Posts
6181
Joined
8/16/2006
Location
Grass Valley, CA
US
Edited Date/Time
1/25/2012 9:40pm
About 2 1/2 years ago, for the first time in my adult life I got bored with riding. I had a brand new YZ450 that sat in my garage for over a year with about 2 hours on it, so I sold it and haven't ridden since. I couple of months ago I picked up a nearly new CRF250 since I finally got the urge again. I'm in the worse shape of my life so I've been working on getting back in shape since I haven't had the time to ride the last 2 months.
Which brings me to the point of my post. Since I haven't been riding I missed the whole neck brace frenzy, but I've been giving it a lot of thought. I've worn a donut since 96 or 97 and I always thought I was doing the best to protect myself I could. Now even though I have never had a neck injury with it I'm put in the position of feeling that I'm more at risk without a Leatt or Alpinestars brace, but am I?
You see posts every day where someone swears that the brace saved them but that can't be true. Prior to the braces I don't know that I can even remember one person who was a message board poster who was paralyzed from a riding incident while the internet boards existed. If I'm forgetting someone no disrespect meant.
Now that they've been around for a year or more I'd like to hear everyones views on them. EVS obviously jumped into the brace game that they had dominated previously with a sub par offering, we've been led to believe Leatt has years of research behind it but how do we know it's the right system?
One overlooked thing that I can see different between the 70s when the number of paralyzing mx injuries appears to me at least to be much lower is the full face helmet. Originally the helmet rarely even had a visor so there was no lever, just a layer between your head and the ground, todays helmets have a mouthpiece a good 2+ inches away from your face. Great for protecting teeth, maybe not so great for protecting spines. I don't think anyones going back to open face helmets anytime soon so what can be done to lessen the impact of that lever?
The Leatt and Alpinetars braces have a shelf that the mouthpiece hits, what if the helmet didn't need that shelf because it had a system of it's own? Sure it sounds goofy right now but I'm just throwing thoughts out there trying to make up my mind on what I'm going to do next week when I start riding again. I told myself I was just going to woods ride for a while and get to love riding again but that isn't going to happen, there are too many good tracks in my area.
The Six Six One chest protector with the built in shelves was the one that I thought had the most promise but that seems to have disappeared. At this point I'm giving serious thought to building a chest protector system that would be a more rigid version of the donut I've had attached for the last ten years. Maybe using the back shelf of an EVS or the $200 Leatt.
I'm not any kind of a human skeleton expert but I'm not convinced that the systems we have available now are doing anything more than preventing one type of spinal injury but aiding in magnifying another.
I'm sure I'm not the only one with these reservations, if I was everyone would be wearing them which they're not.
In the words of my least favorite conservative pundit "What say you"?
Which brings me to the point of my post. Since I haven't been riding I missed the whole neck brace frenzy, but I've been giving it a lot of thought. I've worn a donut since 96 or 97 and I always thought I was doing the best to protect myself I could. Now even though I have never had a neck injury with it I'm put in the position of feeling that I'm more at risk without a Leatt or Alpinestars brace, but am I?
You see posts every day where someone swears that the brace saved them but that can't be true. Prior to the braces I don't know that I can even remember one person who was a message board poster who was paralyzed from a riding incident while the internet boards existed. If I'm forgetting someone no disrespect meant.
Now that they've been around for a year or more I'd like to hear everyones views on them. EVS obviously jumped into the brace game that they had dominated previously with a sub par offering, we've been led to believe Leatt has years of research behind it but how do we know it's the right system?
One overlooked thing that I can see different between the 70s when the number of paralyzing mx injuries appears to me at least to be much lower is the full face helmet. Originally the helmet rarely even had a visor so there was no lever, just a layer between your head and the ground, todays helmets have a mouthpiece a good 2+ inches away from your face. Great for protecting teeth, maybe not so great for protecting spines. I don't think anyones going back to open face helmets anytime soon so what can be done to lessen the impact of that lever?
The Leatt and Alpinetars braces have a shelf that the mouthpiece hits, what if the helmet didn't need that shelf because it had a system of it's own? Sure it sounds goofy right now but I'm just throwing thoughts out there trying to make up my mind on what I'm going to do next week when I start riding again. I told myself I was just going to woods ride for a while and get to love riding again but that isn't going to happen, there are too many good tracks in my area.
The Six Six One chest protector with the built in shelves was the one that I thought had the most promise but that seems to have disappeared. At this point I'm giving serious thought to building a chest protector system that would be a more rigid version of the donut I've had attached for the last ten years. Maybe using the back shelf of an EVS or the $200 Leatt.
I'm not any kind of a human skeleton expert but I'm not convinced that the systems we have available now are doing anything more than preventing one type of spinal injury but aiding in magnifying another.
I'm sure I'm not the only one with these reservations, if I was everyone would be wearing them which they're not.
In the words of my least favorite conservative pundit "What say you"?
I currently wear one of Leatt's Sport braces, and really like it. Thankfully, I also haven't had to "test" its full capabilities yet, but it's comfortable to wear, and I barely notice that it's on.
I like some features of the Alpinestars, but what appears to be a lack of side support spooks me a little, and the price tag spooks me a lot. (Yeah, I know, if you have a ten dollar neck...)
I like the concept of the EVS, but I look at it as more of a hopped-up collar-on-steroids, rather than a full neck support like either of the other two. I do like their support for bolting on a chest protector. They nailed that part. But personally, I would like to see more frontal support.
Back to you questions: I am convinced the Leatt does redirects forces on your spine to other areas of your body that are less likely to cripple you (shoulder and chest).
One overlooked thing that I can see different between the 70s when the number of paralyzing mx injuries appears to me at least to be much lower is the full face helmet
Any comparison to the 70s is irrelevant IMO since the tracks are night and day different
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Nevertheless, the pure peace of mind that I get form wearing the brace is motivation enough to never leave it out of m gear bag. I wrote up a full review of my Leatt brace here.
My big bitch is after nearly two years the folks making chest protectors and jerseys still haven't clued in to the the fact that neck braces are here to stay and the current chest protectors and jerseys need to be redesigned for fit.
Post a reply to: Neck braces, a year later.