661 Kyle Strait Knee 2010 vs 2011

Jedi

i smashed the side off my tibial plateau beacuse i had no side protection. (troy lee knee shins)

Northwind

Jedi wrote:

no, the impact energy goes through the soft cap

I think we must be at cross purposes here, I'll try and explain myself better... To get the same amount of absorption, you need the same amount of soft armour regardless of whether it's got a cap on it or not. So, to get the same level of absorption plus the protection of the cap, you need a larger pad- foam + cap. To get a pad the same size, you'd need to have less foam to balance off the bulk of the cap.

Briggo

ricardo_smooth wrote:

arguement against science i see. If there is no difference in crash protection in a soft shell vs a hard shell then why are car bumpers made from plastic instead of soft material?

The plastic is a soft material, certainly wouldn't want to get hit by a car with steel bumpers...

ricardo_smooth

Briggo wrote:

ricardo_smooth wrote:

arguement against science i see. If there is no difference in crash protection in a soft shell vs a hard shell then why are car bumpers made from plastic instead of soft material?

The plastic is a soft material, certainly wouldn't want to get hit by a car with steel bumpers...

but as soft as a pilable construction? Think you missed the point of the comparison

individual6891

peter413 wrote:

Since you've mentioned knee/shins, does anyone actually make one with a Strait style knee (with proper protection at the sides). Only I refuse most of the time to wear anything other than the Straits because I know someone that went into hospital because they were wearing their knee/shins instead of their Straits and sustained a bad side impact that they couldn't protect against but the Straits would have

Jedi wrote:

i smashed the side off my tibial plateau beacuse i had no side protection. (troy lee knee shins)

Forgive me for being an absolute dipstick, but I'm quite interested in investing in leg protection cos I really can't afford to be off work at the mo.

Is the Kyle Strait knee-only better than something like this:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=57615
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=48509

My shins are already scarred and hole-y from BMX platform pedals back in the old days.

Can't really decide

Also, is it worth getting elbow pads or go all out for a torso? Obviously depends on riding style but I hardly see any hardcore trails / descent demons in torso

peter413

It's up to you what you wear, I ride with someone who wears a pressure suit without the spine plate for most things whereas I'm normally only wearing my knee pads for the same stuff. Obviously I wear the full pressure suit when I'm doing silly stuff but again, that's personal preference.

Wear what you want to and don't listen to anyone saying you shouldn't

And yes, the Straits are better than those, I actually have some but they are under a huge pile of stuff in the shed I think because I have only used them once since I got the Straits and that was because I had a race the next day and didn't have time to wash the Straits of they got mucky. They are so much more comfortable and are much better for when you do crash, in fact, it was the first ones that this guy was wearing when he had to go into hospital

popstar

After riding some rock gardens and crashing in CYB right into sharp rocks I finally approve -Soft- Kyle straights, they weren't too bad at all at guarding my knees. In fact, they saved my 1st day of holiday in NWales and I was able to ride all 4 days of that.

My 3/4 shorts however were messed and ripped up though.
But for regular sunday warrior Kyle straight + Poc elbow guards = ACE !

Long live protection pads.

ADL

Nice discussion, guys
Anyway, I'm not going for a hard cap given that I need something light for XC/trail/soft-core DH stuff. Wouldn't it better to opt for 661 Evo, or they are heavier?