Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 42 total)
  • Elbow Pads – Do you?
  • ready
    Full Member

    Seen some vids lately with many people not wearing any. Also seen some Insta posts showing badly bashed up arms.
    So, do you wear them? Or maybe find them a bit of an overheating hindrance?

    bgascoyne
    Free Member

    I do. I use the minimal G-Form pads unless I’m racing then I pull out the meaty ones. G-forms have saved my elbows on a number of occasions. They are so light that I cant even tell I’m wearing them. However “cool” it might be to have elbows full of scars, I’m keen to avoid it!

    Akers
    Full Member

    Yes. POC VPD Air. I barely notice them after 5 minutes, but I reckon they’ve save me from harm a few times. My only grumble is they tend to slip down sometimes if I’m wearing a long-sleeve based layer underneath.

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    iainc
    Full Member

    ^^^ which G Form ones ?

    I have POC VPD Air but they are needing replaced soon..

    I also use RaceFace Charge ones, which are good for jaggy branches but not much else 🙂

    rocketman
    Free Member

    VPD airs here. Too many sleepless nights with skinned elbows/forearms

    The underside of my left forearm doesn’t look that great tbh

    BillOddie
    Full Member

    To quote the late great Kelly McGarry.

    “Two kinds of people wear elbow pads, smart people and pussies and I ain’t either one of those.”

    I grudgingly wear knee pads but I really cannot stand elbow pads.

    Kahurangi
    Full Member

    Sometimes. Depends.

    HTH.

    joebristol
    Full Member

    I always wear knee pads after a few accidents over the last 12-18 months. After the last accident where I bashed both elbows and they’ve remained sore for months I’m starting to wear elbo pads more and more. Although I tend to restrict them to uplift days and rides where I’m likely to go fast and the consequences of a crash are bigger. Only pedally xc sort of rides I don’t wear them.

    Currently have some hard shell Dainese ones – maybe if I got some soft shell ones I’d wear them more often.

    AlexSimon
    Full Member

    A lot of knee bashes I’ve taken have kept me off the bike, so I now wear knee pads.
    I don’t think I’ve ever been kept off the bike due to an elbow bash, so I haven’t bothered with them.

    Rubber_Buccaneer
    Full Member

    I rarely wear any pads but if I think it worth wearing some then I wear them on my elbows too.  I broke my elbow many years ago, I don’t wish to do it again.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Only at BPW

    Tracey
    Full Member

    G Form when I remember.

    ads678
    Full Member

    Depends what trails i’m riding but I have some G Form ones that are very comfy.

    Alphabet
    Full Member

    Elbow and knee pads 100% of the time for me.

    (100% of the time is zero time at the moment but I’m hoping that will change by the summer when I can get back on a bike.)

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Sometimes. Basically once things get harder and rockier or when I want to keep riding day on day I usually wear my fantastic, stupid looking POC ones til they get uncomfortable (after a few days solid riding they tend to chafe and cause pressure points). And then I’ll either wear my fairly crappy Fox ones or just not bother. It’s not just about flesh, the hard ones slide so much better, that could definitely help with other torque-type injuries.

    It’s funny when you’re really used to hard elbow pads and then you ride without- I tap my elbows off stuff all the time, there’s one tree on the glentress seven course that I scrape off every single lap without fail because I’m so used to just harmlessly sliding along it. And likewise I’ll use them for elbow dabs on slow tech or even just when stopping to regroup a group and lean against a tree, so riding without means occasional ouches.

    But I do ride without them a fair amount locally- most of our steeper stuff is also soft

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    I do now,

    I did this the day I put on my elbow pads, and then took them off again because it was really hot that day.

    I would have of likely still broken it, but it wouldn’t have been so bad, and more importantly I would have avoided such a nasty wound. It was the wound and subsequent clean out in surgery that meant for a pretty poor recovery. It took nearly 6 months to heal. Still hurts now nearly 10 years later, still can’t use my right arm very well. It basically sucks.

    I did it on the old Penhydd, not riding too mad, just ‘one of those things’.

    Elbow knackered

    DezB
    Free Member

    Got some, never worn them. Or maybe once on a Endooro race.

    uberpod
    Free Member

    I could be wrong but the general consensus appears to be ‘start wearing pads after you get injured’.

    jonba
    Free Member

    No. My riding tends to be XC. So nothing harder than trail centre black routes. I’ve always assumed they’d be hot and uncomfortable for long or fast riding. I don’t ride expecting to fall off and my worse crashes still happen in road racing where you wear nothing much beyond a helmet for protection.

    Rubber_Buccaneer
    Full Member

    hot and uncomfortable

    Having your elbow pinned back together AND a knuckle to armpit cast is more uncomfortable in my experience

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Oh aye, Gform are shite. They’re warm (because they’re basically arm warmers) and unprotective (because they’re basically arm warmers), a legendary worst of both worlds. Crashed in them a few times and they’re about as good as a jersey. IMO o’course but I genuinely just wear mine now if it’s a bit cold, because my armwarmers live in my commuting bag and I don’t want to take them out.

    Scienceofficer
    Free Member

    All the time for every ride, because it’s always knees, and elbows that always get it, and I’m 45 and not made of rubber anymore.

