Does everyone love pads

[Michael D]

Bought a pair of pads for my Sherman and hated them. Certainly nothing wrong with the pads but nothing for me. Feeling locked up. I like to move my legs and knee and change foot position. When I brake, I lean far back and down. All this I can not do with pads.

Anyone else who feels like me or does everyone love pads?

[Dreygun]

I moved mine up toward top of wheel where I don't feel locked in at feet yet still benefit from them for accelerating and braking. When they were down low the jump blocks wouldn't allow me to ride seated from standing up without knocking them unsafely

[Zopper]

Depends what and when. I definitely want something on the back to lean on for emergency braking, and something on the front for going up steep (close to 30°) slopes, especially off-road. But I don't want them to interfere during normal ride, though, so I like them far in the front and back. The standard dimensions of powerpads might have a reasonable back pad, but the front pad is just too close.

Jump pads are another thing - I tend to use them a lot unless the road is really smooth, because they saved my ass a few times on unexpected potholes (by keeping me attached to the wheel in roughly the same spot). If I fall, they don't lock my legs in, so it's no issue. Neither pads do prevent me from changing my stances, though. They limit them a bit, but they still keep plenty of space where to keep my feet around if I don't want to use them at the moment.

[.....]

6 hours ago, Michael D said:

Bought a pair of pads for my Sherman and hated them. Certainly nothing wrong with the pads but nothing for me. Feeling locked up. I like to move my legs and knee and change foot position. When I brake, I lean far back and down. All this I can not do with pads.

Anyone else who feels like me or does everyone love pads?

I only have pads on my sherman. I enjoy the comfort and loose feeling on my other wheels, but the sherman is too damn heavy for my 130lb ass to do much. I can and have ridden it without pads, but my ability to stop and accellerate are compromised a little bit. I did try MANY revisions to get a wide enough pad to allow me plenty of swing on the legs and I havent bothered to lock my feet in with any lower pads. With a low profile, I also ride atop and outside the edges of the pads a bit when off road. Its all related to preferance.

[Rywokast]

12 hours ago, Michael D said:

Bought a pair of pads for my Sherman and hated them. Certainly nothing wrong with the pads but nothing for me. Feeling locked up. I like to move my legs and knee and change foot position. When I brake, I lean far back and down. All this I can not do with pads.

Anyone else who feels like me or does everyone love pads?

im with you on this, i hate pads.. remove them from my wheels..... cant stand the feeling of being locked in and not free to sway any which way... or ride bow legged like an old cowboy lmao

[Rawnei]

12 hours ago, Michael D said:

Bought a pair of pads for my Sherman and hated them. Certainly nothing wrong with the pads but nothing for me. Feeling locked up. I like to move my legs and knee and change foot position. When I brake, I lean far back and down. All this I can not do with pads.

Anyone else who feels like me or does everyone love pads?

Let me tell you about the secret hidden power of pads, you get a reference point for your legs and know at all times how your legs are positioned, this is far more valuable than helping with acceleration and braking although that is a very nice bonus too. 😁

Maybe test different pads, might be a model that doesn't feel so locked in for you, provided you know other riders with different pads that you could try out.

[Michael D]

5 hours ago, Rywokast said:

im with you on this, i hate pads.

I tried my first pads after 10 000 km. If I had tried in the beginning, when I learned, I would probably appreciated it more.

 

[Planemo]

11 hours ago, Rywokast said:

im with you on this, i hate pads.. remove them from my wheels..... cant stand the feeling of being locked in and not free to sway any which way... 

Same here.

But everyone still goes mental for monstrous pads like it's going to make them a Jedi rider. Often bought by noobs or riders with little experience.

There really shouldn't be any need for them IMO unless you are off-roading/Fantomas.

Plus they look shit

 

[SorenStarr]

Depends on what you're doing with your wheel... just cruising roads, bike paths or riding seated often? No need for pads. If you like to jump up curbs, climb technical bits of trails, or ride rough offroad terrains then pads are beneficial. I have the full set up on my RS. Clarkpads + spiked pedals and I love being able to jump over things and jump up curbs. I have minimal padding on my Mcm5 so I generally just use that wheel for short commutes or teaching others to ride.

[Zopper]

13 minutes ago, Planemo said:

There really shouldn't be any need for them IMO unless you are off-roading/Fantomas.

I still think that braking pads are important on anything powerful enough, no matter what you do. 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Zopper

[Ben Kim]

the problem is with these new breed of Gotways, pads are almost mandatory. Try riding a Monster Pro or EX without pads for 60 miles and get back to me. 

[houseofjob]

35 minutes ago, Ben Kim said:

the problem is with these new breed of Gotways, pads are almost mandatory. Try riding a Monster Pro or EX without pads for 60 miles and get back to me. 

