Knee-pads - what you rocking?

[J.KYDD]

My old Alpinestars Paragons have bitten the dust. 
Ordered some 100% pads in medium, large and extra-large and had to return them all as were either too large or way too small. 

I'm only 5,8 but have chunky legs looking at size charts from multiple different brands is not slotting me well into any companies range of offerings. 
I'm gonna be stuck with basically having to order multiple sizes in multiple different pads to try on and then return. 

So before I start spaffing £100's at a time on online orders, what are people really liking riding?
I'm more of an all-day enduro type rider, normally covering around 30km's with a good 1200m of climbing/descending in some pretty rough chunky trails, so I really need all day comfort with a reasonable level of protection.

[Szymon]

I run POC VPD 2.0

I'm 170cm and 62kg. Chiken legs. Knee Pads size S. Fit perfect.

https://www.pocsports.com/products/joint-vpd-2-0-knee-1?variant=36049680367768

[jamesb]

I ride g-form stuff because they are small enough to wear discreetly under pants and they are the most flexible pad I've found. Not the best protection though for mega-hits. Great for trials too, just enough padding to stop the shin digs.

https://g-form.com/knee-pads-mountain-bike-prox3

[onzatpro09]

I've been having good luck with the Oneal Superfly pads.

Fairly DJ oriented, but really comfortable for all day rides wearing riding trousers/jeans. Probably not so good with shorts though as they aren't the most secure pad on the market

[Mark W]

On 4/19/2023 at 5:37 PM, J.KYDD said:

My old Alpinestars Paragons have bitten the dust. 
Ordered some 100% pads in medium, large and extra-large and had to return them all as were either too large or way too small. 

I'm only 5,8 but have chunky legs looking at size charts from multiple different brands is not slotting me well into any companies range of offerings. 
I'm gonna be stuck with basically having to order multiple sizes in multiple different pads to try on and then return. 

So before I start spaffing £100's at a time on online orders, what are people really liking riding?
I'm more of an all-day enduro type rider, normally covering around 30km's with a good 1200m of climbing/descending in some pretty rough chunky trails, so I really need all day comfort with a reasonable level of protection.

Just to add another random one into the mix - I do broadly speaking what you do in terms of riding, and I've found the Troy Lee Designs Stages pads are good. I had the Fox Enduro D3O pads before and they were OK but not super comfortable, slid down over time and didn't really have a huge amount of protection. I briefly used the 7iDP Sam Hill pads too. They had a lot more protection but were pretty thick, took a while to heat up and start to shape properly, and were just hot to wear. The only other ones I'd used in that kind of style were the RaceFace Indy pads - they were along the lines of the 7iDP pads, but were just a bit too chunky for me. I only ever ride in trousers and they just didn't work well under them. 

The TLD Stages pads have a decent amount of protection (have had a couple of crashes and came out unscathed) - they certainly feel more protective than the usual lightweight all day style pads that just have a sheet of D3O equivalent foam in them. The structure of the sleeve seems to help keep them in place well too, as do the silicone grippers.

The only thing I'd say is that part of the reason they stay reasonably OK temperature wise is that the back of them is quite a fine mesh. This isn't a problem for me as I only wear trousers, but if you ride shorts and run flat pedals you might find you're more prone to catching a pin on them and giving them a bit of a tear. That was typically the only negative I read about them on reviews, and even though it's not relevant to me I can see how it could happen or be a problem.

From memory the sizing on them is pretty random, so you maaaay find you have to try a couple of different sizes to get the right fit for you, but the flip side is that you can quite often get them a bit cheaper than RRP online so even if you've got to pay postage a couple of times it won't be quite so bad...

e.g. 30% off at Wiggle: https://www.wiggle.co.uk/troy-lee-designs-stage-knee-guard

Seeing the photos of them on Wiggle also reminded me to say that they're really well shaped from new, so they slip on and feel 'right' straight away. They're not like the flat-D3O-panel pads where they don't really sit well until you get a bit of warmth in them.