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| Safety Equipment (1172 Posts)
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austin sports gear extreme sport shorts
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On 5/22/2002 R.
wrote in from
(156.40.nnn.nnn)
here's an update of the austin sports gear extreme sports shorts after having worn them for a long little while.
Finally took a decent hip spill on them (on the way to the skate park, ironically enough), and I have to say, unfortunately my earlier assessment of their protective power was correct. They smooth out the minor tumbles, but a hard fall will get you a nice purple hipper like mine. Without having seen them, I would probably recommend investing the extra moolah in the the Crash Padz shorts. Looks like a better concept. Reviews, anyone?
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Harbringer
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On 5/21/2002
jetlabels
wrote in from
(63.207.nnn.nnn)
I believe this is the site Vasocreta was refering to.
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Harbinger
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On 5/20/2002
vasocreta
wrote in from
(198.4.nnn.nnn)
thanks to everyone who gave advice on safety equipment. I found a site, inlinewharehouse.com, that sold some Harbinger stuff for a pretty decent price. So, I went with their stuff.
Thanks again.
vasocreta
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Company advice
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On 5/20/2002
vasocreta
wrote in from
(198.4.nnn.nnn)
Hey, folks. I am looking to purchase some knee, elbow, and wrist guards. However, being new to all of this, I was wondering which companies sell good stuff that will hold up for a while. I have investigated 3 companies so far: pro-tec, Harbinger, and Triple 8. These seem like the most popular, with Harbinger being the most expensive.
Should I just go with one of these companies, or does the room have any other suggestions? These are for slalom skateboarding, by the way. I wasn't sure what other sports were represented here.
Thanks for any advice.
vasocreta
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My safety equipment
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On 5/19/2002
Shredder
wrote in from
(132.230.nnn.nnn)
I'd like to tell you guys about the safety equipment I use, as there have been lots of questions about helmets and other protection and maybe some of you can tell me what you think.
As a helmet I use a Pro- Tec Ace snowboarding helmet. I found it to be very comfy and well- ventilated. I usually wear a baseball cap under it, because it absorbes some sweat and the bill helps me to shade my eyes in sunlight. I chose an open helmet, because I think you hardly fall on your face and if you do, your natural reflexes will make your hands protect your face.
When I go bombing I also wear a Dainese spine protector jacket. Those jackets are originally made for motorcyclists and become more and more popular among snowboarders. Mine is made from mesh with pads for forearms, elbows, shoulders, breast and spine. Makes you look like a star wars stormtrooper when you wear it alone or like a hockey player when you wear a shirt over it, but it protects you very well. Ventilation is okay, but you'll get a pretty hot back on hot days. It is very flexible and after a few minutes you nearly forget that you're wearing this thing. The only problem is the price, but I think surgery and probably a wheelchair are more expansive.
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Greatful Headz Hawg helmet
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On 5/18/2002
Kaylee
wrote in from
(68.35.nnn.nnn)
I've been wearing this helmet religiously at the park for a few weeks now. It's a very comfortable helmet, sturdy but not heavy. The custom fitting kit helped a lot and now the whole thing is as snug as a glove, it stays on pretty well without the strap, but I'm not into that look anyway (hehe). The only complaint I have so far is no ventilation holes whatsoever, so after an hour I have my own personal shower going on. I have to take it off from time to time and drain out the sweat. Otherwise I feel very confidant knowing that it wont split apart if I go over 14 mph (or whatever speed skate helmets crack at) and it's so comfortable I forget it's on (not something I can say about any other skate helmet I've ever worn). And I've gotten nothing but compliments on the style. If your head is worth a little more than $100 to you, get a Greatful Headz helmet.
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ProRider Helmet
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On 5/16/2002 David"MoonDoggie"Garcia
wrote in from
(199.123.nnn.nnn)
Can Anyone tell if this a good helmet for Slalom and speeds
up to 35-40mph.It is Snellrated.
