I'm looking for pads although I'm not sure what to go for. I'm not even sure if I should get elbow and knew/shin or just knee/shin.

Looking for cheap ones so that rules dainese out of the equation.

what kind of riding are you into? obviously if your into XC/ free ride you'll want more ventilated/ flexible pads than if your into jumping / DH..

for xc and freeride'ish riding i have veggie wrap knee pads (Thick neoprene) and 4x2 elbow/forearm pads they work well as i discovered yesterday after flying over the bars and hitting a tree with my arm the cross bar with my leg and a stump with my knee only one purple bruise on my leg where i didnt have pads..

I think I'm looking for xc/free ride pads. I don't do DH or strictly jumping so xc/freride seems about right.

I will be using them this summer for doing some exploring in the hills which will have some pretty rocky drops, should I opt for knee pads or knee and shin?

do you use flats or SPD's? Shin pads are mostly used for protection from slipping off the peddals and ripping skin off on the grip/pins..

knee&shin, definately

especially if you're going to use flat pedals (which i advise if you're gonna try something a bti more risky than normal)

I always use flats, I'll go for knee and shin then. I was looking at the 661 race lites any thoughts?

What size should I go for I'm 6ft so should I go for the medium or large.

Not sure :-)

I use brandx Knee/shin and elbow... cheap as chips and great quality. I ride in them all day and they are fine. Great protection and hardly slip. Really well made for price. I've got large in both and I'm 5 11.

I'd get elbows too.

Well, I got elbows aswell as they always seem to take the brunt of my falls.

:-)

Get the most expensive ones you can afford.

After all, their only there to garnish your riding outfit.

Yes dahling. Black is the new black this year too.

;-)

I managed to get a cheap set of dainese which are the muts nuts :-)

A good investment, especially when things start to take longer to heal.