Knee/Shin and Elbow/arm Guards

[LZYBOY]

Hey People!
What the best Knee/Shin and Elbow/arm Guards out there that will allow me to ride around in for 2-3hrs+.
Fox 911's
Dianese FreeStyle
661 Race/Racelites
Roach

Whats good? Whats crap?

[Turley]

Search but Dainese pros are the goods :)

[HeftyKona]

661 all the way, saved me yesterday after coming of the back of a MX at 65 through a forest!!!!!

[jasco]

Definatley Dainese first, the 661 after that. Never used either of the other 2

[RaID]

for elbows the 911 are great cant really say a bad word about them, protect not too hot easy to put on, stay in one spot

on the otherhand 911 for knee and shins tend to slide down no matter how well you tighten them even if in the right order

[josh]

Most people will swear by the dianese....jsut look at how many people use them, and keep going back to them. Thats a good indication!

I have some fox forearm/elbow guards that work a treat, cost me about $55!

[Chieftain]

2-3 hours riding? if u're gonna be riding in warm conditions, u might wanna choose an open-backed one for the legs.

i use 661 racelites arm and knee/shins... served me fine so far.. got them cheap at jensonusa last year.. only other ones i've had were really old Qranc knee/shin guards which were not comfortable to pedal with at all..

[base rider]

ive got 661 racelite knee+shin and cant fault them. comfy, protect all of your leg, look good etc, and only £30 from crc, although your probably in the US...

[Rik]

Roach look awesome, I'm thinking about getting a set too. Don't cost too much either. The knee stabliser thingy is what's swayed me.
They're endorsed by Mr Simmons himself too, if you want wank value.

[scratchy]

Dainese for warm climates because they have ventalation like nothing else, that's why they are used by Pro Racers because keeping cool is more of an issue than crashing your brains out. If you are crashing your brains out, CTR- Armour-dillo cover a larger surface area. 661 and Fox etc with plastic bits should be OK, Roach, started being handmade on the N'Shore before there was such a thing as North Shore so if freeriding is your thang, they are probably better suited to it than Dainese.

[j5ive]

I like the 911s. Good protection and really comphy if you can get them to stay up. Tried some 661s and found that they didnt move enough in the knee? But hey dazonic loves em.

[Commander Dilsnikk]

it tends to be a very personal thing (and people tend to stick with the first one that they like so they don't try them all out)
like j5ive i love my 911s but i know that there's a lot of other good stuff out there... i might try dainese next but these foxs don't look like wearing out for a long time and i've been rifing them for a year

[scratchy]

I have thought about this a bit more and figured out what bugs me. Any bike over around $500 is made 100% in Taiwan/Japan. Yep all your Konas, Giants, Specialized,Trek etc. all the bits are basically made in Taiwan. There is China next door (stupid cheap), but the bike industry doesn't even trust it to make Cables or Handlebar grips! China has yet to have the Quality Control the Bike industry demands for bike parts.

BUT where are the follow made....
FOX Pads........ China
661 Pads........ China
Roach............ China (used to be Canada)
Every other brand on the planet...... China

Except...
CTR Aussie
Armour-Dillo Aussie
Dainese Italian.

To take it one step further where else on the bike do you consider buying an Australian Product over a foreign (Velocity rims perhaps, that's it). Have a look at Armour-dillo and CTR how much they support the sport. If you get good enough who's door are you going to knock on first and ask for sponsorship? (not if they aren't still in business).

FOX et al aren't going to back a Aussie, there marketing is totally centred around the US of A.

Also doesn't it bug you that the Chinese don't have the quality control to make bits for bikes, yet you guys are strapping these to your knee caps?

[Rik]

That's a really misinformed opinion...
China is the next rising star of bicycle manufacturing... Quality bits come out of Taiwan, and it won't be long until they come out of China. Many bikes sub $1500 are out of China, some bikes sub $1000 are made in Vietnam now (the new cheap place).
"Stupid cheap" and "lacking quality control" may have been true about China 10 years ago, but you'll be suprised at what's coming out of there today. It won't be long until they take over as the centre of bike manufacturing.
Oh, and bugger all gets made in Japan these days...

But anyway, if you're gunna buy stuff, might as well support Aussies, I try to in everything I do, and you're right about the Aussies companies putting in alot of support for our sport.

[scratchy]

Miss informed eh?

As one of the few Aussies who worked in Taiwan in the bicycling industry I probably have a far better idea of what actually goes on than many distributors or even bike brand X (pick a brand, any brand) people who CAD their bike up in the states email it to Taiwan and then start pumping them out to the consumers, often without setting foot near the factory (maybe a one week visit around the Taipei show?).

You are half right in saying that China is the new rising star. The full sentance should be that "Because of Taiwanese companies have moved production of their lower end product to cheaper production facilities, mainly mainland China, there has been significant growth in production in the enthusiast bike sector."

I am not surprised what is coming out of China nowadays, because I am informed. It is still stupid cheap stuff lacking quality control, for our level of expectation (being into bikes and all). So let me say it again it's cheap shit (with the odd exception), for the most part you are welcome to it, after all it is really only lawsuits from rich westerners who snap their backs that get the changes in products (I know this for a fact).

It is a little pedantic to talk about China being the centre of bicycle manufacting, when I talk bikes, I am talking about bikes that people are Enthusiastic enough about to fork out large wonga and spend far more time writing posts about on the internet that actually riding (that's not directed at anyone in particular).

If we are talking about pure volume of bikes manufactured then I believe the centre of bike manufacturing is actually India!

So "Nameste" to all our fellow Indian fro riders!

[Richard A...]

Just following flow but even high end Schwinn frames have been getting made in Vietnam since before they went down with GT in 2001.