I've been meaning to post this since last season but just never got around to it.
Last season I purchased a pair of POC's "Bone" elbow/forearm guards (the ones with the hard shell). They were on sale at one of the parks that I ride at, and my old Fox Launch elbows had a tear in them from a fairly nasty spill I had taken.
I noticed that my POCs were configured differently from the POC pads that some other riders had. Namely, instead of a stretchy sleeve over the forearm, they just had two crisscross straps. I wasn't sure why this was, but they seemed fairly secure (famous last words).
To my dismay, every single time I crashed in the pads, my elbows would get ripped up. It wasn't that the pads were sliding all the way out of position. I think they were either separating enough from my arm to allow dirt and gravel in, which would then get ground into my elbow by the pad itself, OR the material on the inside of the pads was too abrasive. Either way, not good.
Now, I understand that pads are, in most situations, not going to protect you from broken bones, (especially not knee/elbow pads) but they should protect from cuts and scrapes at the very least. I emailed POC about this and they immediately emailed back and let me know that they would be sending me a set of their VPD elbows to replace the "bone" pads. I had the new pads in hand in less than a week. They've worked out excellently and I'm really happy with them.
It also made me happy to see company step up the way that POC did in this case. I've read a ton of CS horror stories involving other companies here and on other forums so I thought I should bring some attention to a company that treats their customers well.
Last season I purchased a pair of POC's "Bone" elbow/forearm guards (the ones with the hard shell). They were on sale at one of the parks that I ride at, and my old Fox Launch elbows had a tear in them from a fairly nasty spill I had taken.
I noticed that my POCs were configured differently from the POC pads that some other riders had. Namely, instead of a stretchy sleeve over the forearm, they just had two crisscross straps. I wasn't sure why this was, but they seemed fairly secure (famous last words).
To my dismay, every single time I crashed in the pads, my elbows would get ripped up. It wasn't that the pads were sliding all the way out of position. I think they were either separating enough from my arm to allow dirt and gravel in, which would then get ground into my elbow by the pad itself, OR the material on the inside of the pads was too abrasive. Either way, not good.
Now, I understand that pads are, in most situations, not going to protect you from broken bones, (especially not knee/elbow pads) but they should protect from cuts and scrapes at the very least. I emailed POC about this and they immediately emailed back and let me know that they would be sending me a set of their VPD elbows to replace the "bone" pads. I had the new pads in hand in less than a week. They've worked out excellently and I'm really happy with them.
It also made me happy to see company step up the way that POC did in this case. I've read a ton of CS horror stories involving other companies here and on other forums so I thought I should bring some attention to a company that treats their customers well.
