Anybody use a neck brace?

[Floowid]

I am seriously looking at this https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/leatt-stx-road-neck-brace?sku_id=766051
(I'm new to the forum so I don't know if links to advertisers sites will be blocked or banned. Apologies if that is the case. It is a link to a Leatt STX Road Neck Brace.)

It's back ordered or out of stock right now, so either it's a really popular piece of equipment or so unpopular somebody already bought the 2 they had in stock. Looking for any experience with neck braces for casual road bike users, this model or any others.

 

[a guy from the north]

I am seriously looking at this https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/leatt-stx-road-neck-brace?sku_id=766051
(I'm new to the forum so I don't know if links to advertisers sites will be blocked or banned. Apologies if that is the case. It is a link to a Leatt STX Road Neck Brace.)

It's back ordered or out of stock right now, so either it's a really popular piece of equipment or so unpopular somebody already bought the 2 they had in stock. Looking for any experience with neck braces for casual road bike users, this model or any others.

I suggest that you watch the (Feb 28 2021) video by Ryan Fortnine on those turtle air vests before spending so much money on "only" a neck brace.
When I put the [turtle vest] product name into Google I saw them on discount at one online store for a less than $550 CAD (the shipping was extra ).

Personally - I'm saving up now for one come spring.

In the spirit of NOT posting direct links to vendors or products Im not embedding an links - we all know how to find things online now anyway.

 

[WutangPanda]

That is an amazingly informative video, thanks for suggesting it. I heard about the airbag vests from someone who rides horses and wasn't sure if it was really a good idea. I will definitely be saving for one of these now.

 

[Floowid]

Thanks guy from the north! I have been seeing that video come up in my recommended list for a while but haven't watched it. I like the Turtle vest. It is out of stock at RevZilla, but I will probably be getting one of those rather than just a neck brace.

 

[WutangPanda]

Thanks guy from the north! I have been seeing that video come up in my recommended list for a while but haven't watched it. I like the Turtle vest. It is out of stock at RevZilla, but I will probably be getting one of those rather than just a neck brace.

I looked it up after watching the video, you can get them directly from the company. Looks like wait time is 2-3wks.

 

[a guy from the north]

That is an amazingly informative video, thanks for suggesting it. I heard about the airbag vests from someone who rides horses and wasn't sure if it was really a good idea. I will definitely be saving for one of these now.

If you're not a regular viewer of the fort nine videos - then YOU are in for a real treat .

I most highly recommend that you make a point of watching ALL of the BIKE reviews that they have made.
The product review videos are tremendously informative and great too - but they can wait until you see "the best stuff"

I'm telling you now: If they were to concatenated the bike reviews into a movie and you paid money to see it in a theater ...
You'd come out feel that it was the first movie in years that was really worth your money.

Yes... they are THAT good.
There is depth, philosophy, and a lot of very very witty humor.

Edit:
I was resolved to NOT post any links, but to heck with it...
Here's a link to an existing playlist I just found :

... there goes your weekend.

 

[WutangPanda]

If you're not a regular viewer of the fort nine videos - then YOU are in for a real treat .

I most highly recommend that you make a point of watching ALL of the BIKE reviews that they have made.
The product review videos are tremendously informative and great too - but they can wait until you see "the best stuff"

I'm telling you now: If they were to concatenated the bike reviews into a movie and you paid money to see it in a theater ...
You'd come out feel that it was the first movie in years that was really worth your money.

Yes... they are THAT good.
There is depth, philosophy, and a lot of very very witty humor.

Edit:
I was resolved to NOT post any links, but to heck with it...
Here's a link to an existing playlist I just found :

... there goes your weekend.

There goes my night, these videos are great and I really like that they include science. Why do people let children do stupid things?

 

[CapeMan]

If you're not a regular viewer of the fort nine videos - then YOU are in for a real treat .

I most highly recommend that you make a point of watching ALL of the BIKE reviews that they have made.
The product review videos are tremendously informative and great too - but they can wait until you see "the best stuff"

I'm telling you now: If they were to concatenated the bike reviews into a movie and you paid money to see it in a theater ...
You'd come out feel that it was the first movie in years that was really worth your money.

Yes... they are THAT good.
There is depth, philosophy, and a lot of very very witty humor.

Edit:
I was resolved to NOT post any links, but to heck with it...
Here's a link to an existing playlist I just found :

... there goes your weekend.

Back in the day, in Alaska, the slogan was "Buy your kid a 3 wheeler for his last birthday."

