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Ultimate Knee Pad Thread

A

acair422

Monkey
Aug 20, 2003
552
2
After over 7 years of dedicated and constant service my 661 Kyle Straits have finally died. I am in the market for replacement knee pads for DH and have really straight forward criteria: I don't care about shin protection (yes, rock deflections, pedal strikes etc), I DO care about the pads moving on impact. This is my number one criteria, the second is comfort and heat is really a non factor (CO isn't that hot in the summer).

So to all the 'monkeys out there, what are your favorite knee pads and please try to resist the urge to pump this thread full of things like "egg cartons and duct tape" cause frankly I have too much leg hair for that...
 
yd35

yd35

Monkey
Oct 28, 2008
741
61
NY
POC Joint VPD 2.0 DH, short version. VPD is great for impact resistance, but the key is the plastic knee cap that allows the pad to slide on the ground instead of getting stuck and being wrenched off your knee.
 
supercow

supercow

Monkey
Feb 18, 2009
969
128
Need to disagree on the POC stuff, piss poor quality at a premium price.
RaceFace Ambush kneepads are the best I've used thus far. As an added bonus, you never have that @@@@rghhhgghgFU*CK moment, when putting your riding shoes on before you put your kneepads on ;)
 
norbar

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,368
1,606
Warsaw :/
supercow said:
Need to disagree on the POC stuff, piss poor quality at a premium price.
RaceFace Ambush kneepads are the best I've used thus far. As an added bonus, you never have that @@@@rghhhgghgFU*CK moment, when putting your riding shoes on before you put your kneepads on ;)
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Are you serious? I have the elbows from them, friends have kness I've riddien in and the plastic ones are the best protection on the market by far.

Can't talk about the non plastic, knee only ones but gf just bought them so we will see.
 
supercow

supercow

Monkey
Feb 18, 2009
969
128
Totally serious.

I've had the elbows, and numerous mates have had the knees. The elbow pads have been decent, but the knees entirely piss poor.
 
HardtailHack

HardtailHack

used an iron once
Jan 20, 2009
6,729
5,612
Not Alpinestars, walked up a hill in them took them off and gave them away, rubbish!
 
manhattanprjkt83

manhattanprjkt83

Rusty Trombone
Jul 10, 2003
9,646
1,216
Nilbog
supercow said:
Totally serious.

I've had the elbows, and numerous mates have had the knees. The elbow pads have been decent, but the knees entirely piss poor.
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I dont know about this one man, i went from years on kyle straits to the POC last year...love them to death, they dont move, great protection...
 
big-ted

big-ted

Danced with A, attacked by C, fired by D.
Sep 27, 2005
1,400
47
Vancouver, BC
I have the non-plastic POC VPD 2.0 knee pads. Super comfy, but less side protection than Kyle Straits and, as pointed out above, they WILL slide in a crash. Build quality is good though. Same for my original VPD elbows. I consider my VPD 2.0 knes as a sort of 'all-mountain plus' level of protection.

My favorite knee pads to date are the Troy Lee T-bones. Plenty of side protection and a hard enough plastic insert that they don't snag and slide up in high speed crashes. Plus they're super cheap these days. They can rub the back of me knees on long days but that's pretty rare.
 
schwaaa31

schwaaa31

Turbo Monkey
Jul 30, 2002
1,434
1,022
Clinton Massachusetts
Does anyone have any experience with the One Industries Conflict knee pads? They're blowing them out on Pricepoint for $35. I may have to grab a pair if they aren't sh!t.
 
Nick

Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
24,032
14,642
where the trails are
big-ted said:
My favorite knee pads to date are the Troy Lee T-bones.
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I had a pair of those. I think I ended up giving them to Stoney. Anyway, I ended up trimming away the fabric from the back / behind the knee and found them to be much more comfortable, and they stayed in place just as well as before.

If I could cut and paste features from all the current pads I'd take the comfort and pliability of my 661 d30 padding on the inside and put a minimal plastic shell on the outside for a sliding surface on rocks.
 
yd35

yd35

Monkey
Oct 28, 2008
741
61
NY
Nick said:
I had a pair of those. I think I ended up giving them to Stoney. Anyway, I ended up trimming away the fabric from the back / behind the knee and found them to be much more comfortable, and they stayed in place just as well as before.

If I could cut and paste features from all the current pads I'd take the comfort and pliability of my 661 d30 padding on the inside and put a minimal plastic shell on the outside for a sliding surface on rocks.
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The newest iteration of the T-bones already has a hole cut in the kneepit region. It also looks considerably more streamlined and less protective overall.
 
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Nick

Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
24,032
14,642
where the trails are
yd35

yd35

Monkey
Oct 28, 2008
741
61
NY
acair422 said:
Just so we are clear we're talking about these pads:

http://www.pocsports.com/en/product/1843/joint-vpd-2-0-dh-knee

Everything i have heard about poc has been stellar. I was considering the TLDs for sure, as I said my biggest concern is movement and from everything i've xperienced knee/shin combos such as the fox ones just don't really do well stayig in place
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Yup, that's it. I ended up getting the longer one which covers some of the shin because they were cheaper. In retrospect, they might be overkill.
 
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norbar

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,368
1,606
Warsaw :/
HardtailHack said:
Not Alpinestars, walked up a hill in them took them off and gave them away, rubbish!
Click to expand...

The plastic ones with shin protection are decent though in severe crashes they will slide (in most they won't).

The lighter model is worse though the fit on mine is crap so it's hard to say.




btw. Anyone seen the new dainese they posted on PB?
 
A

acair422

Monkey
Aug 20, 2003
552
2
Probably just going to get those knee pads and skip the shin protection, the new dainese look good but don't look heavy duty enough...
 
weedkilla

weedkilla

Monkey
Jul 6, 2008
362
10
I honestly can't complain about my raceface dig knee pads - and they are cheap.
Comfy, stay in place once you are sweaty, lasted well. I bought them during one of race faces difficult periods when they were being blown out at a price that made me think it didn't matter if I hated them. I don't, best armour of any sort I have had.
The sweaty thing is important. Seems to me kneepads either slip when they are dry, or slip when they are sweaty. I'll have slip when they are dry everytime. I've been told that this is a factor of which neoprene they are made from.
 
C

csermonet

Monkey
Mar 5, 2010
942
127
Does anyone know when the new Seven protection is coming to market? IIRC, they are now FAR behind their projected date and have kept everyone in the dark. I would be interested in the Don knee pad that Peaty has been using for a bit now

 
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