Protection - knee and elbow?

dusty_nz

Likes Dirt
Looking at ramping up my mtbing and thinking its time to get some protection in the form of knee and elbow pads.

My riding style is trails and single track, Decent speed. Certainly not XC, Enjoy downhill within the limits of a hardtail. Medium jumper.

Had a stack a few weeks away on a downhill singletrack and hooked a peddle at around 40km/h. decent cuts on elbows and a massive injuries to my knee, No knee cap injury but massive bruising and blood pooling under the skin. 2 weeks latter have dark blue/purple patch above my knee about 10cm in diameter the stretches down my leg to my ankle.

Apart from a little pain the injuries impacted my ride on the Cape to Cape MTB ride in WA. Still road but very sore.

Can anyone recommend a set of pads and the need for both elbow and knee pads.

Also, would soft protection be enough? Versus hard shell's
 
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timrob

Likes Dirt
I run the POC VPD knee armour for downhilling and a bit of allmountain/mini-DH riding. Realy nicely put together armour, once it warms up its hardly noticeable that its there!

Not the cheapest going around, but i would say one of the most comfortable.
 

SuperSix

Likes Dirt
Soft shells I believe are for comfort on long rides without sacrificing overall protection, but suffers tears and gets immediate damage on serious mishaps. Hard shells are for length of usable service life as impacts on soft shells renders it generally unusable after a serious crash. I get lots of pedal bites so I use a hard shell on my shin and knee.
 

PDub

Likes Bikes
Some of the 'soft' armour is getting pretty good. Light, comfortable, flexible and offer good protection. I've been using POC VPD and Race Face Ambush pads and am impressed. They are great for AM riding and burley XC and it sounds like you could be a good candidate for similar gear. Riding with pads has helped with my confidence. Confidence helps you ride more relaxed and smoother, which means you crash less too. Nice. It might also mean you feel invincible and take on trails that you don't have the skills for and get yourself in trouble, ha!

If you are shopping for armour, expect to have to try a few sets on before you find ones that you like. One of those things that is worth getting locally if you can. If your local shops don't have stock of what you want, TBSM has good range and prices.
 

Shredden

Knows his goats
I wear 661 kyle strait knee pads for DH racing, and I find them to be really good. Never damaged my knee whilst wearing them, and still very comfortable. I would highly recommend them. I hate wearing armour, I always overheat in it, but the kyle straits do it for me.
 
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