in the past I've had the best of both worlds for pants, Kevlar lining on front/sides of upper legs and arse (spelled it the Australian way) with dual layer foam crash pads on knees and hips. Kevlar offers no impact protection at all but will last a lot longer sliding than denim (and cheap fashion quality leather for that matter, which is what a lot of girls gear is made of) but the bits you generally impact on are the knees and hips.
incidentally knee sliders, which some folk I've heard refer to as crash protection) are just as bad as nothing as they are so solid they transfer all the impact straight through to your lovely delicate kneecap
I only wear jackets with full back/shoulder/elbow protection as well as preferably codura (rip-proof) or heavy leather construction. most stuff is now affordable and no longer looks as ugly as a hatful or ar$eholes (and yes mr bmw from the early 90s, i'm looking at you on both counts there)I picked up a cordura jacket at a clearance shop for $25 a couple of weeks ago.
my gloves all have minimum flexible plastic or carbon knuckle and finger protection, as well as double leather thickness on palms etc and again are a lot more affordable than they were a few years ago.
all of this is only personal preference but after years of wearing rubbish want to see what happens when you fall off wearing a suit....) and suffering the scars/breaks, I won't compromise any more
