Longboarding and skateboarding are two of the most adventurous outdoor sports and are a little scary(dangerous) at first. Simple cruising and carving don’t specifically require all longboard protective gear, but it is always better to use them during any riding style. The need for the best protective gear for longboarding and skateboarding increases when you plan for more daring rides like downhill races, sliding, or even freestyle and freeride.
Longboard Protective Gear Guide
If we talk about the beginner riders, they must protect their body parts unless they have good balancing skills. This guide will explain the importance, applications, and types of each of the longboard protective gear you may need for multiple riding techniques.
Helmets and Longboarding
There is no doubt that helmets are the most important protective element as they are protecting the most sensitive part of our body. After experiencing each of the riding styles, let’s see why helmets are so essential and how they make our longboard rides safer than ever.
Are helmets important?
Driving a longboard down the street is often nominated with the term of freedom. These sports boards provide an exclusive experience that one cannot encounter unless they try these mechanical masterpieces. But, sometimes, you might face glitches in your adventure that can reduce the experience you deserve. Longboarding isn’t the same for everyone as there are several different longboarding styles now in 2023. That’s the reasons why people often ask they if they need a helmet for longboarding?
One such example is tripping down the lane and hitting your head on the road, resulting in minor to severe injuries. Therefore, we recommend wearing these protective headgears that remove the possibility of mishaps and enhance skating exposure.
Who should wear helmets?
It is quite an interesting question that who should wear a helmet while longboarding and who can compromise on it. We, at BoardsOnTop, advocate for head safety gears strictly for those looking to join the longboarding academy or have recently started it. This is not because the skating experience is dangerous and very complex, but because these helmets boost your confidence. You will need to focus mainly on the trip rather than unnecessary elements.
Moreover, if you are an experienced skater and find true passion in doing maneuvers and trickeries, you should also consider wearing these longboard protective gears. Moreover, there are possible patterns where pros can come face to face with some problems, and helmets eliminate all such errors.
Types of Helmets
Generally, there are two different variations in the design of helmets that ultimately define the types of helmets. These types are:
Full face helmets
Half Shell/ Head-only helmets
Full-Face Helmets
Full face helmets are most useful for kids ranging from 5-12 ages because they require maximum safety from injuries. These helmets can cover the whole face or be restricted to the jaw only. Either way, the longboarding helmets fulfil their purpose and keep the rider’s safety at maximum. Though faceless helmets can suit newer comrades, they should try Jaw-covered helmets at the start.
Faceless Helmets:
This is the second type of longboard safety helmet, which are specifically manufactured to protect the head of the longboard rider. A simple faceless helmet design consists of shell-shaped headwear that takes maximum impact in contact. Several brands build certified and tested helmets and are widely accepted in the community. We believe every rider out there should wear such shell-shaped gears no matter the type of their ride.
Final Words on Longboarding and Helmets:
Whether you are a professional skater, a starter, or a seasonal rider, we recommend you to wear any protective helmet according to your choice. Yes, they can cost some pennies to your wallets, but you will be riding without any worries and fears at the end of the day. The overall riding experience will exponentially increase once you get familiar with them.
Best Longboard Helmet Right Now
Outdoor Master
Importance of Slide Gloves in Longboarding
Whenever we go for sliding over a longboard or skateboard, we prefer wearing slide gloves. During the slides, we grab the ground with our hand at higher speeds, this is where gloves protect us and promise maximum safety.
Are Slide Gloves essential?
Every safety equipment has its importance and comes in hand in one way or another. During our years of longboarding journey, we noticed that people don’t use gloves too much compared to helmets. The slide gloves are utilized for two different purposes by the skaters. The first one is that these items allow you to place your hands on the roads during sliding and tricking adventures.
Professionals require these gloves in order to perform eye-catching maneuvers. Secondly, the gloves act as hand armors and sustain the safety of hands when some miscalculation happens. This defines all those situations where one requires to wear these skating safety equipment.
Who should wear gloves pads?
If we conclude the previously discussed paragraph, it will be easier to decide about the actual users of hand gloves. We know that hand safety gears are pivotal for all level skaters, and every rider should exercise their usage. However, we strictly command professional tricksters never to skid and tricking journeys with bare hands.
Moreover, the sliding gloves help you navigate better stunts while you are longboarding down the hill. On the other hand, newcomers achieve maximum safety for their hands in effortless and straightforward rides if some unfortunate event happens.
Kinds of Slide Gloves:
If you see yourself as a newbies to this outdoor activity, you must know about all types of gloves. The hand gloves for longboarding have pucks installed at the center and fingertips, which take all the weight of your hand when you place it on the road. However, the only difference is the quality of gloves material, and that’s why you should focus on choosing the slide gloves from the following two options:
Leather gloves
Kevlar Cloth gloves
Leather Gloves:
As the name suggests, these gloves are manufactured with leather, and pucks are mounted, as explained above. Leather provides the necessary stability, resistance, and strength a rider demands from a quality gloves pair. Even at high speeds, the gloves slide perfectly off the track and don’t tear down. We recommend using leather gloves in fast-paced journeys and bomb hill riding.
Kevlar Gloves:
Although kevlar cloth gloves are placed reasonably lower than leather gloves, they follow recommended safety standards. These gloves are safe against wear and tear and, therefore, worth their price tag. You can also cut the finger patterns of the gloves if you don’t like their design.
Final Say:
Gloves are primary items for longboarders looking to perform decent stunts and tricks. The pucks of gloves take impact when you place the hand on the road in a cruising ride and distribute your weight evenly. As a result, the plucks create delightful clutch moments any rider wishes for.
