Inline Skate Protective Gear: Best Protective Gear for Roller Skating

So, what are the must-have gear for all inline skaters? All beginners, intermediates, and experienced inline skaters should use a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, and shin guards. These are the main Rollerblade protective gears. Others are protective glasses and hip pads or crash pads.

In today’s post, you’ll discover the different types of rollerblading protective gear. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to make the right selection for the best Rollerblade protective gear for inline skating. I know you’ll love it. So without much ado, let’s get to it. Shall we?

1. Helmet

Head injuries vary from mild to severe. The aftermath of a head injury can be devastating and frightening.

It’s, therefore, your responsibility to take care of yourself by getting the best helmet for inline skating. Below are the things to consider when shopping for a helmet.

Choosing the Best Helmet for inline skating

• Ease of use: The helmet should be simple to use even for complete beginners.
• Size: The helmet should snuggly fit your head while providing maximum protection.
• Quality and Safety Certification: the helmet should be made of high-quality fabric for longevity. Check the manufacturer’s description and compare with expert opinion on the material used. Most importantly, remember to check for the safety certification mark on the helmet. This is a sure way of validating the manufacturers’ claim.
• Age: Helmets meant for children are different from the ones meant for adults. The simple way to tell is to check the size.
• Sweat Wicking: The helmet should be ‘breathable’ to provide room for air circulation around your head. This is important for preventing excessive sweat that causes discomfort. 
• Type of helmet: There are two types of helmets for inline skating you can opt for—Dome skate helmets and Performance helmets. Dome skate helmets are made from high-impact ABS plastic and high-density foam for ultimate head protection. Beginners and intermediate skaters will find Dome skate helmets more helpful. Performance helmets are lighter, built for ventilation and aerodynamics, and offer less protection than Dome skate helmets. They’re more suited for experienced skaters and speed skaters.

Please check out these cool helmets for Rollerblading on Amazon

S1 Lifer Helmet for Biking, Skateboarding, and Roller Skating

S-ONE S1 Lifer Helmet for Biking, Skateboarding, and Roller Skating

Triple Eight THE Certified Sweatsaver Helmet for Skateboarding, BMX, and Roller Skating

Pro-Tec Full Cut Certified Skate Helmet

2. Elbow Pads

Elbow pads play the essential role of protecting your elbows from injuries if you fall as a beginner or experienced skater. Here’s what to consider when shopping for elbow pads.

Choosing the Best Elbow Pads for inline skating

• Ease of use: The elbow pads should be simple to use, even for complete beginners.
• Size: The elbow pads should snuggly fit your elbows.
• Quality: The elbow pads should be made of high-quality fabric for longevity. Check the manufacturer’s description and compare it with expert opinion on the material used. 
• Age: Elbow pads meant for children are different from the ones meant for adults. The simple way to tell is to check the size.
• Sweat Wicking: The elbow pads should be ‘breathable’ to provide room for air circulation around your knees. This is important for preventing excessive sweat that causes discomfort. 
• Preferred type of inline skating: Recreational inline skating and aggressive inline skating have different risk levels. Aggressive inline skating is quite riskier than recreational skating. Therefore, elbow pads meant for aggressive skating are thicker and bulkier at times. On the other hand, recreational inline skating elbow pads should be lightweight and more comfortable.
• Mode of wearing (Under or Over): Some elbow pads are worn over clothing, while others are worn under the clothing. This boils down to personal preference. So, you can opt for either one of these, depending on your preference. 

Please check out these cool Elbow Pads for Rollerblading on Amazon

187 Pads Elbow Pad

DEMON UNITED Hyper X D3O Elbow Pads

Alpinestars Paragon Elbow Guard

3. Knee Pads

Kneed pads are meant to protect your knees from injuries if you fall while skating at high or slow speed. They’re a must-have for all types of inline skaters. 

