It's time to replace my old grungy knee and elbow pads with some new one. I really wanted to find 2 or 3 different levels of pads for different uses and risk levels, and I figured I'd share my personal notes/findings. After researching all available options and reading virtually every online mag review I could find, I ordered up a handful of pads to try on for fit and feel. I ended up ordering the following Knee pads:
**woulda loved to try the Rapha Trail and Chromag Rift, but they seem to be discontinued...and probably also should have ordered the new offerings from Bluegrass, as they look well-designed, but simply didn't get around to.
For Elbow pads:
*Throughout my knee pad testing, I will often swap pad inserts from one guard to another to see how things shape up and feel, and I've also become a big fan of "custom modularity" whereby I'll add 2 inserts into a single sleeve. I've found that I can add the Leatt Airflex Ultralite (just 6mm thick) on top of (or sometimes underneath) almost any other pad to significantly boost impact protection with virtually no negatives to speak of.
- IXS Carve 2.0
- Ion K-Lite, K-Pact and K-Pact Zip
- Endura MT 500 Lite
- 7IDP Sam Hills
- DHARCO Gravity
- DHARCO DH
- Fox Enduro Pro + Koroyd
- Leatt Aiflex (Reaflex) Ultralite
- Raceface Covert
- Fly Cypher
**woulda loved to try the Rapha Trail and Chromag Rift, but they seem to be discontinued...and probably also should have ordered the new offerings from Bluegrass, as they look well-designed, but simply didn't get around to.
For Elbow pads:
- DHARCO Gravity
- TLD Speed Pro
- IXS Flow
- Leatt Reaflex UltraLite
- G-Form Terra
- Race Face Ambush
*Throughout my knee pad testing, I will often swap pad inserts from one guard to another to see how things shape up and feel, and I've also become a big fan of "custom modularity" whereby I'll add 2 inserts into a single sleeve. I've found that I can add the Leatt Airflex Ultralite (just 6mm thick) on top of (or sometimes underneath) almost any other pad to significantly boost impact protection with virtually no negatives to speak of.