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Monday, December 17, 2018

what to look for when buying knee brace for dirt bike

what to look for when buying knee brace for dirt bike

Welcome to the dirtbikefans, if you are shopping for your knee braces I have to admit that  you have a difficult decision ahead of you, because ,lot of great knee braces out there, the good news is they're all really good knee braces, the difficult part is knowing which one do you think is going to be best for you, so we are here to help you out. so I'm gonna talk about each one briefly ,I'll cover the key features and the highlights of each to help you know what we think makes them unique and separates them from the rest.  Now we know when it comes to knee braces that fitment is crucial so make sure always use the sizing guides before you purchase online.

Leatt X frame 

https://amzn.to/2S89wRIFirst knee brace that we have here is  X frame coming  from Leatt, now right off the bat one feature I really like about this brace is the price point, there's a lot of riders are wanting into a high quality knee brace but not break the bank and that's what you're getting here with the X frame, you're gonna be about $450. which makes them the least expensive knee brace that is in our lineup, but along with that a lot of great features built in carbon composite frame, so that keeps a lightweight but also rigid, you're gonna see with the knee cap and
this goes for all the other braces in our lineup, you are going to have,
full knee cap protection so if you do have a crash you've got very good impact protection there with the hinge on here, what I like is that you have a metal gear hinge so great durability with this phrase, but also you're gonna see that it's asymmetric ,so the reason that the hinges are asymmetric is to help you know mimic the anatomical shake-up shape of the rider's knee and also the leg ,now as I mentioned earlier fitment is crucial when it comes to knee braces so make sure you use the sizing guides  for these braces you want to make sure that you have a nice fit on the inside and outside of the knee as well as the upper and lower cuff ,and the reason for that is you want the knee brace to be as one with your legs, so you want to have a good snug fit, so what I like is that they include the extra pads are a little bit thicker than the ones that come in the brace, so if needed you just install these and that'll give you a little bit tighter fit, you also can adjust the extension of this brace that's gonna be for all the braces in the lineup as well, you have these extension stops so if you want the knee brace to lock out before it goes vertical and that kind of danger zone for the knee well then you can actually just insert one of those and it will lock out previous or before it gets that vertical position ,now the last feature about the x frame is that I want to highlight that I really like  are FDA certified as a medical device ,so again if you're looking for a high-quality knee brace that is going to be budget-friendly house good adjust ability and is going to be an FDA certified with the billing code and the x frame is gonna be a rock-solid option

Pod K8 2.0 

We've got the pod k-8 2.0 , updated couple things from the old model to make it  better,  I'm a big fan of some
features about that, I really like the first one is with the frame pods warranty ,so it's a carbon fiber frame pod it gives a 5 year warranty on this frame, the upper and lower cuffs are made from a softer material to help it fit the contour of the upper and lower leg better, but I like the kneecap is more little profile now, so it's a little bit slimmer
fitting you can see great protection from the entire knee, well it's very unique about the K 8 2.0 is with their hinge design, so we're seeing this carry over from the K the previous k-8 what they use to call their human motion
hinge technology, so inside this hinge rather than  mechanical like we see what the other braces they use a synthetic ligament now this is made out of a  special material which is five times stronger than steel,they do a
hundred thousand cycles on these and make sure they have good durability but  these are meant to mimic the actual natural movement of the ligaments inside the knee , you can see  extra pads do come included ,those go on the inside  to  give a better fit, you also have  progressive damper inserts that go inside the hinge as well to help dampen the knee brace, now the last feature about these that  I really like we talked about this with the X frame from Leatt as this is the only other knee brace in the lineup that is FDA certified as a medical device. so again
that is the pod k8 2.0

EVS axis pro & sport

Next knee brace on the line up we've got the Axis Pro and the Axis sport from EVS, now the reason I have both of these is that they're almost the exact same knee brace the only difference between them is with the axis Pro your upper and lower cuts are made from carbon fiber whereas with the axis sport the cuts are made from injection molded nylon ,and I'll talk about those differences and  help you choose between these here in a minute, but a couple features about these that I like ,first of all with fitment these are you'll notice that compared to the other knee braces in the lineup these are the shortest, so for riders with shorter legs or maybe we just don't like a knee brace that feels really long this would be a good option with the strap design,one of my favorites, you have four straps and a fish strap that they call their comfort compression strap to see it down at the bottom ,so this just wraps around the riders leg the lower leg the calf area, and what I like about it it just helps secure the knee brace in place, so it doesn't slide a lot of riders have that concern that knee braces will move on them ,so by having that compression strap there it just helps keep the knee brace in place ,now with the hinge design couple unique features about this is the user patented true motion 2.0 hinge design, it's a dual alloy hinge so great durability but also it's just built to help mimic the natural movement again of the rider's leg and also the knee, and these were designed after an orthopedic knee brace so you're getting that true motion 2.0 hinge again just like we saw with that 
X frame from Leatt, you have additional pads that come included so you can adjust the width inside the need to make sure you get that correct fitment, you also  have your hyper extension stops to adjust where that knee brace locks out, now between the access Pro and the sport to help you decide between the two which one you think will be best, a couple things to consider with the access Pro , being carbon-fiber upper and lower cuffs very rigid very little flex to these ,whereas with the access,sport be injection molded nylon cuffs a lot more flex a lot more give to those cuffs ,also you are going to save some money going down to the axis Sports,really ultimate is gonna be up to the rider but again that is the axis Pro and the axis Sport come from EVS . click her to check the current price , EVS Axis pro and EVS Axis sport.