Choosing the Best Knee Pads for inline skating

• Ease of use: The knee pads should be simple to use, even for complete beginners.
• Size: The knee pads should snuggly fit your knees.
• Quality: The knee pads should be made of high-quality fabric for longevity. Check the manufacturer’s description and compare with expert opinion on the material used. 
• Age: Tnee pads meant for children are different from the ones meant for adults. The simple way to tell is to check the size. 
• Sweat Wicking: The knee pads should be ‘breathable’ to provide room for air circulation around your knees. This is important for preventing excessive sweat that causes discomfort.
• Preferred type of inline skating: Recreational inline skating and aggressive inline skating have different risk levels. Aggressive inline skating is quite riskier than recreational skating. Therefore, knee pads meant for aggressive skating are thicker and bulkier at times. On the other hand, recreational inline skating knee pads should be lightweight and more comfortable.
• Mode of wearing (Under or Over): Some knee pads are worn over clothing, while others are worn under the clothing. This boils down to personal preference. So, you can opt for either one of these, depending on your preference.

4. Inline Skating Wrist Guards

One thing is for sure in inline skating—whether you’re a beginner or intermediate, or experienced, your chances of falling stand at 50%. When falling, it’s common to find support using your hands, and many times you’ll land on the ground on your palms.

To protect your hands from injuries, this is where a wrist guard comes in handy.

Choosing the Best Wrist Guards for inline skating

• Ease of use: The wrist guard should be simple to use even for complete beginners.
• Size: The right wrist guard should snuggly fit your palms.
• Quality: The wrist guard should be made of high-quality fabric for longevity. Check the manufacturer’s description and compare with expert opinion on the material used.
• Age: wrist guards meant for children are different from the ones meant for adults. The simple way to tell is to check the size.
• Gender: Males and females have different palm sizes. Therefore, there are wrist guards created specifically for females and males. Choose one that fits your category.
• Sweat Wicking: The wrist guards should be ‘breathable’ to provide room for air circulation around your palms. This is important for preventing excessive sweat that causes discomfort.
• Preferred type of inline skating: Recreational inline skating and aggressive inline skating have different risk levels. Aggressive inline skating is quite riskier than recreational skating. Therefore, wrist guards meant for aggressive skating are thicker and bulkier at times. On the other hand, recreational inline skating wrist guards should be lightweight and more comfortable.

5. Shin Guards

Shin guards help by protecting the shin area of your legs in case you fall or collide with something. Inline skate hockey players need them more. Below are the things to consider when shopping for shin guards.

Choosing the Best Shin Guards for inline skating

• Ease of use: The shin guard need should be simple to use, even for complete beginners.
• Size: The right shin guard should perfectly and comfortably fit your shin. 
• Quality: The wrist guard should be made of high-quality fabric for longevity. Check the manufacturer’s description and compare it with expert opinion on the material used.
• Age: Shin guards meant for children are different from the ones meant for adults. The simple way to tell is to check the size.
• Sweat Wicking: The Shin guards should be ‘breathable’ to provide room for air circulation around your palms. This is important for preventing excessive sweat that causes discomfort.
• Preferred type of inline skating: Shin guards are more useful to inline hockey skates and aggressive inline skaters. Nonetheless, other types of inline skating like recreational inline skating or fitness inline skating can still find them helpful.

6. Hip Pads/Crash Pads (Inline Skate Pads)

This protective gear is meant to protect your hips and butt areas in case you fall. Below are the factors to consider when buying rollerblade pads (hip pads or crash pads).

They’re best suited for complete beginners, hockey players, and aggressive inline skating.

Choosing the Best Roller skate pads (Hip Pads for inline skating)

• Thickness and weight: These affect comfort and safety. Therefore, the hip/crash pads should be neither too thick nor too thin. The pads should be relatively lightweight for maneuverability. 

