Review: 661's New Race Shin/Knee Pads

[BobBurnes]

Arrived in the mail, while I was at work of course, came my new gear from the very good people at SixSixOne/Royal. It was like Christmas in March.

I tore open the boxes and BMN....BMA...hold on...I'll get it.

I tore through the boxes and BAM! SHHHTUFFF! New SHHHHTUFF!

And there, before me, were the new 2008 race gear from 661 and Royal and I did sayth, "Awesome." And it was awesome.

The 2008 Race Shin/Knee pads look great. They're not white, but they're not that dark gray (grey for those that perfer this spelling) and 661 did a great job at redesigning the straps and plastic shields.

I guess the first thing you notice is the design of the 2008 Race differs greatly from the 2007. 661 smoothed out the surfaces and moved the vents to the side. I think this is one of the most important improvments 661 made to the new pads. Moving the vents to the side, as opposed to the "face" of the armor, prevents the pads from hanging up on the ground/rocks/trees/roots when you go ah' tumblin'. It's that hang up that would cause the pads to move out of place so your initial impact was protected, but your secondary scrape left your legs and knees either partially exposed or fully exposed. I saw this time and time again during my 2006 and 2007 season. Rasberries on the knees or knicks across the shin when the pad was "jolted" out of the way.

The smoother surface of the 2008 Race is more likely to deflect the object(s) and stay with the body through out the incident. This means way more protection!!!

The way the 2008 straps to the leg will also help.

The 2008 Race pad doesn't use that one sided velcro action anymore which had a tendancy to "pull" the pads to the inside. The 2008 has two straps that wrap behind the knee to the front of the knee on either side, essentially sharing the "pull" load and centering the knee pad over the knee itself.

The other two straps, one on the upper calf and the other near the ankle, are similar to the 2007 and 2006-except they're in a much better location. The shin pad sits a bit higher on the leg now and doesn't interfer' with movement. In fact, the 2008 Race Knee/Shin protection has to be the best fitting pad from 661 to date.

Some helpful advice if you're looking at these pads:

1. Take the time to cut and burn the extra strings on the pads. It'll save you some curse words in the future.

2. Try them on. Or a friends. Make sure they cover the shin and don't interfere with your foot movement and they fit snuggly across the thigh and won't "shimmy" down because they're either too loose or too tight.

To purchase these pads, and others like 'em, go to:

www.sixsixone.com

It's not too late to stop by the 661/Royal/Sunline tent and van at the Shimano Winter Series Finals this weekend (March 8th and 9th)! The 661 rep, Bobby and his wonderful family, will give you all the information on the new 2008 goodies from the 661/Royal/Sunline family.

Cheers, guys, and thank you very much for reading this review!