choices - dianese freestyle, 661 nylon pads, (heard of but not seen roach ds pads). anyone had any experiences with these? probably gonna set fire to my crappy £15 axo pads when i replace them.

on-one shinpads? http://www.on-one.co.uk/news/shinpads.shtml

no knee protection. i always land on my knees, then i scrape the front of my lower legs. i can walk with scraped legs but i hate it when my kneecap tries going sideways. i pick myself up and walk in circles for a bit!!

I use Dainese elbow freestylke elbow guards and have a problem withthem slipping down during longer descents. Could be thatr I'm putting them on the wrong arms as swapping them last ride imprived matters. Not sure it would matter for jumping though.

getting the correct size pads can be worrying. im most definitely large, no fat on lower legs or knee area, so i cant make mail order mistakes. get nearer my waist, however.......................

my brother uses dainese freestyle legpads, he went to them from hardnox knee/shins and he loves them, says they stay in place when he crashes which the hardnox didn't do, and they stay up well.
I should mention that he is Very Large!
I use the dainese pro-airs and I find them mint, they are nice and light which is what I like, but they don't protect the back of your leg which the freestyles do.

be nice if dianese came in black, i understand roach does and the ds one resenbles the dianese freestyle.

I've got Dianese pro-airs, which is nice.

I don't think you can get Roach anymore, but Singletrack do their own version which is almost identical.

I've also got some Azonics, which are probably the same as the Axos, if I wear these with shorts you need to straps the knee cup or it flaps around...

Roach have been taken over by raceface I believe (nsmb.com) if you just want knee pads, I run Vectors when I'm street riding, and axo's when not clipped in. 661's are nice, if a tad hot. Dainese are the nuts.

if protection is what ur after then the 661 mtb pads r very good, they are like a traditional BMX knee pad and plastic knee cup with a shin part added on. www.sixsixone.com for more info and sizes. I ride with them on a bmx and mtb and have been good for fivehours at a stakepark and after a couple of hefty bails they had hardly shifted themselves.

Perhaps not as good as roach for mtb but the level of protection is top notch.

are they the ones with the plastic "look" on the outside of the pads? the ones just reviewed in last mbuk are nice although they mention overheating.

check out the new Fox 611 knee/shin combos (make sure you get the 2001/02 version and not the older one that most UK shops still seem to have). They cost around £45 but are very well designed, don't budge once on, don't get too hot and have loads of protection.

I also like Azonic's elbow guards, best I've seen yet only £25. I tried loads and loads of elbow guards, many didn't fit right, strap across the inside of the elbow joing, restricting movement. The hardknox ones were the worst in this respect.

The dianese stuff is OK, bit overated seems to rip very easily when you hit rocks. I ripped the netting on my Dianese elbows straight away.

thats why im thinking the 661 nylon ones will last longer. theres a photo in dirt of why not to put your pads in the dryer. try getting them warrantied!

check out the 661 site, i use the mtb shin/knee guards which have a knee cup and plastic shin guard or there nylon jobs with plastic inserts (bit like roach pads).
www.sixsixone.com

the nylon ones are the ones for me. their range is nice, and in black too! the decals on the nylon ones are great too.