Protection

xander633

Can anyone recommend some descent, flexible knee pads, elbow pads. Something you can wear thats ok to move in going uphill, but still offers good protection when going back down again?

Anonymous

661 Kyle Straits does me fine. I only bother with the knee pads. Keeps my knees warm if nothing else and lets me wear shorts even most of the winter. Not too sweaty in the summer.

Not full DH kind of protection but fine for doing trails and descents with a mix of technicals that may send you flying occasionally or stack it.

TommyEss

deadkenny wrote:

661 Kyle Straits does me fine.

They're pretty good for snowboarding too if you're that way inclined... I've found mine to be comfy, not restrictive, and they stay in place, even after some pretty big stacks.

peter413

deadkenny wrote:

661 Kyle Straits does me fine. I only bother with the knee pads. Keeps my knees warm if nothing else and lets me wear shorts even most of the winter. Not too sweaty in the summer.

Not full DH kind of protection but fine for doing trails and descents with a mix of technicals that may send you flying occasionally or stack it.

In what way are they not "DH kind of protection"? Many DH riders, myself included, wear them and swear by them.

Anyway, I would also recommend the Kyle Straits obviously but there are alternatives which offer the same amount of protection and may fit you better so would offer more protection to you.

I never usually bother with elbow pads but I do need them for certain races and I like them for rockier tracks and I have found the IXS Hack pads to be pretty decent. They are super cheap as well which is why I got them and they are the most comfortable pads I have worn but still not as comfortable as not wearing pads and do still have the normal drawbacks of elbow pads but they are super light and seem to stay in place just fine. They stayed in place fine over a whole weekend racing at Innerleithen but that's the only time I've used them so far so can't properly comment on their protective abilities but I was smacking them against the corners of door frames and walls and couldn't feel any pain, barely felt anything TBH so they should be good.

1mancity2

Fox launch pro are great, just watch the sizes though.

xander633

cheers guys, i get the impression the 661 kyles are the preferred choice, so i`m off to buy some now

Anonymous

peter413 wrote:

In what way are they not "DH kind of protection"? Many DH riders, myself included, wear them and swear by them.

True. I've worn them for DH but I'm no DH rider really.

Just in my limited experience of DH I've tended to see DHers more often with the harder shell stormtrooper style of combined knee and shin pads.

peter413

deadkenny wrote:

peter413 wrote:

In what way are they not "DH kind of protection"? Many DH riders, myself included, wear them and swear by them.

True. I've worn them for DH but I'm no DH rider really.

Just in my limited experience of DH I've tended to see DHers more often with the harder shell stormtrooper style of combined knee and shin pads.

Ah I see what you mean now. They seem to be becoming less and less popular it seems. Hardly see them at all now at Innerleithen so kind of forget that is what the norm is for a lot of people.

delcol

kyle straits are ok till you need them and rip off.. they ok on little knocks but if you have a big off they just rotate round your leg or end up round your shin...

tld tbones these things dont move and offer decent protection...

Northwind

Kyle Strait or any of the innumerable "inspired by" pads like the Fox Launch. Excellent protection, including good side coverage- lots of otherwise good pads lack that protection. I've worn mine for endless french road climbs, XC racing, allsorts.

I do have a set of stormtrooper hard pads which I use for places with worse landings (very happy with the kyle straits for the dh at innerleithen and my local spots, where there's relatively few hard things to land on, but not so much on really rocky trails.)

Elbows isn't so easy, tbh I've never found a soft elbow pad that I thought was much good. I use POC Bones, which are a hard pad and a bit OTT looking but are far better- they've got good coverage, almost no restriction, but they're also much less hot and sweaty than soft pads since they don't need to be so enclosed. Expensive, and silly looking, but fantastic.

delcol wrote:

kyle straits are ok till you need them and rip off.. they ok on little knocks but if you have a big off they just rotate round your leg or end up round your shin...

Not if they fit right and are done up right, IME... I've had mine move a couple of times but both times they were loose already (I'd loosened them for sweaty climbs and forgotten to redo them, doh!)

delcol

the poc elbows are good i use them,, they stay inpace under impat to..

i had my kyle st move on me i had them done up tightish to.. i seen a few riders in whistler loose the kyle st after hitting the ground...
thats why i went for the tlds..

mine are quite old 08 so maybe they changed something, or perhaps mine had streched then...

peter413

I've found they have changed the design slightly on the new Kyle Straits, not as full of holes as the old ones so shouldn't stretch like the old ones and they seem more secure, they seem to have a slightly different liner than the old ones which seems to make them grip your legs well, this may be just because they are new though but my old ones never did this.

They also appear to cover your knee slightly better, slightly further down the shin and more protection for the top of your knee cap when your knee is at a 90 degree angle, something the old ones weren't so good with was hitting a tree stump on the edge of it with my knee bent, OUCH! We aren't talking much here and just looking at them you wouldn't be able to tell the difference but wearing them back back shows these things, the little things make all the difference.

andymc06

I can recommend the Fox Launch Pro knee pads and 661 Rhythm elbow pads.

The Rhythm's don't offer massive protection by any means but they are lightweight, comfy and stay in place.

The launch pro are class. Very comfortable and secure even for uphill pedaling duties.