Now, if this rider is not you; meaning you like to take the smooth line, keep a mellow, easy-going pace or the tires rarely leave the ground, then maybe a neck brace might be just a bit overkill for your individual needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the insanely fast speeds that modern-day mountain bikes are capable of achieving, more and more mountain bikers are beginning to wear neck braces while they ride, and for good reason. The neck is a pretty vital part of our body and yet so vulnerable to injury. Here is some more info I was able to find when doing my research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do Neck Braces Work?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Neckbrace_1691-1024x576.jpg?resize=256%2C144&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThere are many different designs of neck braces currently on the market, most of them all work under the same concept; limiting head movement in order to prevent neck injury. A neck brace is essentially just a collar that sits on the shoulders, surrounds the neck and acts as a ‘bump stop’ during extreme maneuvers or crashes that would cause the head an neck to travel past the point of their normal range of motion. Some manufacturers design in break-away points that give way during the hardest of impacts, and are said to improve the overall safety of the brace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The human head is quite a heavy object to be held up by our relatively small neck, so neck injuries are all too common in many of today’s sports, including mountain biking. Many riders have sustained neck injuries from just landing too hard and never really crashing. Personal watercraft, such as jet ski’s and wave runners are notorious for whipping the head around while riding at high speed in choppy water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most neck braces still allow enough range of motion in the head and neck in order to still feel unimpeded and able to ride effectively without being hampered. The two struts that lay flat against the chest and back not only keep the brace in place<\/g> but have the added benefit of an extra layer of impact protection to the collar bones and spine. A win-win.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDo Neck Braces Have a Safety Certification?<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\nAs of now, the only certification that covers neck braces would be the European CE certification, which covers personal protective equipment, motorcycle back protectors against mechanical impacts, general requirements of protective clothing and ergonomics and tensile strength. Undoubtedly<\/g>, in time, as more research is conducted and data is compiled, a set of standards for kneck braces will be put forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMuch of the research and development is still only being handled by manufacturers, with not much of a sanctioning body overseeing or injecting regulations into the market. As with most things in life, there are two sides to the fence, with some riders of the opinion that neck braces can be more dangerous than riding without one. Beings that they are still relatively new to the market, a lot of research needs to be conducted in order to conclude that neck braces are in fact preventing injury without causing some other form of damage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are Neck Braces Uncomfortable\/Comfortable<\/g>?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/20190729_1735131.jpg?resize=284%2C230&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nMost modern neck braces built today are actually quite comfortable. When properly fitted and adjusted to the individual rider, neck braces are not that much of a hindrance when riding. After some time you actually begin to forget that it’s there, some manufacturers claim that within five minutes you’ll be used to wearing it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My son wore his when riding for seven or eight years and never once complained of it being uncomfortable, too confining or cumbersome. For many people, the added safety helps build their self-confidence allowing them to feel safer and get into that flow state much easier. A confident rider is a better rider. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which brands are best?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nThere are only a few manufacturers out there currently on the market: Alpinestars, Atlas, and Leatt among the most popular. Dr. Christopher Leatt was first to patent a product intended to prevent neck injury in 2003. As such, Leatt has had several licensing deals with other apparel and gear company’s to produce neck braces with their individual branding applied. Because of the lack of diversity in the neckbrace space, there really isn’t a vast<\/g> selection of design options to chose<\/g> from. <\/p>\n\n\n\nDo Neck Braces Cost a Lot?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nOn average, a mountain bike neck brace costs somewhere between $210 and $500 on Amazon. With just a small handful of manufacturers out there, a huge selection to choose from is just not available yet. As such, the price range is still relatively narrow as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is a list of some popular models and their cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alpinestars BNS Tech Carbon <\/td> $209.73<\/td><\/tr> Alpinestars Pro Bionic<\/td> $329.99<\/td><\/tr> Atlas Air<\/td> $329.99
<\/td><\/tr> Leatt DBX 3.5<\/td> $249.99<\/td><\/tr> Leatt DBX DBX 6.5 Carbon<\/td> $499.95
