Klim Badlands Pro armor positioning

[trikepilot]

Before I do some radical surgery on my Klim Badlands Pro pants, I thought I'd see if any others here had discovered my issue and a work-around. My Badlands Pro pants have armor in the knees. klim has sewn in many different SMALL bits of velcro that gives you alot of flexibility in locating and securing the armor. My issue is that the velcro bits are simply not robust enough to hold the armor in my selected location for very long. Thus I am left with the armor down below my knee protecting my shin?! I am contemplating going in there with some needle and thread to carefully stitch the two armor pocket liners together to make a semi-permanent form-fitted pouch to keep the armor exactly where I want it. Anybody else crossed this bridge before and found some simpler solution that I might be overlooking?

 

[merchant]

I am having the same issue with these pants - perhaps not to your degree. I have not gone so far as to start sewing on them, but sounds like a reasonable solution. Please let us know how it works out.

On a related note, man that armor is stiff when cold.

 

[bloodline]

The pants are cut to allow real boots under them. This results in too much room when you wear crappy boots.

My gaerne "adventure" (lol) boots are a prime example. When I wear my SG10's, the pants are perfect.

I've not had a problem with the armor moving in my pants. i've just noticed there is a fair amount of material around the knee and upper shin area. Again, with big boots on, it's perfect.

I don't anything wrong with stitching the armor pockets. wouldn't hesitate. Just don't stick a hole in the goretex or leave a rough knot to rub on your knee or the goretex.

 

[snakebitten]

If you are 38-40" in the waistline, you should just sell them and get different pants that don't do that.

 

[EricV]

Just to clarify, you aren't trying to velcro to the pads, but moving the pads up and securing the velcro to it's mating piece to make the pad stay up higher, correct?

On a pair of Olympia pants I have, the armor was too low for me and I took them to a seamstress that specializes in leather and heavy gear. She moved the pocket up to where it needed to be for me for a reasonable cost. Also hemmed the too long pant legs for me. I'm fat and have a 30" inseam, so apparently for my waist size, Olympia though I would be about 6'7".

 

[creggur]

If you are 38-40" in the waistline, you should just sell them and get different pants that don't do that.

Nicely played, Snake!

 

[trikepilot]

Snake... very crafty.... indeed!! 34L and they fit ME perfectly!! I know you scored a deal on the jacket awhile back here at the forum. I did the same about 6 weeks ago on the Badlands Pro pants at ADV rider and got so excited that I blew the "savings" by buying a Badlands Pro HiViz jacket which has been backordered but is "reported" to be in by the end of the month.

Eric - no velcro on the D3 armor pads themselves so that cannot work. The velcro simply makes the pocket for the armor smaller in a multiple dimensions so you can adjust the armor to site pretty much wherever you want inside the pouch inside the pants. In theory... of course. While Klim spared no expense to make these pants incredibly badass on the outside, they went super cheapo on the armor positioning system IMHO. The velcro is wimpy and the little patches are too small to do any good on such heavy armor pads. My $250+ Olympia pants have adjustable armor and the kneepads stay firmly in place while the Klims at almost 3x that price don't. Go figure!!

I am gonna carefully sew the pouch up in such a way that it confines the armor to exactly where I want unless a more elegant solution arises. I have shot Klim an email about this as well to see what they might say but I am not expecting anything revelatory.

 

[snakebitten]

Obviously, for a snake, I'm not sneaky enough.

I too have a Velcro gripe about the jacket. They used killer Velcro everywhere except the forearm tightening strap. I often see those straps undone while riding. Not sure why they used a different grade (fine vs course?) there. Very noticeably less tacky.

Someday I might have the missus swap it out.

Congrats on the full Klim set though! Killer stuff, the Badlands.

 

[SFC E]

I also had problems getting the armor in my Badlands pants to align properly. It is still a work in progress and since its winter here in Germany, I've only managed a few short rides since buying them. I'm hoping not to have to do any major surgery on my pants but would love to hear what solution you come up with.

On a side note for those looking for new Badlands gear at a discount you could try the two websites below, but you have to "qualify" to be able to use them. Military, first responders, and government workers usually qualify. I'm not going to post what they cost out of respect for those who don't qualify.

http://www.govx.com/
http://www.promotive.com/