sspomer
Posts: 515
Joined: 6/26/2009
Location: Ventura, CA USA
Administrator
bicycle retailer has an interesting article about mountain bike injuries declining 56% over the last 14 years.
do you think better bikes and design mean less injury overall?
READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON BICYCLE RETAILER
here's a snippet about injury specifics:
According to the study, appearing in the February 2011 issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine, the most frequent diagnoses were fractures (27 percent), soft tissue injuries (24 percent) and lacerations (21 percent), while the most commonly injured body parts were the upper extremities (27 percent), shoulder and clavicle (20 percent) and the lower extremities (20 percent). Falls (70 percent) or being thrown off the bike (14 percent) were the most common mechanisms of injury.
kidwoo
Posts: 113
Joined: 8/3/2009
Location: Grass Hut, FM USA
Yeah I kind of agree with the obvious answer.
I mean THIS used to be something people would tell you was safe to go ride at high speeds down rough trails.
Hubbard
Posts: 7
Joined: 12/29/2009
Location: Felton, CA USA
I think is has more to do with mountain biking isn't JUST for the hard core adrenalin junkies any more. I see a shit ton more 50 something year old fitness riders on the trails today then I did 14 years ago.
sideshow
Posts: 66
Joined: 8/6/2009
Location: Burlington, USA
better equipment is to thank heavily. i'm sure there are plenty of other external factors, but equipment is #1 i think.
i think more people wear armour than before....why?...its cheaper and better fitting than its ever been...
also everyone's realising that injury = downtime...
bearing that in mind..
I just busted my left collarbone in the weekend into 3 bits!!
Super hot day here (southern hemisphere, NZ) 35deg C...anyway chose to take off body armour...landed badly on jump...came off onto shoulder....
v.stupid
IJB
Posts: 7
Joined: 8/4/2010
Location: South Dennis, MA USA
Haha I remember those stumpjumpers, my Klein Pulse is still kicking it too. And out here in the North East some of the old guys are bad to the bone! I don't feel any safer on a FS bike, it actually just makes me go faster.
sspomer
Posts: 515
Joined: 6/26/2009
Location: Ventura, CA USA
Administrator
the softride stem on that stumpy is awesome! "suspend the rider, not the bike" LOL.
mxnate
Posts: 37
Joined: 9/3/2009
Location: Sarnia, CAN
Probably not a coicidence but I ride 56% less than I used to, clearly Im making the whole industy look better, theres should be a free bike in there somewhere and maybe some armor?
sideshow
Posts: 66
Joined: 8/6/2009
Location: Burlington, USA
nice nac-nac. just had to pass that along. i think the proper fit (and more comfortable) padding/armor has played a big big role too. that was a good call on A-M's part.
diatribe69
Posts: 1
Joined: 2/9/2011
Location: San Jose, CA USA
In unrelated news, the number of trails closed to mountain bikes has increased 56% in the last 14 years.
Big Bird
Posts: 264
Joined: 2/1/2011
Location: Santa Cruz, CA USA
Moderator
My friend broke his collarbone this weekend too. We not so jokingly told him to say he tripped down some stairs of something. In this day, with 56% more money hungry lawyers, it doesn't help anybody to become another statistic. I think more people just realise that injury figures mean trail closures.