<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\nAre Neck Braces Heavy?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nWith the modern, lightweight materials available today, neck braces have gotten lighter with time. On average, a mountain bike neck brace weighs between 500g-600g (1.1lbs. – 1.3lbs.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, 600g. to some of the ‘weight weenies’ out, there is a ton. And in the XC world of titanium, carbon fiber and anything that will shed even just a few grams of unneeded weight, an extra pound of gear might as well be a boat anchor. At least in the mind of an XC racer anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But rolling hills and smooth singletrack are not what we’re talkin’ here. We’re talkin’ 10-foot drops and trails so steep you can hardly walk up them. So if you are the rider looking to take on the most challenging features and trails, then the last thing you should do is sacrifice safety for weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s a list of advertised weights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alpinestars BNS Tech Carbon<\/td> 735g<\/td><\/tr> Leat DBX 3.5<\/td> 499g
<\/td><\/tr> Leat DBX 6.5 Carbon<\/td> 600g<\/td><\/tr> Atlas Air<\/td> 600g<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\nRelated Questions?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nDo neck braces work with full-face helmets?<\/strong> Yes! Quite actually, neck braces are not recommended to be worn with any type of helmet other than a full-face. Without a chinbar to bear the brunt of the force during hard impacts, it will be your chin and jaw that take the hit, and that sounds like a quick trip to facial reconstruction surgery to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat’s the difference between a neck brace and a collar? <\/strong> A company by the name of EVS is producing a similar product to a neck brace, that they term a ‘race collar’. It works much similar to a neck brace but claims to act more cushion-like in its ability to stop the head, rather than an abrupt halt. Though having a lower profile, many riders complain of them being too restrictive, hot and confining when compared to a Leatt neck brace.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen should I not wear a neck brace?<\/strong> My son had an older style Leatt brace that he wore for years when he was dirt biking, but when he began mountain biking more, he discovered that his neck brace limited his movement so much that he actually felt unsafe wearing it. The combination of the reduced range of motion and his more bent-over riding style did not allow him to look up and ahead far enough, in order to safely read the trail with enough time to react. It was actually quite unnerving to ride this way, as he felt it was forcing him to almost stare at the front tire instead of looking where he wanted to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIf you experience this with your own neck brace, please remove it as soon as possible during your ride. Check to make sure it is properly adjusted. After adjustment, if the brace is still too limiting, you may have to ditch it. What’s the purpose of protective gear, if it causes you to crash more?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As my son becomes more and more interested in mountain biking, that ‘protective parent’ in me has been kicking in lately and has me pondering “should he wear a neck brace while…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[3],"tags":[41,12,39,7,17,34,40],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/20190729_1648171-e1564444461949.jpg?fit=950%2C535&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paJErm-J","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":652,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThere are many different designs of neck braces currently on the market, most of them all work under the same concept; limiting head movement in order to prevent neck injury. A neck brace is essentially just a collar that sits on the shoulders, surrounds the neck and acts as a ‘bump stop’ during extreme maneuvers or crashes that would cause the head an neck to travel past the point of their normal range of motion. Some manufacturers design in break-away points that give way during the hardest of impacts, and are said to improve the overall safety of the brace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The human head is quite a heavy object to be held up by our relatively small neck, so neck injuries are all too common in many of today’s sports, including mountain biking. Many riders have sustained neck injuries from just landing too hard and never really crashing. Personal watercraft, such as jet ski’s and wave runners are notorious for whipping the head around while riding at high speed in choppy water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most neck braces still allow enough range of motion in the head and neck in order to still feel unimpeded and able to ride effectively without being hampered. The two struts that lay flat against the chest and back not only keep the brace in As of now, the only certification that covers neck braces would be the European CE certification, which covers personal protective equipment, motorcycle back protectors against mechanical impacts, general requirements of protective clothing and ergonomics and tensile strength. Much of the research and development is still only being handled by manufacturers, with not much of a sanctioning body overseeing or injecting regulations into the market. As with most things in life, there are two sides to the fence, with some riders of the opinion that neck braces can be more dangerous than riding without one. Beings that they are still relatively new to the market, a lot of research needs to be conducted in order to conclude that neck braces are in fact preventing injury without causing some other form of damage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most modern neck braces built today are actually quite comfortable. When properly fitted and adjusted to the individual rider, neck braces are not that much of a hindrance when riding. After some time you actually begin to forget that it’s there, some manufacturers claim that within five minutes you’ll be used to wearing it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My son wore his when riding for seven or eight years and never once complained of it being uncomfortable, too confining or cumbersome. For many people, the added safety helps build their self-confidence allowing them to feel safer and get into that flow state much easier. A confident rider is a better rider. