Pairing wrist guards with armored gloves, practical considerations

[Skeptikos]

I'd like to pair wrist guards with armored motorcycle gloves, to provide good finger protection along with good wrist protection. But I'm worried that the hard armor pieces on the gloves will hit the hard wrist guard pieces and make things uncomfortable.

I know at least a few people are trying this-- did you get the combination to work comfortably? What combination glove/wrist guard did you try that worked?

Specifically, I'm worried about the hard armor over the knuckles and the hard palm sliders on the gloves.

For wrist guards over gloves:

• Does the wrist guard sit awkwardly on the knuckle armor?
• Do glove palm sliders feel awkward against the bottom of the wrist guard?

For gloves over wrist guards:

• Does the protruding part of the bottom wrist guard splint push against the glove palm sliders at an awkward angle?
• Does the top wrist guard splint push the knuckle armor into an awkward position?

 

For everyone tempted to bring up Hillbilly gloves-- I have them and the seams came apart in a 5mph crash leaving my pinky exposed. I'm not convinced it'll hold up in a higher-speed crash.

[yoos]

I have icon nightbreed gloves (size M) which fit decently under my flexmeter wrist guards (size L). It is comfortable but very difficult to get on and off [note that I only tried this combo a few times but never really rode with it: so far it has been too hot and my speed <25kph so I am wearing just wrist guards]. These rather basic gloves have thin d3o knuckle armor and no palm slider. The fit and on/off could be improved if I cut away the velcro fastening from the glove. 

I have also flexmeter overmittens (size L), which I wear over the flexmeter wrist guards in cold temperatures. These fit great since they are designed to be worn this way. iirc they involve kevlar and should protect against roadrash. Also the mitten form factor (as opposed to glove) should be safer, keeping your fingers together. The velcro wrist guard sliders have to be removed when wearing the overmitten. However, there is no slider (or slider attachment area) and no armor on the mittens.

It appears to me that the outside plate of the flexmeter wrist guards is long enough to protect my knuckles. Thus, I would ideally look for very thin leather or textile mc gloves (with no bulky fastenings) to wear under the flexmeter to protect from road rash. 

Beside the flexmeters I also have cheap oxelo wrist guards (size M) from decathlon which are simply uncomfortable on their own. I am forced to use them with my Revit Crosby jacket (size L) because the jacket sleeves are too narrow for the flexmeters.

edit: added sizes

 

Edited June 15, 2021 by yoos

[Skeptikos]

I had assumed you would wear the flexmeters over your jacket cuffs, especially if you also wear them over gloves. Is that not practical?

I also wonder if you could just attach a strip of velcro to your overmitten palms to add the slider. (But I obviously don't need to worry about this until winter.)

[GothamMike]

Hillbilly full fingered gloves are great.

https://www.amazon.com/Hillbilly-Wrist-Guard-Gloves-Finger/dp/B0044GAPQA?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1

The full fingered ones have both palm and back wrist stabilization, the half-fingered one have less.

They are built like MC gloves, and you cannot easily fit liners in them. 

I've worn Snowboarding gloves in the winter, they fell apart after a few months use.

[yoos]

15 hours ago, Skeptikos said:

I had assumed you would wear the flexmeters over your jacket cuffs, especially if you also wear them over gloves. Is that not practical?

I also wonder if you could just attach a strip of velcro to your overmitten palms to add the slider. (But I obviously don't need to worry about this until winter.)

Good suggestion! I have not tried the flexmeters over the cuffs but I suspect the cuffs would not fit under the guards, in part due to the fabric overlap where the snap fasteners are on the cuff. Moreover the lining of the flexmeters is a nice soft and delicate mesh. It would wear down quickly from rubbing against the cordura cuffs. Neither do I want the cordura pressed against my skin. Finally, the cuffs are not that narrow and fit over the slimmer oxelo wrist guards easily. By the way, is there any accumulated knowledge of sleeve diameters of different jacket brands? Rev'it is slim in general, american brands might be a better bet. (note that the revit crosby sleeves barely let the flexmeters through even with unfastened snaps).

Indeed, it should be possible to DIY some velcro base onto the mittens. However they fit a bit baggy in order to go over the wrist guards. Thus the sliders would not be held in position properly in a crash I think. I suggest we wait for real winter weather when everything is covered in snow and ice and things slide without sliders

 

Edited June 16, 2021 by yoos

[Skeptikos]

2 hours ago, GothamMike said:

Hillbilly full fingered gloves are great.

