Knee Pads

[r_ciao]

I have the Dianese knee guards and wear them under my kevlar reinforced jeans (Draggin' Jeans).  It's comfortable and fortunately have not crash tested them yet.

[pespina]

Right, for the low low price of $372USD!!!

That is what they cost here in France as well: â,¬250 for the E-Stein (i.e., $314 for the simple one) and â,¬300 for the E-Strong (i.e., $377, for the fancy ones).

For me the question was... What is my skin worth? Forget about the emergency room bill, forget the pain as you take that first shower after the accident, forget the nasty scar for years to come, and just think about asking your girlfriend to wait a few days because it just hurts too much... In that perspective, $372 does not seem like that much to me  .

[monster monkey]

My 2 cents.....
I have the ICON leg protectors and can say from experience, they protect your legs!
Low sided in the canyons and jeans burned right through rom sliding on the asphalt.
The protectors only had a couple scratches on them and still work great. Another
plus is that they're vented so your legs dont overheat when it's warmer outside 

[Fresh Pants]

Nope... I bought the Esquad jeans a week later, once my nerves could handle Paris traffic once again.  Unfortunately, I had procrastinated for one year due to the 300 euro price tag. Ducati had carry them in their apparel line the year before. And I hope never to have such a photo to show you... I definitely used one of my lives that night.

But I suggest that you visit their website and look at their videos. It seems that what happens is that the denim burns out and you are left with the Kevlar base (i.e., a white burn spot).

I'd love a pair, but I'm concerned about fit/sizing and the inevitible returns. Maybe I'll just have to go visit a country with a retail store. 

Paris traffic? I was just there in July, seriously nuts.
You are a brave man. 

[pespina]

I'd love a pair, but I'm concerned about fit/sizing and the inevitible returns. Maybe I'll just have to go visit a country with a retail store. 

Paris traffic? I was just there in July, seriously nuts.
You are a brave man. 

Merchandise returns are a real problem with transcontinental retailing. Right now I am designing my own leather suit from Pilot (http://www.pilotusa.com/custom/howtoorder.html) and the back and forth shipments that are part of their custom design process are killing me.

Paris traffic? It is like playing a video game in which you can actually die. Everyone should experience the terror of riding the Arc de triomphe on wet pavement at rush hour - have done it hundreds of times and it still raises the hair in the back of my neck. We ride at over 75 mph between two lanes of packed traffic in the Periferic. I once saw a guy touch a car's mirror with the tip of his handle bars and ricochet forward. The guy was OK, but he screwed-up the side panels of 7-9 cars before finally stopping.

The real problem here are the scooters. You see, the French A1 license (for anything over 125 cc) requires one of the toughest trainings in the world. For me, it required 1300 euros + 8 days of vacation. The tests are incredible. First, The Code which consists of 40 questions from a possible set of 800, and indeed the European traffic law is quite different from that in the USA. Second, The parking-lot test which consists of doing pirouettes on foot, on first gear with not gas + passanger, and at high speed with panic stops + a 5 minute conversation with the examiner regarding some aspect of motorbiking. Finally, The open road test which consists of driving in Paris traffic being tailed by the examiner's car and receiving commands via an ear piece. All questions are in French (pas des excuses pour Les Américaines) and you make one mistake and you are out.

By comparison, any idiot with a car license can ride a scooter an thus the inception of the problem. Parisian scooters respect nothing, so they are the main source of accidents of all kinds. A1 drivers salute each other on the road, but you never salute a scooter rider. Everyone hates them including themselves. And the smaller the size of the scooter the worst as very young teens can ride 50 cc's (those idiots and the pizza delivery guys run red lights all the time).

Drop me a line next time you visit and me and my buddies at Moto Virolo (http://www.motovirolo.com/motorcycle-club-home.html?Itemid=1) will hook you up

[Fresh Pants]

Merchandise returns are a real problem with transcontinental retailing. Right now I am designing my own leather suit from Pilot (http://www.pilotusa.com/custom/howtoorder.html) and the back and forth shipments that are part of their custom design process are killing me.

Paris traffic? It is like playing a video game in which you can actually die. Everyone should experience the terror of riding the Arc de triomphe on wet pavement at rush hour - have done it hundreds of times and it still raises the hair in the back of my neck. We ride at over 75 mph between two lanes of packed traffic in the Periferic. I once saw a guy touch a car's mirror with the tip of his handle bars and ricochet forward. The guy was OK, but he screwed-up the side panels of 7-9 cars before finally stopping.