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are only a few manufacturers out there currently on the market: Alpinestars, Atlas, and Leatt among the most popular. Dr. Christopher Leatt was first to patent a product intended to prevent neck injury in 2003. As such, Leatt has had several licensing deals with other apparel and gear company’s to produce neck braces with their individual branding applied. Because of the lack of diversity in the neckbrace space, there really isn’t a On average, a mountain bike neck brace costs somewhere between $210 and $500 on Amazon. With just a small handful of manufacturers out there, a huge selection to choose from is just not available yet. As such, the price range is still relatively narrow as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is a list of some popular models and their cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the modern, lightweight materials available today, neck braces have gotten lighter with time. On average, a mountain bike neck brace weighs between 500g-600g (1.1lbs. – 1.3lbs.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, 600g. to some of the ‘weight weenies’ out, there is a ton. And in the XC world of titanium, carbon fiber and anything that will shed even just a few grams of unneeded weight, an extra pound of gear might as well be a boat anchor. At least in the mind of an XC racer anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But rolling hills and smooth singletrack are not what we’re talkin’ here. We’re talkin’ 10-foot drops and trails so steep you can hardly walk up them. So if you are the rider looking to take on the most challenging features and trails, then the last thing you should do is sacrifice safety for weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s a list of advertised weights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do neck braces work with full-face helmets?<\/strong> Yes! Quite actually, neck braces are not recommended to be worn with any type of helmet other than a full-face. Without a chinbar to bear the brunt of the force during hard impacts, it will be your chin and jaw that take the hit, and that sounds like a quick trip to facial reconstruction surgery to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What’s the difference between a neck brace and a collar? <\/strong> A company by the name of EVS is producing a similar product to a neck brace, that they term a ‘race collar’. It works much similar to a neck brace but claims to act more cushion-like in its ability to stop the head, rather than an abrupt halt. Though having a lower profile, many riders complain of them being too restrictive, hot and confining when compared to a Leatt neck brace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When should I not wear a neck brace?<\/strong> My son had an older style Leatt brace that he wore for years when he was dirt biking, but when he began mountain biking more, he discovered that his neck brace limited his movement so much that he actually felt unsafe wearing it. The combination of the reduced range of motion and his more bent-over riding style did not allow him to look up and ahead far enough, in order to safely read the trail with enough time to react. It was actually quite unnerving to ride this way, as he felt it was forcing him to almost stare at the front tire instead of looking where he wanted to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you experience this with your own neck brace, please remove it as soon as possible during your ride. Check to make sure it is properly adjusted. After adjustment, if the brace is still too limiting, you may have to ditch it. What’s the purpose of protective gear, if it causes you to crash more?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As my son becomes more and more interested in mountain biking, that ‘protective parent’ in me has been kicking in lately and has me pondering “should he wear a neck brace while…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[3],"tags":[41,12,39,7,17,34,40],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/20190729_1648171-e1564444461949.jpg?fit=950%2C535&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paJErm-J","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":652,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtbikeprogress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Do Neck Braces Have a Safety Certification?<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Are Neck Braces Uncomfortable\/C
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWhich brands are best?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Do Neck Braces Cost a Lot?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Alpinestars BNS Tech Carbon <\/td> $209.73<\/td><\/tr> Alpinestars Pro Bionic<\/td> $329.99<\/td><\/tr> Atlas Air<\/td> $329.99
<\/td><\/tr>Leatt DBX 3.5<\/td> $249.99<\/td><\/tr> Leatt DBX DBX 6.5 Carbon<\/td> $499.95
<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\nAre Neck Braces Heavy?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Alpinestars BNS Tech Carbon<\/td> 735g<\/td><\/tr> Leat DBX 3.5<\/td> 499g
<\/td><\/tr>Leat DBX 6.5 Carbon<\/td> 600g<\/td><\/tr> Atlas Air<\/td> 600g<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n Related Questions?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n