Dainese Trailskins

The Dainese Trail Guard Enduro knee pads are a little different from the usual hefty pads. They’re considerably lighter, and seem to be designed more for all-day riding, hence the name. They’re designed as a thin nylon sleeve (a “soft biaxial elasticated fabric”, it says here) to keep them cool, with velcro tighteners at the top and the bottom. The pads themselves are very light and thin – a composite of two types of padding material – and the pads and sleeve are perforated to help breathability. In use, they’re the only knee pads on test that I didn’t pull down for some ankle protection on climbs. They can still be a little warm, but nowhere near the levels of the other pads I tried. They conform to the knee fairly well, and the thin material and flexible pads also meant that articulation wasn’t a problem. Not as substantial as some of the pads on test, but perfectly adequate to stave off a couple of miscalculated corners. However, if you’re fond of huge air, these probably aren’t the pads for you.

Barney.

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Barney Marsh

Barney Marsh takes the word ‘career’ literally, veering wildly across the road of his life, as thoroughly in control as a goldfish on the dashboard of a motorhome. He’s been, with varying degrees of success, a scientist, teacher, shop assistant, binman and, for one memorable day, a hospital laundry worker. These days, he’s a dad, husband, guitarist, and writer, also with varying degrees of success. He sometimes takes photographs. Some of them are acceptable. Occasionally he rides bikes to cast the rest of his life into sharp relief. Or just to ride through puddles. Sometimes he writes about them. Bikes, not puddles. He is a writer of rongs, a stealer of souls and a polisher of turds. He isn’t nearly as clever or as funny as he thinks he is.

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