Is anyone using any heavy duty knee pads that are suited to DH riding? No pedalling required.

I’ve got a set of Troy Lee T-Bones which are perfect but I bought them in the summer of 2005 and they are my oldest and most battered bit of kit. However, I’m looking around and I can’t see any obvious developments in the last seven years and there’s still loads of people using T-Bones.

I’m not against buying another set of Troy Lee’s but does anyone have anything else?
The new Scott Grenades get good reviews, POC’s look good. There’s nowhere I can go to check them out in the flesh though.

Any input welcome.

I agree that there’s not really been any development in pads, don’t think there’s any need/driver for it really. All that has happened is that there will be new models with a slightly differing fit for you to try. So you might as well try some others, and the worst case would just be another set of T-bones like you say.

Legend – Fox Launch knee pads

I should have mentioned I’ve already discounted the Fox Launch pads. They’re the only ones I could find to try on. They have a big, hard plastic bowl for your knee which sites nowhere near your skin. It’s also really easy to push them down off your knee cap with your hand so there’s no way they’d stay put in a crash. Absolutely awful fit. They reminded me of the massive dog-bowl type BMX pads from the 90’s.

To be honest, I think the key issue is getting ones that fit right, and that comes down to the shape of the pads vs your legs. I’m very impressed with the Launch Pros, especially as I wear them for everything, not just gravity driven riding.

Absolutely awful fit.

For you. Fit’s a personal thing innit 😉 rock solid on me and happy with the plastic guard as it gives a similar fit to 661 Kyle Straits but with a little moar protection against sharp pointing things

I guess your legs are a completely different shape to mine, sharkattack! The big bowl-shaped knee cap is one of the reasons they work on me, the other being that I can actually fit my thighs in them and still do up the calf end snug. Tried six other pairs (having narrowed down the choices via fit charts and reviews) and none of them fit right.

I like my Kali Aazis, but they are the only knee pad of their type I have used. I was using knee/shin pads before that, but I won’t be going back to them.