Thanks
http://www.prorider.com/pro/images/ski.jpg
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pads
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On 5/6/2002
Tony Healy
wrote in from
(64.161.nnn.nnn)
Duane, good points. Yeah, if they didn't need to change things too much it makes sense from to make a better product. [BTW, my pads get destroyed in the same way -- plenty of life left in the caps but the cloth part gets wrecked.]
Bigger caps would use more plastic, and so cost more, and they would need to do some sorta retooling to make bigger caps. Doesn't sound like a big deal tho (but only have limited knowledge on manufacturing). Can't imagine incrimental cost increase for the cap would be much, tho I guess it might add up if you're making 10,000 of them.
Still, making a much better product would be worth that if they could recover costs in additional sales or charging more for a superior product. Sales/marketing might nix the idea tho if it means in the long run they'll sell less pads (and if competitors aren't doing anything to force them to make this product change).
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pads
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On 5/5/2002
clayton
wrote in from
(130.212.nnn.nnn)
I don't have a problem whith the cap's durability my problem is that the cap doesn't extend over the side of the cloth part, so the that cloth rips there because it is not protected by the plastic.
So, if pad makers just made larger caps (not using a different or more expensive material) the problem would be solved. can't imagine that this would make a huge difference in cost.
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pads that last forever (slightly off topic)
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On 5/3/2002
Tony Healy
wrote in from
(206.170.nnn.nnn)
Yeah, if pads lasted forever the manufacturers would go out of business once all the current skaters bought them...unless the sport is growing really fast.
You know those clear plastic cups they use at parties? The ones that split up the side if you squeeze them. The reason they split like that is that they're made from long-chain polymers. But the chains aren't linked together. The cups are made by injection molding. Heard that they experimented and found that by rotating the inner mold in one direction and the outer mold in the other direction, the chains would get cross linked. No more splitting cups. But then, they wouldn't sell nearly as many cups if people re-used them. [Not clear that people would reuse them tho, as these things melt in the dishwasher.] So they would need to charge more (esp if it cost more to retool to make them). But would people pay more for cups they were gonna throw out after one use anyway? Errr, probably not.
Back to pads...
On the other hand, pads like that might be really expensive to make. Recall HP made a digital watch in mid-80's. Beautiful, but an order of magnitude more expensive than the other ones. If the pads were too pricey, then people wouldn't be able to afford them.
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bending plastic
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On 5/3/2002 R.
wrote in from
(156.40.nnn.nnn)
for those who are more knowledgeable about plastics than me--for molding plastics, would immersion in boiling water to elevate the temp work better than flame? Or would that change the properties of the plastic as well?
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Sliding Sliders
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On 5/3/2002 R.
wrote in from
(156.40.nnn.nnn)
Just on a lark, I was reading Duane's post over in Homemades, and decided to check out McMaster-Carr's website (www.mcmaster-carr.com). What a resource! In particular, I was looking for UHMW plastic for sliders, and they have a full-on selection of sheets, some even with rubber backing for adhesion purposes. Sounds like it could have a lot of applicability for sliding gloves, etc, and if it's really well-bonded, solve some of those adhesion to the gloves problems. Maybe even for pads it could be useful, but you'd have to heat and bend, probably, and that would wreck the plastic. Probably definitely the rubber backing. Anyways, check it out, y'all.
My next project is to household-goop some nice big, flat black river stones to work gloves for sliding, tho, so we'll see how it turns out. Should be a lot more durable than the crappy plastic cutting board sliders I made. They're fun, just not durable.