Fluid Tech carbon & Fluid Pro Alpinestars

In the  list we've got the Fluid Tech Carbon and the Fluid Pro coming from Alpinestars, the only
difference between the two is going to be in their construction, so what the Fluid Tech carbon obviously you have a carbon frame and then with the fluid Pro you're gonna have a polymer frame, now with these braces the first thing that really stands out about these is with their wings, so the fluid Tech carbon comes in at one point three pounds, in fact a fluid  pro is only a few ounces
more, so it is the lightest knee brace that is in our lineup,   so if you like in the brace thats gonna be very slim this would be a really good route to take you have great knee cap protection, dual pivoting hinge on both sides but what I really like about their hinge system what Alpinestars really focused on with this brace is making sure that you get a
really good fitment ,so with the strap system you can see it's a little bit different, you don't just have individual four straps instead you have the X traps  in the back ,which I think do a great job of securing the brace and holding it in place, but when you look at that hinge system k-member dual pivoting hinge, but what I like is you have a lot of adjust ability  to adjust the width on the inside what I mean by that is you have the go fit spacers you can see that come included, but they have an additional set that come they're gonna be a little bit wider so if you want to narrow down the inside of the knee you just put the other or go fit spacers in there, but aside from these you also have the little spacers that come included so if you really want to just fine-tuning at those real fine adjustments by just a millimeter or two they have these spacers that you can put right on the inside  or go fit spacers ,so again they're just really focusing on fitment, and get it exactly where you want it, going along with that you do have extension stops.  the little red inserts this is just insert right  in front of the knee brace again if you want to have the knee brace lock out before zero you have multiple different inserts that you can choose from ,but again very lightweight very low-profile and really choosing between the two ,there's just a few ounces and weight difference but also what I really like about that fluid pro is you're gonna save over $200 if you're willing to sacrifice just a couple ounces,  as the fluid Tec carbon and the fluid Pro coming from Alpinestars. click here to check the current price of Alpinestars Fluid pro &
Alpinestars Tech Carbon..

Ultra cell & Ultra cell 2.0 Asterisk

https://amzn.to/2QYMYFrLast but not least we've got the Ultra cell & the ultra cell 2.0 coming from asterisk ,the difference
between these two is gonna be in there strap system, I'll point that out here in just a bit, feature I really like about these is they're adjustable cuff system ,you know with any knee brace it's really important that the upper and lower cuff you want to have a good fit to the riders leg, so the knee brace is really just working as one with the rider, but I don't think anybody does it as good as asterisk, so with their upper and lower cuffs what is unique is you have the  tool that comes included in the cuffs you have  two metal bands that wrap around ,so once you put the knee brace on to get a customized fit to your leg all you have to do is just take the tool that comes included, you inserted  on the side and all you going to do is just tighten it down and as you tighten that down those two screws will actually make that cuff start to mold and fit to the rider to the shape of the riders leg, and once you set you don't have to touch it
again so let's set it and forget it and it gives a really good customized fit with those cuffs, so what I like that another unique feature getting here with the ultra cell is you get the boa system with their straps, so the way you put strap on is really simple you have the straps  on the outside you take those straps and  hook those on and once you've done that you take the boa dial you just start to twist it and as you do it'll start to tighten everything down and it gives a good  overall fit to the back of the strap, so you don't have any pinch points it gives nice even pressure throughout that entire strap you have it in the top as well as the bottom ,now it's going to be the difference between the ultra cell and the ultra cell 2.0 as the 2.0 has the same strap design but you don't have that boa system so some riders that no
one is much bulk in the back in the knee brace the 2.0 would be the better option so I really like the strap design, they have with that boa system but when you look at the front  they call it their a CM frame, so it's an anatomically correct frame and that goes in conjunction with their glide hinge system ,so you can notice when u bend the knee brace you can see very technical hinge that they have, so having that being a symmetrical along with the frame, just allows the upper and lower part leg to align correctly and to follow the natural movement of the knee, so I really like what asterisk does with the brace and also  you'll notice on the lateral and middle side of that hinge you can adjust the hyper-extension lockout point,  the way you do it is really simple take that exact same tool that you used for the  cuffs you actually just insert it right there on the side you tighten it down and that will actually make the knee brace lock out sooner, so it's very easy to adjust that,last thing with this knee brace I want to highlight that no other knee brace that we've discussed have their anti rotational tether system, so it's down there at the bottom, so this comes included with the boots you can see your buck code down there at the bottom ,  by doing that what you're doing is you're connecting the riders boot to the actual knee brace  will actually help keep  the knee brace connected to the riders boots so everything is moving as one, you got to remember that rotational injury is another easy way that you can injure the knee so by having that tether connected to your boot everything is going to help just work as one, so it's a really cool feature that
asterisk is coming with with that tether so again if you're looking for a knee brace that is super technical then in my opinion has the best adjustable cuff system it is the ultra cell and the ultra cell 2.0 coming from asterisk .

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