protection

Yes i think these pads will suit you, the veggies dont have hard plastic and i guess they really would just save you from cuts and scrapes offering minimal protection. Sods law that as soon as you switch from the 661s you'll wreck and wish you had been wearing the others

Ive just ordered the 661s so hope theyre not too restrictive

I've got Veggie knee and shin (separate) pads.

I forget I'm wearing them usually, especially in the current temperatures.

Not cripplingly hot in summer either.

I use Kyle Strait knees and chicken wings elbows. The Kyle Straits are fairly bulky but they're not at all intrusive on the bike, just fit and forget. As long as you're in shorts or baggy trousers of course! I can't wear them under my oakleys trousers, they're too tight a fit- they go on, but they drag on every stroke. Knees tend to take pretty big hits, and they're vulnerable and complicated joints so I'd sooner err on the side of caution there! Even in a walking-pace topple on a technical bit, it's easy to whack a knee and that's no good if you're up a hill in the middle of nowhere. Very good bits of kit. It's a shame they don't have a hard outer, crashes will tear them up, but that's minor.

Elbows, the chicken wings are good. They're not quite flexible enough so they're a bit restrictive sometimes, though not a problem on the bike. They're obviously lighter armour, much less protection but then you don't need it as much on elbows. You really don't want to land hard on an elbow anyway, since you're likely to do your shoulders if you do. They're light protection rather than full on kit but they're good for that. Not quite as good as the knee pads maybe.

alex.hulme wrote:

Yes i think these pads will suit you, the veggies dont have hard plastic and i guess they really would just save you from cuts and scrapes offering minimal protection.

It's pretty much the other way round... With proper safety gear it's the padding that does most of the protecting, hard shell armour spreads impacts and reduces point injuries (ie, landing on sharp rocks or north shore edges) but proper soft armour (ie CE approved)actually reduces the amount of energy transferred into the body. An impact test of some hard armour a while back showed that it was as effective at reducing impacts as a cheese sandwich

There's a place for both of course, a combo of the 2 is the ideal for offroad use (for road motorbike gear, where impact absorbtion is the name of the game, hard armour is now almost completely obsolete). The impact absorbtion off road is the same but you also want to stop from being stabbed with rocks etc which is where a hard layer comes in.

(the comparison I like is mattresses vs armour plates. If you're going to be stabbed with a knife, you want a solid armour plate. But if you're going to fall over, you want to land on a mattress not a steel plate. Offroad bike crashes are a mix of the two.)

Some people will tell you no armour can prevent broken bones. Usually older folks who remember the hopeless old padding. But modern armour is a totally different kettle of fish, if it meets the CE standards then it offers real protection. Modern armour is amazing, the T-Pro Forcefield stuff is thinner and more flexible than the thinnest CE armour in the world was 5 years ago, yet offers among the best protection available (their back protectors are still among the only CE-2 garments available, yet are lighter and more breathable than most CE-1 panels). And it just looks like carpet underlay! Then there's the custard-tech stuff.

Lecture over You gain a better perspective on the hows and whys of armour when you're a motorcyclist with steel bolts in your hip and osteoperosis

i think i'm gonna look at some troy lee lopes cos they look good. Anybody who's ridden the altura trail at whinlatter will know the north side is tamer than the south side so it woule mean i could wear the knee pad for the north side and the climb on the south side and then strap on the pads for the south side descent

Yukon Lad