 

[Phaedrus]

Fortnine is entertaining and many time very informative. But as any channel that requires ever increasing viewership it taps into melodramatics a bit too much. The good comes with the bad. Not an indictment against it, just keeping things in perspective as the guy has developed an almost cult like followership.

I grew up riding an ATC 90 and had my fair share of crashes, like I did with many other motorized vehicles as a teen. The ATC was "safe enough" once you get the hang of it, and understand its limitations. The problem comes with thinking/assuming that somehow there is no risk and technology is going to protect you. Dad forced me to wear helmet and gloves, but he was quick to reinforce the idea: "Son, the best protection is the organ between your ears, use it!". I'm glad that notion stuck with me.

Move forward 20 years and the first ABS in motorbikes started to show. Do you remember those bulky pieces in the BMW's, late 80's? I still recall conversations with fellow riders that believe that tech was a life saver. Which in a way it was/is, as long as one does not throw good sense out the window. If every piece of safety equipment reduces common sense due to over reliance on technology, we are going backwards. Now it's almost impossible to buy a bike without a long list of protective features (ABS, Traction Control, Launch control, Riding modes and now even radar is starting to appear). As guess that is all fine and dandy provided the organ between the ears is still engaged.

Something similar is happening with the fixation with protective equipment. People can not get enough of it. Pretty soon in order to get on a motorcycle we'd look like medieval warriors. All for my own protection. Good, I guess, if you use the bike in the weekend for entertaining. But not very practical as a mean of daily transportation. By the way, I'm not opposed to safety equipment or even advocating for no helmet laws. Just keep things reasonable.

By the way, I can't picture myself hooking/unhooking the tether on that pesky Helite Airbag EVERY time and get on the bike. No thanks! I'd keep the helmet, gloves and my trusty leather jacket along with Dad's suggestion.

Ride Safe,

ps. Sorry, I miss spoke and take back all of the above. I'm all in when somebody devices a rocket launcher that is radar activated against those texting and driving...

 

[mzflorida]

There goes my night, these videos are great and I really like that they include science. Why do people let children do stupid things?

I am not trying to be contrary, and I really enjoy Ryan's videos, but much of what he presents is not science but rather conclusions drawn from poorly controlled tests. Dont get me wrong; I would do it the same way he does.

 

[mzflorida]

advrider.com had quite a few articles on neck braces over the past year or two. I would bet they are in their searchable archives. That said, with no experience with either neck braces or Turtle vests, I would go with the decision you made to consider the vest as opposed to the brace.

 

[a guy from the north]

I am not trying to be contrary, and I really enjoy Ryan's videos, but much of what he presents is not science but rather conclusions drawn from poorly controlled tests. Dont get me wrong; I would do it the same way he does.

As soon as you find somthing that meets your high standards and is entertaining like the F9 stuff let us know.
In the meantime I consider the "Ryan Fortnine" character a national treasure.

He may not make up for Justin Bieber, Nickleback and Celine Dion but his porn-stache in the Kawasaki H2 review / Top Gun parody made me laugh hard.

 

[mzflorida]

You got it wrong about me and my position. I like his videos and I have low standards. Actually, I make bad decisions just about every day, and I am totally okay with that. My only point is that his tests (like on riding jeans and taking golf clubs to helmets) don't provide any information other than the helmet will fail or survive if hit with a golf club. Entertaining yes, science no.

 

[melensdad]

advrider.com had quite a few articles on neck braces over the past year or two. I would bet they are in their searchable archives. That said, with no experience with either neck braces or Turtle vests, I would go with the decision you made to consider the vest as opposed to the brace.

I'd go with the vest over a brace for touring or everyday riding because of the convenience of the vest over the brace. The downside of the vest is that if you have tighter fitting jackets you may be buying new jackets to wear over the vest. Certainly a jacket with a built in airbag would be even better. But I'm not willing to invest in 2 or 3 airbag jackets. I believe that to be good gear it must be used. Something too inconvenient to use fails my test of what is 'good' gear.

 

[Floowid]

It seems the consensus is:

• Nobody has tried anything like to Leatt neck brace for road use.
• We all pretty much agree the HeLite Turtle 2 vest looks like the better option (aside from the one person who thinks it would be inconvenient to clip the harness each time you get on and off the bike).
• Most of us find Ryan Fortnine entertaining and also find some useful information in his videos.

I'm really close to giving the vest a try. If I get anything it will be the vest rather than the neck brace.