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Repaired the slide-cap
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On 5/1/2002
WesE
wrote in from
(207.172.nnn.nnn)
Welp, I fixed the hole in my slide-cap. It's actually been fixed since right after I stated that I would fix it with melted milk-jug. I would've used a P-tex candle, but there aren't any ski shops near me. This is how it went:
I lit a piece of the milk jug on fire, when it started dripping, I tried to drip it along the gap (it was just barely a hole so far) in the slide-cap. It appeared to work well at first, but the thinness of that part of the cap must've been overwelmed by the heat of the dripping plastic, because the gap quickly turned into a sizeable hole... not good. What finally worked was to light the piece of milk-jug on fire so that a large portion of it was burning, put it out (I smacked it into the green grass that I was working over) and then quickly smear it over the hole with a popsicle stick.
The next time I need to do this, I'll stick duct tape behind where the hole is and then smear the melting plastic over it.
Clayton, my guess is that the pad manufacturer wants the pad to be less than optimal so that it ends up needing replacement sooner. I accidentally dripped plastic on the cordura part of the pad and it looks like it will stay there pretty well. If you're careful (follow the above advice), when you first buy the pads you could smear melted plastic on the parts that need it. Or you could use duct tape, which happens to slide fairly well.
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Pads
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On 5/1/2002 Sk8rat
wrote in from
(4.18.nnn.nnn)
I'm still trying to figure that out?
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PADS in general
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On 5/1/2002
Clayton
wrote in from
(130.212.nnn.nnn)
this is a question for all pad producers:
Why do you not extend the plastic cap further over the side of the padding? I generally wear my pads out on the edges (left and right of the plastic cap)through the cloth and into the padding. if there was plastic there this would be no problem.
think about it...
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P-Tex and such
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On 4/27/2002 Duane
wrote in from
(67.241.nnn.nnn)
P-Tex is high density polyethylene (HDPE). It is a very high molecular weight material that will not melt into a formable mass, so it is made by a process called ram sintering (for the good stuff). Usually referred to as UHMWPE. The huge toughness comes from the very high molecular weight.
Very low melocular weight olefin is called wax, and moving up in molecular weight (length of the molecules) we go to molding grades, then extrusion grades, then the UHMWPE. If you go even much higher in molecular weight, in fiber form, it is called Perspex (one trade name), which is used to make boat sails and composite structures (it is tougher than kevlar by far and stronger than carbon fiber). The molecular weight of that stuff is i themay millions, if the molecule were wide enough it would be long enough to see with the naked eye, easily.
The stuff on the caps is molding grade and as such is not nearly as tough as the UHMW stuff. That P-tex repair stick is also not really UHMW, it wouldn't drip if it were (it just softens with heat, a little), its just regular HDPE. You could probably melt the milk bottle to exactly the same effect.
Just to make things complicated, HDPE can also be crosslinked as on most small boats like kayaks, it is tougher this way and won't re-melt.
I found out recently that the stuff on formula 1 car skidplates is crosslinked and filled with glass micro-balloons, some here on this site have bitched that their sliders don't last, I was told by someone who knows that the proper grade will last 10x longer than a cutting board (or P-Tex), whe sliding on pavement.
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p-tex
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On 4/26/2002
Mike II
wrote in from
(216.175.nnn.nnn)
Isn't P-tex the stuff they used to laminate the old Kryptonics K-Beam decks and ski bottoms with? The stuff is slippery, but as I recall doesn't hold up for lots of skids. Try McMaster-Carr for raw materials to make your own armor. McM-C is also good for tech assist info. Also check with your local body shop, they may have some ideas on repairing plastics.
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ptex candle
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On 4/26/2002
Tony Healy
wrote in from
(32.100.nnn.nnn)
Not sure whether melting a milk jug will get the desired result. Melting the plastic enough to make it drip may change its properties (ala burning paper).
Ski shops have base repair sticks called P-Tex candles which you light with a match or lighter ($1US each? less? more? it's been years). Use a lighter unless you like burning your finger tips (trust me).
The P-Tex melts from the end of the burning stick and drips onto the ski base (or in this case your skate pad). It might start the fabric of the pad on fire tho, or melt it, so maybe put in a little piece of milk jug as a backing.