• Ease of use: The wrist guard should be simple to use even for complete beginners.
• Size: The right hip pad should fit you comfortably for maneuverability. 
• Quality: The hip pads should be made of high-quality fabric for longevity. Check the manufacturer’s description and compare it with expert opinion on the material used.
• Age: Hip pads meant for children are different from the ones meant for adults. The simple way to tell is to check the size.
• Gender: Males and females have different butt area and hip sizes. Therefore, there are hip pads created specifically for females and males. Choose one that fits your category.
• Sweat Wicking: The hip pads should be ‘breathable’ to provide room for air circulation around your butts and hips. This is important for preventing excessive sweat that causes discomfort.
• Preferred type of inline skating: Recreational inline skating and aggressive inline skating have different risk levels. Aggressive inline skating is quite riskier than recreational skating. Therefore, if you’re into aggressive skating, you should consider putting on hip pads whenever skating. Nonetheless, so long you’re a beginner, you can put these hip pads regardless of your preferred type of inline skate.

Buying Guide: What to Consider When Shopping for Inline skating Gear

Shopping for inline skating gear can be fun, especially when you know what to look out for.

But for complete novices or slightly experienced inline skaters, this can be a real hassle.

So, what considerations should you make when buying the best Rollerblade protective gear for rollerblading?

Let’s check them out!

1. Single Gear/Combo Pack

There are only two types of inline skating gear—the single gear or the combo park. The single gear comprises single parts like the helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, wrist guards, shin guards, etc. Often, you can buy them as individual parts.

On the flip side, a combo pack comprises a collection of different parts of the rollerblading protective gear.

Based on convenience and personal preference, you can opt for either the single gear or the combo pack.

The major downside with the single gear option is that you have to go shopping for all the parts separately.

This can be time-consuming and, in the long run, expensive. However, the upside is that you get a collection of high-quality rollerblade protective gear parts.

The combo pack option is best if you don’t have a lot of time to check out single protective gear outfits.

You’ll also find the option feasible if you want to save some bucks on the best rollerblades protective gear for inline skating.

2. Price/Budget

Visit any inline skating shop—either online or offline—and you’ll find a variety of rollerblading safety gear based on different price points.

You can find ones under $50, $100, and even $200. The bottom line is, there’s a gear for everyone regardless of the budget.

First, to settle on the best price, compare several similar skate safety gears for price and quality.

Then settle on an affordable one, within your budget, and is of high quality. You’ll also want to avoid the trap of likening high quality with a high price.

Nothing can be further from the truth.

Lastly, you need to be wary of cheap rollerblading gear. Sometimes you’re on a budget, and you need a quick fix.

Because of this, you’re left with one option of going for cheap inline skating gear. This can suffice in the short term; however, the critical thing to evaluate is the quality.

As you work with cheap skating gear, you should have a long-term goal of getting some awesome inline skating gear that’s neither cheap nor expensive but one that fits your budget.

3. Ease of Use

Yes, you want to protect yourself while skating. But of what use are the rollerblading protective gear if using them is a pain in the flesh?

Your guess is as good as mine! What you need is the best rollerblading protective gear that’s easy to use even as a beginner.

The rollerblades protective gear you settle on shouldn’t take a long time to put one.

You’d rather spend more time skating and having fun rather than taking forever to put on the protective gear. As always, trying the equipment out is your sure-fire bet.

You can visit the local store and check a couple of the inline skating gear and only settle for what’s easy to put on, ride on and remove when you’re done skating.

If you’re shopping online, you can ask for products in use or demo videos.

4. Ultimate Protection

This is the ultimate reason you’re buying protective gear. You want skate safety gear that offers optimum protection of whichever body part—head, elbows, knees, shin, hips, etc.

This can be hard to tell, but by looking at the design, you stand a chance to know the gear’s effectiveness by looking at the design.

For instance, you should choose knee pads with a protective pad that extends to the sides.

Most of the time you’ll fall on the sides and end up hurting your knees. For ultimate protection, the best knee pad extends over to the sides ad protects the entire knee area.