 

22 hours ago, Skeptikos said:

For everyone tempted to bring up Hillbilly gloves-- I have them and the seams came apart in a 5mph crash leaving my pinky exposed. I'm not convinced it'll hold up in a higher-speed crash.

 

Actually I guess the seams were fine. The problem is more that the top mesh wore through almost instantly. Maybe I'm making too big a deal out of it, but I'd really feel better having a motorcycle glove with the reinforced pinky, and less of this weak mesh.

Anyway, Hillbilly gloves are specifically what I don't want to do. They're probably fine for downhill longboarding due to the thick leather on the bottom. But unfortunately I've discovered that I don't always fall on the bottom of my hand, so I want a glove that can also protect the top and sides of my hand.

[EUC Forest]

18 hours ago, yoos said:

Good suggestion! I have not tried the flexmeters over the cuffs but I suspect the cuffs would not fit under the guards, in part due to the fabric overlap where the snap fasteners are on the cuff. Moreover the lining of the flexmeters is a nice soft and delicate mesh. It would wear down quickly from rubbing against the cordura cuffs. Neither do I want the cordura pressed against my skin. Finally, the cuffs are not that narrow and fit over the slimmer oxelo wrist guards easily. By the way, is there any accumulated knowledge of sleeve diameters of different jacket brands? Rev'it is slim in general, american brands might be a better bet. (note that the revit crosby sleeves barely let the flexmeters through even with unfastened snaps).

 

 

I used to wear the Flexmeters over a mc summer jacket by Rev'it and it did wear down the interior lining quite quickly...overall the Flexmeters are relatively fragile (some stitching rapidly came loose, worn lining, still "works" though...), a bit disappointing given the price. Now I wear them over a very slim Knox armoured shirt that's not that hard (very litte abrasion resistance).

[Skeptikos]

It's sounds like it's easier to do this with the wrist guard going over the gloves-- just avoid the tall knuckle armor and get a wrist guard with straps instead of the stretchy mesh.

For totally vain and non-practical reasons, I prefer the glove-over-wrist-guard approach. (If I buy fancy motorcycle gloves I want to be able to show them off!) I've been trying out a bunch of snowboarding wrist guards intended to go under gloves, hoping to find something useful, and ... mixed results.

Burton Impact Wrist Guard (link): These are so flimsy I can snap them in half with one hand. Plus they don't fit under motorcycle jacket cuffs.

Triple 8 Undercover Snow Wrist Guards (link): It's the right idea but they don't fit under motorcycle jacket cuffs. Also the fit is awful. For me, the medium is so small it's unwearable, and the large is completely loose.

Pro-Tec IPS Wrist (link): Like the Triple 8 Undercover but slimmer and they fit human wrists. They do fit under my motorcycle jacket cuffs. But the bottom splint, where it sticks out over the wrist, is less rounded and pointier and just looks like it would be awkward in a glove with palm sliders.

Nobleman Generation 2 Wrist Guards (link): Waiting on these to arrive from China, but they look promising.

 

A bunch of the splints are approximately the same size in all these wrist guards. So what I've done for now is take the Pro-Tec wrist guard (size small) and replace the bottom splint, the one I don't like, with the same from the Triple 8 wrist guard (size large). This at least seems like something I could plausibly fit under a glove, even one with palm sliders. I don't have any fancy gloves to try them out on right now but I'll order some and see.

[Eucner]

5 hours ago, Skeptikos said:

Nobleman Generation 2 Wrist Guards (link): Waiting on these to arrive from China, but they look promising.

Looks really nice. They come only in one size. Do these have any palm cushion? Does the steel inserts put pressure on too small area?

[Skeptikos]

On 6/18/2021 at 3:45 AM, Eucner said:

Looks really nice. They come only in one size. Do these have any palm cushion? Does the steel inserts put pressure on too small area?

Finally got these. No separate palm cushion, just fabric with thin padding along the bottom. (The Triple 8 and Pro-Tec wrist guards are similar.)

The bottom splint feels great to me. Very cleverly designed to wrap around the base of your thumb. It's easily the lowest profile/least pointy of the bottom splints I've tried.

