Well, the stitches came out yesterday, and I went out and did a gentle 10K on the flat with just a bandage for extra support.
Today I did a shorter but more adventurous ride in my new “Where’s the horse gone?” “Never mind that, shut the door!” KH09 leg armour. (US readers may ignore the “u”.) I took in a few of my favourite slight hills, but didn’t push myself too hard.
It took a couple of goes to get the tension on the Velcro straps right. My first instinct was to do them up securely, but experimentation showed that they needed to be a bit looser to allow for movement.
I was worried that the Large might be too big, what with me being a midget (5’7"", 170 cm approx.) but the were about right.
Ankle socks prevented chafing on the top of my foot but there was some slight discomfort in that area which I put down to unfamilarity rather than a problem with the design.
The rear flaps almsot completely covered my wounds from my pedal bite accident, and certainly covered the very worst (and therefore most vulnerable) bits.
The leg guards are light, and don’t noticeably affect pedalling, either in terms of smoothness or speed. (I was on 125mm cranks on a 700c wheel.)
The only down side is that my legs were hot, on a cool evening.
After they get “saturated” they do have a cooling effect. When I did that 12 hour mountain bike race on my unicycle a couple years ago, in summer no less, I thought before hand about not wearing leg armor because of the heat. Well, to be honest I did get a bit warm after the first 12 mile loop, but after I was good and “soaked through” they actually felt cool after that. I guess you just get used to it? Of course I’ve never worn the KH leg armor so I don’t know how they compare to the SIXSIXONE 4x4’s in terms of air circulation. The latest 4x4’s seem to vent really well i.e. I can actually feel the air passing through the leg armor as I ride. Of course this probably means I’m not as well protected, but I think it’s enough for doing most offroad riding I do.
