I’ve had a Mtb since 1987 and never worn knee pads.But for the most part I’m just riding fast Xc and the less restrictions to my movements the better.
Knowing my mentality I if I was padded up I’d just take more risks, and the overall chance of injuries would increase. But thats me, wear whatever your most comfortable with.

With bikes getting more capable and people riding faster and harder terrain it makes sense to wear them, I personally wont ride much without them now after a few incidents Click at your peril this was done wearing pads (661 d3o evo or whatever they were called) I dread to think what damage I would have done with out them, hobbling around with stiches across my knee is not much fun.

Knees are delicate and vulnerable and if damaged may stop you enjoying the simple pleasure of riding your bike.
For these reasons, I tend to wear them for 90% of rides.
No, I don’t find them comfortable but more a necessary evil.

I used to get the occasional gouge and bash, and wore pads on and off for a few years… then I degloved my knee joint crashing off a small jump (no big rocks, just trailcentresurface). Open wound around 75% circumference of leg. Nick in patella tendon (well if did end up sliding down the trail with no skin over it). A lot of stitches. Six weeks off work. 2 months on crutches. Useless during birth of second child. Three months before riding again. Knee still feels weird 5 years later.

Haven’t ridden off-road since without them, and I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been grateful for them. Off road they’re as automatic for me to put on as my helmet and gloves now. From my point of view it is absolutely not worth not wear them!

Reading this thread is making me think I should go shopping! Never had a pair, ride only rocky lakes mountain routes, probably have a knee injury looming in my future…….

I just don’t like the storm trooper look, or the feel of stuff round my knees while pedalling.

I’ve been pondering getting some for the fun days out… What models are people using?

With bikes getting more capable and people riding faster and harder terrain it makes sense to wear them

Agree with this, with the evolution of the sport a lot of us are regularly riding the sort of trails that were the preserve of the the DH lot in full face and body armour (I was one of them) 15 years ago. (Of course a lot of DH courses have moved onto bigger stuff too now).

Reading this thread is making me think I should go shopping! Never had a pair, ride only rocky lakes mountain routes, probably have a knee injury looming in my future…….

I just don’t like the storm trooper look, or the feel of stuff round my knees while pedalling.

It can happen at any time, was going for a gently ride in north wales recovering from a hangover and left the pads in the car, slipped on some wet slate and sliced through my knee again, my right knee now resembles heath ledger’s The Jokers mouth.

I’ve been pondering getting some for the fun days out… What models are people using?

Just got some 7idp Control Knee pads decided to try some hard ones again, they feel very comfy on, so far only walked around the garden in them not managed to try riding in them yet realised I broke my bike as well in the last crash.

I wear them most of the time, although not for local messing around the woods, but I may start, just because we always end up stopping at the jumps, or egg each other on to ride like d*cks.

About 10 days ago I managed to nail myself riding to the bike park, down some lame bit of forest double track, of course my knee pads were down by my ankles as I hadn’t bothered to put them on at that point. Still got the massive scab and odd shaped knee that hurts now.

That said, it’s not as bad as my busted wrist from the same crash. Taping and splinting that just so I can ride like a chump on easy trails is getting very tedious.

Stupid crashes.

Man! You guys crash a lot and land heavy. I must not be pushing myself hard enough.

I don’t wear them for an xc or trail centre ride but always for dh. If I’m pushing up I’ll wear just knee and if it’s an uplift I may put my knee/shin pads on – although mostly that’s just to protect the tats on my leg from shinners! Don’t really like wearing them but they do the job.

I only do xc stuff and didn’t wear pads for 20 yrs. At age almost 50 I now use RaceFace Charge or Alpinestar Paragons most rides. Have fallen in the Charge ones at GT and they saved some skin..

I see a lot of people wearing the lighter weight pads now like TLD KG5400, 661 Evos, RF Charge. They make a lot of sense if you’re unconvinced about the benefits of bigger pads, or get irritated by them easily, as you’re simply more likely to wear them. I’m fairly well conditioned to chunkier pads now and would probably only wear hard (or semi-hard) shelled ones. I’ve gotten very use to just dropping to my knees when I need to fiddle with bag/bike/child – don’t even think about what I’m kneeling on. I think it could get messy if I went back to lighter pads!

Currently indecisively shopping to replace my collapsing 661 Kyle Straits – it’s hard when you’re so used to something and they’re so comfortable.

Always remember duck-taping my mate’s knee back together at Afan, to get him down to glyncorrwyg again. Always worn knee pads after that.

I bought a second hand pair of 661s off ebay to see if I got on with them. They were pretty cheap, well used already but I didn’t mind wearing them, even though they did move about a bit. Bought some new Bluegrass ones when I got chance and they are fine don’t move about. Wear them when BMXing too, have had two crashes (1 BMX, 1 MTB) where they have saved me considerable damage. Weirdly when I first started wearing them, it was ages before I “needed” them in a crash, always landed on some other body part.

barffy – Member
In the photo I posted just I had two broken elbows.

Christ, I broke one elbow and that was bad enough. Ironically, pads wouldn’t have prevented my break.

I disagree that they are “no bother to wear” – maybe you get used to them, but I never really have and still notice them quite a lot. I have minimalist KG5400 – can’t believe bigger ones would be less noticeable. Don’t really like wearing them and don’t most of the time (never on a bike), but now almost always wear them at trail centres on the uni as I’m fairly likely to bin it and end up on my knees.

