Comments about Mavic Knee Warmers 2013:

Color: Black (slightly softer black than some garments)
Size: Medium
My height: 5'8"
Body type: slim

I had my eye on these and received them as a gift after I crashed and ripped up my previous pair of Castelli knee warmers. I am most familiar with the Castelli and Mavic knee warmers so, although I have tried on a number of other brands, my following thoughts are based largely on my experience with those two products.

The Mavic knee warmers have two long stitches down either side of the leg and two horizontal stitches that go across the back of the leg. One is meant to be below the knee joint and the other above. This eliminates chaffing and irritation that I experienced with the Castelli product which had one long stitch down the back of the leg. Other brands also use this single stitch construction and in terms of comfort I would recommend against a pair that employs it. Pearl Izumi and possibly Hincapie are notable exceptions to this poor stitching.

The Mavic knee warmers are not the thickest around, but they are surprisingly light and soft and feature the very common brushed interior leg. Most of my rides are pre-dawn and I have no complaints about the warmth and wind protection provided.

The top of the Mavic knee warmer features a 1" - 1.5" mesh band with rubberized gripper logos on the inside of the leg. Over hundreds of miles they have never slid down or up. The lower leg opening does not have any gripper material, although that would probably create an unwanted and uncomfortable feeling of tension every time you extended your leg. I have noticed that the mavic knee warmers slide up over the course of a ride, however this is down to the length rather than the lack of grip as I will explain.

The most important thing about whether or not these knee warmers will work for you comes down to personal preference for how you wear knee warmers. I prefer to have my knee warmers go down just past the widest part of my calf whereas others prefer to just cover their knee and still others prefer to cover their entire calf. My previous pair of Castelli's were much longer and afforded me enough length to do any of the above (side note: I did experience riding up when I didn't pull the Castelli's down past the widest part of my calf). The Mavic's are best suited to just covering the knee and leaving one's calves exposed. I can get away with covering the top half of my calves, but what I gain in length at the lower leg I give up in the thigh coverage. I haven't had skin show between shorts and knee warmers but mesh cuff does become exposed when I wear my shorter and less grippy shorts.

If your personal style is to cover your entire calf then I recommend you steer clear of the Mavic knee warmers. If you like to just cover your knee then these are a great choice. And if you're in the middle like me you can make these work but you may prefer the Pearl Izumi knee warmers simply for the extra few inches in length.