G-Form is renowned for their low profile, comfortable soft body armor, and the Pro-X line is one step in their ongoing evolution. The Pro-X Elbow Pads from G-Form contain all the same tech as the Pro-X Knee Pads, such as the the impact-absorbing RPT™ cells.
As I noted in my knee pad review, I’m generally not a big fan of wearing pads–and when I do choose to wear pads, I often opt for just the knee pads, leaving the elbow pads at home. Well, a few crashes recently have forced me to reconsider that position, with my knee pads doing a superb job of keeping my skin connected to my legs, but my elbows and forearms coming away much the worse for wear.
The good news is that the Pro-X Elbow Pads are even smaller and weigh less than the knee pads, meaning you can easily stash them in a hydration pack or jersey pocket and then just pull them on when you need them.
Another reason to wear elbow pads more religiously than knee pads is that they’re honestly much more comfortable–at least, if you wear nice, soft, body-conforming pads like the Pro-X. With the knee pads, despite being quite comfortable, the sharp bend of the knee while pedaling still caused the fabric to bunch and bind a bit. But your arms, when riding, don’t have that continuous sharp bending motion, so binding isn’t nearly as big of a problem.
Wearing the elbow pads provided a great opportunity to test the claimed moisture-wicking and breathability properties of the two-panel sleeve construction. According to G-Form’s website, the Pro-X pads feature a “moisture-wicking, UPF 50+ compression fabric [that] keeps [the] wearer dry and comfortable.” This is accomplished with a “2-panel design for second-skin fit,” with one of the panels being a “technical mesh back panel for breathability and moisture-wicking.”
While at first I was skeptical of these claims (how could black fabric possible feel cool?!), as I began to sweat in the hot sunlight I could feel the moisture-wicking panels go to work, moving the sweat away from my skin and radically cooling my arms. When the trail turned downhill, the wind flow further accented this effect, providing additional cooling as the breeze moved over the damp fabric. While I don’t think I was cooler in the pads than without them, they did a fantastic job of combatting the classic swampy pad feeling.
While it still felt great to take the Pro-X Elbow Pads off at the end of the day, I have to give a round of heartfelt applause to the wicking properties that G-Form has engineered!
MSRP: $69.99
Thanks to G-Form for providing the Pro-X Knee Pads for review.
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