All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

buy pads and wear them with your bike jersey. You will look official.

 

I don't have a bike jersey, though.

 

Might as well get one if you get pads

 

I only wear a half shell helmet. A full face is drastic overkill for anything I ride. Parks and dedicated DH are the only areas a full face is warranted in my opinion.

Recently I’ve decided it might be a good idea to start using light duty knee/shin protection. Realistically I’ll probably only wear them on certain rides, location/trail specific. I’m finding out fit is critical as I’m now on my 3rd set of knee pads. The first two either didn’t fit my legs well right out of the pack, or slid down too much for my liking while pedaling. I have a pair of POC VPD Air sleeves I’m waiting to give a test run if I ever get another bike.

 

yeah that's my thoughts, really just threw the FF question in there as an add-on. I don't want any movement restriction, and never have had a great pair of knee/elbow pads. Just didn't know if they were worth getting, or should the simple answer be "ride better, stupid"

 

don't be so jelly mannnnn.

 

I wear knee pads depending on the type of ride. Haven't picked up elbow pads. My recommendation is do what you feel is necessary for your safety and don't worry about how you look. My wife is a decent intermediate rider, but has lots of little "brain fart" fall overs and bangs up her knees. So we had her start wearing knee pads even on mild forest single track where most people aren't wearing pads. Just depends on you.

 

I used to be a "ATGATT" rider until last season. Now I very seldomly wear pads unless it is a trail I am unfamiliar with or a known rowdiness trail (TWE, Crest with @abacall , etc )

Full face: I can't tell you the last time I wore the chin bar on my super3. Pretty sure it was a park day where a full face is pretty much encouraged.

On the jersey/apparel front: Look at moto shops like Rocky Mountain ATV. Their long sleeve jerseys are like 1/2 the price of MTB designated ones, and their sale jerseys are as low as $7 sometimes. You can also get moto pants cut and hemmed into shorts and again, are budget compared to something off of TLD, Fasthouse, etc's bike line.

Best $7 I've ever spent on a jersey:

 

I actually went down to escalante this past weekend to meet a buddy who's living out of his van. I also figured bringing all my gas and groceries meant there was minimal risk of infecting the locals. There were plenty of other people that were way less prepared. I have a feeling we're about to see another big spike in cases with all of these lifted restrictions since our numbers have not started going down yet. Sigh....

Have fun biking down there! I may be heading to the same area.

 

I wear knee pads on most rides these days. The fox pair I have stays on my thunder thighs pretty well, isn't too restricting, and my knees have seen enough damage at this point. I only put elbow pads during heavy downhill days.

 

Oh, its gonna happen for sure.

 

yeah I think I might pick up some knee/elbow pads just because of how rocky it is where we ride. I don't plan to get a FF helmet but had a friend ask about it so wanted to get some thoughts. I'm fine with throwing my arms up to protect my face haha.

On the jersey/apparel stuff I've just got some Amazon mtb shorts that work great and I wear polyester/athletic shirts that breathe well. @BamaTaco56 only brought it up because I texted them the other day asking if they knew of any cheap decent looking mtb jersey type shirts and he's a simpleton that wears damn Hanes 100% cotton white tees to do everything in life so no specific clothing actually serves much of a purpose to him....damn caveman lol

 

dislike....?

 

If my bike stuff is dirty, I've been known to break out the C9 Target Special athletic stuff before. Not much you can innovate on a damn tank top, so at that point it doesn't really matter.

For knee pads, I run Leatt stuff. Their traditional pads are good for all around riding, and their "enduro pads" are great for the chunky stuff and give a little better shin protection. Both are pretty comfy and stay on my knees way better than my raceface pads ever did.

trad



Hybrid enduro

 

I ordered a 5 pack of Amazon essentials athletic shirts, gonna try them out. I have an adidas soccer shirt that's jersey material I wear most often I love, which is why I was inclined to get an actual mtb jersey from specialized or somewhere. I just like the looser fitting stuff, not skin tight.

 

I like loose and flowy too. I will say there is a noticeable difference between good jerseys and the cheap workout stuff, but I can tolerate a lot of BS for a $40 price difference on short rides.

Columbia PFG sun shirts do really well for summer rides around here as well, cuz that sun will fry you in a hot second.

 

I recently purchased a bunch of clearance jerseys from backcountry.com. Kept a couple that I liked and sent the rest back. Some decent prices but nothing "cheap." I've spent a lot of time in off brand athletic shirts over the years, no problem with that. Buy a size bigger than normal and you're all set.

 

If your LBS is a spesh shop, the enduro jerseys are on sale at the moment.
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/enduro-jersey/p/161460?color=246746-161460&searchText=64119-2721

I bounce back and forth between drifits and jerseys.

 

Some of that climbing in Corner Canyon is no joke, so nicely done!

 

Clark's can eat a dick, I hate that climb.

Upper Ghost Falls has some punchy ups as well.