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For the record. My new bike with maven bronze out of the box. I did the piston massage and they felt great. After 1 ride they needed to be pumped before a good bite point was achieved. I did a lever bleed and it fixed 90% of it. Did a full bleed with another piston massage and now they are dead on. I am also curious to install a different lever as I prefer to have an "on the fly" contact point adjustment. Shimano levers seem like a good option and hose from the mavens should work just fine.

I have yet to buy a t handle torx wrench. I also want to kick the dumb ass at SRAM in the balls that decided to use torx Many prior bmx’ers like working on bikes inside down. I have 2 nice stands and hardly use them.

7idp sam hill

The venn diagram overlap of "has enough money to mess around with expensive parts and has an expensive bike" and "does not own proper hex keys or a bike stand" is maddening.

I'm 5'-9" 180 lb. I just re-measured and according to their size chart I was firmly a L, but knowing I hate pads slipping down, I went with a M. That is probably what contributed to the early chaffing too as they broke in. And now that you are more interested, I will also say I didn't actually purchase these by choice. I originally bought a pair of the now discontinued E-line version. I had an issue with the Velcro on the upper strap losing it's stickiness causing the pads to "pop off" while pedaling. I got the Mesas via...

For what its worth I also had a maddening wandering bite point issue on my mavens; took a really good bleed and its been remedied. Bleed quality is everything.

I pedal 3-4 hour rides in pants with these G-Form Mesa MTB Knee Guards pretty frequently. Had the Ion K-Pact Zips before which weren't quite as burly, but rubbed the back of my knee-crease funky on the bigger days. Having those solidified that I'll only have pads with zippers from here on out though. The G-Forms left me with a rash once or twice when they were new but now that they are broken in, no rubbing issues. Good luck on the search!

I'm a pretty big fan of my Akta knee pads. I'd say they are some of the comfiest, even while pedalling, while still having solid protection that I've had over the last 20 years of riding https://aktamtb.com/products/trail-mtb-knee-pads

Raceface ambush have been solid.

Recently purchased Ion Arcon pads for enduro riding (thanks Vital for the benchmark video) but haven’t tested them so far (still brand new and waiting in the closet before landing near the christmas tree). Ion recommends me M size but I was near L size. Another French rider in the same situation told that he bought M and L sizes, then returned the M one. So I purchased L size too.

I have the slightly older Fox Launch D30 Pro knees and elbows with the hard plastic cap. They have been 100% protective, completely indestructible, and even don't suck that bad to pedal in. They're very easy to wear on the ankles if you have a fire road slog to do. My vote is anything with a small hard cap, especially for racing or DH. I've crashed on the thinner trail sleeve style D30 pads many times before and sometimes you walk away more hurt than expected.