The top splint feels more awkward, and I think that's partly due to the one size not being a great fit on me. This thing is very obviously made to accommodate big hands, so I have to tighten it a whole lot to get a snug fit, and the top splint gets pulled too far to the right (on my right hand). It ends up sitting at an awkward angle on top of my hand. It's not terrible but it's definitely a little awkward. I think size large or larger hands would get the best experience out of these.

They also have some super thin velcro fasteners that I haven't seen before. Overall it's not quite as slim as the Pro-Tec IPS but it's close, and I can very nearly (but not quite) fit it under my jacket cuffs.

These seem like the best bet for fitting under motorcycle gloves with hard armor pieces, as long as I can come to terms with that top splint. Just waiting on some gloves to test it out...

[Eucner]

3 hours ago, Skeptikos said:

No separate palm cushion, just fabric with thin padding along the bottom.

Thanks. This is a bummer. I'm looking for some cushion to lower the peak impact force.

[Skeptikos]

Just now, Eucner said:

Thanks. This is a bummer. I'm looking for some cushion to lower the peak impact force.

I don't think it's needed on this kind of wrist guard, due to the shape of the bottom splint. The part that sticks out on the bottom takes the initial impact, and sends it to the middle of your hand and your lower arm, away from your wrist. Plus it's springy so it already acts kind of like a cushion. Um, I think the Nobleman one is the least springy, though.

[.....]

On 6/15/2021 at 7:43 PM, Skeptikos said:

I had assumed you would wear the flexmeters over your jacket cuffs, especially if you also wear them over gloves. Is that not practical?

I also wonder if you could just attach a strip of velcro to your overmitten palms to add the slider. (But I obviously don't need to worry about this until winter.)

I wear mine UNDER my MC suit cuffs. The cuffs are designed with zippers, velcro and snaps. Plenty of room. I don't wear gloves, but if i needed the warmth, 'm sure I could find something HUGE to go over all of it. I've heard that think leather can be worn under them. I find them hot enough without gloves. I'll risk some skin to not wear gloves too I guess. My fm's fit pretty damn tightly, I dont think they would go over cuffs and as mentioned.. cordura would eat them alive quickly.

Edited June 22, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[Tawpie]

EWheels sells and includes free with wheels a set of wrist guards that might work. I use ice fishing mittens under them in the winter and they work well. I saw identical ones on Amazon and am sure you can get them from Ali as well. They don’t have top of the wrist protection but also they don’t interfere with my moto jacket. They also don’t have the top plate but I think that top plate does more good when you fall in the snow and your hand punches through the crust. I’d rather have solid palm sliders for an EUC fall.

Edited June 23, 2021 by Tawpie

[Dreygun]

Mobius X8 wristguards look like they would be best for going over bulky gloves due to the wire snugging design. Expensive, but looks like they would be able to work with whatever you wore under them

[Skeptikos]

Mm, so I tried putting all of these wrist guards under a glove and I just don't think it's a good idea. The glove palm sliders are around the base of your thumb and the side of your hand, and the wrist guard splint pushes up the fabric right in between those two, potentially interfering with the sliding.

You can do some clever hacks to make it fit better, like swapping the splints or, for the steel splints in the Nobleman guards, bending them into a different shape. But it can't solve the fundamental bottom splint/palm slider conflict. Plus when I size up to fit the wrist guard, it makes the glove fingers too long for me.

So that was a bust. Wrist guard over gloves is definitely the way to go.

 

On 6/23/2021 at 12:35 AM, Tawpie said:

They also don’t have the top plate but I think that top plate does more good when you fall in the snow and your hand punches through the crust. I’d rather have solid palm sliders for an EUC fall.

Yeah, it seems like, in order of importance for EUC riding, the protective elements are

palm slider > bottom splint > top splint

 

2 hours ago, Dreygun said:

Mobius X8 wristguards look like they would be best for going over bulky gloves due to the wire snugging design. Expensive, but looks like they would be able to work with whatever you wore under them

I'm not going to try these first because they're way too expensive-- nearly $400 for a pair. But also I don't like that it's missing a bottom splint.

