Looking for some light weight and comfy elbow protection for longer off road rides. Are the “Race Face Charge” any good or waste of money ? reviews seem very mixed.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/race-face-charge-arm-guards-2016/rp-prod117658?gs=1&gclid=CKS2kPrn6MwCFawp0wod9DEGOg&gclsrc=aw.ds

I have a set, they will only protect from grazes and light knocks.

These look a bit better:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/race-face-indy-elbow-pads-2016/rp-prod127871?gs=1

Anyone using these ?

I have a set of the gforms, which came highly recommended. They give about the same level of protection as a thick jersey or armwarmer. Shite basically, total waste of money. And supposedly they’re among the more protective of the minimals.

Meanwhile my bulky POCs offer useful protection, and are also more comfy/less sweaty to ride in. They’re not so good at going under tight clothes but they’re better at everything else.

What are “gforms” and “POC’S”..is it a forum code ?

gform are a company that make elbow pads
POC are also a company that make elbow pads

The main thrust of my post is, minimal pads are close to pointless, except for wearing under clothes that can’t accomodate a proper pad. But even then, not very good. Bulkier protection is better at absolutely everything else, it’s not just more protective, it’s often more comfortable.

I’ve got Fox Launch Pro elbow pads they’re light and comfortable and offer more than minimal protection.

Can you still get 661 chicken wings? Pretty light and reasonable protection although depending on fit they aren’t the most secure

I’d add that wearing minimal pads is pointless really.

Had some 661 chicken wings, came off a Degla and got a bit of tree wedged into my arm as the pad moved as soon as I hit the deck. 6 hr wait at Wrexham, one operation and then a week in MRI with an infected arm. Not fun.

I wear Raceface hardshell elbow pads now on every ride. Actually needed them a couple of times over the last few years.

A few mates don’t wear any pads but they choose not to do anything silly like fall off.

Point being: good pads or no pads. Inbetween does nothing.

I use the G Form elbows on big days in the mountains and during #enduros, and they’re enough to prevent grass/gravel burns and grazes as I tend to fend off things with my elbows, but do rotate on contact, and would be pretty ineffective in a hard direct collision. For uplift days or similar hard shells are the way to go. On long rides when layers get in the way of big pads(and you don’t want to lug bulky pads around for the descents) I find the G Forms are better than nothing. I also ended up wearing them in the Megavalanche when I found my ‘proper’ elbow pads gave me terminal arm pump during the qualifier. I always use hard shells for my knees though, even for trips to the shops 😛

I have some g-form elbow and knee pads that I bought to hide under my clothes when doing BMX. They have been thoroughly tested on the bmx and mtb, passed with flying colours and have saved me from a couple of quite high falls onto concrete. They are never going to be as good as a bigger style pad but you would be stupid to expect that anyway.

Gforms, well tested,and well proven…,a couple of fairly full on dismounts on rock and I ended up with minimal skin damage…both crashes involved me going knees in first to the ground

I had the race face Indy ones. They fitted well and were comfortable but unfortunately the D30 separated and was no longer protective 🙁