Knee braces are as important part of my off-road using gear as my helmet—a bit ironic given I’ve spent extra years using with out correct knee safety than with. My excuse again within the ’80s was that there wasn’t an choice just like the Pod K4 2.0 composite knee brace. Plastic knee guards have been the usual and did nicely sufficient in my novice years. I wasn’t racing, so my tip-overs and crashes weren’t high-speed affairs.
Nonetheless, everyone knows you don’t must be going quick to get harm on a bike. So, once I tore my ACL one month after Final Motorcycling Editor Don Williams tore his, we each determined it was time to improve our gear. Since then, we’ve each worn knee braces religiously to keep away from a repeat go to to the surgeon.To those that haven’t worn knee braces, they’ll look off-putting. The cumbersome look suggests they is likely to be awkward, uncomfortable, and intrude along with your motion on the bike. Actually, it’s stunning how shortly they’ll mix into your routine—identical to your helmet.
The Pod K4 2.0 knee brace consists of a composite body, CE-rated influence guards that cowl your knees, artificial ligaments inside a hinge housing that enable the brace to maneuver naturally along with your knee, and adjustable cuffs that safe the brace to your leg. Sure, it provides a couple of additional minutes to my gearing-up routine, however it’s price each second.By the point I throw a leg over my bike and twist the throttle, I’ve fully forgotten in regards to the further armor strapped to my physique. Really, that’s not fairly true—my amygdala grudgingly acknowledges the first-class safety I’ve donned and appears for different issues to fret about. It’s liberating to go throughout the desert flooring, skirting rocks and browsing volcanic particles with out viewing each exhausting floor as a doubtlessly catastrophic hazard. Whereas the K4 2.0 can’t assure I’ll by no means harm my knees ought to I fall, the braces significantly scale back the danger of harm.
Essentially the most important safety the Pod K4 2.0 knee braces provide comes from the body and artificial ligaments. They’re designed to switch stress away from the knee joint to scale back the danger of harm to the knee’s ligaments.The brace doesn’t impede the pure motion of my knee. As an alternative, it really works to assist the joint by way of Pod’s proprietary Human Movement hinge system. It mirrors pure knee motion whereas resisting irregular motions past the traditional vary—twisting forces and hyperextension that might injury knee ligaments.
Out of the field, the Pod K4 2.0 knee brace permits your knee to increase fully straight. You’ll be able to insert included dampers on all sides of the hinge housing to progressively decelerate your knee extension and lock it 5 levels wanting full extension. Due to my ACL historical past, I’ve taken benefit of this additional safety. I can’t say I really feel the damping impact in my using, however I like that it prevents full extension.Gripping the bike with my legs initially felt totally different when sporting leg braces, however I shortly tailored. The K4 2.0 is slimmer on the ‘bike facet,’ so there’s nonetheless loads of helpful suggestions from the bike.
The Pod K4 2.0 brace additionally gives straight-up influence safety by way of the two-piece hinged Influence Guards. The decrease piece has a well-cushioned pad that offers full protection to your patella. The higher guard is a tough plastic shell that glides easily over the decrease piece when your leg is straight. Working collectively, the 2 present wonderful protection from each the bike and the bottom in a mishap. The K4s additionally make kneeling comfy when adjusting the air strain in my tires.The knee braces are held on by 4 adjustable straps which can be numbered to remind you of the optimum order to cinch them down. This ensures they keep in place as your physique strikes on the bike.The 2 center straps have a Fast-Loc Clip designed to safe the straps quicker than the Velcro straps alone by permitting you to preset the strap size. Nonetheless, taking the additional few seconds to manually thread the straps gave me a greater match, and the clips have been liable to fall off the straps and get misplaced once I didn’t have the braces on. Additionally, the clips make eradicating the braces awkward, as I’ve to squeeze my leg to scale back the stress and permit unhooking the clip. The Fast-Loc Clips are a pleasant thought, however not totally realized but.
Ideally, you’ll have an area Pod Lively supplier suit your K4 2.0 knee braces. If that’s not potential, there are YouTube educational movies on how one can measurement and suit your braces on the Pod web site. There are additionally movies for sustaining, cleansing, and swapping in new elements, because the knee brace is rebuildable.Relying on how usually you experience, Pod recommends changing the artificial ligaments—like your personal, they stretch over time with heavy use. In 4 years of path and trials using with the unique K4, I finally wore out the artificial ligaments in my left and proper braces. So, they do put on even with much less extreme use, albeit at a slower price. A substitute pair of hinge ligaments runs $30 per brace, significantly lower than a brand new ACL.Two helpful accent gadgets are the Knee Sleeves ($35/pair) and Brace Bag ($35). The primary few instances I wore the Pod K4 2.0 Knee Braces, I didn’t use the Knee Sleeves. I had my traditional full-length using socks in my gear bag, and also you want quick using socks to make use of the compression sleeves. The K4 braces actually work with out the Knee Sleeves, however as soon as I remembered to pack quick socks and will use the sleeves, I used to be a convert.
The Knee Sleeves shield your pores and skin from any Velcro abrasion from the perimeters of the straps. In addition they be sure that the Pod K4 stays in place as the highest and backside of the sleeve are designed to fold excessive and backside of the knee brace, with beneficiant silicone strips on the cuffs to grip the brace. The sleeves make pulling using pants over the braces that a lot simpler.I additionally just like the accent Brace Bag. As an alternative of jamming my braces unfastened into my gear bag the place the Velcro straps get caught on my using jersey or pants, the Pod K4 2.0 braces have their very own completely sized carrying bag. It zips totally open, permitting each halves to put flat, and there’s a helpful lengthy mesh pocket inside the highest half. I’ve discovered the Brace Bag to be the proper place to retailer my denims and t-shirt as soon as I’ve turned into my using attire, as the within of my gear bag is invariably dusty and sandy.
Severe knee braces will help forestall critical knee accidents; when you’ve made the funding you’ll by no means look again. At $550 a pair, the Pod K4 2.0 Knee Braces are well-designed, comfy, and add an enormous quantity of confidence to my off-road using. The Pod K4 2.0 Knee Brace is CE-certified as a medical system and for influence safety. The price could also be lined by your medical health insurance, as it’s an FDA-registered medical system that forestalls knee accidents.Pod K4 2.0 Knee Brace Quick Details
- Sizes: XS/SM; MD/LG; XL/2X; 3X+
- Colours: White/Black; Graphite/Black
Pod K4 2.0 Knee Brace Value: $292 MSRP; $550/pair
