I am always surprised how many eboarders ride without a helmet or just a half shell. In the DH community you will be left at the bottom of the hill if you show up without a lid.
You go down fast when you start hitting 20+mph. Too fast to respond in most cases. Invest in a nice lightweight full face helmet and save your face.
Ouch… guess got to remember not to go too fast 
I don’t have an electric longboard yet. I was just wondering, does it break to maintain a stable speed when going downhill, or do you have to foot break or accelerate backwards or something?
@disastorm you have a few options when going downhill on an electric longboard:
allow the the speed to build up until you reach the board’s terminal velocity which will be much, much slower than a regular board due to all the friction and resistance from the belts and motors. There is a lot less resistance on a single drive, but its still plenty. On a dual drive there’s ample resistance. Enjoy your speed. Hell, hit the accelerator. Why not? Feed the Need for Speed.
USE THE BRAKES. Almost all ESCs used on eboards have them, in fact you’ll be hard pressed to find one the community generally approves of that doesn’t have brakes. I can’t think of any as we all use Car ESCs or a VESC which not only has brakes but regenerative ones. Once the brakes slow you down you can just step off, stomp the tail and flip the board up like Marty McFly.
Slide like a boss. Strap a beer can on your helmet and lay down so the sparks fly.
Use a large, immovable object to abruptly reduce your forward velocity, such as a tree or a large rock. I don’t consider this a good option. It usually doesn’t end well.
I see thanks for the detailed info
i’m one of those idiots with a half shell so i went and started pricing full face downhill helmets. Man they’re pricy, but still way cheaper than your face. Maybe my wife will get me one.
Preach it @chaka ! I hate seeing my friends injured! Do you have a few recommendations? I tried (meaning I ordered, tested, and returned) a Triple 8 Invader. I couldn’t hear much through the helmet; and I feel like audible awareness when in trafficked areas is pretty essential. On plus side it looks badass and was only $130.
I also felt like the full face was a little bit of overkill given my typical 10-12 MPH sidewalk cruising speed, but if I get more daring a full-face is a good idea I think!
For now I’m a hero in a half shell like @longhairedboy.
I use a vector m6 but they just started selling the m5 again. http://www.zgskate.com/helmets/ As for hearing, I usually have earbuds on when I ride but if you have seen my videos you know my head is on a pivot. Always watching…always.
On the topic of e-board safety I wear these gloves when I ride, they have 3 exposed fingers so you can still use a remote confidently and they have saved me a fair bit of hand skin testing out my board in the past few weeks. I like to adapt these to sliding gloves or vice versa once I get more confident with my sliding on 90mm 75a wheels (pretty tricky!)
http://ironclad.com/all-ironclad-gloves/skilled-trades/construction/framer/i like triple 8 gear. I have triple 8 knee and elbow pads, but my helmet is just a cheepie white eggshell that i painted black.
I need a real helmet. I added this to my christmas list:
that’s exactly who i was talking about. That man is an unstoppable force of nature.
@longhairedboy hmmm that helmet looks like it has no vents… will probably be hot.
that helmet looks tight @treenutter
@kai yeah it might be. I wish there was somewhere local i could try these on. I just really like the shape and form of it, and its supposed to be all anti-fog an shit. I think @treenutter has the right idea with that one he posted though. Especially in Florida.
@longhairedboy @kai word. At one point I had a similar helmet; the Giro Switchblade. It was a full-faced mountain biking helmet and I liked it; it only weighs a little more than a regular half-shell, but has the added protection. Worth noting: these are polystyrene helmets and they’re really only good for one major fall. The point is that the material cracks when you fall and absorbs the impact (instead of your head or face). This is different than typical multi-impact skating helmets. When I go full-face, this is what I’ll get. If you fall a lot, it might get expensive (but, I mean, it is your skull after all).
@longhairedboy i agree it looks nice , just not practical for florida heat. Just my opinion before u take the $200 plung. A lot of those downhill helms dont look vented … its hard to find ones that are. I would be sweating in my shoei helmet riding my cbr and that thing is vented. You can open and close the vents on motorcycle helms which is cool though. On a side not i wonder if these chin bars work. If so, a skate version would be cool http://www.pocsports.com/en/product/1648/sinuse-sl
That looks like some tactical gear, nice!