Another way to ascertain this is by trying the gear out. Mostly this will apply if you’re buying from a local inline skating outfits shop.

Visit the store and test every protective gear and only leave with the gear that offers ultimate protection.

If you’re buying online from Amazon or any other online store, you can check out product demo videos and pictures.

This is your best shot at making an informed buying decision.

5. Quality

The quality of the best protective gear for rollerblading heavily depends on the material of manufacture.

The right material is sturdy and durable. There are two ways to determine the quality of inline skating protective gear. 

One, you can use your senses of touch and sight. Hold the material in your hands and feel the texture and the tone.

Also, check the width and the type of fabric used. The other way is by checking expert opinions on the material used to make the rollerblade gear.

For example, if the manufacturer says the gear is made from polyurethane material. You can check online what experts are saying about this material.

Then match the description with the rollerblading safety gear you’re about to buy.

6. Expert Opinion and Previous Customer Reviews

It’s not an uncommon thing for vendors and inline skating gear sellers to hype their products.

If you don’t know, it’s the rule of marketing since they’re in this for the money. Sometimes, it appears like they don’t care about you but their products. 

So what should you do instead? Are there genuine sellers who truly care? Absolutely yes.

Nonetheless, the best way to separate the wheat from the chaff is through testing. See, it is one thing to have an amazing description of what protective gear for inline skating can do.

And another thing for that claim to be true. To verify everything, look out for reviews and testimonials from previous customers.

If you’re looking into buying from an online inline skating shop like Amazon, you can scroll down the product page to see user reviews.

Check what they say about the product: its longevity, ease of use, and functionality. You also want to check the star rating.

A rule of thumb is, you want to avoid products with a rating of below three stars and opt for the ones with a higher ranking.

Combine this with the actual inline skating protective gear reviews and testimonials, and you’ll have the best protective gear for inline skating. 

7. Best Fit and Compatibility/Size

Your age and body size have a critical stake to play when determining compatibility. Some inline skaters have bigger body part sizes while others have smaller body parts. The bottom line is, we’re all unique. 

So, if you’re to settle on the best fitting best inline skating gear, you’d have to try the equipment.

Again, this will work well if you’re buying from your local rollerblading store. Nevertheless, some online stores have a no-questions-asked return policy window.

If this is the case, you can buy your preferred skate safety gear online from Amazon, test the product within the stated period and return it if it doesn’t fit you properly.

Otherwise, if it’s the perfect best fit, you can keep it. Always, you need to be comfortable in the gear you’re wearing.

Protective Gear for Roller Skating | FAQ

1. What do you wear for inline skating?

When inline skating, it’s best to wear a bright visible, from far skating outfit with the best protective gear for inline skating.

The must-have protective gear on every skating outing is a helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, and wrist pads. If you desire, you can wear hip pads and some glasses.

2. Do I need a helmet for roller skating?

A helmet protects your head from injuries when you accidentally fall or collide with something when skating. The best helmet should fit your head comfortably and should be easy to skate on.

3. Can I use a bike helmet for inline skating?

So long as you’re after protecting yourself from head injuries, you can use the multi-purpose CPSC-compliant helmet meant for cyclists, inline skaters, kick scooters, and roller skaters. 

4. Is inline skating safe? 

Inline skating is safe considering how the skater can control their acceleration speed depending on their level of skating.

Besides, reliable protective gear for inline skating like helmets and knee pads help to keep the inline skater safe from potential external impacts.

Roller Skating Protective gear | Final Thoughts

Personal safety when inline skating should be your responsibility. That’s why you must shop around for some reliable inline skating gear.

For an easy time with decision making, the best protective gear for inline skating is sturdy and durable, easy to use, offers ultimate protection, high quality, comfortable, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

This is not a simple decision to make. That’s why I’m persuaded you’ve found this guide helpful.

If you’re wondering where to buy rollerblading gear, you can check from your local store for inline skates or an online store like Amazon.

Happy skating, and stay safe! 

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