Thanks for all the replies and information!!

I’ll pop in to the LBS and try a load on – Are there any in particular, some say hard outer, some lighter less ‘Storm trooper’?

Over arching theme seems to be fit…

Thanks again and hopefully see you on the trails 🙂

Jay

FOX Launch Pro absolutely amazing value for money and I’m pretty sure they have saved me from hospital twice in the last 6 months.

I always get knee/shin/elbow pads on for DH or when I know I’m going to be pushing it.. Also A Full face. For me it’s not worth the risk. I’m self employed so if I can avoid injury then it’s worth it.

For trail centers/XC I wear an open lid, knee and elbow. For the reasons above.

More than once I have come off (run out of talent) on wet roots or wet northshore/boardwalk stuff as slow speed and they have saved me from injury.

I lean towards pads that have hard elements inside them over the soft kind.

For rocky stuff then knee pads are just as sensible as helmet and gloves – parts of you that are easy to damage and curtail your fun but also relatively easy to protect.
I’ve had old Dainese storm trooper knee and shin hobbies and various 661 Kyle Strait/Rage pads but my Dainese trail skins offer a good balance between protection and fit and forget comfort.
I think another factor is age. I’m in my forties and it tends to take a lot longer to heal and I lose fitness more quickly to boot!

Anything other than local rides I wear them,(661’s).

I see it like this, you can walk out of an accident with a broken arm in the hills and get help, being unable to walk would be a big, potentially life threatening issue especially on your own.

I cannot get on with elbow pads but knee pads always. Speaking from someone who has had major knee issue in the past it a no brainer.

Yes

Never wear them in the UK. Find them hot and uncomfortable – have tried a few but have never found any I could pedal in without causing knee pain.

Holidays are a bit different – tend to be much longer descents so less of a faff to pad up. Also, a fall would could trash the rest of the holiday and mess up the day for other riders.

In the UK just seems like overkill to me

I don’t use kneepads as I don’t ride technical stuff

Edric 64 – Member

I don’t use kneepads as I don’t ride technical stuff

I don’t usually crash on technical stuff, I crash on the easy bits inbetween 😆 I think the last time I rode without kneepads, I fell off while riding on a pebbly beach and banged my knee on said pebbles 😆

^^^^ me too, often just silly simple bits. i do like the RaceFace Charge ones as they are totally unobtrusive. That said they don’t offer protection from more than lights offs and grazes, but have saved my skin many times with my typical xc mincing riding style.

Who wears elbow pads when they wear knee pads? (I don’t mean for DH use, I’m talking normal trail use

If I’m riding harder stuff, aye. But I’ve never really found elbow pads that I like as much as my knee pads, I suppose elbows are a harder shape and have more articulation. My POC Bones are fantastic but they’re also massive, they’re practical to wear day to day but they feel a bit much. My gforms are OK I suppose but they’re not really any less warm.

I use elbow pads 99% of the time.

too hot in the uk? when?

knees are fragile, i think hitting rocks or the ground at speed, with your knees will damage them, not about the surface as such but speed

I recently bought some Fox Launch Pro, after having them on for a few minutes I forget I’m wearing them. Might not be the best protection but its a good compromise.

Get-em bought especially if you like hitting jumps, drops and rocky terrain, you will be thankful of them one day! I’ve scuffed mine up enough (internal hard cup), to be convinced!

Decent well fitted ones can be comfortable enough (Fox Launch Pro for me), it’s only really long summer rides where they are most noticeable, but I can live with it! As a bonus they keep your knees warm in winter.

My Dainese Trail Skins turned up today, great delivery times from CRC. Hopefully one of the pairs fits, I’ll return the others.

They’re way lighter than I was expecting, in a good way

can’t remember if years ago there was a thread on here or PB/MTBR which had a link to knee injuries.

Google images for knee injuries and I hope none of use ever have to experience any of those.

Knee pads always feels weird now without them.

Had a “wee off” last night, skint my elbow and forearm, slight graze on the inside of left knee otherwise all good. TLD 5450’s did their job again as i hit the roots quite hard.

i wear dianese (sp? ) hard oak elbow/arms in addition to my 661 rage knees. i daresay I look a complete tit, but if i was worried about that i probably wouldn’t leave the house in the morning. 😉

For social XC use (round our way on a club ride) I use the Fox Enduro knee pads (more like knee warmers, TBH), no elbow pads. For everything else, POC knee pads and elbow pads – except at Cannock a couple of weeks ago when a planned local social XC ride turned into a ‘let’s go to Cannock’ – so we did. I had the Fox Enduro pads on for the XC ride, left them on and didn’t change into the POC knee pads. Crashed at speed… Whilst the Fox pads offered *some* protection, I really wished I’d changed my pads over before setting off! Was really glad I’d put my elbow pads on though.

In summary – always knee pads (the trickier the ride/terrain, the beefier the kneepad), elbow pads for everything other than local social XC rides.

Now thinking of getting the POC VPD Air knee pads and retiring the Fox Enduro, which are becoming less elastic with each ride.

As the song says: Look after your knees. You’ll sure miss them when they’re gone!

I don’t go downhill very fast so don’t see the need for them. My descent times are usually half as slow as the top person on Strava (Not that I take Strava with me often)

I’d rather go slower than have all the hassle of wearing them and being uncomfortable for the majority of the ride (which riding on the flat or uphill is)

define not fast? rock or slate will ripe the knee apart, at 10 mph