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I bought Roach Indy style leg armor something like 4 years ago. I wear it almost every ride whether freeride, dh, or xc. I have basically beat the hell out of it, washed it repeatedly and it has held up year after year. Finally this year, I thought I would update and buy new leg armor - there was no question, I was going with Roach. My only question was do I stick with the Indy style or try the new Rally style. I choose to go with the Rally FR. The biggest issue I have is that I need/want the full shin and knee protection, but I have to do alot of pedalling on every ride including climbs. My concern with the Rally design was flexibility.

I bought my Roach Rally FR leg armor from Jenson USA for $55 plus tax and shipping.

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05.06.2004

The leg armor arrived last week and I have already had two rides with it. My first impression when it arrived was that the armor would be extremely protective, but rigid and stiff - hard to pedal in... The Indy design is basically soft shell, however, the Rally puts the protective shell right out on the surface and the "exo-skeleton" looks burly, but very inflexible. My biggest concern was the knee area, the Rally pads feature a rigidly designed form fitting knee where the Indy basically wrapped around the knee. The other area of question for me was the back of the armor. The Indy provided a wrap-around for the back of the leg, no padding, but enough protection to keep your calves from getting tore up. The Rally is open - probably cooler, but what about catching a pedal or branches to the back of the leg?

After two rides, I have answered a couple of those original questions. The first is that these pads despite looking very rigid and inflexible are light and accomodating of pedaling, even on long grueling climbs. The best part is that the form fitting knee stays put, so there is actually less rubbing than with the Indy style - very comfortable. The open back is definitely cooler - air can blow through and cool down the legs - a definite advantage, since the pads can get hot. At this point, I am not sure about how I feel regarding rear leg protection - haven't gotten wacked yet. All in all my first impression is very positive... quality Roach product!

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05.08.2004

Just came back from a ride - it was cold (53degF) and rainy - so I wore long pants with my new leg pads. This is the first time I have used the pads with long pants, the first two rides were in shorts. I managed to fit the pads under a pair of Carhart work pants with a double knee... these pants are fairly heavy and kind of stiff, but also pretty roomy. The pads actually fit nicely without much problem - the knee area was a little tight, but I had no problem cranking out some long tough climbs - the knees are so contoured and fit so well there was really no rubbing on the skin and after quite a bit of pedaling no abrasions (strawberries). They felt great under the long pants on freeride, dh and flat singletrack sections as well.

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05.16.2004

Fit the roach pads under a pair of dickies double knee work pants very nicely. The dickies are much lighter and more flexible than the carhart work jeans with double knee. Didn't even know I had the pads on under the pants. Haven't taken a spill or slipped a pedal since I started wearing the new roach pads - once I do, I will be sure to let you know how they protect! Plan to get a ride in a mountain creek or plattekill sometime in the next couple weeks, should have some protection thoughts after a little dh riding.

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05.22.2004

The other day I road in hot, humid and muddy conditions. Not sure if the humidity played a role or I got the knee straps too tight, but the knee pads tore my knees up on the climbs - see a photo below, the shot doesn't do the stawberries I had over both knees justice... they stung for days, especially in the shower - I have had some serious skin grate sliding in baseball and although these don't look that bad in the picture, they were gnarly.

I also got a chance to try out the protection on this ride... tried to bunny a fallen tree that was lying at an angle across the trail - caught it slightly with the front tire which deflected the bike left, while I kept going straight. I took a good shot tot he right shin and knee, even left some marks on the pads, but I never felt a thing. I would have to say that these pads seem to protect even better than the old style... I am pretty stoked!

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11.16.2004

Was at the dirt jumps yesterday... after being there about 1.5 hours I was finishing up with a couple back to back table tops. The run-in is a tight berm and a short straight... barely enough room to get the speed you need to clean the first with enough speed to make the second, so you gotta rail the berm and then pedal like crazy on the short straight right up to the base of the take off... anyway, on one of my last attempts, I was a little squirrely on the berm so I felt like I needed to get a great pedal... I had it in a huge gear and was turning the cranks like there was no tomorrow when my chain clean snapped. This sudden give under the pressure threw my right leg/knee forward into the handle bars with a ton of force. My leg slammed into the bar just above the knee - the bar slid under the knee pad of my roach rally pads and crunched the top of my knee bad... can't walk for a couple days kinda bad... this is probably a generally inherent fault of knee pads, but I have had 3 or 4 occassions on crashes where I have sustained major blows to the top of my knee... especially when my knee is bent - the knee pad gaps and leaves the top of my knee exposed. The pads have worked great with direct knee hits.

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01.14.2005

After a full season, the only real damage to the pads was a torn leg strap. The middle strap on the left leg tore off. Not due to an impact, but the stitching ripped from use. Kind of weird, because the middle strap is never tight enough to make good contact with my leg, so there is never any real stress on the strap or the stitching.

ripped strap 1
ripped strap 2