How To: What is the Best Safety Gear?

Here in the shop, we like to say "Safety first, second, and third." You can't have too much fun skateboarding or longboarding without being properly protected. Otherwise you'll only have fun until you fall hard.

Helmets 

Helmets are the most important protective gear you can have. Whether cruising or bombing, you can't go wrong with a helmet. A favorite motto is: "Better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it." Regardless your style of riding or the duration of the ride, wear a helmet and protect the most vital organ in your body. 

Triple 8 Sweatsaver 
The Sweatsaver is a very comfortable, breathable helmet. It provides you with lightweight protection you can feel, while still snugly holding that cranium. However, the Sweatsaver is not certified. The plastic outside deforms with impacts, cushioning and protecting against multiple impacts. The inner pad is rigid when new, but after some use it works almost as memory form and form fits your head well. One of the most used helmets, this noggin lid is a must-have for all skaters looking for a comfortable, breathable, fashion statement.
Comes in white, black, grey, teal, blue, pink, red, and yellow.

White Triple Eight Sweatsaver skateboard helmet Black and red Triple Eight Sweatsaver skateboard helmet

 

Triple 8 Dual Certified Brainsaver
The Brainsaver is Triple 8s Dual Certified helmet, rated for multiple impacts as well as receiving high steeze points. Certified for both bike and skatebarding use, it is the answer in safe fashion. All Brainsavers come with an extra set of pads, which is why there are two 'sizes' for every shell. The helmets usually come with the thinner pads inside, making them the larger of the two sizes right out of the box, however the larger extra pads are very easy to switch out and change.
These helmets come in:
Blue, Black, and Patrick Switzer Pro Model (Orange w/ a moose)

Blue Triple 8 Brainsaver skateboard helmet Black Triple Eight Brainsaver skateboard helmet

 

Predator FR7
The FR7 is a completely certified freeride skateboard helmet. It provides skaters with the maximum safety and protection, as it features an EPS-certified foam liner to provide maximum impact dissipation, and is dual certified; meeting both the CPSC bicycle standards for safety as well as the CE1078 bicycle and skateboard standards for safety. Classified as an ultralight helmet, you might even forget this baby is on your cranium! The 12 vents positioned along the front, top, and back provide your sweaty head with a solid airflow to soothe the nerves and give you more confidence in front of the ladies.
Comes in white, black, blue, green, orange, and red.

White Predator FR7 skateboard helmet

Slide Gloves

Slide gloves are imperative for sliding. All slide gloves come with a Velcro patch on the palm for easy puck relocation and replacement.

Landyachtz Slide Gloves
Landyachtz makes a variety of quality gloves, made out of a variety of materials. Motion carries two different types: leather and cloth. Leather gloves are the most durable, followed by cloth, a mixture of nylon, kevlar, and suede. Both versions give you the proper amount of protection with replaceable slide pucks made from super durable UHMW plastic, providing a self-lubricating, low friction slide for those long pendys or pre-drifts.

 
The Freeride Gloves are made with the cloth mixture for a lightweight, durable and breathable glove. They are significantly cooler than the leather version, but will rip a little quicker.

Landyachtz freeride slide gloves

The Leather Gloves are made of leather (really??) for a durable, harder to rip design. They are hotter on the sunny summer days, but are a welcome handwarmer in the cool winter months.

 

Trojan Slide Gloves
A fairly new product, the Disaster slide gloves are made all out of denim, providing a breathable, durable design. They feature a terry-cloth patch on the pointer finger to wipe the blood, sweat, and tears off your face, and have Kevlar finger tips and wrist protector for added durability. Definitely the most durable, non-leather gloves out there! The puck is unique to Trojan: it's round, beveled, red, and tricked out with a sweet snake graphic.

 The City Slicker Black

Trojan Slide Gloves

Cowboy Blue

Trojan Slide Gloves

 

Blood Orange Slide Gloves
Blood Orange did it again with their rad, dope designs. They come in two models, leather and knuckles. They both are incredibly comfortable, reinforced with Kevlar fingertips, and the palm is made out of one piece of leather for strength reasons. The Knuckles are bright and colorful for all your steeze needs. The leather models have perforations on the back of the hand for breathability, 

Knuckles
Bright and colorful for all your steeze needs

Blood Orange Knuckles Slide Gloves

Leather

Perforated backs keeps hands cool in the hot summers,
and provides a slight breeze to cure sweaty hand syndrome 

 

Knee/Elbow Pads

Knee and elbow pads will help you gain confidence on any hill. Most skaters agree: when wearing knee pads, you feel more invincible than when you were ten.
There are two main types of knee pads to consider: hard plastic covers, and soft impact-gel. 

Triple 8
The hard knee/elbow pads Motion carries are mostly Triple 8 brand. The hard plastic covering your knee allows you to drop to your knees in any sketchy situation and slide away relatively unscathed. These knee pads are used mostly for learning to slide because you'll probably be on the ground more often than not, and they last a long time. They do run hotter than the G-Form pads discussed below, leading to a more suffocated feel around the knee area. Tradeoff: more protection for hotter knees.

G-Form
The impact-gel inside G-Form is, at rest, slightly self-repulsive; making for a stiff-ish gel. When hit hard enough, however, the molecules bind together to stiffen and dissipate energy. The G-Form pads don't slide, but are very impact safe, comfortable, and will definitely protect your protruding bones from scrapes and bruises.

 

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