Well-priced and with some promising design features, these new knee pads from 7 Intelligent Design Protection certainly look appealing, but how do they perform on the trail?
The Flexes are kept in place by an upper and lower strap, each of which has two Velcro tabs to let you adjust tension. The lower strap sits comfortably just above the calf and really helps to keep the pad in position on your leg. The upper strap requires less tension, but apply too little and it’ll lift slightly when you pedal.
Once the strap tension was right we had no issues with the pads shifting about when pedalling, and even when we did take a dive off the bike, the Flexes stayed firmly in place. The plastic knee cup and surrounding foam padding do a good job of soaking up the hits too, while their shaping helps with fit and comfort.
On long days in the saddle the lower strap would occasionally ride up and irritate the back of the knee, but this was easily fixed with a slight adjustment.
