Fox Racing Enduro Pro Knee Guards

Whether we're talking about helmets or body armour, Fox Racing is a trusted name in protection. In recent years, plenty of good options for knee protection have emerged, with improvements in fit being most notable. Many used inserts from ingredient brands like D30, whose non-Newtonian properties are ideal for protective gear that needs to move with your body, but stiffen and protect during an impact. Like kneepads.

Fox continues to use D30 for some of their knee pads. But not the new Enduro Pro. For those, they partnered with an unlikely ingredient brand, though it's one we're familiar with for helmets: Koroyd.

Those Inserts

Now, before you ask, the answer is that no, the Koroyd inserts in these new knee guards do not look like the top of a box of green straws. Cringe along with me at the thought of what those hard plastic impact zones would feel like squished up against our knee caps in a crash. No, for this one, Koroyd has a much more suitable insert, which is flexible and comfortable. And lime green. But, plot twist; it's not non-Newtonian. It is auxetic, which, according to Wikipedia, goes like this:

Auxetic metamaterials are a type of metamaterial with a negative Poisson's ratio, so that axial elongation causes transversal elongation (in contrast to an ordinary material, where stretching in one direction causes compression in the other direction).

Right, so who's Poisson? Glad you asked because I looked that up, too. Siméon Poisson was a French mathematician and physicist who coined the Poisson effect, which goes like this (also from Wikipedia):

The deformation (expansion or contraction) of a material in directions perpendicular to the specific direction of loading. The value of Poisson's ratio is the negative of the ratio of transverse strain to axial strain.

Let's land this plane, because once it touches down, you have a cocktail party to get to, and I'm going to leave you with at least half an Old Fashioned's worth of SmartiePants belt loops. You can see from the Koroyd insert above that those holes, which are pliable, as you'd imagine, will move with you as you pedal. Their auxetic property (aka negative Poisson ratio) means that when struck, the material won't move outwards, away from the incoming pressure, like a half dozen people stuck in an elevator, horrified that Ron had chili for lunch again. Instead, the material collapses inwards. Running to jump on the grenade, if you will.

This all seems well and good, and Koroyd has a slick website full of technical-looking images and trite language that doesn't tell us much more than that, although the animations showing how the insert moves and adapts to your knee are illustrative and I recommend you have a look, if for no other reason than to clean your palate after imagining Ron's little escapade in the elevator.

I'm confused about whether Fox's Enduro Pro Knee Guards offer CE Level 1 or 2 Protection, because Koroyd's site says both. Don't ask me to explain the difference between level 1 and 2 - if Fox or Koroyd had specified, I would have spent more time looking, but they didn't so that'll wait for a future article. Also, I haven't crashed in them. Yet. But I can say that, to my auxetic-knowing ass, the Enduro in the name of these might be a tad over-selling them unless either 1) we're talking about Enduro-fashion, so, riding a few trails on the way to a gelato stop, no crashing intended, or 2) they hit above my perception of them, in which case Fox and/or Koroyd really needs to provide better detail about how this insert works to protect your knee.

I have no doubt at all about them as Trail-level knee guards (realizing that Trail is a term with considerable breadth) but Enduro, well, that depends on how you Enduro. For my part, I've worn them on rides involving 170mm bikes and consequences and I don't feel under-gunned, but I wouldn't wear them in the bike park and expect 100% protection (which doesn't mean I still wouldn't wear them in the bike park).

The Fit

With all of that prattling about the inserts out of the way, we're not done, because Fox has another trick up its sleeve. Which is a sleeve! You see, these knee guards have an independent sleeve for the insert, effectively suspending it and keeping it partially independent from the motion of your knees. The moment I unwrapped them, I thought: "huh, now that's new", followed immediately by: "if they fit as well as that sleeve makes them look like they'll fit, these are gonna be good". And they do, and they are.

The sleeve works, and paired with a very robust elasticized band above the knee (and a thick silicone gripper strip), Fox has made a pad that stays in place better than any other I've worn without having to strap it so tightly that it becomes uncomfortable to pedal. And in these days of wearing pants 9 months of the year, it's even more important to have knee guards that stay in place. Otherwise, you'll find yourself dropping trou at the top of the climb so you can readjust and make sure your knees are covered for the way down. Been there, did not check out the gift shop.

Just One Thing

I had one other thought as soon as I pulled the Enduro Pros on for the first time. That second sleeve means there is more material wrapped around your knee. The weather hasn't allowed me to confirm this suspicion yet, but I do wonder how hot they'll be as the mercury rises. To be fair, all knee pads are hot and sweaty in the summer, so it might be no worse than average. Or, it doesn't matter if they get a C or a C minus because neither report card is being stuck to the fridge.

Deniz Says

Fox's Enduro Pro Knee Guards landed at my feet a couple of moon cycles after Pete's did. What I have found was that, similar to Pete's prediction, they do run warmer than the competition - in this case, the 100% Teratec and Fasthouse Hoopers. The comfort of the Hoopers is hard to beat, with a very thin construction, but the removable pad is the hardest material out of all three. The 15" length falls directly between the 13" Teratecs and the 17" Enduro Pros. The Fox pads are by far the most secure feeling both in fit and perceived protection.

I have crashed in all three and while I couldn't tell you the severity of the crashes in comparison, I came away with zero injuries to my knees.

What I found with the Fox Enduro Pros was that they allowed me to wear shorts on slightly colder morning starts. On a longer ride, if the temperature was too cold for just shorts but too warm for pants later on, the Fox pads bridged that gap nicely. The fit on the leg is also excellent if you like 17" worth of coverage. I think I will generally save the Fox Pads for Whistler Bike Park duties or more consequential rides. I run warm and while I love the fit of these pads, the warmth will be a deciding factor, because I am inclined to #freetheknee these days. Looking forward to wearing them more and revisiting this review mid summer.

Fox has a winner with the Enduro Pro Knee Guards. We'll check back in after riding in warmer weather with a heat and sweatiness update, hopefully no crash updates, and certainly no further mention of the incident with Ron in the elevator.

Fox Enduro Pro Knee Guards - 160 CAD / 125 USD