After surviving a couple of falls lately the value of having good safety gear
has been hammered home literally you might say.
Leather is favoured by riders due to its excellent abrasion protection and flexibility.
But the cost of buying new quality leathers is prohibitive $600 $800 +
I recently started looking for second hand leathers, good quality at affordable prices.
Its important to remember the leather saves your skin but the body armour takes the hit.
Different types of cowhide are still the most common sources of leather with kangaroo hide
now favoured due to its lighter weight and stronger abrasion resistance. Thickness is not as
important as quality – and good quality strong leather should be soft and fairly supple.
Lets not forget fit…there shouldn’t be any saggy bitts that loose stuff may bunch up and grab in a slide.
Leather will relax and form around your body to a certain extent over time. Some initial tightness is fine.
You can have all the best gear but you still got to be wearing it.
I’m going to post some links to second hand leathers I think might be good value.
It’s up to the individual to follow through and hopefully post there findings.
I encourage members in general to post any findings they happen upon so others may grab a bargain.
This lady’s name is Dessy, she has a eBay site that sells second hand quality leathers in Greece.
Select something then, contact the seller tell her your from esk8.builders let here know your size
and what you are looking for. A lot of her stock is offline and she imports new goodies weekly.
Please be patient she has a real job as well lol.
Words from the Lady herself.
“The Cafe Racer style 60’-70’s european leathers looks really cool but are rarely equipped with protectors.
Most of them are just fabricaly padded, so I don’t think this is the best “safety” choice. Suits from the early 80s 90s double hip and knee padded, solid shoulder and elbow protectors are what you are looking for, in my opinion.”
I plan to wear modern lightweight body armour under my leathers. Depending on the body armour you might need to size up. Some of the new stuff like the Demon Flex Force X D3O V3 Body Armour is very slimline and light weight. The Alpinestars Mx Bionic Action Black Red Off Road Motocross Body Armour Jacket is really good kit as well but a bit bulkier.
I originally just bought leather pants because I only had the knee guards but nothing for the rest of my legs, hips arse, etc. It pays to be confident in any sport…pool for example: As you line up that shot…in my head I’m thinking there not a chance of this missing and I’m visualising the black going down the slot.
I’m not thinking if I miss I’ll have to shout this prick another beer.
Same when riding I’m going to make that corner ….not worrying what might happen if you don’t lol
Not exactly leathers, but people who are concerned about road rash can always get some motorcycle gear. I think my top was like 160, pants were 80. Super good deal IMO.
It’s got knee, shin, hip (including rear hip), collar bone, shoulders, elbows, forearms, and most importantly spine protection. It’s not restrictive at all too, which is nice.
Personally I would love a nice set of leathers, but I would never trade in all this padding for something inferior.
Just FWIW, i got road rash through a leather motorcycle jacket some years ago - meaning I was wearing the jacket when I laid a bike down and still got road rash. I am sure it was less than I would have received otherwise, but it did still happen.
I fell off my board last week wearing knee, elbow and wrist pads and still lost skin on my elbow - through the hard pad. Don’t understand that one.
Where lucky we don’t travel at motor cycle speeds…200 km +…
You see them come off in F1 and they slide forever…hopefully hitting nothing.
Sometimes you see them role over the other side of their leathers to escape the tremendous heat that’s being generated…Same in downhill longboarding.
I have a friend who raced bikes he lost the front wheel at Phillip Island there’s a kink nearing the end of the straight. He kept trying to pick it back up…wore through his knee pad and burnt a hole in his leg…lol
Gloves people. Good downhill gloves are a must if you’re going 50k (30mph) plus. First thing that most people do is put out a hand. I have cut out the thumb on mine.
@mars
living where we live its important to be comfy too. I don’t use my bike leathers unless its deepest darkest winter which as you know rarely gets down to the freezing cold depths of 15’ C brrrrrr! I have goretex and kevlar jackets and strides which suffice in the summer months. Bit more breathing capabilities than full leathers I’ve found. This only gets used though when I’m being silly. Most of the time its just a good helmet and jeans but I always wear my gloves.
Good thread mate.
I had a crash around 50-60kmh a few months back with nothing but a Mtb helmet. I took some bad cuts on my hands and jarred my knee. Luckily I was wearing lots of layers and managed to step and roll instead of slid which avoided most of the road rash. I have since bought some mtb gloves and a gform knee pads. The pads are great, I tested them with a hammer and no pain at all haha. I do want some Kevlar pants and maybe a hoodie though
Haha well not jump in the air. I’m a fast runner naturally and thought I could run it out like my last falls around 40kmh so I took 2 steps then realised it wasn’t going to work and smacked my knee on the ground then tucked into a roll and barrel rolled down the road until standing up just before hitting the gutter, talk about good timing.
I meant hitting my knee with the hammer while wearing the gform pads haha. And I’ve seen those hoodies and they look great but a bit out of my price range. I’ve found a few on eBay that have some good reviews and people have tested them and say they held up well
Two steps…you must be frigging fast…haha
My first off maybe 20…25km one step tuck wrist shoulder bang roll roll I think.
The next thing some well wisher was saying…my my you did that well dear…huh umm thanks
The hoodie took all the hit on my shoulder.
I got up and thought I better do another lap there’s people watching…lol
I look down as I’m going past the crash site on the next lap and some blood is dripping off my hand lol
Enough for today…lol
In theory you should be able with good knee pads and slide gloves land slide it out…hopefully not hit anything get up and laugh about it.
Not bad, it has loads of air vents that you can zip open. So if you’re moving at any reasonable speed you get decent airflow inside. Plus you can remove the winter liner from the inside.
