Injury Protection....Atlas Brace!

A bunch of us are sitting around the track today and the subject of protective gear comes up. One of the young guys asks what we think of the new minimalist movement…say what is the general response. You’re talking to guys that rode with open faced helmets and Jofas. Roost protection was a thin piece of vinyl that lasted a season if you were lucky. Some of the guys even remembered wearing cut up football shoulder pads. You want minimalist try garden gloves and catchers shin guards duct taped to the outside of your boots. We all had a good laugh as the stories got more outrageous. Finally, the talk turned a little more serious and everyone agreed protective gear has come a long way in the last few years. Back in the day JT exploded the roost protection concept and now Fox and Fly have expanded the idea with multiple choices for everyone. Helmets, boots and goggles continue to get more sophisticated.  However, we all agreed the one area that may be the most important development is the prevention of catastrophic injury thru the continued development of neck braces. Leatt and Atlas Brace are the leaders in this category. Most of us had tried neck rolls when they first came out and several of the guys were current neck brace users. After a spirited discussion everyone agreed we should take a look again at neck braces. One just never knows when you are going to go over the bars! Here is what we decided was the important features to look for;

                Protection first and foremost

                Mobility - you must be able to move around on the bike

                Comfort – if not comfortable who would wear it

                Weight – lite equals comfort

                Adjustable – some of us are rotund and need to adjust the size

After taking a poll the group decided we’d like to test the new Atlas Air, which we will do over the next few weeks.

Stay tuned.