Motorcycle Pants with Knee Pads – Types & Recommendations
What are motorcycle pants with knee pads? Motorcycle pants differ from regular pants due to their added protection and comfort. These pants have knee areas made with abrasion-resistant material combined with mesh or leather. In the event of a crash, knee pads absorb the impact, keeping you safe, whereas regular pants will just tear apart.
This article will discuss the different types of motorcycle pants with knee pads and the difference between biker jeans and regular jeans, including some recommendations for motorcycle pants.
Types of Knee Guards
These pants have thermal and rain liners to deal with different weather conditions. They have protection such as padding and knee pads on the exterior, interior, or both. The most common protection is the knee guard, which has two types: internal and external pads.
1. Internal Pads
These pads are sewn on the inside and aren’t much visible. They can sometimes be difficult to adjust.
2. External Pads
These pads are bionic protectors with hinges that offer a better fit and excellent protection. External pads are worn outside the pants and are easy to put on, adjust, or even remove. These pads tend to scratch your bike, tank, piping, or engine cover. They come sewn inside or integrated on the outside of the pants.
Types of Motorcycle Pants
Racing
These motorcycle pants with knee sliders (sometimes without) are made from leather and have an aggressive seating design. Additionally, motorcycle rain pants protect the rider from rain and keep the rider warm. They have the best protection of all times and are made to resist high-speed slides. The armor is mostly replaceable, and the fitting is quite snug. Loose pants are forbidden for riding as they interrupt aerodynamics.
These pants feature pre-curved stitching for comfort. As these pants are made for track and need to be lightweight, they skip rain and waterproofing features. The highlight here is the excellent protection from knee scraping and aggressive driving.
Touring
The most common biker pants are also known as touring pants or casual fit. These pants are comfortable and offer typical protection like abrasion resistance. They have protectors, especially at the knees and hips. These pants are ideal for long drives.
Never confuse regular jeans for biker jeans because regular jeans will disintegrate right away, and even the slightest crash might leave you with serious injuries. Biker jeans, on the other hand, offer light protection. Still, we advise you to invest in something with additional padding and proper ballistic armor because this combination provides the best protection.
Choose a pair of motorcycle pants that offer a good combination of protection and comfort. If your pants offer protection but are not comfortable, then it’s a waste of money as you wouldn’t be able to enjoy the drive — long or short.
Our Recommendations
Take a look at our 5 recommendations for motorcycle pants with knee pads:
These pants are designed for sports use. And if you lean into corners a lot, these motorcycle pants are for you. It’s a durable package that does allow decent airflow. Since the main feature here is airflow, we recommend you use it during warm weather.
Ventilation helps you stay cool in warm weather. The main fabric is polyamide mesh, whereas the knees have a solid pad covered in 600D mesh and 980D ballistics. These are the areas that face the worst damage.
Jeans aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when considering motorcycle pants with armor for excellent protection. But this one is an exception. This pair of jeans comes with reinforced fabric laced with both weather and waterproofing qualities. It has internal pockets, so you can add protective ballistics where you like, including the knees.
In addition, there is padding on the abrasion zone to keep the area safe if you get into an accident. These jeans are a bit expensive if you compare them with regular denim, but the slight price difference you are paying is for your own safety.
This is a popular option among riders. It’s more of an all-in-one package with excellent fitting, comfort, airflow, and superior protection. The Drake Air comes with perforations and mesh vents featuring a fastening zip and a handy calf zips with sanitized armor lining. It also comes with removable CE composite armor on abrasion zones and knees.
The only issue (unless you are a Goth) is that these pants only come in black. Other than that, it’s a bargain considering the overall quality.
The Dakar pants are a premium option for off-road use. The outer layer is made with 840D Cordura textile with waterproof threads. It’s combined with thick, abrasion- and melt-resistant leather below the knees to keep you safe from engine heat.
Stretch fabrics add comfort and agility to pressure areas. There are also several ventilation ports all over the pants with YKK zippers. As for the armor, it has external TPU pads on the knee and internal armor pockets.
Designed for adventure riding, the HWK Men’s Motorcycle Pants offer superior protection from road hazards and trail obstacles. These pants are versatile and can survive almost all biking conditions.
It has knee pads made with 150D polyester fabric that is combined with breathable and waterproof fabric. It also features 500D abrasion-resistant Cordura protection at the knee, shin, and backside. While it doesn’t ship with internal armor, it does feature pockets if you want to add them later.
Sports performance is the design philosophy here. Still, it offers a comfortable ride for extended periods, whether riding on- or off-road.
Final Words
We have discussed the types of motorcycle pants with knee pads, along with some excellent examples such as the adventure motorcycle pants. If you ask for our opinion, we believe having a pair of Alpinestars Missile V2 Airflow Pants is the best. It is an all-rounder option with decent comfort and protection, making it ideal for several riding scenarios.
