It was somewhere outside Barstow when "Jim"
wrote:

Sometimes the bunching in the back of the elastic
made me wish I'd found a pair with the center cut out of the elastic,

My pads are just some cheap hard-shell pair.

But the elastics were rubbish, so I replaced them. The velcro is now
twice the length, the overall length is more geenrous and fits me
easily, and the centre part of the strap (where it tends to bunch) is
thin ribbon rather than elastic. Now few manufacturers are going to
sew a mere strap together from four lengths of different materials,
but it's worth the effort.

I barely notice what the padding is - I wear them for protection from
small lumps, not for cushioning.