[Eucner]

2 hours ago, Skeptikos said:

Yeah, it seems like, in order of importance for EUC riding, the protective elements are

palm slider > bottom splint > top splint

I think it can't be generalized so easily. Every part of the wrist guard have their own function. Depending on the incident they can play a different importance. The wrist braking forces go through the palm, so palm impact protector is important. It is missing from your list. It will significantly limit the peak force. The top splint keeps wrist in a angle where it limits transferred forces from palm to wrist. This is can be more important than bottom splint taking direct impacts. The palm slider is very good on asphalt or rock, but not so important on gravel, grass or off-road.

[Skeptikos]

I don't know how much experience you have with wrist guards but I think you're way off.

 

1 hour ago, Eucner said:

The wrist braking forces go through the palm, so palm impact protector is important. It is missing from your list.

The bottom splint is an impact protector. It should be obvious if you have one that the pointy part that sticks out on the bottom will absorb shocks, and not only that but it redirects the impact away from the base of your palm. If you don't believe that, I guess all I can tell you is that I have six of them sitting around my apartment right now and it's just overwhelmingly clear that they serve that purpose. I have used wrist guards enough that I can 100% assure you that no additional palm impact protector is required.

Edit: That's assuming you have the very common bottom splint design that sticks out on the bottom. Other, flatter designs should have (and typically do have) palm padding.

 

1 hour ago, Eucner said:

The top splint keeps wrist in a angle where it limits transferred forces from palm to wrist. This is can be more important than bottom splint taking direct impacts.

Both the top and bottom splints limit your wrist movement. The top one is more for overextension, so you don't bend your wrist backwards too far. If you're falling forward onto your hands, like EUC riders often do, then that's not as much of a worry. Yes, it does also assist the bottom splint in keeping your hand in that position. But the bottom splint alone does that pretty well. It's going to be exceedingly difficult for you to transfer forces to your wrist if you're wearing a wrist guard with a bottom splint.

 

1 hour ago, Eucner said:

The palm slider is very good on asphalt or rock, but not so important on gravel, grass or off-road.

Yes, I was thinking about asphalt, specifically riding forward on asphalt. On other surfaces or if you're riding backward the order could be different.

Edited June 26, 2021 by Skeptikos
Clarify bottom splint shape

[Eucner]

 

14 hours ago, Skeptikos said:

The bottom splint is an impact protector. It should be obvious if you have one that the pointy part that sticks out on the bottom will absorb shocks, and not only that but it redirects the impact away from the base of your palm.

The wrist breaking force goes in the same direction as bones in the arms (ulna and radius). The bottom splint can't absorb this, because the wrist guard can't be mounted around arm firmly enough. There will always be some play, which allow wrist guard to move, and blood circulate in the hand. In some wrist guards, like highly acclaimed Double Sided Flexmeter, the tip is flexible and will not transfer any significant forces around the wrist to the arm.

The bottom splint spreads forces perpendicular to the arm bones to a wider area, but this direction is less important.

The bent tip of the bottom splint can in some cases deflect some forces away from arm bones direction, but not all forces and in all cases. Important function of the tip is to prevent guard to dig into ground during sliding.

14 hours ago, Skeptikos said:

The top one is more for overextension, so you don't bend your wrist backwards too far.

The bottom splint limits wrists movement downwards. This is needed quite seldom. The wrist can still freely turn upwards and get vulnerably exposed to the forces directional with arm bones. The top splint prevents this movement.

[Skeptikos]

@Eucner, I'm not convinced, and my suspicion is that you've confused yourself with your own convoluted argument.

Do you own this type of wrist guard? If so I think it would be helpful to post some pictures and/or diagrams to illustrate what your concern is. (Though this really isn't the topic of this thread, but I don't mind for now.) It's hard for me to comprehend why you're insisting we need an impact protector in a location that, in my experience, never receives any significant impact while wearing this style of wrist guard.

As for the wrist turning upwards, yes, the bottom splint also prevents this to a large extent, because your wrist is strapped to it. Maybe some splints more than others.

[Eucner]

48 minutes ago, Skeptikos said:

Do you own this type of wrist guard?

I've Flexmeter wrist guards. They have everything a wrist guard needs to have, including cushioned bottom splint. The bent part against palm is the most important part for the cushioning.

20 hours ago, Skeptikos said:

I don't know how much experience you have with wrist guards but I think you're way off.

1 hour ago, Skeptikos said:

@Eucner, I'm not convinced, and my suspicion is that you've confused yourself with your own convoluted argument.