The real problem here are the scooters. You see, the French A1 license (for anything over 125 cc) requires one of the toughest trainings in the world. For me, it required 1300 euros + 8 days of vacation. The tests are incredible. First, The Code which consists of 40 questions from a possible set of 800, and indeed the European traffic law is quite different from that in the USA. Second, The parking-lot test which consists of doing pirouettes on foot, on first gear with not gas + passanger, and at high speed with panic stops + a 5 minute conversation with the examiner regarding some aspect of motorbiking. Finally, The open road test which consists of driving in Paris traffic being tailed by the examiner's car and receiving commands via an ear piece. All questions are in French (pas des excuses pour Les Américaines) and you make one mistake and you are out.

By comparison, any idiot with a car license can ride a scooter an thus the inception of the problem. Parisian scooters respect nothing, so they are the main source of accidents of all kinds. A1 drivers salute each other on the road, but you never salute a scooter rider. Everyone hates them including themselves. And the smaller the size of the scooter the worst as very young teens can ride 50 cc's (those idiots and the pizza delivery guys run red lights all the time).

Drop me a line next time you visit and me and my buddies at Moto Virolo (http://www.motovirolo.com/motorcycle-club-home.html?Itemid=1) will hook you up

Wow. I think I have more respect for Parisian riders now. When I'm around (my gf is French, and goes back to France often), I'll drop you a line.

Back to topic  .
I've thought about wearing some knee/shin armor for some time now, but for some reason haven't even tried. I even have the knee/shin armor that I use for DH MTBing, but never really bothered for some reason. The shin portion intereferes with the top section of my boots, but maybe that doesn't really matter.

[DoubleEagle]

Before I started wearing Armored leather pants always when I ride , I wore the Icon Knee and Shin Field Armor and found it to be comfortable and pretty much unseen under loose fitting Jeans .   Dolph

[NAKID]

The shin portion intereferes with the top section of my boots, but maybe that doesn't really matter.

I actually tuck the lower shin portion of the ICON armor into the top part of my boot...

[Mash]

I have the Icon knee armor too, but I strap them over my Sidi Canyons.  I'm 6'1" tall and weigh 230lbs and the Icon knee armor velcro straps are just long enough to hold on to my calves without being too tight or coming loose on their own.  The top strap goes above the knee and fits just fine.  All the straps are comfortable and don't hurt me or leave marks.  I've worn them all day, on and off the bike, and have no issues at all.  They are very comfortable and stay in place nicely.

[NAKID]

The ICON armor won't fit over my Oxtars. As it is, I'm 5'9" and about 195. The straps almost dont fit around my calves...

[sfarchie]

My 2 cents.....
I have the ICON leg protectors and can say from experience, they protect your legs!
Low sided in the canyons and jeans burned right through rom sliding on the asphalt.
The protectors only had a couple scratches on them and still work great. Another
plus is that they're vented so your legs dont overheat when it's warmer outside 

Finally, a crash test on the ICON protectors! Oh, sorry you had to be the test subject.  I'm considering these as another option for short local errands. I still also ride my Vespa (sorry, Pespina), so this would be a good alternative gear for my short squirts on my GTS.

[DoubleEagle]

I wear a really nice Moto Jacket, but can't really wear Moto pants to most places i go.  So i've been thinking about knee pads.  I mean, they've got to be better than my jeans alone.

Two questions...

First, anyone have any recommendations as to what pads to get?

Second, over or under pants?  I'm figuring under.  It'll be a better fit, and the pants are going to be a write-off anyway. (Plus, no one will know i'm wearing them if i need to keep them on.)

thanks,
z

Checkout DuluthTrading.com   They have some fairly large hard cupped knee pads w, gel padding and velcro straps for attaching to your knees.

What they are are pads for carpet layers  to use or plumbers or anyone who has to be on their knees for any length of time. I think they cost about $30 . You can wear them under your pants.   Dolph

[sfarchie]

I just bought the ICON knee/shin protectors and I think they should stay in place well enough to provide some protection. Unlike some of the other protectors with a few velcro straps, these completely wrap around your calves along with 3 straps and another separate strap for the knee.

[NAKID]

As long as you don't have large calves. If you do, the velcro straps may not quite be long enough...

[Henecton]

I wear Arborwear pants from Aerostitch with the removeable knee armor when I am going somewhere and do not want that power ranger look. The pants are well made and look like carpenter jeans and you can take the armor out to wash them like jeans. The only thing is if you wear a 38x30 you had better order a 40x32 as they run small. I crashed this year in a pair of Fieldsheer ballistic nylon pants and they saved me but the knees were trashed, the armor saved my knee from serious damage I am sure.