Because Gotway has lost all their good talent and forgot how to tune EUC firmware properly.

No need to buy inferiorly programmed wheels, there will be more better tuned wheels that sport 3kW nom motors soon enough.

 

On 4/12/2021 at 1:50 PM, Michael D said:

Bought a pair of pads for my Sherman and hated them. Certainly nothing wrong with the pads but nothing for me. Feeling locked up. I like to move my legs and knee and change foot position. When I brake, I lean far back and down. All this I can not do with pads.

Anyone else who feels like me or does everyone love pads?

I can understand pads for off-road, jumping, but just for flats, no way, they get in the way if you know how to leverage the wheel properly.

Ask a pad rider to cut a sharp 90º turn at speed without slowing down: they can't do it.

[Ben Kim]

Just now, houseofjob said:

Because Gotway has lost all their good talent and forgot how to tune EUC firmware properly.

No need to buy inferiorly programmed wheels, there will be more better tuned wheels that sport 3kW nom motors soon enough.

 

I can understand pads for off-road, jumping, but just for flats, no way, they get in the way if you know how to leverage the wheel properly.

Ask a pad rider to cut a sharp 90º turn at speed without slowing down: they can't do it.

no, i think it’s the loud off-road riders who want rock hard pedals and no dip for their use case. The problem is these newbies are using pads as a crutch instead of properly learning how to ride their wheel, so Gotway thinks that’s what everyone wants. At least Veteran is sticking to their guns 

[houseofjob]

14 minutes ago, Ben Kim said:

no, i think it’s the loud off-road riders who want rock hard pedals and no dip for their use case. The problem is these newbies are using pads as a crutch instead of properly learning how to ride their wheel, so Gotway thinks that’s what everyone wants. At least Veteran is sticking to their guns 

A little bit of both then, but yeah, can't argue with you there. I still think boss man with only incompetent yes-men now in byJesus central is as visionless as InMotion historically is.

[Michael D]

On 4/13/2021 at 7:40 PM, null said:

braking pads far back on the Sherman

That sounds interesting. Something you made yourself?

[Darrell Wesh]

On 4/13/2021 at 2:10 AM, Rawnei said:

Let me tell you about the secret hidden power of pads, you get a reference point for your legs and know at all times how your legs are positioned, this is far more valuable than helping with acceleration and braking although that is a very nice bonus too. 😁

Spoken like a true beginner! Sorry but if you’re adept on a wheel you don’t need to have a reference point for where your legs or feet should be. You should be able to control the wheel in a plethora of angles and foot positions. 
 

I remember those days, back when I thought I needed one specific type of shoe in order to ride, needed my foot exactly one inch ahead of the other foot... etc etc 

[Rywokast]

8 hours ago, Ben Kim said:

the problem is with these new breed of Gotways, pads are almost mandatory. Try riding a Monster Pro or EX without pads for 60 miles and get back to me. 

my 2400 wh monster v3 had no pads, rode for over 60 miles the first day I got it felt great, amazing for seated riding too... haven't tried any of the newest gw wheels though

[Darrell Wesh]

One thing about pads that pad haters HATE to say is that pads are superior. I hate pads but I have to agree. Pads are performance enhancers. They give an unnatural edge. 
 

That edge however, kills a lot of the fun factor of free standing on one wheel rolling around at high speeds. 

[Carl Svanfelt]

The pads on the market do not make the wheel more beautiful. Neither do my homemade pads on my KingSong 16.
My goal was to make them softer and increase the friction against my leg. The inner layer is made of soft rubber and the outer layer is a high-friction rubber. All glued together with Gorilla Glue.
The thickness in the middle of the pad is 10 mm and increases towards the front and rear edge by 8 mm.
I ride a lot in the woods and do not longer have to press my leg against the wheel. With these homemade pads is it possible to ride in the forest as relaxed as on asphalt.

 

[Rawnei]

1 hour ago, Darrell Wesh said:

Spoken like a true beginner! Sorry but if you’re adept on a wheel you don’t need to have a reference point for where your legs or feet should be. You should be able to control the wheel in a plethora of angles and foot positions. 
 

I remember those days, back when I thought I needed one specific type of shoe in order to ride, needed my foot exactly one inch ahead of the other foot... etc etc 

lol nice attitude, you can believe whatever you want, pads are really helpful for a lot of people no matter level of riding experience.

[.....]

Pads are somewhat of a crutch for SOME wheels and new riders. I think they mitigate the learning of how to control a wheel with merely weight shift. Its definitely a different technique when you use leverage instead of just weight. My main wheel is padless (18L) and my sherm came after a year of riding without. The pads on my sherman protect it when falling over. MOST of the time, my 10mm thick pads are not being leaned on.

