Shin protection for trail/enduro

Both inexpensive solutions, can't go wrong trying one. The socks are pretty minimalist. Only way they could be less obtrusive is if they were open on the back or could be removed while climbing, but they're certainly more comfortable unless one of those is a really big deal to you. Might be less coverage, too, but they keep the very front of the leg covered and the rest isn't such a forward-facing surface (or as hard) as the shin bone. So when you catch the rock next to the pad it's more often a glancing blow. Which all seems like rationalizing less protection, but if you didn't go straight to the 7iDP's or similar then obviously you know the best pads are the ones you'll actually wear.

Riding buddy dug his son's old kid-sized shin guards out of his garage. He wears them under long socks. He says they work great, and don't slip.

More update on the padded concrete visionary socks ... it's been in the 90's the last 2 weeks here so the riding has been pretty damn drenching.
I haven't once complained that the socks are too hot or too wet ... I just don't really notice it. The bamboo charcoal fibers feel pretty nice.

I think I still prefer the feel of Defeet socks, in terms of smoothness of fabric, thickness, etc, and I will probably use those on random days when I'm in my clipless shoes ... but the concrete visionary socks are just fine as my current staple of flat-pedal riding.

Here's how they look on such hot days here in the Willamette Valley:
Attachment 243067

It took 9 weeks for this thing to fully heal.

I bought the shorter length crew versions for my wife, she loves them. Thanks for the rec! I'll have to get a pair for myself now.

I threw a jagged softball sized rock off my front tire into my shin last week while riding at a pretty good clip ... the knee high padded socks did their job!

I discovered a minor downside to the bamboo charcoal knee high padded socks ...

My dog is obsessed with them! When she gets into the laundry room it takes her no more than 300 milliseconds to snurfle them out of the basket and be gone. She won’t even trade a sock back to me for a strip of chicken jerky! I have to drop a load of salmon treats on the ground just to get my sock back! And she’s already destroyed 2 socks because I wasn’t fast enough with the trade ... ugh.

That's hilarious!

The d3o must have a good chewy feel that your pup likes.

Yeah that, combined with how well it soaks up the “leg juices” - best dog toy ever ...

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Originally Posted by reckless toboggan

That's hilarious!

The d3o must have a good chewy feel that your pup likes.

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Okay, this is starting to get expensive ... 3rd or 4th padded sock destroyed this summer. Ugh.

Attachment 249287

The bouquet of sweaty feet with a nice chewy mouth feel is a hard combination for any of us to resist.

Nom nom nom

I've been wearing the G-form shins:
https://www.leftlanesports.com/produ...IaAk0ZEALw_wcB

I think they're great and pretty cheap. Might be interested to get on this sock train though...

Bump / PSA, knee high padded socks on sale for $10 a pair (normally $16)
https://concrete-visionary.com/produ...-foam-sewn-in/

I had to order a bunch more ... my freakin dog is so opportunistic if I, or my wife, leave our laundry baskets on a low elevation surface ...

Just ordered a couple pairs on sale. Thanks! And for the already ailing shin lacerations: i split my shin on some sheet metal, the thing wouldn’t heal! The only thing that worked was a witch doctor cure. Get some fresh comfrey, chew it up into a poultice, put on wound, wrap a 4x4 over top and change dressing after 24 hours. Within 2 days the laceration closed up and never opened again. This after several weeks of reopening by just looking at it. If you’re ever in Sandpoint, I will give you a bag of comfrey, but I wont pre chew it for you.

Might have to try those, thanks. I got some knee high compression socks for AZTR which also help protect against brush. Something thicker like this would probably be even better.

ordered 2

Got mine in the mail. Wore them to work of course, to test out. Those ankle protectors kinda dig in. Might have to see if I can tear those out. The main shin pad seems like it will work for direct hits. Not as wide as I thought it would be.

Is anyone using the Leatt or GForm knee/shin pads? I know the GForm has no back of leg protection, are the Leatt the same? I visit over 100 bike stores a month and none of them have these in stock for me to see.

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Originally Posted by evdog

Got mine in the mail. Wore them to work of course, to test out. Those ankle protectors kinda dig in. Might have to see if I can tear those out. The main shin pad seems like it will work for direct hits. Not as wide as I thought it would be.

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Try them on an actual ride before taking drastic measures. I found that once your legs get up to riding temperature (heat output) the D3O softens and you can’t feel those circular pads whatsoever. Wearing them around the house or at work won’t replicate how you’ll use them on a ride. This includes using them in cool fall weather, but I’ll admit I haven’t tried them below 50F outside to see if they are still stiff on the ankles.

I got a pair - I like them, but they fall down a bit on my big ol calves and pinch above the shoe tongue. Better than taking rocks to a shin! Especially for 10 bones.

Anybody wear pants while riding? Almost that season. I use knee pads on most descents if that makes a difference.

Amazing things can happen in work khakis. Two times I forgot riding shorts and had to ride in my work khakis. Both times I stepped up and hit something big that I'd been backing down from forever. So, there's that.

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Originally Posted by meter-man

I got a pair - I like them, but they fall down a bit on my big ol calves and pinch above the shoe tongue. Better than taking rocks to a shin! Especially for 10 bones.

Anybody wear pants while riding? Almost that season. I use knee pads on most descents if that makes a difference.

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Been thinking seriously about pickup a pair of the downhill pajama pants. Pretty practical for deflecting all manor of crap, especially in cooler temps.

