I cant wait to see the first rider at a trail centre – fully padded up, with their MET Parachute on and Neck Brace in place making a pig’s ear of coming down any of the descents………its going to happen, you know it will.

I’ll be laughing so hard i’ll probably fall of my bike

If its a blue/white 661 it’s probably me. It’s odd, on site I/we unquestioningly wear bright orange boiler suits, hard hats, goggles, gloves, boots and stick to the 30mph limit (and the walking pace 5mph limits arround some areas). Yet offsite people decry safety gear as stupid despite it being a lot more dangerous than walking down the road which is essentialy what we’re doing on site, except there’s barely any trafic on site!

WTF is going on with the EVS one i’ts huge! Either that or its being worn by a midget

the majority I’ve seen are worn by teenagers and those in their early 20s – and are generally worn without upper body armour.
Either it’s a fashion thing or young adults are more susceptible to helmet related spinal injuries as their neck muscles are weaker (lolipop heads).

are generally worn without upper body armour

They are more comfortable when worn without it!

Plus, body armour will prevent a couple of scratches, a neck brace is designed to prevent you breaking your neck!

Plus, body armour will prevent a couple of scratches

Including a spine protector?

I’ll give you that one Mikey, my Leatt doesn’t work well with my Poc spine protector… hence the sale of it.

Most new armours, I think, are coming neck brace compatible. I still need to check to see if my Core Saver is. I am pretty certain it is as it was something I looked into when I bought it.

Poc are still researching whether they (neck braces) are of real benefit. I’m sure that they’ll bring out one eventually.

costing at least £300
available only in off-white with pastelly neon graphics

£300 would be cheap for POC… I reckon you’d be looking at the best part of £500.

I’ve had them marked down as expensive fashion items since they came out; until, a month or so back at Inners I without warning went over the bars at high speed and landed pretty much on my head. I was lucky and had no obvious injuries, however I got a real fright plus I had a stiff neck for days.

It did make me think. I don’t go mental buying bike stuff, but my DH bike cost me £4k, helmet £250, etc. I imagined how daft I’d feel lying in the Southern* with a spinal injury, wondering to myself, “Would £300 have prevented this?” Even if it wouldn’t necessarily have made any difference, I would wonder if it would have. I got one the next day.

*My missus broke her neck a few years back (she’s fine now), a spinal injuries unit has some sorry soles in it I can assure you.

thisisnotaspoon – Member

Like TJ noraly says, if I was wearing a pressure suit, hip armour, shin pads, neck brace and FF, I’d feel invincible, and therefore crash more

Aye, interesting topic of its own this. Some brilliant studies- soldiers with big confidence inspiring helmets being more likely to get shot in the face, frinstance. Personally, the jousting suit reminds me that I’m doing something stupid and should probably be careful 😉

The Southern Yeti – Member

Plus, body armour will prevent a couple of scratches, a neck brace is designed to prevent you breaking your neck!

Well, no, body armour isn’t restricted to preventing scratches at all. But that aside; the point is that kneepads and similiar prevent against common injuries; neck braces protect against uncommon injuries.