I'm professionally highly qualified to asses this kind of products. Wrist guards might look simple, but when you go into details it gets quite complicated. There is anatomical differences, multiple accident scenarios including differences in load cases and terrains, and every detail in the wrist guard. It would be too long story to go through all combinations here. Here I'm just trying to help you and give some additional info, not to prove you wrong.

[Skeptikos]

Regardless of your credentials, I don't think you're professionally qualified to evaluate a product that you apparently haven't used before and appear to have big misunderstandings about.

So you have the Flexmeters, and it's starting to become clear what the source of confusion is.

You are thinking about wrist guards that have a ***flat*** bottom splint. These require a shock absorber on your wrist, because they will impact your wrist.
Most of the wrist guards I've been looking at have a ***bent*** bottom splint. These do not touch your wrist.

Here is a picture. These are the splints from the Triple 8 Undercover wrist guards. I added dotted lines along the profiles of the splints. (Sorry about the blurriness, it's hard to get a steady shot in this position.)

One thing I hope you can see in this image is that the bottom splint does not touch your wrist. Instead it sits along your lower arm and the middle of your hand. The reason no wrist impact protector is necessary is because nothing is touching or impacting your wrist.

In fact, if you can find even a single example of a wrist guard with both a bent bottom splint and an additional wrist impact protector, I swear to god I will pay you $100. I won't need to pay, because no one does that, because it's obviously unnecessary. It's like arguing that full face helmets are useless because they don't have a chin impact protector. I assume you have a full face helmet and are aware that no chin impact protector is needed, because the helmet doesn't touch your chin.

An additional cool feature of this type of bent bottom splint is that it's not totally rigid. So when the bent part gets hit (the bent part nearly always takes the hit), the slight springiness of the splint acts as a shock absorber. That's nice, the result is that your lower arm and the middle of your hand get hit with a softer impact.

I know from personal experience that this kind of wrist guard works well, and I think every rider using Hillbilly gloves can also attest to that, not to mention a zillion skateboarders and rollerskaters. That's a lot of accumulated experience!

In fact I will take it a step further-- I think this style of wrist guard might be better than the Flexmeters. The Flexmeters are meant to go under gloves, and I wouldn't be surprised if the flat splint was chosen for glove compatibility rather than safety.

In any case, this kind of wrist guard is an excellent choice for wrist protection. Even if it's not every bit as good as the Flexmeter, it's definitely really good, and proven by a gigantic amount of real-world testing. I would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone. I hope the picture clears things up!

Edited June 27, 2021 by Skeptikos

[Eucner]

8 hours ago, Skeptikos said:

Regardless of your credentials, I don't think you're professionally qualified to evaluate a product that you apparently haven't used before and appear to have big misunderstandings about.

Please stop attacking me. You really don't know anything about my professional qualification. I also didn't told you what I have tested and used before and how many years.

8 hours ago, Skeptikos said:

So when the bent part gets hit (the bent part nearly always takes the hit), the slight springiness of the splint acts as a shock absorber.

So you are having an impact protector after all. It would have been easier to admit at the beginning.

[Skeptikos]

Hey man, I tried. That's why I was getting a bit frustrated.

On 6/22/2021 at 4:02 AM, Skeptikos said:

I don't think it's needed on this kind of wrist guard, due to the shape of the bottom splint. The part that sticks out on the bottom takes the initial impact, and sends it to the middle of your hand and your lower arm, away from your wrist. Plus it's springy so it already acts kind of like a cushion.

 

On 6/26/2021 at 6:03 PM, Skeptikos said:

The bottom splint is an impact protector. It should be obvious if you have one that the pointy part that sticks out on the bottom will absorb shocks, and not only that but it redirects the impact away from the base of your palm.

In any case, since I have all these wrist guards sitting around my apartment right now, I'd be happy to try to answer more questions that you may have, and I could even hit them with a hammer to see where the impact goes. We can address all these questions empirically. Unfortunately I don't have a Flexmeter to do direct comparisons though.

[Skeptikos]

@EucnerI found one! Lol, Demon makes a version of this with D3O padding, the Skate Wrist 4.0 X D3O. Since I'm the one who found it I don't think I have to pay you $100 (phwew), but if you're still looking for that it's an option.

This roller derby woman says it's good for preventing hand bruising. I haven't experienced that before but I at least understand how it could happen.