Forum

I have some dainese trailskins knee pads that I wear for general xc and trail riding. They do the job most of the time when they stay in place and have taken a few hits well enough although they don't feel impregnable.

I'm now starting to spend more time sessioning jumps, drops and downhill sections and have up to now used my old skate knee pads. Classic ProTec hard shell with a bit of foam behind and a couple of straps. Now obviously they are designed for sliding out / bailing on a half pipe or skatepark, not the more random crashes from height or speed that I need them for.

However they do have the bonus of staying in place perfectly. So the question is, is it worth getting some beefier mtb specific knee pads for dh/jumping , e.g. Poc joint, race face ambush, ixs flow?

And does anyone have any hard crash experience with trailskins, skate pads, or any of the above? Cheers!

100% worth getting the right pads for the job. As you say a light set for XC/Trail stuff, hard shells for park/pump/jump but if you are riding dh stuff then you need the right tools

Not going to recommend any as there are (a) so many and (b) personal preference...

So I guess a simpler way of putting it might be, why DON'T dh/dj riders just wear the rector/protec style skate pads? I'm just curious. I can fall straight onto my knees from standing in skate pads and barely feel it, yet in my trailskins I definitely would. I wouldn't tear my knees up but I'd know I'd taken a hit.

Any crash reports from users of different pads?

Ah... I don't like wearing the rector/protec type stuff as if you fall directly down then it's good at absorbing the bit BUT if you hit an an angle then you can be sliding on the smooth surface.

At least that's what I think