I dont quite agree with people that claim they are getting in the way of being able to ride loosely. Tho it also depends on how agressive the pads are. Mine allow a little bit of comfort along the hard top edge of the sherman. Its also nothing but a thing to operate the wheel with my legs in front of the pads or even on top of the 35mm tall end caps. Hell, I am constantly changing foot positioning and pads arent mitigating that technique either. The pads assist me in maintaining higher speeds on the street, thru turns. Sometimes a LOT of my weight is being used to keep a lean in a turn, so a little assistance in leverage to accel, is a good thing. I onl have so much weight to go around and leverage helps. I may not know how to ride properly, I may be a total noob, but pads on the sherman definitely increase my stopping power. As far as pads to lock the feet in: I can totally see the advantage to that style of riding as well. However, I havent found a need for those yet. I am still entertaining the idea that someday I may.

Edited April 15, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[supercurio]

Like any other contact point to your body, pads need to be well adjusted in thickness, shape, placement, width, hardness to fit your body, stance, riding style and overall requirements.

Since there's so many parameters both regarding the accessory itself and the rider we can't say "pads" in general.

I'm currently using a customised version of the @NickNonsense open source split pads as found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4690957 and really happy with the benefits of power & jump pads with this split design, where you can adjust the front and rear separately to get the effect desired without restricting movement.
For me it's really important to be able to bend the knees extensively for shock absorption, and I can get that no problem.

When 3D printed with the right softness, they provide reasonable comfort without wearing shin pads although there's still room for improvement especially regarding the gap between the front and rear pads.

So really, there's pads.. and pads, and the right solution is likely to vary between people and wheel.

Once the right trade-offs are found, the benefits in safety

• not being launched off the wheel from unexpected hole/bumps
• stronger and easier to access hard braking ability

Ability for off-road

• Torque and lift the wheel for technical terrain
• Better control in bumpy descents

It's just incomparable IMO. Worth continuing the search if the first trials were not successful.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with using no pads at all either, but then it's important to keep in mind the limitations coming with not being connected to the wheel.

[.....]

21 minutes ago, supercurio said:

Like any other contact point to your body, pads need to be well adjusted in thickness, shape, placement, width, hardness to fit your body, stance, riding style and overall requirements.

Since there's so many parameters both regarding the accessory itself and the rider we can't say "pads" in general.

I'm currently using a customised version of the @NickNonsense open source split pads as found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4690957 and really happy with the benefits of power & jump pads with this split design, where you can adjust the front and rear separately to get the effect desired without restricting movement.
For me it's really important to be able to bend the knees extensively for shock absorption, and I can get that no problem.

When 3D printed with the right softness, they provide reasonable comfort without wearing shin pads although there's still room for improvement especially regarding the gap between the front and rear pads.

So really, there's pads.. and pads, and the right solution is likely to vary between people and wheel.

Once the right trade-offs are found, the benefits in safety

• not being launched off the wheel from unexpected hole/bumps
• stronger and easier to access hard braking ability

Ability for off-road

• Torque and lift the wheel for technical terrain
• Better control in bumpy descents

It's just incomparable IMO. Worth continuing the search if the first trials were not successful.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with using no pads at all either, but then it's important to keep in mind the limitations coming with not being connected to the wheel.

It only took 8 prototypes and revisions to get mine to fit my style. Tpu and epdm both.

Edited April 15, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[Ben Kim]

4 hours ago, Darrell Wesh said:

One thing about pads that pad haters HATE to say is that pads are superior. I hate pads but I have to agree. Pads are performance enhancers. They give an unnatural edge. 
 

That edge however, kills a lot of the fun factor of free standing on one wheel rolling around at high speeds. 

Pads definitely help, but my issue with them is manufacturers are tuning wheels to require them now for any reasonable performance (Gotway)

Edited April 15, 2021 by Ben Kim

[shellac]

14 hours ago, houseofjob said:

Ask a pad rider to cut a sharp 90º turn at speed without slowing down: they can't do it.

I’m currently trying to decide whether or not I’ll put pads on my Sherman. It’s in the mail, arriving 4/20 (blaze ‘em). 

So far I’ve never put pads on any wheel and I thinks it’s been fine for me. Not sure what I’m missing out on. 

Can you elaborate on why a pad rider can’t make a sharp turn? How fast can you make a 90 degree turn? That’s one of the things I’m working on myself... I’m not yet sure how fast I can turn without inadvertently drifting and maybe doing a lowside and eating pavement. 

Also by proper tuning to ride padless, you and @Ben Kim basically mean the old school Gotway soft mode right?