Overview

Riders often hit knees, elbows, and hips in a fall, so it’s a good idea to protect these. Ribs and shoulders are hit less often, but it can be a good idea to protect them as well.

Skate and motorcycle pads work best. Of the two, skate pads provide high levels of protection for smaller impacts, while motorcycle pads provide more minimal protection but for harder impacts. Therefore heavier people, who will hit the ground with more force, should lean toward motorcycle pads, while lighter people may find that skate pads work better for them.

Among motorcycle pads, off-road pads with hard shells and the street pads in motorcycle clothing are both good choices, assuming the pads stay in place.

Motorcycle pads are usually certified as CE level 1 or level 2. Level 1 pads provide minimal levels of protection. I recommend level 2 for elbow and shoulder protectors.

At higher speeds it’s a good idea to switch to abrasion resistant motorcycle clothing with internal pads. Not only will this clothing protect you from road rash, it will also hold the pads in place during a slide.

Jacket pads made of plastic or EVA foam (the type of foam used in skate pads) that claim to be CE certified are probably fake. In order to meet motorcycle CE requirements, EVA foam would have to be too thick to fit in a jacket, and plastic by itself provides no real impact protection. These fakes are common in cheap gear, including popular brands HWK and Viking Cycle.

Skate vs motorcycle standards

Motorcycle protectors are usually CE certified, even though the certification is only required in Europe. Skate pads can also be CE certified, under the EN 14120 “roller sport” standard, though it’s less common outside of Europe.

Here’s a video demonstrating some of the motorcycle protector testing:

Both styles of protector can be certified as either level 1 or level 2 depending on how well they absorb impacts, with level 2 pads providing more protection. For motorcycle protectors, level 2 pads transmit less force in response to a test impact. In the tables below, the Joules (J) is the energy of the test impact, and the kiloNewtons (kN) is the amount of force transmitted to a sensor under the pad.

Before looking at the standards, though, I want to provide a sense of what a kiloNewton is and what different amounts of kiloNewtons might feel like. Here are a few examples along with their approximate kiloNewtons of force1:

Example approximate kN
Hard push 1
Punch in amateur boxing 2.5
Hard punch by a professional boxer 5
Hard kick by a professional fighter 9

And here are the CE requirements for motorcycle protectors:

Body Part Impact (J) Level 1 Force (kN) Level 2 Force (kN)
Elbow/Knee/Shoulder/Hip 50 35 20
Back 50 18 9
Chest 50 18 15

The 50 Joules impact in these requirements is a 5kg weight dropped 1 meter. In response to this impact, the requirements allow motorcycle protectors to transmit large amounts of force. Even level 2 motorcycle pads can transmit more force than a kick from a professional fighter, though they should be less jarring than the level 1 pads. These test impacts are on the harder side of what you might experience in an EUC crash, but still realistic.

For those who aren’t prepared to take this kind of beating, companies like Forcefield, SAS-TEC, and D3O make premium pads that far surpass the level 2 requirements. You can also reduce the force by doubling the pads.2

For roller sports, level 2 pads transmit the same amount of force as level 1 pads, but in response to harder impacts. (As of October 2021, I only know of kneepads that meet the level 2 requirements.)

Body Part Level 1 Impact (J) Level 2 Impact (J) Force (kN)
Knee 12 25 6
Elbow 6 15 4
Palm 5 10 3

These tables show that, as far as European standards are concerned, roller sports pads are designed to absorb smaller impacts than motorcycle pads. They also cushion the impacts much more than motorcycle pads.

Street vs off-road motorcycle protectors

People sometimes claim that off-road motorcycle gear is better than street gear for impact protection, but that’s not true in general. They’re both subject to the same CE impact standards. Off-road gear often comes with CE level 1 impact protection, while it’s easy to find motorcycle jackets and pants with higher, CE level 2 protection. Instead, street and off-road pads are each better for certain types of impacts, and with lots of variation within each category.

What distinguishes street and off-road gear is that off-road gear sometimes covers a larger surface area, and often comes with a hard outer shell. The greater surface area is good for falling on uneven terrain, and the hard shells prevent penetration and protect the pads from branches etc.

In contrast, street protectors are often made of viscoelastic materials that mold to your body and harden on impact. Ryan from FortNine demonstrates some viscoelastic pads in this video:

Aside from comfort, the benefit of street protectors is that the motorcycle clothing they come in is more likely to hold together in a high-speed crash. A pad doesn’t do much good after it slides out of place.

