Which ProTec Helmet Do I Need?

One of the most popular lines of helmets we sell at XSports Protective are made by ProTec. You can find a ProTec helmet for just about any sport–skate helmets, skateboarding helmets, mountain bike helmets, BMX helmets. With such a wide product line, it’s difficult to figure out which ProTec helmet will best meet your needs. The helmet liner is your best guide there. (Note that the liner is the padding that is right next to the plastic exterior shell of the helmet, not the soft, squishy foam pads for comfort and fit that sit next to your head.)

We’ve created a handy page that looks at each of the three different types of liners used in ProTec helmets and offers some guidelines as to what type of helmet is best suited to a specific sport or sports.

Briefly, ProTec helmets are made with three different kinds of liners—2-stage soft foam, stiff expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam, or surface-activated expanded polypropylene (SXP). Each Pro-Tec liner is designed to cushion your head in the event of an impact. However, each type of liner is best suited for a particular kind of impact. The 2-stage liner is designed to withstand multiple small impacts, such as you might get at the skate park. The EPS liner is designed to protect you in the event of a major collision, such as a bicycle crash. Pro-Tec’s patented SXP is a high-grade multi-impact liner designed to protect even the most aggressive riders.

To read more and to see a detailed photo of each type of helmet liner, check out this page from the XSports Protective website. Whatever ProTec helmet (or other helmet) you choose, be sure to inspect the interior and exterior for cracks or other damage after any serious impact. If you take a hit hard enough to make you say, “Wow!” please check your helmet.

XSports Protective now carries protective gear from Italian manufacturer Dainese, and we have to tell you, these products are gorgeous. Although Dainese started out designing leather pants for motorcross, the company has expanded into other sports and now offers mountain biking protective gear and ski protective gear like upper body armor, elbow guards, knee guards, and ankle guards.

The most impressive piece of Dainese protective gear that we carry is the Dainese Evolution jacket, which offers professional-level upper body protection for mountain biking freeride and downhill, snowboarding, or skiing. Made from elasticated mesh fabric, the Evolution features composite, molded shoulder, elbow, and chest pads in polypropylene with a fixed ergonomic Shield Air 7 back protector. The elbow and shoulder pads sit on top of soft, perforated polyester padding. To top it off, the Dainese Evolution is one of the best-looking pieces of upper body armor we’ve seen. Plus, it kind of makes you look like a superhero, and that’s always a good thing.

Falling on your back can be frightening. We aren’t turtles or armadillos with a nice bony shell for protection. Depending on how and how hard you fall, the consequences of falling on your back can range from a couple bumps or bruises to full-on spinal cord injury. Lucky, the good people at POC have created the POC Spine Ergo BUG back and spine  protector.

POC Spine Ergo BUG Back and Spine Protector

The POC BUG back protector uses the same ergonomic hard shell design as the groundbreaking POC Spine Ergo. The BUG is cushioned with ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), an expanded rubber padding known for both its softness and shock absorption, to provide excellent ski, snowboard, and cycling spine protection. The BUG series is designed for freeride skiing back protection,  all-mountain ski back protection, snowboarding back protection, or mountain biking back protection. If you’re a racer, you might want to check out the race-oriented POC Ergo Spine Protector.

If you want to get a better look at the POC Spine Ergo BUG Back and Spine Protector, check out the latest video from the XSports team below.

In the old song “Dry Bones” (sometimes called “Skeleton Bones”), the lyrics read (in part) “The ankle bone connected to the leg bone.” This isn’t entirely accurate. You ought to sing, “The ankle bone connected to the leg bones.” Your ankle bone, the talus, is connected by soft tissue to the tibia and fibula, the two bones that make up your leg below the knee. The two bony protrusions on either side of your ankle are actually the ends of the tibia and fibula. On the inner side of the ankle is the medial malleolus, which is formed by the lower end of the tibia, the larger and stronger of the two bones that make up the leg below the knee. On the outer side of the ankle is the lateral malleolus, formed by the lower end of the fibula, which is smaller and far more slender than the tibia. An ankle fracture is typically an injury to the lower portion of the tibia or fibula, not the talus.

Ankle Guards

This little anatomy lesson was spurred by the arrival in the XSports office of the Dainese Performance Ankle Guards. These ankle guards combine soft polyethylene (PE) and polyester mesh to protect your medial and lateral malleolus, as well as to compress the ankle, adding stabilization. Flexible high density PE foam cups cradle each side of the ankle, while a larger soft pad cushions the Achilles tendon. Dainese ankle guards are just one of a number of ankle guards we carry. Check out the SixSixOne Race Brace Pro Ankle Guard, the McDavid AnkleX Ankle Brace, the POC Joint Ankle Guards, or the ProTec Soft Ankle Guards. No matter if you want mountain bike ankle protection, BMX ankle protection, skateboard ankle protection, or roller derby ankle protection, chances are XSports Protective carries the ankle guard to meet your needs.

You might not always think about ankle protection when you’re headed out the door with your bike, skates, skateboard, but an ankle injury can sideline you for days or even weeks. Why waste the time?

People who say “You can’t put a price on safety” probably never had to buy separate ski helmets, snowboarding helmets, mountaining bike helmets, or skate helmets. Helmets can seem expensive, but a helmet is also the most important piece of protective gear you’re going to buy. Let’s face it: your brain is your most valuable organ (you can do fine without an appendix or even a gall bladder, but an unscathed brain is kind of a necessity). If you love multiple sports but your budget doesn’t allow for multiple helmets, you might want to check out some of these multi-sport helmets.

There can’t be that many multi-sport helmets out there, can there?

