Bit of a weird one.

Got a set of these knee pads which I’ve used all summer and rated. Took a fairly innocuous low speed rock to the knee at cwmcarn today and my knees swollen like I wasn’t wearing a pad!

Seems like the cold stiffened up the d30 stuff to a point where it didn’t cushion the impact and there’s no foam underneath it to make up for this.

Anyone else had similar experience? Feel slightly hard done by given how much it’s now hurting ( as much as my unpadded elbow that also hit the floor!) and that I was wearing pads!

I’ve never had an issue with impact absorption in the cold – although mine are the VPD 2.0 pads which are heavier-duty. Maybe, you hit harder than you thought…?

Not 100% sure but think the ski stuff uses same material so shouldn’t be too affected by the cold. With knees it could just be you caught it. I had a bad crash last year and was similarly grumpy until saw physio who reckoned without pads I’d have a shattered knee cap.

I find mine can be a bit stiff and rigid before I put them on if it’s cold. Once on the body heat seems to soften them up enough to shape well to my knee as normal, so assume it’s enough to make them work ok. Took a little spill in them in the cold last week but the ground was pretty soft so not a big test.

It’s in the nature of d30 materials that they soften with body heat in use and may be a bit stiff when first worn. The VPD Air is a lightweight pad. I think it sounds more like you just discovered the difference between it and the heavier duty pads. Even for a fairly low speed impact, angle is all.

Maybe! Knee isnt that bad today so they must have done something!

I must have just caught a corner of rock dead on so it was a bigger impact than I thought!

Last big off I had, my knees were fine but I broke two ribs so yesterday counts as a result! Fun trails there too!

Anyone else had similar experience?

Yeah but not just POC it’s D30 in general. Not fond of its ability to condense moisture either.

Some of the simple pads with EVA are a bit better but more recently I’ve been using some Leatts that are made out of a stiff jelly/Sorbothane type material. So far so good