You can’t think of promoting these trickeries if these longboarding clothes are not serving your hands. Not only do these products enhance the overall experience, but allow you to enjoy the journey without worrying about the inconvenience.
Best Slide Gloves
Triple Eight Gloves
Longboarding Knee Pads
Almost all kinds of longboarding styles require knee pads no matter if you are a professional skater or a newbie. A solid pair of knee protectors give more confidence to the rider. Let’s answer the frequently asked questions about pads and their perfect use.
Are Longboard Knee pads essential?
There are different types of longboard pads the riders wear during their trips, and knee pads are one of them. They are worn on the knees and keep your most crucial leg joints safe if any mishap happens. As you know that there are various types of longboard tracks, and keeping the board safe and steady on each path isn’t very easy.
Even after practice seasons, you might stumble on the rock and fall on your legs or knees. This is where the knee pads come into play. Not only do they take maximum impact damage to eliminate serious injury, but they keep the knees covered from scratches and, thus, a cleaner ride. In short, you should not take risk and protect your knees every time you go to ride.
Who should wear knee pads?
Every rider should keep safety as their priority during any longboard ride. But we believe that longboarding knee pads are most suited for experienced riders and those who tend to slide and maneuver their devices.
Additionally, if you like going fast down the hill, these protective gears are also essential for you. However, we encourage beginners to test them if they are looking towards intermediate adventures instead of simple cruising and free-riding.
Important information about Knee Pads:
Though there are different versions of kneepads available in the market, the longboard riders need to focus on providing nothing more than safety and comfortability. If the product has an impact-bearing kneecap and is easier to wear and remove, we believe the item is worth trying. Once you equip yourself with the gear, you can roll down your longboard device with a reasonable speed and focus on your journey instead of thinking about irrelevant variables.
Final Words:
You can wear knee-protective gear for several rides: bomb hill riding, cruising rides, and especially when riding longboard for carving and pumping rides. In general, our experience affirms the fact that you require protection items for your knees in almost every complex and trick-related trip other than effortless and slower versions of rides.
Keep in mind that, no matter your skating age and experience, you should get familiar with the use of the longboard gears for the sake of your safety and trouble-free experience.
Best Longboard Knee Pads
Bodyprox Knee Pads
Wrist Savers | Longboarding Equipment
Professional skaters know how to use a longboard for trickeries and freestyles, at the same time, it is important to cover your wrist with protection material.
Are wrist savers necessary?
It should not debate whether longboard protective gears are essential because every item proves its worth in different scenarios. This is the case with wrist savers, also known as wrist pads, as riders might not consider them very successful but practically, they grant maximum protection and support to your important body organs.
Falling off the board while sliding down the track is frequent due to the rider’s imbalance. As a result, the exposed wrist might contact the ground, and the process can be painful. Wear these wrist guards and enjoy the ride without any inconvenience.
What are the Uses of wrist pads?
Advanced longboarding adventures require tricking with the hands at high speed, and if, unfortunately, someone descends the board, his wrists and the hands will be the first contact. Experienced and professional skaters perform these tricks and ruses, and wrist pads should be their necessary priority. However, we are not saying that newbies should not avail this longboarding equipment. They can test these products in practical situations as well.
Information About Wrist Savers:
You won’t find many variations in the design of wrist pads because they are relatively limited and straightforward usage. Therefore, the wrist savers with hard plastic covers to absorb collision energy are enough to be your companion. Once you wear such gear, the chances of getting an injury to your wrists drop from zero to none. But make sure to fit these pads firmly on your wrist so that they don’t come off in case of any contact.
Conclusion:
Although wrist guards are the least important safety items on the list, they prove their worth once the appropriate time comes. The rule of thumb is don’t get overconfident during your rides and maintain the decorum.
Your primary concern should always be the safety at hand, and then come other variables such as enjoyment, tricks, and maneuvers. We demonstrate these practices in our community and promote the culture of wearing any necessary safety gear, including wrist savers.
Best Wrist Guards
Bodyprox Wrist Guards
Elbow Guards | Longboard Elbow Pads
We feel necessary to wear elbow guards whenever we need to use electric longboards or while participating in the races. If you are going for normal rides or using your board to go to school or collage, you can travel with them, but in some scenarios, they are essential.
Are Elbow Pads Necessary?
Elbow is one of the most sensitive parts of your body, and when it gets injured, the pain is unbearable. If you plan to slide down the steep streets or go for bombing hills, elbow pads are indeed one of the needed longboard protective gears you should always use. If they are not flimsy, you will get maximum protection. On the other hand, minor use of lousy material in the elbow pads can injure your elbows badly if any mishap happens.
Who should wear Elbow Guards?
Elbow pads are not as necessary as slide gloves in the sliding style of longboarding. But, if you are up to something more adventurous like downhill racing, or rough track riding, you need premium quality pads for your elbows’ safety.
Downhill riding is one of the most dangerous yet entertaining riding styles and is liked by numerous professional skaters. All of them go with a complete kit of longboard safety gear to have proper protection.
Why Elbow Pads When Longboarding:
Beginners must get an entire pack of safety gears, including pads for elbows, knees, and wrists, and slide gloves because they aren’t used to handle wobbling longboards. Expert skaters need their respective gear according to their preferred riding style. If you plan to slide, sliding gloves are the most necessary things. Similarly, if you are going to ride down the hill, helmets and elbow guards are the essential protective aspects to be taken care of.
Best Elbow Pads
