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So I have finally worn out a set of these: http://www.motorcyclejazz.com/Fly_Racing_Moto_Knee.htm and am now looking for a replacement.

I had a get off a few years ago wearing just the armor in my pants, and that left me limping for a few months. My thinking is unless I'm wearing my leathers, where the fit is tight enough to keep the armor in place when I crash, I want an MX/Offroad solution. The upside to the fly stuff is it's cheap, the downside was the velcro straps always dug into my legs.

Knee braces just don't make sense to me in terms of how they work, and the expense. Maybe I need to reconsider?

Anyone have any knee protection they like? I'm particularly interested in crash tested advice

Here is what I've been using for years, and I've been very satisfied with them. I have definitely crash-tested them about 100 times.
http://www.motorcyclecloseouts.com/off+ ... +knee+pads


I don't think any knee pads exist that are truly comfortable as in, "these things feel so good I think I'll just leave them on for the drive home".

These only protect your knees--not your shins, but my boots provide enough shin protection for me, and I don't like anything tucked into my boots.

Regarding full braces, I think the story on those is once you destroy a knee, you'll have to wear them and wish you had worn them to PREVENT the injury instead. They are expensive, but not compared to knee surgery and recovery! So why don't I wear braces? I struggle choosing between comfort and safety. When it's 90 degrees out, protective gear is hell.

After my third (yep 3) ACL injuries, I am a slave to full knee braces. Did my research along with the help of a orthopedic sports center. I have a set of CTI carbon fiber braces. These are nice, really light weight and will fit under blue jeans. You can buy a set of these without a prescription.
Consider the medical costs for any minor knee procedure, and the knee braces pay for themselves pretty quickly. Basically all knee pads do is protection from impacts.

About 15 years ago while riding I suffered an impact to the outside of my right knee causing it to buckle in towards my left leg and it severed my ACL. At that time since I was no longer involved in any "cutting" sports, I just had it removed. ever since then I have worn a Breg, (prescribed) on it and I bought a CTI and wear on my left knee. These guard against the type of injury I had, and an injury that can come from overextending the knee. They don't however help much with a rotational type of knee injury but I think they are better than nothing. To me, wearing the braces when riding offroad is just part of being properly geared up. I had a friend that tore his knee up pretty bad at a young age that finally led to a knee replacement a couple years ago at 54 y/o and that ended his dirt bike/dual sport riding for good. I don't want that to happen to me anytime soon so I'll wear the braces.

For woods riding I've used the 3 strap shin / knee protectors with a proper hard cup for the patella. They run from $50 to $70 for a pair. There are several manufacturers offering similar products. For my DS pants the knee armor moves around too much and is lower than it should be so I use a smaller shin / knee protector under these pants that works well and fits well. My MX pants seem to have more room for the larger protectors.

A Texas surgeon was doing research on the efficacy of knee braces Vs. shin / knee protectors. I never saw any results from this study.

Stu

Thor Force Knee Guards.
My only complaint is one of the straps rubs raw a spot on the back of my leg. I cut a open an old sock and put the velcro strap through that to protect my leg.