Review: 661 Rage Kneepads

The 661 Rage pads are the latest incarnation of the popular 661 Kyle Strait pad. They occupy the middle ground of the 661 knee pad line up between the Riot and d30 Evo kneepad. The Rage pads are of soft shell construction with with an internal hard cap protector for the knee cap and soft protection underneath, above and to the sides of the hard cap to protect all other areas. The Rage features top and bottom Velcro Adjustment to get a good fit with handy "belt loops" to stop the straps straying from where they should be. This enables adjustment to get a solid fit.

First Impression

On first impressions the pads are pretty big especially in the large size to accommodate the size of the top and bottom openings to fit on my wide legs. They have good straps to keep the pads in place during the longer pedals. The left and right labels are a welcome addition which stops the velcro coming unstuck through rubbing on the other pad. This is easily identifiable through a label on the inside top of the pad.

Construction

The back of the pads are made up of a stretchy mesh with a large opening that offers good ventilation and is made up of a sufficiently small amount of fabric to not get pinched up behind your knee while pedalling but still fits well enough to stay in place on the long pedals. The seams are strategically placed out of the way so as not to dig into unwanted locations in the back of your knee.

These pads are pretty well thought out. Super thin fabrics, left and right labels and belt loops to hold the straps in place are a winning formula in our books.

661 claim that these pads are "Slim fit" ... "Slim fit design is a pad that is meant to be as small and thin as possible, allowing it to be worn under pants." I'm not sure the first word I would think of is slim. Unless you normally wear MC Hammer pants out to ride you will struggle to get these comfortably under your jeans. These pads are probably going to be best worn with shorts. The thinking behind the sizing is a little frustrating that your pigeon holed into the circumference of the opening and closings at the top and bottom of the pads and have no options on length. Consequently if you aren't blessed with the gift of height but still have meaty legs fitting these pads would be challenging.

Unless you normally wear MC Hammer pants out to ride you will struggle to get these comfortably under your jeans.

The pads internals are extremely soft, comfortable and warm, Which is great in the winter but on a hot summers day after a full days riding in the Alps for instance these pads would get pretty sweaty and stinky. It would seem 661 have accommodated this fact by making them machine washable at low temperatures. My pads have more than fair share of exposure to the washing machine after an impromptue trip through a Dartmoor bog and came out smelling of persil opposed to a mix of stagnant water and sheep poo, still in perfect condition and ready to go the next day after they dried out.

Each knee is made up of the hard knee cap protector, a small hard skinned yet soft pad under the hard cap and a small sausage of soft pad above that offers a good range of movement and comfort. The 2 softer pads on each side of the are a welcome addition, not adding massive amount of extra protection but have saved many a bang on the side of the knee on the frame. The front of the pads are covered in  Stretch Kevlar® with abrasion resistant graphics and to be fair it's lasted well, still look in good condition and performs perfectly.

Conclusion

These pads come in at a reasonable price tag of £49.99 which isn't the cheapest out there, but is on about par with the competitors pads at a similar pricepoint such as the Bluegrass Bobcat, Nukeproof Critical Armour Knee pads and the Troy Lee Designs T-Bone which are all offering similar features.

They are however really comfortable, so much so it hasn't gone unknown for me to load up the car and drive all the way home before I realise I haven't taken them off. They have been proven to feel at home on everything from long pedals across open moorland to smashing round a trail centre and downhill use.  Granted they aren't the most slender of things and the sizing is a bit of a pain but these are small prices to pay for how well these perform.

A competitively priced, feature packed pair of pads, that feel equally at home on the uphill as they do blasting the downhills.

Have you used these pads? Tell us what you think below.