A couple of years ago I had two events happen within a few weeks that made me begin thinking about added knee protection. I cracked the knee cup on my tried and true Acerbis knee guards, and a good friend of mine blew out his ACL. What made his knee injury so interesting is that he is an excellent rider with a clean riding history. To make the knee injury story worse, he tore his ACL while loading his bike. He was riding his bike in first gear to line it up with the truck, and when he put his foot down to do a 180 with the bike, his boot caught in a hole, and POP, goodbye ACL. His doctor told him no riding for 9 months to a year so he sold his brand new YZ426 and went in for surgery.

This is pretty scary stuff. Just one of those freak things and he's out for a year and his knee will likely not be the same. That was all the motivation I needed to scrap the old knee guards and step up to some real protection. I had been thinking about the Asterisk braces for a while, but at $550 for a pair of braces, it was just one of those things where I thought I could better spend my money somewhere else (like goodies for my bike!).

After my friend's ordeal I realized that $500 is nothing compared to crutches and physical therapy, so I looked at the purchase like I would for buying a new helmet. Cost was not the issue; safety was most important. I spent some time investigating various knee braces. There were a few on the market, and there are even more on the market today. Over the years I had heard and read a lot of good things about the CTi braces, but since these braces are custom made, they're quite expensive at about $700 per leg. However, CTi created a sister company that was focused on providing leg protection to the world without having to buy custom braces. The company they created was Asterisk, and the product was the Asterisk Cell knee braces.

It's probably a good time to briefly talk about the protective ability of the braces. It needs to be understood that there is some controversy about knee braces. For people who have had injuries and corresponding surgery it is well known that a knee brace can add some excellent stability. However, for people who have healthy knees, there are different opinions about the value of the braces. I've heard talk about how a knee brace can actually make a knee weaker because the knee relies more on the brace and the surrounding ligaments and tendons can begin to weaken.

Well, I spoke to my orthopedic doctor (who I've visited over the years for other joint problems) and we discussed the braces. He was not concerned with use of the braces, just so I was using them only for riding and not for constant everyday use. That conversation, plus the fact that I hadn't come across one story of someone injuring a knee while using a knee brace, caused me to purchase a pair. I've heard "stories" of more frequent femur breaks with knee braces because a shock to the leg gets translated to where the leg brace ends. Although I have never heard any official confirmation of this story, and a femur break is a nasty injury, even if there is some truth to it I would still rather have a broken bone (even if it is the biggest one in your body) than a soft tissue injury. The latter can take so much longer to heal, and you hear stories of people whose knees never feel the same after an ACL injury and PT. If you have questions or concerns about your need for braces I would suggest having a quick conversation with your doctor. The added opinion may prove helpful.

Let's finally talk about the braces. Asterisk designed these braces in multiple sizes and with full adjustability so the braces could be tuned to your specific leg. On their website they have instructions for measuring your leg to purchase the proper size braces. They are also very helpful on the phone if you have added questions about sizing.

When you take the braces out of the bag you will immediately feel the quality in the product. They are built using fiberglass frames with additional plastic components. The braces come with tools that allow you to adjust the thigh and calf straps. It is a very clever system. The straps are hard plastic on the front and sides and the adjustment tool adjusts the diameter of the strap. On the back of the calf and thigh there is a cloth panel that snaps around the leg. On the cloth panel is a drawstring to make the fine adjustments. There are multiple adjustments for fine tuning the fit and feel of the braces.

One important adjustment is the hyperextension limit. This prevents a hyperextension injury by locking the brace at a certain angle. One other nice feature of the braces is the almost full protective coverage of the leg from the calf to the mid thigh, including a fully articulated knee cup. This is great because you never have to worry about your knee pads wandering out of place during a long ride, or rotating off to the side during a crash. The plastic cup for you knee is always positioned in the correct spot on your knee.

Also included with the braces is a set of leg sleeves. These are supposed to be worn under the braces for added comfort. For the first few rides I used the sleeves, but they never seemed to stay put for me and seemed to bunch at the knee. For the past couple of years I've mostly ridden without anything under the braces. After a particularly long ride or race I'll get a little irritated skin near the back of my knee, but nothing more that what I seemed to get from knee pads.

Another nice benefit is that the braces tuck into the tops of riding boots. When you tighten the tops of your boots they almost "lock" to the knee brace providing a very solid feel from your foot all the way to mid thigh. It's a little odd feeling at first, but within minutes of the first ride, all of those concerns go away because the braces just seem to disappear.

This is no exaggeration. When you first put them on they feel like a huge mechanism and you wonder how you are going to ride. This gets worse when you get on your bike because the added thickness to the inside of your knees makes it feel like you mounted a bowling ball to the side of the gas tank. What's amazing though, is once you start riding you cease to notice the braces. They feel comfortable very soon and then you don't even think about them.

I've been using these braces for two years and they are still in great condition. This is a high quality product that is evident from the durability of the components. In addition, the customer service is excellent. I doubt you will hear any stories better than the customer service at Asterisk. After about a year I noticed that some of the cables that limit the knee movement were beginning to fray. I called up Asterisk and they said that they had designed a new version of the cable with different material and they sent me a new one, with the required tools, free of charge. I've also heard stories of people calling up to get some new buckles because they had broken as a result of their own mistake. Asterisk sent them replacement parts for free. That is an attitude that builds and keeps customers. I certainly have the confidence that Asterisk will be around for a long time to supply me with any replacement parts for my braces.

After a few rides with the braces you'll begin to notice accelerated wear on both your riding pants and on your tank decals, especially if you tend to grip the tank hard with your knees. Because the hinge on the inside of the brace is hard your pants can take a beating. I've seen products that adhere to the side of the hinge to provide a softer surface. I actually solved the problem by gluing a piece of leather to the side of the hinge for some cushioning. It's not necessary, but just be warned that your pants will take a beating. It may be a good choice on the next pair of pants to upgrade to pants with leather inner knees. This will make your pants and tank graphics last much longer.

As another note, I've ridden many times in cold weather (below freezing) with the braces. I wore full leg Lycra biking pants under the braces and the system works perfectly. It works exactly like the sleeves that were provided, but the pants obviously don't slide down. This setup is a bit hot; that's why it's only been used in cold weather. Other than that, the braces don't get any hotter than a regular set of knee pads.

I haven't had any injuries while using the braces, but we know that really doesn't mean much. Perhaps I'm just not riding hard enough? I've definitely beaten the braces around a bit as evidenced but the scratches on the frame and knee cups, but I haven't even come close to hurting my knees. Much like a good helmet - it's difficult to tell the braces are doing a good job, but the lack of any type injury to my calf, knee or thigh can only be construed as a good sign.

I've had a good experience with these braces. Over the years I've had a number of products that I've been given with the purpose of doing a product test. Some of those products I wouldn't have spent my money on and some of them I wouldn't use again after the first use. In this case, I spent my hard earned money on the Asterisk Cell braces, and if I had to replace them, I wouldn't hesitate to spend my money again. If you are considering braces, be sure to take a look at the Asterisk Cells. They continue to set the standard that the other braces should be compared against.