I have been riding locally for a couple years with mesh armoured jacket, full face and gloves. I'm getting my knee guards asap. I've seen 2 broken knees with torn ligaments from rider friends and pillioned 2 riders, one with deep cuts and one without. I've seen first hand how knee ligament injuries can cost upwards of $10k to fix, on top of many months of physio and psychological trauma. Ask any athelete and you will understand the knees are the most important to mobility. You could hurt your ankles or thighs and still hobble. But hurt your knees, and chances are u hobble with much difficulty. I've seen how knee guards can reduce injuries. I'm convinced the knee guard is the most under-rated but most effective safety gear for the rider. A knee guard with external strap on is easy to wear (you don't have to slip your leg through it), is cheap (less than $50), and is effective in absorbing the first impact's damage even if it flies off in a violent accident. The first impact is what causes the deepest and most distressing injury to the rider.

Just think about the first time u had an accident. Did you hurt your knees? While we ride safe and hope for the best, in times when we have performed what is humanly possible to prevent accidents but failed, we depend on our gears to reduce the suffering and pain. Your knee guards is your best bet to helping you walk to the motortiam to fix your bike without having to bring crutches along or being hospitalized and having your friends ride it to fix it for you.