Landboarding

After a recent spill it's time I get my self some upper body protection for landboarding, both with kite and without kite for the downhill runs. I've always worn elbow pads and a helmet, but have not yet gone to the expense of extra upper body protection like armour or pressure suits.

So after a few spills I know what parts for the upper body that get the biggest knocks: hipps, back side, elbows and shoulders. I have the hipps and back side covered with my crash pants and when kiting my harness. The elbows, well I have some elcheapo elbow pads but they tend to cut circulation and frequently move out of place, so this needs some improvement, but they did do their job nicely, no bad injuries there. (I also wear knee pads, no problems there).

This then leaves the shoulders, when having a tumble with a landboard some time you are going to do a roll and during this your shoulders can take a pounding. So some pading to spread out the load better and prevent gravel rash are important. Falling on the grass is not so bad, but a fall on hard dirt tracks or the hard packed sand, can leave you with a buggered shoulder for a week or two. Or in Nigel's case some metal implants.

Since I'm not standing still and need a high degree of mobility, the suite must not be constrictive and must not interfer with my kiting harness.

Also landboarding can be pretty energetic, so I don't want to boil in the suit either.

I also want to suit up my son (11 years old).

I've talked to some fellas that are into dirt bikes and they all use pressure suits. I've seen some of the buggy riders use them as well.

So far the perssure suits on the list are the:

Six Six One (several to choose from ranging from the top of the line 2011 EVO Pressure down to the 2011 Assault Pressure suit)
The EVO looks like it would give plenty of freedom of movement and not cook you.

Fox Titian Sport. Have not looked to closely at these but was recommended to look at these. Unfortunately not much of a write up on these.

Protech. They have the Pinner Suit LT. I suspect these are only available in the USA, couldn't see any thing in the AU market.

A another key point of the above pressure suits is that they all have an articulated back/spin protector, good to have I would say.

So what are your experiences with upper body armour or similar protective gear?


Regards,
Norman.

Hey Norman, I've got two body armour suits for sale, if you're interested call me.

For you $60


viewtopic.php?f=18&t=15005

Hi, I rushed out and bought a 661 Evo Pressure Suit (2010) after snapping a tendon in my shoulder.
I know it was a bit late, but this armour is tops.
The gel filled impact areas are very comfortable as they are totally flexible until an impact and are then “pressure-formed to a solid".
This means that the elbow and shoulder areas don't restrict movement as they can mould and bend which doesn’t restrict you.
The sleeves don't ride up, the shoulder pads don't rotate to an uncomfortable position while buggying. Because of the gel flex, it also stops the front of the suit, slipping up and cutting your wind off.
It is not too hot to wear and the only down side, would be it is physically, a heavier armour.
This is due to the weight of the gel compared against, a thin light plastic protection area instead.

Does the gel pressure form????
Well 108kgs of speeding "chook shit" certainly sets it hard, as I have proved during a couple of OBE's.
I wear crash shorts under my jeans with 661 knee pads as well. I always boots, as I have enough titanium around my left ankle now.

At the end of the day, the cost of the armour only amounted to one scan on my shoulder and it is still far from right, 9 months later.

I bought another Evo suit for my 19 year old, for when he's riding his motorbike. So I guess I’m sold on them eh????

Chook

Here you go Norman.

http://www.briskites.com.au/index.php?l ... tail&p=601

Thanks Chook. Always good to hear people's experience first hand. Well I got the second hand armour from George yesterday and at 60$ I couldn't go wrong. I'll see how this goes, if this does not do the trick then I'll put the Evo on the christmass tree list then. Funny about the gell with the Evo, don't remember seeing that on the specs, again good hearing from people first hand. Most of the suits that you see on the net have the hard plastic shells attached and I guess that can restrict movement.

George put me on to a tip as well regarding falling that he learnt from his martial arts days, when you fall try and roll. I learnt this too when I learnt Judo when I was a teenager. Perhaps I didn't roll enough, it happened so quickly. Thing is how often do you practice falling off and rolling from the landboard, it's the one thing you try and avoid doing. I'll just try and remember for the next time, ROLL the BODY.

Thanks Chook and George.

Regards,
Norman.

A good buy. $60 and it's been tested.

You can't go wrong there!!!!

and the bugs have been ironed out. George removed the upper and lower most back panels so it would not interfere with the helmet and harness respectively. Probably will take it for test ride next weekend.