I picked up Fox Flexair pants this spring after getting tired of getting poison oak on my shins. They pedal great, and succeeded at keeping off the poison oak. They breath pretty well, good enough to pedal in with knee pads on up until about 70. I probably could wear them in hotter temps but didn't try.

My only complaint is that it becomes a real pain in the ass to make small adjustments to your knee pads if they start to slip and rub. Basically, you have to pull to the side of the trail, drop trou, and fuss with your knee pads and hope some family of hikers doesn't see you.

I will ride them like crazy again once the wet season starts.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by meter-man

I got a pair - I like them, but they fall down a bit on my big ol calves and pinch above the shoe tongue. Better than taking rocks to a shin! Especially for 10 bones.

Anybody wear pants while riding? Almost that season. I use knee pads on most descents if that makes a difference.

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I have a pair of Club Ride pants for cooler months. I like 'em

heh, my ex-roadie ass is still using leg warmers under the knee pads for cold weather riding. It's been working out for me so far.

Gform user here. Has saved me from injury more than once.

Not quite pantaloon season here, still wearing mah kilt for post ride airing of the dangly bits.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by meter-man

I got a pair - I like them, but they fall down a bit on my big ol calves and pinch above the shoe tongue. Better than taking rocks to a shin! Especially for 10 bones.

Anybody wear pants while riding? Almost that season. I use knee pads on most descents if that makes a difference.

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Moderate fail on the socks. I ordered 2 pair. The shin protection rubs on top of my foot. The problem is in the design. It should have a horseshoe shape where it comes down the top of the foot like any other shinpad would. Instead these are rounded. I would need to use moleskin or build up callouses for it to be comfortable.

^ that’s pretty good feedback that wouldn’t really affect flat footed (like me) or smaller users ... you should send it to them.

I’m really curious how many MTBers are buying from them, as their product is a really simple low cost alternative to the G Form shin pad.

Probably not many. Your post was the first place I'd ever heard of them.

Tried them out this weekend. You were right the ankle pads weren't an issue. No complaints except they are definitely on the warm side.

Update now that I've used these concrete visionary padded socks for a while.

They work pretty well. Pad in front definitely helps protect against brush.

My main complaint is when wearing them for more than 2-3 hrs the shin and ankle pad start to rub and irritate my leg.

I often use knee high compression socks on longer / backcountry rides and those provide decent protection for general scrapage. But not as good as the sewn in pad against punctures from thorns, catclaw, cactus, etc.

I'll probably keep using the padded socks for shorter rides and regular compression socks for longer rides.

I"ve been wearing those Concrete Visionary socks for a bit now and I gotta say I love them. NO rubbing problems. I will probably buy a couple more pairs and then I can upgrade to newer smaller knee pads from my TLD KGL5450 with the long shin coverage for xc rides.

Still have my burly POC Bone leg guards for DH.

Decided I wanted to learn to dirt jump on an actual dirt jumper yesterday. I can hit all the jumps clipped in on my mountain bike.
I hadn't ridden flats in 10 years since I was doing a bunch of jumping all the time. Was used to them then. Yesterday my buddy let me borrow his DJ bike. My foot was comfortable on my top pedal and I tried to relocate my bottom foot on my bottom paddle and as soon as I lifted my bottom foot up my top pedal forced the cranks backwards and fileted my shin. Anyway, looking for the longest shin pads that will cover down below the second cut near my ankle. I'll probably just continue to ride my mountain bike at the bike park with clips, haha. But I still have dreams of learning to ride flat pedals again and being able to put my foot out for fun whenever. The g form combination knee and shin pad (elite knee shin guard) look nice. I would only be wearing them for flats/dirt jumping. For my normal mountain bike rides with Clips I wouldn't wear them so I'm not too worried about if they are hot or not.

Also, to the dirt jumpers out there, man these things go so much faster than the mountain bikes. Are people feathering the brakes ? On my mountain bike, I don't really have to because the suspension absorbs a lot of the energy and slows me down.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...371c587859.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...59f9b241dd.jpg

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OUCH

One of those would be impressive, two is next level. I got one similar to the lower one two summers ago, it took 9 weeks to fully heal, FYI.

Ouch. The problem with the G Form is no side or back of leg protection.

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Originally Posted by Dantheman

One of those would be impressive, two is next level. I got one similar to the lower one two summers ago, it took 9 weeks to fully heal, FYI.

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LALALALALALA

I'm going to try quitting sugar and eating kale for the next two weeks and see what happens. Extreme measures for extreme times[emoji1363]

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Originally Posted by gravitylover

Ouch. The problem with the G Form is no side or back of leg protection.

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Gotcha. I think my brother still has those original Roach/ race face pads that I gave him to use for his dirt bike, haha. Those would probably be good for me. Does anyone make anything like that style full coverage, but not as bulky and shitty straps as those used to have? They always slipped down my knees and ended up being supported up by my shoe

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I have dainese and are very light and good protection.

Italian brand, they make a lot of moto protection as well

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Originally Posted by markcjr

LALALALALALA

I'm going to try quitting sugar and eating kale for the next two weeks and see what happens. Extreme measures for extreme times[emoji1363]

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The main thing for me, especially early on, was to spend at least a few hours per day with my leg elevated. Your lymphatic system doesn't work for shit below your knee. I didn't need to spend as much time with elevated the last 4 weeks or so, but if you feel your leg swelling up it's time to put it up.