What good is a hard shell?

Hard shells don’t absorb impacts, but they’re included with pads for a variety of reasons:

Abrasion resistance and sliding. Hard shells can protect against damage from a punishing brush against asphalt. Since the shells are relatively slippery, they also make it easier for the pad to stay in place in a fall. These are the primary reasons why skate pads have hard shells.

Penetration resistance. Hard shells can also prevent sharp objects from penetrating through the pad, and distribute their impact across a larger surface area. This is why hard shells are common in off-road gear.

Impact distribution. Aside from dulling the impact of sharp objects, hard shells can strategically distribute impacts across large surface areas and away from fragile body parts. Helmets and wrist guards use hard shells this way. Some kneepads, chest, and back protectors also do this.

Detailed notes

Knees/shins

Many riders choose motocross-style knee/shin guards (such as the Leatt Dual Axis). Aside from protecting your knees, they also protect your shins from painful knocks against the wheel. This style of knee guard might also be less likely to slide away during a crash at higher speeds than a smaller skate-style knee pad.

Hard shell pads can redirect impacts away from kneecaps, which is sometimes an awkward place to hit, so some people prefer them to viscoelastic knee pads.

Motocross knee braces provide even more protection, at a much higher price. My understanding is that these are meant to prevent your knees from overextending. I haven’t seen an instance of that on an EUC, so I don’t think these are necessary unless you have pre-existing knee problems.

Elbows

Skate and motorcycle elbow pads are both good options. After hearing about people breaking bones while wearing motorcycle CE level 1 elbow pads, I recommend looking for CE level 2. Most non-jacket motorcycle elbow pads are only CE level 1, but there are a couple of CE level 2 options.

Some skate brands offer “pro” or “elite” versions of their pads that contain additional padding, so those are also good options.

Hips

Hip pads usually come in the form of impact shorts or as protectors contained in motorcycle pants. There are also a few external pads available (Demon United, Komine).

Shoulders

Shoulders are a weak spot, so I recommend getting a high level of shoulder impact protection.

For motorcycle purposes, shoulder protecters are classified as limb protectors and tested with a 5kg weight meant to be similar to the weight of an arm. Unfortunately, if you fall onto your shoulder with the weight of your entire torso, that’s not enough protection. Too many riders have crashed this way, leading to bad shoulder injuries.

An informal survey of broken shoulders on the EUC forums suggests that these injuries can happen even at lower speeds.

The only protector that can reliably protect shoulders in this type of crash is the Alpinestars Tech Air airbag vest. It’s an expensive solution, but it could easily be worth the expense.

Chest/ribs

Rib injuries can happen when the wheel yanks sideways, causing the rider to fall on his or her side, or when the wheel loses traction in a turn.

Motorcycle chest protectors provide some rib protection, though they cover more of the front and often leave the sides exposed. I haven’t heard of anyone breaking a rib while wearing motorcycle chest protectors, so it’s not clear how much of a problem that may be.

A hard shell is a good idea for these pads because the shell spreads impacts across a wide surface area. The motorcycle level 2 certification for chest protectors tests the rigidity of the pads for this reason.

There are alternatives to the traditional motorcycle chest protectors, though it’s not obvious that they’re needed:

  • Very strong rib protectors are made for karting (as in, go-kart racing). These are almost the reverse of motorcycle protectors– they provide excellent side protection but usually leave the front more exposed.
  • Horse riding vests provide very high levels of impact protection over the entire torso, with the downside of additional bulk. Tekrider makes a slightly slimmed down version (the Tekvest) specifically for motorcyclists.
  • Airbag vests provide the ultimate torso protection, far beyond any pads.

Back

Backward falls seem to be less common and relatively gentle when they occur. So, although back protectors are popular in motorcycle gear, it’s not obvious that back protection is needed for EUC riders. (An exception might be if you’re riding backwards.)

However, it may be useful to have a back protector regardless, since it can serve as an added layer of abrasion resistance.

  1. These examples are taken from Brute Force: Humans Can Sure Take a Punch and What does 1 newton of force feel like?. ↩

  2. See Assessing the performance of motorcyclists’ impact protectors in simulated ATD knee and shoulder impacts. ↩