    I have a light duty set for general trail riding that I don’t mind using even at the height of summer, and a heavier duty set for BPW, the lakes and the for when I’ll be doing a spot of pinning.

    Plenty of people have had horrific injuries just riding XC and trail centres.

    patagonian
    Free Member

    Worn both knee and elbow pads ever since one of our group crashed on our local xc circuit.
    Two operations required just to clean the grit out, no real damage it was cleaning it that was the problem.

    I have Fox Launch hard shells for the elbows and I dont even know I’m wearing them, I have work the next day so why risk it.

    jjprestidge
    Free Member

    Why wouldn’t you wear them? It’s not like I ever think ‘My arms are really hot’ even in summer.

    They’re probably overkill for moderate trail/xc/pootling, but I don’t do any of those anyway.

    JP

    jonnyv
    Free Member

    Two kinds of people… The people who don’t are the lucky/skilfull enough ones not to have smashed up their elbows after an off and the people that do are like me who have had an off and had smashed up elbows for a few weeks/month, I don’t give a hoot how uncool it looks or if someone thinks I’m a pussy.

    Del
    Full Member

    Don’t tend to fall off a lot but where I typically ride there’s flint, and lots of it, or in other spots granite. Hard shell dainese on arms/forearms and fox launch on knees. Arms slide and knees bounce. Plenty of mates don’t, and they look cool and all, but I just don’t want to be off the bike any longer than necessary if I do come off.

    jamj1974
    Full Member

    I do nearly always. Only the very tamest rides do I go without. My POC VPD 2.0 fit well and have done a good job of protecting me.

    After a very long and painful hour picking gravel out of my forearm in the bath, being lectured by a 6 year old on the need for wearing the body armour I already owned, I just started wearing it all the time… Can’t say I have regretted it. I’ll soon be upping the ante with a sternum and spine protector. I like technical, rocky, rooty and steep riding – but will need more protection to prevent excessive bleeding and bruising.

    dc1988
    Full Member

    I wear them, I figure if you’re going to wear knee pads then why wouldn’t you also protect your elbow as it’s just as likely to get hurt in a crash. Heat isn’t an issue for me, I don’t tend to get excessively hot elbows. I’ve seen friends break elbows and it doesn’t look like fun.

    gonetothehills
    Free Member

    Yep, pretty much every ride nowadays. Have some Bliss ones that are basically that light you hardly know they’re on. I don’t expect them to save me from everything but they’re better than nothing and like a number of others here, I’m not keen to repeat previous painful offs…

    idiotdogbrain
    Free Member

    If it’s an uplift day where I’m in a full face then I’d dig them out but otherwise no. Only wear kneepads if I’m at a bike park or somewhere rocky as well, but then most of my riding is pretty tame XC.

    blokeuptheroad
    Full Member

    Yes. Got injuries on both elbows from the bike and other stuff, including a break which set badly and some nerve damage. If I come off, I always seem to land on them. They are prone to bursitis which takes ages to go down and I once got a nasty skin infection which took strong antibiotics to shift from a minor skin scrape.

    I wear fairly lightweight Alpine Stars Paragon pads and barely know they are there. I know they won’t work miracles in a big off, but have already earned their keep in the short time I’ve had them and would have saved me a lot of grief in the past if I’d been wearing them.

    trumpton
    Free Member

    yes, I’ve got 661 ones. For the bikepark I use full body armour. Mine are hard plastic and I do not notice they are there.

    chakaping
    Free Member

    About 30% of the time, not so much in winter when I have long-sleeved tops on though.

    Tend to wear a 3/4 jersey and elbow pads in spring and autumn.

    tomparkin
    Full Member

    I don’t own any, but reading this thread makes me think I should invest!

    I’ve been lucky to not bash my elbows too much, but the hurtiest crashest I’ve had that haven’t involved broken bones tend to involve big scrapes down the forearms. So probably worth it just to lessen the imapct of that.

    I do tend to wear kneepads most of the time.

    koldun
    Free Member

    I have some POC’s and wear them occasionally for trails (if i think i may need them that day) and always for bike parks. They are crazy warm (Spanish weather may not help this) and a bit uncomfortable though, so for my typical rides i tend not to wear them.

    alcolepone
    Free Member

    elbow

    i do now….

    broken elbow being stupid in cannock car park.

    DezB
    Free Member

    Two kinds of people…

    Nope, don’t fit into either of those. 🙂
    Only time I damaged an elbow in a fall was when I got knocked off the road bike. Hmm, should I be wearing them for the commute?? I’m a road rule breaker (mtb shoes, peak, backpack, baggies..) but wouldn’t go that far!
    (And I have fallen, a lot.

    davosaurusrex
    Full Member

    No from me. Have tried but any that are tight enough to not move in a proper crash make arm pump worse and so are more likely to make me crash in the first place. My logic is that not crashing is better than crashing with protection on. I may yet regret this.

    edhornby
    Full Member

    I don’t wear either because I’m not rad and only ride tame stuff… should I get some decent modern ones that aren’t a load of bulky sweaty nonsense, probably.

    martinkiely
    Free Member

    I have some light Fox ones which I wear on bigger stuff/rockier rides, but don’t on normal XC type rides – probably should use them more often at my age!

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 42 total)

The topic ‘Elbow Pads – Do you?’ is closed to new replies.