CTi3 brings a new vision to double upright knee braces. Innovative engineering makes CTi3 an excellent option for most of you moto people looking for off the shelf bracing. Suitable for both everyday activities and sports, CTi3 offers great quality with its enhanced construction and anatomical fit for elevated comfort.
What Are The Key Features?
Enhanced construction – Lightweight, high strength carbon composite frames provide the optimal stiffness to weight ratio.
Anatomical fit – Designed to fit a wider range of leg shapes and includes an Accutrac® hinge to closely follow the knee’s anatomical movement.
Elevated comfort – Unique liners enhance comfort with their special tread block pattern, which provides a balance of cushion and ventilation.
Easy-to-use accessories and replacement parts, including MX kits, replacement strap sets, liner sets, and flexion stops.
For knee conditions that may benefit from increased AP and ML stability and protection, such as injuries to the ACL, MCL, LCL, PCL, rotary and combined instabilities
I normally wear the custom CTi custom knee braces but get asked A LOT on what off the shelf knee brace is best so from time to time I will revisit some other braces to keep in contact with non prescription based knee brace consumers. The CTi3 uses the same four way strap system to secure the brace to your leg like many other off the shelf braces (as well as the CTi custom braces) but what I enjoy the most is the large knee cup design for protection, yet that large look doesn’t feel that bulky when you slide them into your pants. You will have to be a little more patient when sliding your pants over the knee guard area (some pants come with a lot of pre curve so you will have to be careful). When you first view the CTi3 brace you’ll notice its bulky knee cup but once riding you will not feel that bulkiness within your pants or when squeezing the bike. I like the feel of the knee cup as I actually feel like my complete knee cap is covered/protected from debris/roost/crashes/or even stabbing my bars into my knee when I dive deep into a soft berm/pocket. The CTi braces are lighter than my custom braces and allows for a fresher set of legs after a long day of riding, which is a welcome addition for my recovery. The anatomical fit that CTi mentions above is legit because not only have I worn these CTi3’s a lot but my mechanic Eddie Laret (a bigger dude at 220 pounds) has also been wearing them with positive results. Coverage of the knee/shin/thigh area is excellent and the padding the CTi3 offers is not hindering or hard on your leg/knee. There hasn’t been a complaint about digging into skin or hot spots when the brace is on between Eddie and I. Full disclosure: we ran some of the early prototype CTi3 braces and worked with Ossur/CTi on specific padded areas to keep the rider comfortable. Eddie has been putting more hours on these than I have so he can attest to the durability of the brace and its parts. Squeezing the bike with braces are not as good as knee guards (contact feel) but the CTi3 does a great job at keeping the legs/knees close enough where I didn’t have complaints about contact feel.
The CTi3 knee braces have been on my legs for many days of riding and have performed well, but more importantly left me feeling safe. Does that mean it has prevented a knee injury from happening to me? Possibly, it’s tough to say. I don’t wear or trust knee guards as I have torn a meniscus as well as an MCL on “guards”, so I am not going to leave my knee brace ways. Some riders swear by knee guards and usually it’s a matter of feel (bulkiness) on the bike for them. I however do not notice a very bulky feel with these CTi3’s (once on bike) when squeezing the bike with my legs. The CTi3 braces are a good preventative piece of protection that I would look into. I mean with the name CTi, you know that you will have a unity brace that has been tested thoroughly. The CTi3 is available through the find a practitioner/retailer tab at Ossur.com and through Ossur’s worldwide network of online retailers.
Second Opinon:
I was lucky enough to get the CTi3 knee braces early on to test. I was using the Asterisk Carbon Cells at that time and had no real complaints. The positives of the brace is that it’s true sizing with a lot of knee cap protection. The four strap design keeps the brace tight to your leg and the brace stays formed to your thigh when you bend your knee at 90 degrees (without slippage). The woven Velcro strap is connected to the brace padding as I believe this helps keep the brace in place, which it did great. The carbon frame keeps the brace lightweight but very stable on your leg and I genuinely felt like my knees were protected/secure. My only negative comment is the knee cup is bulky. With tight fitting gear these days all the rage, as well as me being 220 pounds (and not skinny like Keefer) it makes it tough to get it over that part of the brace, but with some patience it can happen. I just know that I get excited to ride when I am at the track so sometimes I try to pull too hard on the pant (to get it to ride over the brace) and it’s not pretty. If you have sensitive shin bones, the padding is somewhat stiff at first, but once broke in that went away. At the end of the test, I chose to keep wearing the CTi3 over the Asterisk Cells so I am very pleased. -Eddie Laret 220 lbs. 40 B Rider
