I ride mountain bikes and sometimes use knee and elbow pads. In a potentially life threatening crash they are not going to save your life. But in the normal d

I ride mountain bikes and sometimes use knee and elbow pads. In a potentially life threatening crash they are not going to save your life. But in the normal day to day bumps and scrapes they turn an inconvenient injury in to a non-event. I wear helmets on the road because I don't want an otherwise avoidable injury to ruin my day and cause inconvenience. Helmets have few downsides, and might help in a crash.