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Hi guys, what do you think about using a spine protection (the ones born for motorbiking or snowboard) in urban environment?

Why so specific with "urban" jumps? I usually wear a condom for urban jumps.

S/L or hand held its fine, i ijust find an issue of it pushing my rig really far off my back so that it makes a normal deployment difficult.

If it can't protect compression fractures I don't see a purpose.

In an object strike, it's not all going to be about compression.

I have a friend who has two holes completely through the back pad of his DP, from where his spine protector met the rock in a cliff strike. I'm only guessing, but I'd say he'd be unable to walk today if he wasn't wearing the spine protector in that strike.

Just a thought on bulky protection, and I preface this is completely my opinion only. i had a flack jacket and bulky boots when I first started and found that I felt more awkward exiting, seemed more unstable, and got a worse push with all my extra gear. I eventually decided that I was more likely to have an incident from my gear than be saved by my gear, so now I wear normal sneakers and a helmet. I do like the gform pads, but only really wear them when I think I need them for a gnarly landing area. Just my two cents. Push hard on exits, run if you can, and be quick on your toggles.

After a cliffstrike, numerous crash landings and a sweet 20 meter downwind asphalt swoop(swooped on biker legpads), I can say that 98% of the time you do not need any padding, not even a helmet. But on those times that it is needed, without it you are fucked. Anywhere from pissing under yourself for 6 month to gruesome dismemberment.

P.S.
If
than you;re down to 2 options:
a) Get gear that is appropriate for you, size, model, etc...
b) Get a clue (as in how to use the gear that you have)

Check out the D30 stuff that's out now. It's incredibly thin and light. You can wear some of it under normal clothes without really showing at all (nice for sneaking into places).

I hear that chainmail armour provides adequate protection. You can even land in shark infested waters and not have to worry about getting your ass bit off. Plus, you can really swoop it in on landing and make the ladies cream.

i think it's like asking, if you should jump a water rig on every bridge jump. it is entirely case-by-case, and you can't generalize strictly by urban vs. not.

i have jumped urban and landed in a dirt field, and i have jumped rural where i crashed in on concrete between a cement retaining wall and a guardrail.

edit to add: i think in general, helmet philosophy applies to any protective gear. i.e. unless you have a really good reason not to wear it, it makes total sense regardless of where you are jumping.

Sounds like you need to learn how to exit and pilot a canopy

Things do not always go as planned, that is shit happens. And if you never had any incidents than you need to jump more

That is funny. hjumper33.... Jump more okay?

He just isn't eastern European enough for that amount of carnage.

with the back protection out there do any of you find that you have to resize your harness at all or can you sneak it in underneath your regularly sized harness without an issue???

I have a Velocity Gear standalone back protector. Although it seems very well built, it does not fit under my usual rig. My harness was not measured to account for this, so naturally it makes for an overly tight fit to the point of feeling like a liability. Therefore I do not use it. I think I have jumped with it once or twice, and it just felt wrong

Have never tried the newer D3O foam or related materials.

I used to use a hard plastic Daniese body armor jacket that was pretty cumbersome and I found myself jumping without it unless I was doing something especially gnarly.
I recently bought a Poc VPD jacket (similar to D3O and Gform) and I think its a major improvement. The pads are low profile and flexible enough to not really effect my ability to run and push off hard or to quickly reach up for the toggles. They fit a lot better under my rig and aren't excessively heavy or stiff. The only downside so far is they are pretty temperature sensitive and they take a while to warm up to your body temperature and become totally flexible.
As far as boots are concerned I'm thinking about going back to uber sturdy boots for solid object jumps given the number of friends I've seen going through multiple surgeries to re-attach and repair their feet over the past year.

I jumped without a spine protector for hundreds of jumps. I met a jumper in Moab who was new to E's, jumped a bunch with him before he asked me about wearing a spine protector. I though it would be a good idea to wear one, since we both had them sitting in our gear bags, we decided to wear them. On the second jump wearing our spine protectors, I watched him have a nasty wall strike. He bounced, tumbled, and rag dolled until he landed on his back on a ledge 100 ft up on the cliff face. I'm guessing he's glad he wore a full face helmet and spine protector.

I wear specific gear for certain jumps and don't feel that it hinders my launch or causes me any problems. Better to wear it and not need it, then to be hurt or paralyzed from a spine injury. I have one of these:

http://www.motosport.com/...asg7sCFY9sfgodCCYApw