Women's leg armour

Hey Ladies, my wife Audrey is looking for some new leg armour. Trying to find small sizes to try on is proving a bit difficult (I'm sure you know.) She presently uses the Mace armour but they are trashed and Mace changed their design this year and she doesn't find the new stuff comfortable.

So what is everyone using out there?

It's obviously got to be comfortable, and not move around, must cover the shin and calf coverage would be a bonus.

I think Beast Gear makes stuff for women.

I think Beast Gear makes stuff for women.

Beast gear is definitely an option (even though their newer production leg armour fits a bit bigger than the old style.) I also have TLD leg armour (Combat knee/shin short). 661 Kyle Straits work well (but obviously no shin protection - perhaps a good choice for the XC days - very comfy for climbing in and nice and cool for the descents!)
Everything else on the market seems HUGE! Good luck to Audrey!

Thanks Karaleen, seand's (much) better half uses the TLD Combats too. We might have to check them out. Audrey will never go without shin protection.

anyone tried the Rockgardn stuff?

http://www.rockgardn.com/items/body-armor/lzmx-knee-shin-guard-lzmx-detail.htm?1=1[HTML_REMOVED]menu=1

Small Fox launchpads are awsome. They never move but they doint have calf protection. I find a knee high soccer sock does the job though.

As you know, I've had really good luck with the Fox Launch pads. They are slim fitting, and quite minimal, but they have protected my shins from a number of good hits. No calf protection though.
I wasn't so happy with the Roach/RF Rally shins, they were very warm and bulky, although they were very comfortable, and had a lot of coverage.

Hey Dave, Denise would second the TLD stuff. She has the signature leg armour and loves it.

Regarding calf protection, I have been using the following with my Roach leg pads for the past 4 years:
http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442499807[HTML_REMOVED]FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302693161[HTML_REMOVED]bmUID=1222104250127

They can fit with almost any leg guards so keep that in mind as an option if you can't find leg guards with built in calf protection.

dave,

having used, roach/rf , nuke proof, sugio, and kona leg armour, by far the most comfortable one I have is my beast gear. My roach/race face rubbed my knees raw, and the rest never really stayed in one place.

on a side note, everyone's legs are slightly different, what works for one girl might not for next. I know my calves fit the beast gear best, the r/rf stuff was sized too small to fit over my calves, and I don't think I am THAT big.

[QUOTE=heckler's better 1/2;2024483]on a side note, everyone's legs are slightly different, what works for one girl might not for next. I know my calves fit the beast gear best, the r/rf stuff was sized too small to fit over my calves, and I don't think I am THAT big.

Another thing to consider, with regards to the straps on leg armour not fitting over calves, etc. is that you can take the armour to a shoe repair place and ask them to alter the straps for you. I did this with my Roach leg guards and they extended the straps for me with equivalent strapping material and finished it off with their industrial strength sewing machine. I can't remember how much it cost, but the alteration was pretty cheap from what I recall.

I hear ya. In fact I've fixed a couple pair already for other girls. My issue is just that the manufacturer is trying to save a little $$ by skimping on a couple of inches of velcro, which I then have to alter. I realize the savings are huge overall as inches equate to metres of fabric but we aren't all men with skinny little-chicken boy legs.

Now that you mention the alterations - yeah, I had to add some velcro to my beastgear pads - easily done with a sewing awl from MEC for $13 (very easy to use for non-sewing people like myself). Also, Beastgear did have leg armour that was full-wrap, protecting the back of the calf - I found them a bit bulky though so I cut the wrap portion out.

My problem with most of the leg armour with built-in calf protection is that it requires you to take your shoes off to pull them on. This is already a bit of a pain in fair weather, but on wet rides up Fromme the last thing I want to be doing at the top of the mountain is taking my wet shoes off to pull on my wet armour, etc.

Hey Dave, Denise would second the TLD stuff. She has the signature leg armour and loves it.

The TLD Lopes pads?

That's what I'm using and I love them. I just didn't know if the small size would be small enough.

Thanks for all the info ladies, we've got some shopping to do.