| If you ride mountain bikes on a regular basis then at one point or another you have taken a fall and scraped yourself up or even worse and know how important proper protection can be. When it comes to mountain bike protection\Armor, Six Six One is one of the industry leaders producing quality products to cover just about every part of your body. They make helmets, flak jackets, knee pads, gloves, padded shorts and of course elbow pads. Six Six One is known for their soft pads with their D30 Impact technology that bonds together to make a harder barrier on impact. |
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But Six Six One also has several lines of hard shell pads with one of them being the Rage model. The Rage pads have an internal hardcap elbow cover with a Kevlar covering with foam padding as well. The rest of the pad is a stretch Neoprene material and it has Velcro straps to keep them in place. The pads are just for your elbow and do not offer any forearm protection. They also can be worn over long sleeves without any issues.
We tested out these pads for some time and like the way they perform. The fit is snug and the Velcro straps hold them in place where you don't have to worry about them moving down your arm while you ride like other pads do. Depending on your arm size they can be a little tight and not require you to tighten down the straps too tight. If you have really big arms you might be out of luck even with the extra large size.
We haven't had any crash tests yet (fortunately) so we can’t say for sure how well they will hold up but feel confident they will do the job based on the solid construction and tight fit. Other pads like the Fox Launch Pro elbow pads failed the crash test and slid right down the riders arm on impact. Once you are riding you won’t even really notice they are there. If you are climbing uphill with these pads on in the heat you may get a little sweaty in that area.
Like mentioned that these pads seem to run a little small so if you can buy them in a store and try them out first rather than online then that may be the way to go unless you get free returns and don't mind waiting for your replacement. To get your hands on a set of these pads it will run you around $40-50 depending on your shopping skills which is a small price to pay to avoid something like a ruined ride or even worse, a broken elbow.
