The weekend before Memorial Day I overjumped the triple uphill rollers at Delta, UT RMX round. Basically went 3.75 instead of 3. Landed brutally hard on the pegs and cart wheeled the bike. Got X-rays at the ER immediately afterwards and was relieved when X-rays came back negative for fractures. They said it was just an extreme sprain of both ankles.
I've been limping around for the past three months, trying to tough it out. Finally got X-rays again last Friday, and an MRI yesterday. Basically destroyed my right ankle with 2 fractures (one displaced and not healing properly) and had multiple moderate-severe ligament tears and multiple mild-moderate tears.
I had planned on buying Ankle Saver footpegs from Fastway, but didn't have them bought/installed yet. I think I would have gotten away with only mildly sprained ankles if I had simply bought the Ankle Savers before my crash. I've got them installed now, but I would highly recommend all motocross riders buy these $250 pegs before a a crash!!
I'm not sponsored by them, but they are a local company to Idaho and support the sport in a big way.
Are you having surgery soon to fix the fracture, tendons and ligaments?
Been there, done that. I bought the fastway pegs too after going through it. Very well worth the money. I'm not huge fan of how they look in terms of style, but they are very effective for what they are designed for. Only takes one bad one to make you realize its worth it, especially when you have to go to work on Monday. I couldn't wear normal shoes for a month. Oofos for the win......
Agree, I have them on all my bikes. I especially like the pinpoint cleats over the set screw cleats, they really lock your boots in with no slippage. The downside is they chew up the boot soles pretty quick, particularly on the left shift side.
Do your heels hit the back of the peg when standing normally? It seems they are not far enough down.
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Love mine as well, have a pair on all my bikes, My riding is cross country and off road and they've never been issue.
No, usually don’t touch the back pad unless far off the back of the bike trying to keep the rear end down, if it kicks up off a square edge bump. Gives you some more leverage for control in those situations IMO.
Yeah, my son loved them. I'm getting some, soon!
Had I had those 20 years ago, my life would be completely different.
Broke both tib fibs/ankles/heels, all without my feet coming off the pegs.
If and when I ever get back on a bike, these will be nonnegotiable.
Glad you’re alright OP!
Eli might say they are worth a million dollars. (Achilles savers too)
Yes, see a specialist next week and then schedule surgery. One bone is displaced so will need hardware to stay in place while it heals
I had them installed and rode around a bit while trying to tough it out. Don’t hit heels on rear peg at all.
Color me stupid but someone explain to me how these work? Thanks in advance
If you take a hard landing while standing on the pegs on the balls of your feet, the impact will cause your heels to drop/toes to come up like doing a calf raise on stairs.
The extended extra portion of these pegs sticks out and catches your heel preventing you from dropping so far that your toes touch your shins let’s say on a massive overjump situation.
Prevents big breaks, Achilles tears, etc
They are meant to supporting the heel of the boot, preventing hyperextension of the ankle on hard landings.
With proper motocross, technique, you ride on the balls of your foot on the footpegs. If you case something really hard (like I did), you must remember to get your heels over the pegs before you land. In my case, I didn't realize I had over jumped the triple rollers until about 1/4 second before impact. The balls of my foot were on the pegs and my heels probably were only stopped by the ground. An extreme rearward sprain of the ankle by bending it much, much further down in heels than it was every meant to be.
Ankle Savers save your ankles by only letting your heels go down about 1". You don't even notice they are on your bike until you case something extremely hard, then they completely save your ankles from a rearward sprain.
I see them on a lot of vet racers, but was an idiot and didn't buy them until after I destroyed my ankles. Trying to save other racers from repeating my mistake.
You never feel them until you need them to save your ankles.
The pegs are a great idea, but it makes me wonder..if you are on the balls of your feet and land hard and it breaks your ankle, the load would be just as great if applied to your heel. So, I don’t exactly understand how it would stop an injury. If you OJ and land hard that energy has to go somewhere. If they work and makes a person feel safer riding that is good.
Pit Row
I understand how they protect against hyperflexion.
Do they hang up any more frequently in ruts?
Except it's going to be applied to the balls of your feet AND your heels. It's going to be dispersed out over a greater area than if it was simply the balls of your feet.
If you’re ankle can’t over flex you’d think the energy would go to your legs, and then once your butt slams the seat, eventually your spine if your legs can’t absorb the impact before bottoming onto the seat. It atleast gives you a fighting chance to absorb more of it before finding a weak link.
My question as well
I've never had one hang up. The only time I've ever noticed them was when I was learning to ride AX whoops (amateur level whoops, but still very legit and tough if you haven't ever ridden them). To hit whoops, your foot has to be on the balls of your feet with your heels back and dropped to keep the weight on the back side of the footpeg in order to weight the back of the bike. The pegs actually ended up helping me weight the back side of the pegs because I had a leverage point on the back. Go into the whoops, lean heels back until I hit the stopper peg and just weight the back of the bike to keep the front end light. I still suck at riding whoops, but there were helpful in that regard. The pegs don't connect to my throttle hand which determined my speed through the whoops....lol
Team Dirtbikemike has used AnkleSavers/Fastway pegs since Tom Crain first designed them. Started out in 2013 with the steel version and on to the advanced billet version from Fastway. Never an issue and I have them on my personal bike. A must have for Arenacross.
I will NEVER ride without them, the peace of mind they give (and the way they actually work) is non negotiable. Also, they have adjustable camber, adjustable cleats, adjustable height in most cases, why wouldn't you run them?
I am a retired moto guy but really into hard enduro. I love 1st/2nd gear nasty rocky single track. Does anyone have input on hard enduro with these? Would they just get caught on rocks? I don’t ever have super hard foot to peg impacts but if they save an ankle maybe worth getting?
I was thiking the same. The force still has to go ssomewhere. But nothing is perfect. You OJ that badly, you're in trouble no matter what. I would think it would be good to not tear your achilles
Just your ddescription of your crash makes my skin crawl. Heal up brother
I do ride some single track and I don't see them getting anymore in the way than the normal peg gets in the way - and sometimes the pegs do get in the way. But unless you hit a lot of natural terrain jumps in your hard enduro, I'm not sure there is a huge benefit. They can help you weight the back of the pegs in certain situations to help keep the rear more planted. Its more for over jumping situations where you could blow out your ankles or achilles. If you hit some natural terrain jumps in your hard enduro, then there is a benefit to having them and I wouldn't be too worried about the saver part getting in the way. You don't really notice them.
They also work great as 'buddy pegs' when needed!
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