Who will love this:
Anyone who wants the best protection for their knees without giving up convenience or comfort will love the Leatt Dual Axis Knee/Shin Guards.
What I think:
After researching for hours, I found that the Leatt Dual Axis Knee and Shin Guards to be the best knee guards in terms of protection, comfort, mobility, convenience and price.
These knee guards were overwhelmingly recommended to me by the electric unicycle (EUC) community, but I kind of thought they were too much protection for the way I ride.
I finally made the purchase when I found myself wanting to push myself to go faster and to try new things on my EUC but worried about getting injured.
I’ve owned several knee pads in the past. Some were cumbersome to slip on over my shoes and pants. Others were uncomfortable. So because I couldn’t find anything I liked, I just rode without knee protection but it always bothered me that while I always remind my viewers to wear their safety gear after each YouTube video, I was always riding without protection for my knees, a commonly injured body part during falls.
Putting on these knee guards is easy. There are three adjustable straps that easily snap on. I wear them directly on my knees or over my pants.
The straps are very comfortable and I didn’t have any problems with the knee guards sliding up or down my leg while riding. I did notice the knee guards did slide down my knee a little while walking but who walks, when you can ride?!
These knee pads by Leatt offer amazing protection while maintaining great range of motion. The ventilation is surprisingly good too but this may be partly due to the fact that I tend to ride faster when fully geared up which also helps with ventilation.
I am very impressed by the Leatt Dual Axis Knee/Shin Guards and I wear them whenever I will be riding at high speeds or going off-road and on trails to protect my knees and shins.
As I tell people, the best safety gear is the safety gear you will wear. I can say with confidence that the Leatt Dual Axis Knee/Shin Guards is a product that I will wear.
The flaws:
Despite all the positive recommendations regarding the Leatt Dual Axis Knee/Shin Guards, I procrastinated because it seemed like too much protection for riding an EUC. I try to keep things minimalistic and simple and these seemed like the opposite of what I was looking for.
After trying these knee guards though, I will tell you I was wrong and I feel fortunate to have been riding this long without adequate knee protection and without suffering a serious fall.
If you like to go fast, it’s better to have too much protection, than not enough and these knee pads fit right in with the look of my EUC.
The Leatt Dual Axis Knee/Shin Guards are on the bigger side so I would not recommend riding with these under your pants, especially if you like to wear skinny jeans.
Finally, the other drawback to the Leatt Dual Axis Knee/Shin Guards is the price. When you can buy cheap knee guards for under $20 on Amazon, does it make sense to spend around $100 for this product?
For some, it does not and $20 knee guards is better than no knee guards. I will warn you that I have seen cheap knee guards slip down during the initial impact of a fall leaving the knee exposed to injury as the rider slid on the asphalt. It wasn’t pretty.
Check out current pricing for the Leatt Dual Axis Knee/Shin Guards on Amazon. If you are in the market for safety gear, Jenson USA is a great site that offers a huge selection.
Here’s my preferred safety gear.