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Gear for Enduro 2.0


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Give the 661 recon's a ride test yesterday. They remained comfy with no pinching and stayed in place. They were reasonably cool despite the very sweaty weather down here. I did some impact tests eg kneeling on a hard floor or bumping into a wall and i think the foam they use really does work. I also had to kneel down to repair my bike and it was good to have these on while doing that. These will definitely be my everyday knee pads. In winter they will make a nice leg warmer too.

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  • 2 weeks later...

penetrative tests or blunt force impact testing?

 

Shattered knee was from riding knee pads that at best, offered protection from abrasive damage, not blunt force impact protection. That is, there was apparently no hard shell within the knee pad.

 

Also, let's not brush everything under the 'numerous variables' rug, because that creates the false impression that protection against probable injury is unachievable because the type of probable impact is nebulous. That is just not true for many impact types. Why bother with helmets then?

 

So (not directed at you Headshot. I'm very sure you are well aware of the following) what are plausible modes of damage that cyclists typically need protection against:

  • abrasion
  • blunt force impact 
  • sharp force/penetrative impact
  • torsional and/or bending moments

points 2 and 3 IMO, can be split rather roughly into primary and secondary impacts. Primary being the initial contact with whatever, and secondary impacts could be all subsequent contact with the whatever.

 

The abrasive protection depends on the toughness of the fabric used. Most manufacturers use a weave including kevlar. Abrasive protection also hinges upon the ability of the pads to remain in place during a crash, and that in turn depends upon method of attachment.

 

Blunt force impact protection aims to spread the load or increase the time of deceleration. The latter is where G-form, and foam layers come in. Hard shells also help spread the load impact thus reducing the pressure of the impact force.

 

hard shells act to mostly to mitigate sharp force impacts. I'm not sure how well g-form, D30 other such materials that harden upon impact, deal with penetrative loads.

 

The last form of impact damage is best mitigated by heavily engineered products like MX-type knee braces. They incorporate levers and mechanisms that limit probably bending and torsion loads that lead to dislocations and/or ligament damage. Ironically, most wear these types of braces AFTER they've blown their ligaments :P (guilty as charged)

 

While not exhaustive, if one keeps these 4 main impact loads in mind, and your desired set of pads largely covers at least the first three types of impact, or all of those bases to various degrees, you are well set in terms of reasonable levels of protection. No one, anyway, is ever going to claim complete protection. 

:eek:  all you did in your post was scare the living daylights out of me .... Koeberg at max. 25km/h from now on only for me  :ph34r:

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I have some old school fox hard shell knee with shin pads in a spares box at home that were given to me ... recon they should go on for the next trail ride.

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Fox Proframe: (official release 04 March, but someone spilled the beans :P )

 

RRP over R5k. Gonna have to go with a NO on that one Batman.

Edited by Duane_Bosch
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:eek:  all you did in your post was scare the living daylights out of me .... Koeberg at max. 25km/h from now on only for me  :ph34r:

 

haahahaha, but i know you know that that the question is not if you fall, but when, and how hard  :devil:

since you like Koeberg, have u noted the 4 legged penetrative impact threats running around there? :P When they get frisky, its damn sketchy.

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