Kali Protectives gave us a sneak peek at their new armor this summer, including a third top-level option not shown here that’ll come later in 2018. Now, the entry and mid-level options are available, offering advanced knee and elbow protection, plus side-padded liner shorts to keep your hip checks from taking you out.
The Strike armor is their mid-level option and is made of Xelion, a nano-carbon elastic compound that absorbs impact energy by instantaneously converting it into heat, which is then dissipated across the entire pad. Kali says it’s so efficient at dissipating energy, it can be molded into very low-profile perforated designs without sacrificing protection. It also remains flexible and active even at extreme temperatures, making it great for winter rides.
The rest of it uses compression fabric with a short Velcro strap and non-slip bands to keep it in place, plus smaller EVA pads on the sides for bonus protection. They’re machine washable and come in S, M, L and XL sizes. Retail is $85 for the knee pads, which are available now. The elbow pads are $75 and coming in November 2017.
The Mission pads use a lightweight, flexible pad on top of a compression sleeve with elastic cuffs top and bottom, plus a mesh back panel to keep you cool. Retail is $45 for the knee, arm is $35 and also coming in November.
The shorts shown here are one of two versions of their Trika shorts. This one is the Trike TPR, which uses their molded, low-profile TPR padding on the thigh, with more traditional foam padding on the tailbone and hip, plus thinner sections on the inside of the thigh. It’s actually been in their lineup for three years, they’ve just never really showed it off. Pricing is $75, or get the non-TPR version for $55. Both use a slim, minimalist chamois pad…so it’s really aimed at park and DH riders, as well as moto.
