Knee Braces

Seems to me that all the riders tearing ACLs are wearing knee braces already, so…

They are discounting the old braces that have been around for a while since they came out with a new version last year. I had those and I didnt like them at all they were bulky uncomfortable and didnt fit well. 

I tried a few different ones and I liked the Mobius the best, my wife has the Pod K8 and they are also very nice but for some reason just didnt fit my leg shape that well. 

Im like 6'2" so my legs are bent a lot so the bigger bulkier braces just dont work well for me. 

FWIW I've put about 200 hours on mine and the only problem has been a strap ripping that also ripped my pants as well from getting together with another rider and they sent me two straps free of charge. 

What  AMetts said - however I don't like the Mobius braces - too flexible and don't offer much protection , in my opinion, but they are comfortable (but also don't breathe and very HOT).  I spent my money on the Pod K8. I had the custom fit CTi2 braces for years and they are very close in their solid feel, quality and protection, at 1/4 the price.  Braces do work, but they can't protect you in every circumstance, just like a helmet.

Not sure which knee braces Hymas wears, but cross that one off the list..

I think the ACLs are happening because dudes are trying to stand further into a rut now, they get off balance, and then slam their foot down and twist their shit up vs sitting through the rut with their leg up. 

This is just a theory though. 

I had the PT199's on when I tore my acl/mcl/pcl all at once. They're not a full on knee brace by any means, but they were really comfortable. I've been wearing some Leatts because my work is a dealer for them. They haven't let me down yet. Also, I sold the offending bike and haven't had a real crash since. 

Well same hahahaha. 

I tore mine playing high school tennis. 

IF I DIDNT BLOW OUT MY KNEE ID BE ON THE ATP TOUR BY NOW!

In same boat as author - my Asterisk fit well (I'm 6'6 vet) but wear out fast and things break in them..... i need new set. No a lot of shops keep braces in stock so its hard to try/fitment on other models. 

I have EVS axis pros and they offer a lot of protection, but they are rather bulky and can be uncomfortable and if they shift on your knee while riding its pretty much game over. I've been thinking about switching brands myself 

Tore my ACL while wearing fitted CTI's so don't feel bad about your injury in the PT199s.  I switched from CTI to the PT199s as I lost confidence in braces like CTIs actually preventing ligament injuries and potentially having the downside of being conducive to broken femurs.  Made this decision a few years ago and after seeing what happened with Trevor Colip and the complications from his broken femur I feel even stronger about not wearing braces that have leverage on the femur.  I'm not saying that's what caused Trevor's broken femur but I'm not going to do anything that raises the chances of a broken femur.  No right or wrong answer, just my personal decision. 

I bought and have been using CTi's since I tore my meniscus, PCL and and other stuff in there back in '06. 4 years ago I ended up having a total knee replacement. Still use CTi braces. But in December of '22, one year into my "new knee" I had a bad crash with my braces on and snapped my femur right at the curve as it goes into the femur. I can't tell you how painful that was. I waited almost 2 hours for an ambulance to get me at the track.

I still wear braces though and will continue. 

Ive worn both Mobius X8 and Asterisk Carbon Cell. I switched over to the Asterisk because I retweaked an old injury in my Mobius on a basic low side. A small rock caught my toe and bent it out just enough to injure my knee. I love the Anti Rotation Tether.

However I ended up going back to Mobius X8 and just retrofitting the anti rotation tether to my mobius as closely as I could compared to my Asterisk. My reason is the Asterisk simply kept breaking, losing pads and I kept crushing or losing the lock out blocks that go in the hinges.

My mobius are around 5-6 years old and have been amazingly reliable. Ive only broken them once where I shattered the knee cup in a sand wash after a foot dab. If I was wearing any other brace I would have destroyed my Knee I believe. Also adding my anti rotation tether to my Mobius has definitely prevented further re-agitating my injury. Ive gone flying off the bike and landing pretty much knees first in my X8's and been perfectly fine. My Asterisk had a similar crash and had some nasty knee bruising, but no further injury.

I don't have an ACL in my right knee and the Mobius seem to give me some good support that makes those weird angles its unstable unnoticeable. 

Between getting wedged between bikes and trees and other riders, just the protection of the braces has been nice to have at least for woods racing. I do not think braces really help much with ACL tears there is just too much flesh and movement to prevent the very specific but not much movement needed for an ACL to tear. 

Quite a few of the top guys wear Mobius despite not being sponsored, Jett being one of them. 

And yet, Jett tore his ACL with the Mobius?

If you notice I say in my post that I don't think braces help prevent ACLs much. All of the pros have torn their ACLs in one brand or another so I wouldn't use that as a definitive result.  

Pods, Leatt and Mobius are the ones I have been satisfied with.  I am currently back to Mobius and have the least amount of twisting of the knee with them. 

Mobius wouldn't hardly allow me to bend my legs enough to get feet on pegs, I am 6'4 and every time I'd ride with em it would feel like a full on leg day afterwards

Best advice I can give you is to find an online retailer with a bitchin' return policy that sells all the braces you're interested in. Buy all of them, keep the ones you like the best.

Use pirateship.com to save some cash on prepurchase return labels.

That is very interesting, i was thinking about the posibility of retro fitting the thether to an anorher brand brace.

Would you mind sharing with us the photos of your modified braces and the process ?

Thanks a lot !

I switched from the most expensive EVS knee braces to TP199s about 2-3 years ago. I was worried I wouldn’t feel enough protection but that wasn’t an issue. Feel solid. Been running them ever since. 

I've been using CTI fitted braces for many years (skiing in 1982 and volleyball in 1992). Two generations of of CTI (and another brand in '82). To me, the hyper extension and hyperflexion support is much more prevalent than twisting support. I had a twisting tweak while turning my bike around on a snowy/icy singletrack!

As far as the Mobius, are they a hot/sweaty brace?  I like the reviews you guys are posting, especially about the twisting support. The look of them seems to have more "bulk?" I don't moto and am in my gear for four to six hours at a time. Are they comfortable enough for all day rides?

+1 for Pods. Used to run Asterisks, liked the braces okay (and loved the customer support), but the yearly rebuild/refresh just wasn’t sustainable. Had to borrow/ride in some Mobius braces to save a ride day, and they just didn’t do it for me: Once you get used to the Pod knee hinge assisting in the return action, you never want anything else. My K300’s are going strong 8+ years later, with only one pad/strap refresh. Rebuild parts are readily available, making ownership all the easier.

Best advice: Try on each brand you’re most interested in, with whatever knee sleeves you’ll actually wear when riding (I run the Mobius compression sleeves, brace up, then top/cover them with cheapie Amazon knee compression sleeves to keep straps from interacting with any tight spots in my leathers). Walk around the shoppe, get a feel for each design, then go from there!

I have Asterisks - not sure if it's because a large fella or they just dont hold up. But they are more or less toast after a season and i'm a slow vet who doesn't ride much. What model Pods do u have ??

#OldSchool

K300’s

Agreed on them not preventing ACL injuries.  I do think they help a little for that, but certainly no where near full proof against ACL injuries.  I wear knee braces to prevent hyper extension injuries, because I used to not wear knee braces until the day I badly hyperextended a knee.  Never want to go through that shit again, so purchased good knee braces and have never had an issue with hyperextension since.