[Closed] Which elbow and knee pads ?

Go with the crowd and get 661 Kyle Straits. There's a good reason everyone else has them.

The Evo elbows are ace too. Pricey though.

thanks - had a quick look on CRC - any difference between Earth, Patriot and Slim ?

CRC have a great offer on 661 evo pads right now. I often use the evo lite versions and they are very good indeed.

thanks guys - this helps a lot esp as I'd thought I needed to get knee&shin pads but looks like your suggestions go more for just the knee - both look like they'd do the job
cheers

I'm hi-jacking here slightly (sorry) but i want some elbow pads which are rigid not like the evo ones, its between these so far:
[url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=24935 ]661 race elbow guards[/url]
[url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=10174 ]Brand X DH elbow[/url]
[url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=7090 ]Brand X standard elbow[/url]
[url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=38005 ]Raceface Rally Fr Arm[/url]
Anyone used/own any of the above, have an opinion or can recommend me something else?
cheers

I find the Race Face Rally FR pads reasonably comfy and tend not to notice them too much when climbing and such like. My old 661 pads were also comfortable with good articulation.

my Brand X knee and elbow pads have served me well and they're very cheap compared to others.

thanks again guys - no worries about the hi-jack as all good advice 💡

I found Dianese (sp?) kit to be the best for elbows and knees/shinpads, but the 661 Kyle Strait are best for just knee pads. The 661 Evo ones are good, but expensive.

MBR are giving away Kyle Strait Slims with their subs just now, might be worth a look. I think the slims have less (or no?) side knock protection though which is a shame if I'm right.

For elbow pads, POC Bone are very good, though expensive and they only come in one size, which is slightly too big for me 🙁 One size does not fit all apparently.

I've got a set of 661 Chicken Wings, they're OK I guess, too stiff so though they're fine while riding you really feel them the rest of the time. And VERY sweaty.

I use 661 Kyle Straits for knee protection and Race Face FR on the elbows.

A good combination in the Alps the other week. The elbow pads did their job 3 times on the 2nd day of our trip!

I've got some 661 2x4 (I think) elbows which are hard on the outside of the elbow and forearm but mesh on the inner arm, so well ventilated. I tend to run quite warm but these are pretty comfy.

I find my Kyles too warm to ride in most of the time so I tend to not wear them as often as I ought to (they're not easy to get on/off with shoes on)

Use the Kyles if i am clipped in, so comfy and ok for climbing in, although as mentioned they can get pretty hot underneath, and use a old pair of Raceface FR's if I am out on the Dh bike using flats (as I have plates running up my lower right leg from a mountainbiking accident I cant take the risk of getting my shins smashed by flat pedals), the RF FR are pretty reasonable to climb in as well but do slip a little (not as much as my old 661's)

For elbow I normally use a pair of the 661 chicken wings (not sure if they are still available?)

Well when it comes to body armour/guards I wouldn't trust anyone but dainese...
Plus they are the cheapest too

Dianese are OK if you have girl thin arms and legs, however if you have normal sized limbs they aren't so good

if you have [s]normal[/s] fat sized limbs they aren't so good

yeah, yeah frenchy, with your spindly twiglet arms.

Juan wrote, "Well when i"t comes to body armour/guards I wouldn't trust anyone but dainese..."

I don't trust 'em... Coming from a motorbike background, I've seen that they can make good kit but choose not to, and make stuff that looks and feels great but doesn't work as well in a crash as bargain basement stuff- form over function is their motto now. Don't know if the same applies for their mtb kit mind.

I've got the POC elbow pads and really rate them. Was a bit skeptical of them until I had a little of in the alps and now really rate them.

Kyle Strait knee pads are really comfy but a little fragile, I find they come to pieces a bit, anyone tried the Troy Lee ones that are similar looking? Are they any more rhobust?

[url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=25232 ]These ones [img] [/img][/url]

I don't trust 'em... Coming from a motorbike background, I've seen that they can make good kit but choose not to, and make stuff that looks and feels great but doesn't work as well in a crash as bargain basement stuff- form over function is their motto now.

I took a heavy tumble on thursday at Dalby when i washed out on one of the berms - was wearing pads, Race face FR arms with a long sleave top underneath and 661 Kyles on the knees with knee warmers underneath (stop them from chaffing the skin off my knee cap on long ride).

I've took a few light falls with the Raceface pads but this one was quick and I landed very hard on my side. Raceface pad was superb, stayed in position. The 661 knee pad slipped off despite being on tight. Probably not helped by the slippyness of the kneewarmer, but it seems to have a tendancy to stick where it first touches down and slides down your leg).

I ended up with a cut knee and a big hole in the knee warmers, needless to say i'm about to buy some raceface knee/shin pads, hopefully the plastic outer and more fastening straps will cope with sliding along the ground better. 😕

thanks all - very confusing as seems to be no one perfect answer 😕 - thought I'd got to a decision on kyle straits for the knee and possibly brand x or similar for elbow. Now not sure and thinking about just going for brand x for both (albeit maybe overkill for what I need for knees). cheers

Haddock- obviously don't wear stuff under your pads 😕 No wonder they moved.

Bit offtopic this:

Juan wrote, "You're joking right. What do you want to wear instead? Shity hein gericke? Loosy alpinstar?"

No joke... Dainese use thin, light leather and close-spaced stitching, which looks great but tears more easily. (close-stitching means more holes per inch, sooner or later you get a "tear here" line- coarse stitching looks cheap but works better). The thread they use is also pretty thin, which reduces their burst strength. They also don't use fully-concealed stitching on all of the critical panels, because the fold-over needed is quite bulky and inflexible, so they're more likely to abrade a row of stitching. All in all, they make lovely fashion leathers, but when you look at independant crash testing data and they underperform Frank Thomas, you know there's a problem.

I wear Furygan, since you asked, which are heavier and a bit less flexible and don't look as nice, but have all the safety features which Dainese don't- larger pads, wide-spaced heavy-stitched seams with double or triple stitching everywhere, glued seams, and no joins on the common abrasion spots, and concealed stitching everywhere abrasion's likely. And heavier grade leather to boot. I don't like the armour they use mind so I fitted T-Pro instead. Also got an older made-to-measure Wolf suit, which is similiarly brilliant, though it doesn't fit me very well now. And some Frank Thomas which I got when I first started riding, which is s**t

thanks all - had a rethink and have now ordered kyle straits (earth) as I like the brown colour - cheers 😀

i ordered race face fr elbow pads in the end, bit big but immeadiately had a tumble and they worked a treat so would recommend. Not the most comfortable but i think thats down to sizing so i wont grumble.
Have had kyle straits knee's for a year or so, highly recommended, stable fit can take impacts. Material on the outside has frayed a bit but nothing major, well worth it.

Jobbyheld - I just bought a pair of those T bones today and had a ride around at Glentress. I didn't get on so well, but maybe that's because my trousers kept falling down (a separate issue). They do seem fairly restrictive on leg motion, but maybe that is what all these are like - I never tried others. Reviews give them good marks, and they report the T bones rip less easily than Kyle Staits.