Body Armor - Impact or Slide?

New GT owner here, I've got the basics for crashing... Knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, helmet, all that. I do a lot of commuting with my board and while most of it is on bike paths and trails with grass on both sides, I go about half a mile on surface roads where the speed limit is 25-35 MPH competing with cars. The top speed of our GTs is only about 23 MPH going downhill full throttle.

Right now I'm knocking on all the wood in my house, but if I were ever to take a spill, it'd be at top speed. While were're not going as fast as motorcycles, I still have a feeling that leather is going to be the best protection for slides at this speed.
I'm not too worried about falling forward because of my knee pads and wrist guards. But losing my balance backward, let's just say there's only two things things that I like to do flat on my back.

From what I have researched, there doesn't seem to be too much crossover between slide protection and impact for body armor, you either get one or the other. Most of them seem to have some sort spine protection at CE level 1. (CE basically stands for "European Conformity" and in body armor there are two levels, 1 and 2. Check out this site for a little more info on how the rating works for protective garments.) To be honest, I don't even know if I need slide protection, even at top speed. All I know is that sliding sucks and it burns forever and then you have stupid bald spots that make it look like you have mange. Impact on the other hand, we're talking broken bones, slipped disks, dislocation... All that bad internal stuff.

What do you all think? Am I right in thinking the impact damage is going to be way worse than sliding? What do you wear? Have you found a magical combination of protective garments that protects you from the heavy whippings of our harsh mistress Asphalt? Or do I just suck it up and wear both an impact suite and a heavy leather jacket?

Anyway here's the part we've all been looking forward too.

THE GEAR EXCHANGE!

At least one person on the Evolve Owners Facebook page vouches for Speed and Strength and I have to say I'm impressed.
They've got some pretty nifty gear from helmets and shoes to hoodies and gloves. I've been looking at the Bikes are in my Blood Hoody/Vest, the Go for Broke Armored Hoody, and the Overhaul Denim Jacket. I feel like these cover the impact protection, but only the denim jacket is going to hold up to some sliding, and then only for a half a second.

I know a couple of dirt track riders that wear Six Six One equipment and lord knows they slide all over the place when they biff it. They have a lot of hard and soft armor, but I'm seeing the EVO SS Jacket or the EXO Shell as a good compliment to the protective gear I already have.

Also on the track side, the Fox Titan Sport Jacket covers just about everything for slides and impact. The big downside is that all of the pads are hard plastic plating. I can't imagine that being comfortable. But it sure looks like it would protect you pretty damn well.

I'm throwing in the Joe Rocket Recon Mesh Military Spec Jacket just because high visibility is pretty important for street riding and as a mesh jacket it's not an oven.
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Let's try to keep this thread to body armor and such. I'm sure there are other threads for basic riding gear.

 

Based on my prior experiences with similar sports, body armor should (in an ideal situation) be able to protect equally against sliding or impact incidents. Just my $0.02 worth

 

Oh man, Duh! I didn't even think about sliding pant. That's a good idea!

 

I thought about wearing my road racing gear, but it's kinda bulky...

 

The suit has armor in all the critical areas, but I haven't had an opportunity to test it yet and I'm hoping not too.

Additionally, my road race gear is designed for 150+mph crashes...

 

Hey Andy, I am about to buy all of my protection gear, have been researching about the G-Form products, and it seems that they are awesome to reduce impact but kinda suck for when u slide, they can move and you still get hurt, how do you feel about this?
thank you!

 

I wear a padded soft style motorcycle jacket these days - protection on elbows hips and some back - its colder right now in ontario anyway so its working out pretty well (and a helmet and bicycle gloves for some hand protection)

 

I'm actually looking to buy a motorcycle jeans with removable knee and hip protectors. They look like normal, baggy jeans and they are often reinforcements with Kevlar, so if you fall or slide it can take a hit or two.

 

Any links to this?

 

Like Alex said, if you Google 'motorcycle jeans' you will find all sorts of jeans in any colour you want. And in any large shop you will find them. Check out vid on youtube...

 

Appropriate place to ask about arm protection (ie, elbow pads) or should I start a new thread?