You’d be surprised. Helmets need to meet certain safety standards for different sports. Advances in protective materials  mean that manufacturers have the technology to design helmets that can provide effective protection in both warm weather and cold weather. A multi-sport helmet can protect your head provided it meets the safety standards for a given sport. For instance, if you buy a snow/skate/bike helmet and then decide to try motorcycle racing, you’re going to need a new helmet. No matter what the sport, if you take a hit hard enough to make you say, “Wow,” take a few minutes to examine your helmet for cracks or other signs of damage. Better the outer shell of your helmet should crack than, say, your skull. The helmets listed below meet the various safety standards for the different listed sports (it’s by no means a complete list).

ProTec Multi-Sport Classic Snow Helmet for Multi-Sport has the look and style of a classic skate helmet, but its also meets safety standards as a bike helmet and snowboard/ski helmet.

RED Trace Multi-sport Helmet is certified as a ski helmet, snowboard helmet, skateboarding helmet, and cycling helmet.

POC Receptor Plus Multi-Sport helmet can be used as a ski helmet, snowboard helmet, skateboard helmet, mountain bike helmet, or water skiing helmet (it comes with both snow and water liners).

If you prefer full-face protection, try the Troy Lee D3 Fullface Carbon Fiber Helmet , which is certified as a  mountain biking helmet, BMX helmet, or snowboarding helmet.

Snowboard knee pads: Protect yourself

Snowboard season is here. When you’re getting ready to hit the park or the pipe, don’t forget snowboard knee protection.  We just received the new SixSixOne EVO knee guards, which are the top-of-the-line knee guards in the SixSixOne snwowboard protective gear lineup (not to mention their top-of-the-line mountain bike knee guards). You can read more about the 661 EVO knee pads on the XSports Protective website.

The key to the EVO knee guard is d3o, an engineered material designed to be pliable under normal conditions but that hardens upon impact.  The d3o padding’s ability to transform itself from soft to rigid is what allows the padding to absorb the energy from the impact, ultimately protecting you from the impact. d3o pads provide all the comfort of a soft-shell with all the protection of a hard-shell, making them ideal snowboard knee guards or mountain biking knee guards.

Snowboard knee pads? Really?

If you’ve ever injured your knee, you know how much it hurts, how long it can take to heal, and how gun-shy the injury can make you feel the next time you go out. You can injure your knee through a collision (with a tree, another snowboarder, or the ground) or by a too-sharp, quick twist of the knee in an awkward direction (such as when you’re trying to avoid hitting a tree or another snowboarder).  Good knee protection can dramatically decrease the risk of a serious knee injury by protecting you from impact and by stabilizing your knee to protect the ligaments.  Here’s to spending snowboard season on your snowboard and not recovering from an injury.

The *New* Blackburn Bike Lights for 2011 at XSportsProtective are prefect little stocking stuffers for the bike guru who needs to be seen while night-riding, commuting along with heavy traffic or in adverse weather conditions.  Pair these lights up with a Giro Bike Helmet or Bell  Bike Helmet or Giro Bike Gloves and gift away!  Keeping your loved ones safe, while they sweat, perfect their craft or pick up a new extreme sports hobby has never felt so good (or been this easy!)In stock and ready to ship:2011 Blackburn Flea 2.0 Front Light2011 Blackburn Flea 2.0 Front & Rear Light Combo Pack2011 Voyager Click Front Light2011 Mars Click Rear Light2011 Voyager/Mars Click Front/Rea Light  Combo Pack

New 2011 POC WHEELS Body Armor is HERE! VPD joint guards, hard-shelled leg and arm guards, suped-up hydration packs with built in spine protection and MORE! Stay tuned, the bike helmets are on their way…

Check out the slick “Euro” styling of the new 2011 Urge Bike Helmets…Kinda want to makes you pull out your bike from storage and hit the trail, huh?

We’ve got a full selection of fullface and half-shell helmets in stock an ready to ship, in an array of great colors and graphics.  

Check out our line of Urge Bike Helmets!

• Urge Down-o-Matic Fullface Helmet (Downhill MTB, BMX)
• Urge Archi-Enduro Fullface Helmet (Downhill and distance MTB, BMX)
• Urge Endur-o-Matic Helmet (Distance MTB, All-Mountain, Commuter)
• Urge Endur-o-Matic Helmet, Nepal Signature Limited Edition  (Distance MTB, All-Mountain, Commuter)
• Urge Dirt-o-Matic Helmet -with removable, cloth visor- (All-Mountain, Commuter)

 The product gurus at Giro have answered our call and created a wonderful line of road, all-mountain, cold-weather and commuter cycling gloves for those who would like some protection from the elements, as well as a little cushion between their hands and bike bar grips!  At XSportsProtective, we carry an excellent range of styles, sizes and colors:

For Men/Unisex:
(Click the image or here to see more!)

• Giro Ambient Glove (Cold Weather)
• Giro Monaco Long Finger Glove (Road/Commuter)
• Giro Monaco Short Finger Glove (Road/Commuter)
• Giro Bravo Short Finger Glove (Road/Commuter)
• Giro DJ Gloves (All-Mountain/ MTB)
• Giro DND Gloves (All-Mountain/Commuter)
• Giro Gilman Gloves (Commuter)

For Women:
(Click the image or here to see more!)

• Giro Candela Glove (Cold Weather)
• Giro Monica Short Finger Glove (Road/ Commuter)
• Giro Tessa Short Finger Glove (Road/Commuter)
• Giro Xena Glove (All-Mountain/MTB)
• Giro Loma Glove (All-Mountain/ MTB)

For Kids:

• Giro Remedy Junior Gloves (All-Mountain/MTB)