Not sure how slippery/durable P-Tex is compared to HDPE, but could be a cheap experiment to try. Oh yeah, blow on the candle to put it out and avoid dripping it on yourself, or anything else which may melt or burn. If it starts burning too fast, blow it out, relight it and try again. The P-Tex candle will burn and drip fairly continuously once lit, so you can't really pause in the process without blowing the candle out (or dripping it into some container or something, but then you're wasting P-Tex).
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Repairing the slide-cap
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On 4/26/2002
WesE
wrote in from
(207.172.nnn.nnn)
After searching for the answer, I've decided to melt a milk jug (they're made of HDPE also) and drip it on until the cap is back to "normal". Wish my brain cells luck.
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Crash Padz and ProTec padded shorts
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On 4/26/2002
Tony Healy
wrote in from
(32.100.nnn.nnn)
Have a pair of Crash Pads Hockey Shorts. It sounded like there was more padding than their mt bike shorts, and the padding was higher density. Plus they were $70 vs $85 for the mt bike version. The high density foam pads are sewn to the mesh shorts on the inside, rather than heat bonded to the outside of the short. Not as elegant looking, but this means they can use larger pads to give better coverage while still having the shorts be flexible. [If you heat glued padding all over the shorts, it'd be like wearing shorts made outta foam padding (i.e. probably not enough freedom of movement to sit down).]
Got them for streetluging, as I saw someone using them for luging and thought it was a good idea. Unfortunately, my leathers had--uh--shrunk over the years. So couldn't fit into my leathers with the padded shorts on. Friend got a good laugh when I tried to put the leathers on at the top of the hill, "Um, did you try this stuff on together at home first?" "Errr, no."
So they've been sitting around my flat ever since. Nearly new, as I've tried them on, size medium. $40 inlcuding US shipping if anyone is interested, as they're not doing me much good.
Then got some ProTec padded shorts, which have less padding. And the padding is thinner. But at least I can fit into them with my leathers on.
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arse area protection
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On 4/26/2002 jonathan
wrote in from
(212.126.nnn.nnn)
thanks for the link Adam - I'll check em out. Look kinky comfy!
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helmets like austin wanted/retire your old lids
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On 4/25/2002
Mike II
wrote in from
(216.175.nnn.nnn)
Hey Austin, I'm looking for a lid myself, and came across a company called JOFA which makes helmets for snow GS riders. Whatever you get, don't use a helmet that is 3 years old or older. Even if a NOS looks kool and it's minty, the plastics(incluging fibreglass resins) start to embrittle. If you bongo on an old helmet, they tend to shatter. Also check the SNELL rating of the
helmet your getting. If the helmet's SNELL rating isn't up to what you plan to use it for,(bouncing on yer melon at 30mph+) don't buy/use it.Keep your old helmets for the cat to leave "treasures" in, not for protection.
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Helmets!!
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On 4/25/2002 Austin
wrote in from
(144.92.nnn.nnn)
All the helmets that have face protection seem to cut down your vision. What about these helmets for paragliding? http://www.lazer.be/access_paraglid.htm
They have a wider feild of vision. Lemme knwo what you think.
Thanks
Austin
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Helmets!!
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On 4/25/2002
Austin
wrote in from
(144.92.nnn.nnn)
I'm looking for a helmet. I was kinda thinking of something downhill skiers use, but with a single bar face mask. something like an old nfl kicker would wear...i think some still use it.
Where would i find some helmets on the internet? What do you guys wear?
Thanks Much,
Austin
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Cap ID assumed
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On 4/25/2002
WesE
wrote in from
(207.172.nnn.nnn)
Assuming that the cap is high density polyethylene, what would be the best product for refurbishing the cap? If it could fill in the hole that is starting to form in the cap and then allow some thin layers of HDPE (plastic bottle?) to be stuck over the weakened part, I think I'd have something useable.
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