Have decided that it may be time to invest in some body armour, helped largely in part by wincing every time my skinned left elbow rubs against my shirt this week at work. I’m not a downhill rider, more all-mountain enduro but willing to try jumps and drops.
Anyone have recommendations for good value body armour? Yes, I’m aware that such protection may lead me to push harder and thus crash more often. 
I’m really happy with these POC knee pads. Note they fit really small though. I’m not that big, but I wear a size large in these pads. If you order direct from their website they are cheaper than retail and they offer free shipping.
I second the Poc products. I wore knee pads when I competed in enduro and DH. I wore the elbow pads for a while after my bad cut at McFight.
I have a pair of POC knee pads as well, and find they are great. They seem as if they would be hot, but I have ridden them on the hottest days and they breathe very well. I would expect similar traits in their elbow protection.
One of my riding buddies wears Dakine knee pads and he says that they are great, so you might want to look at them. The other brand is Race Face, as one of my other riding buddies has both knee and elbow protection from them, which he really likes. They offer different sized protection as well, so if you are looking for something just to protect from scrapes and minor bumps, you can buy for that, or go all out for DH type protection.
I went the protect against scrapes and minor bumps route with Race Face Charge, but I’m not into jumps. I generally only wear them at Fight, Whopper and similar trails. Wish I was wearing them on Sunday at Spider when I broke my chain under full power and smashed my knee on my handlebar!
I’ve been happy with the fox enduro launch pads knee and elbow pads bought locally at Cyclesmith. They fit really well with no slipping and I generally forget about them while riding.
I like the idea of the g-forms and almost ordered some but wasn’t sure about sizing,although it looks like cyclesmith is carrying them now as well
I’ve got the same raceface set. They’re pretty minimal. They’re really only good for protecting against abrasions. Any larger impacts from drops or jumps they aren’t going to do a whole lot for you. That said, they’ve served their purpose perfectly for me. I’ve had them for a little over 2 years now I think. I feel weird riding without them at this point. They’re starting to get a bit worn out now though. I’ve started putting them in the dryer when I’m washing them because I’m impatient and didn’t want to wait for them to air dry lol. That’s probably mostly to blame for the wear.
I’m thinking of getting the indy ones next for a little bit more protection. I like the knee pads that are a bit longer on the top so you can avoid that shorts/knee pad gap 
. Superficial I know, but it bugs me.
I don’t generally wear anything on our local trails, and I had an old set of Bent pads for years that I used for DH, but this year I bought a set of Dainese Trail Skins 2 and they’re great. Comfortable, airy and they fit well. Now, when I had my crash in Sugarloaf a few weeks ago, they did slide down, but I didn’t really have them tight enough. I’d highly recommend them despite that.
I wear shin pads on most rides, even though I don’t ride bike drops or big jumps. Armour turns most crashes into non-events, and I got tired of pedal strikes, and just getting scratched up, since many of our trails aren’t maintained enough to keep foliage back of the trails. I rarely wear the elbow pads, unless I’m expecting to try something gnarly, or dirt jumping, and even pump tracking because it’s not unusual for me to slide out if I’m pushing hard in a berm.
I wear a set of Kona Launch Pad shin pads from the early 2000’s.
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49307
I like them. They don’t have a full hard shell plastic cover, but just plastic plates across the front. They’re probably cooler for that reason, and since I’m not doing full-on DH, I don’t think I need as much protection from a full hard shell. It might be hard to find something equivalent these days, as most of the full-shin pads seem to be heavy duty meant for DH, and may be hot and restricting for a normal trail ride.
Thanks for all the recommendations, everyone. I went with G-FORM pads, the ones that are soft until impact. The only real downside I can see is they should never go in the dryer, line dry only. Not a huge issue, unless you’re doing last-minute washing and need them right away for a ride. I’ve worn them for one short ride, and found that they do slide if worn atop slippery spandex/polyester clothes. I’ll try them again on bare skin on the weekend. They were pretty comfortable and I didn’t find they hampered me at all. I’m keen to try them on a longer ride.
I ordered the Elite Knee Pads from their discount page, 50% off from regular price.
Packaging:
Modeling!
The set of knee pads came in at 367g.
The set of elbow pads is a scant 106g!
If you want to place an order, you can use promo code THANKYOU for free shipping, or GFORM18 for 20% off the order (up to $300). I might try out their compression shorts if I can find a sizing chart anywhere.
Not a paid advertisement, not sponsored, etc., just sharing the love.
Got an email from G-Form with a discount code for an additional 20% off their already discounted items (TREAT20). I ordered a couple of pairs of compression shorts to get some hip protection. The Pro-T also offer some thigh and tailbone protection. With all this padding, I might get daring enough to become Tumbleweed 2.0! 
Hummmmmmmm. That sounds like it would have helped a few weeks ago haha. The nerve endings in my butt are finally starting to heal… doesn’t feel great when sitting all day haha. 
Ian, being a US site did you run into any extra charges for duties or brokerage fees?
Not on that order, no. I have two pair of compression shorts with hip and tailbone protection coming, will report back if there are any extra duties on those. Even if there are, the prices in the clearance section make it worthwhile for me. As much as I hate spending money in the USA right now, it’s hard to pass up that good a deal!
As luck would have it, my shorts arrived today! No extra fees at Canada Post, just what I paid to G-Form at point of sale.
Tailbone, hip, AND front of quad protection. Combined with my elbow and knee pads, I’m going to feel like I’ve been bubble-wrapped! 
Nice.
I may give them a try. I would like to get a set of elbow and knee pads.
Did the sizing match up with the measurements?
I didn’t check the sizing for the knee or elbow pads, but they fit me pretty well. I did look at the sizing charts for the compression shorts and they seem to measure up accurately.
long term reviewon the g-forms? still like them?
POC or IXS would be my recommendation.
