What Mountain Bike Protective Gear Do I Need?

See our recommendations below for choosing the right mountain bike protective gear to prevent mountain biking injuries. Wear your mountain bike protective gear to keep yourself and your family safe while you mountain bike this season!

#1: A Quality Mountain Bike Helmet

A properly certified and fitting mountain bike helmet is the most essential piece of mountain bike protective gear. A head injury is the most serious of mountain biking injuries, and a mountain bike helmet will help protect you from many types of impacts – rocks, stumps, your bike, other riders, etc. No matter what type of mountain biking you are doing, a good quality mountain bike helmet is a must. The risk of a serious and long-term mountain biking injury involving your head make buying and wearing a mountain bike helmet a “no brainer” – get one today, and wear it always.

Learn How to Choose a Mountain Bike Helmet
or

Start Shopping for a Mountain Bike Helmet

#2: A Pair of Mountain Bike Gloves

From our perspective, the second most important piece of mountain bike protective gear is a good pair of mountain bike gloves. When you crash, your hands will lead the way as you naturally reach out to break your fall. As a result, your hands are at risk of nasty abrasions, cuts, and bruises from the dirt, rocks, or pavement. You can easily avoid these mountain biking injuries with a good pair of mountain bike gloves. Your hands are important to everyday life, so you need to protect them. A pair of mountain bike gloves is a valuable piece of mountain bike safety gear.

Learn How to Choose Mountain Bike Gloves
or
Start Shopping for Mountain Bike Gloves

#3: A Pair of Padded Mountain Bike Shorts

Keep your bum, hips and thighs from getting hurt while you ride (and when you fall) with a pair of padded shorts.
Learn How to Choose Mountain Bike Padded Shorts
or
Start Shopping for Mountain Bike Padded Shorts

#4: Mountain Bike Pads For Your Knees and Elbows

Although not life-altering, mountain biking injuries like scrapes and bruises on your knees and elbows are no fun. Several companies make very comfortable and lightweight mountain bike knee and elbow pads, which are a great piece of mountain bike safety gear. SixSixOne, ProTec, and EVS all make excellent pads which will help protect your knees, shins, elbows, and forearms when you crash or scrape against a tree branch, rock, or other hard object. Pick up this piece of mountain bike protective gear for downhill mountain biking, single track riding, or more aggressive mountain biking vert or terrain park riding.

Learn How to Choose Mountain Bike Knee & Elbow Pads
or
Start Shopping for Mountain Bike knee & Elbow Pads

#5: Mountain Bike Upper Body Armor

If your mountain bike riding goes beyond recreational single track or street riding, and you’re doing more aggressive downhill mountain biking, terrain park jumping, or faster and/or higher mountain bike riding, then you will want to consider upper body armor to prevent injuries to your torso, back and shoulders. Leading brands like SixSixOne, Crash Pads, and EVS offer different features, including soft foam or hard shell protection, sleeve and sleeveless options, and different pad placement alternatives.

How to Choose Mountain Bike Upper Body Armor
or
Start Shopping for Mountain Bike Upper Body Armor