 

[melensdad]

FWIW I'd look at the vests that use algorithms rather than tethers. Alpinestars, KLIM, etc instead of the string attached Helite Turtle

 

[Floowid]

I've looked at all of those. I've watched videos about all of them. There are a couple things I like about the tethered vest a little better. I like its "foot print" when inflated. It looks like it gives the best cervical spinal coverage. I like the click it and forget it nature of the tether. I don't need one more thing to remember to charge, even if that means I have to remember to hook and unhook it. I have trained myself to put my seat belt on before the car moves and I don't have any problem remembering to take it off to get out, I feel like I can train my brain to get used to the tether. And I like that as a consumer I can just pop in another CO2 canister if the HeLite is triggered, up to 6 times, before sending it back. The rest of those all require you to send them in to the factory after each "use", and the cost of reconditioning (recharge) can be pretty high with some of the others. But at this point I am weighing all the options, including the option to not get anything.

 

[revmatch]

I've looked at all of those. I've watched videos about all of them. There are a couple things I like about the tethered vest a little better. I like its "foot print" when inflated. It looks like it gives the best cervical spinal coverage. I like the click it and forget it nature of the tether. I don't need one more thing to remember to charge, even if that means I have to remember to hook and unhook it. I have trained myself to put my seat belt on before the car moves and I don't have any problem remembering to take it off to get out, I feel like I can train my brain to get used to the tether. And I like that as a consumer I can just pop in another CO2 canister if the HeLite is triggered, up to 6 times, before sending it back. The rest of those all require you to send them in to the factory after each "use", and the cost of reconditioning (recharge) can be pretty high with some of the others. But at this point I am weighing all the options, including the option to not get anything.

I was looking into the algorithm-based airbag vests too and, in addition to all the great points @Floowid made above, I’d be really anxious that the vest would activate when it’s not supposed to. One of the reviews on RevZilla claims their vest activated when they road over a pothole, while another claims it activated when their buddy patted them on the back. I’ve also seen a Moto GP video of one of the riders’ vests activating when doing a fist pump.

Personally, I don’t want that worry lingering in my mind every time I ride, and I have no clue how I’d react if the vest activated while I was riding so I wouldn’t get any of the algorithm vests.

That said, the Fortnine video actually inspired me to finally purchase the Hi-Viz Helite Turtle vest and it just arrived this morning. Looking forward to trying it out on my next ride, but initial impressions are very positive — the thing is super bright, seems very well constructed, has lots of adjustability, and fits nicely on top of all my other gear without adding too much bulk. It also includes a big CE Level 2 back protector which is nice. Was curious if I’d have to take off the ForceField back protector I currently wear under my jacket, but wearing both actually doesn’t feel or look bad / bulky.

Happy to post pictures or answer any questions if folks are interested.

 

[davidc83]

The airbag vests have been around for a few years now in the equine arena...A few years back (5), I went to a 3 day eventing competition....seen one of the riders come off a horse over a jump, had the airbag vest, and before he hit the ground it was completely inflated....(the airbag vest had a tether); worked as designed, rider was uninjured...falling off a 17 hand horse going over 5 ft jumps, can lead to major injuries (aka Christopher Reeves) ...the wife wanted me to look seriously in purchasing one for when I rode the motorcycles; however, the first time I would forget about the tether and boom....

 

[melensdad]

I was looking into the algorithm-based airbag vests too and, in addition to all the great points @Floowid made above, I’d be really anxious that the vest would activate when it’s not supposed to. One of the reviews on RevZilla claims their vest activated when they road over a pothole, while another claims it activated when their buddy patted them on the back. I’ve also seen a Moto GP video of one of the riders’ vests activating when doing a fist pump.

Personally, I don’t want that worry lingering in my mind every time I ride, and I have no clue how I’d react if the vest activated while I was riding so I wouldn’t get any of the algorithm vests.

That said, the Fortnine video actually inspired me to finally purchase the Hi-Viz Helite Turtle vest and it just arrived this morning. Looking forward to trying it out on my next ride, but initial impressions are very positive — the thing is super bright, seems very well constructed, has lots of adjustability, and fits nicely on top of all my other gear without adding too much bulk. It also includes a big CE Level 2 back protector which is nice. Was curious if I’d have to take off the ForceField back protector I currently wear under my jacket, but wearing both actually doesn’t feel or look bad / bulky.

Happy to post pictures or answer any questions if folks are interested.

Please post photos and also give us your impressions after several rides.

If the vest inflated while under a jacket that also has back armor is there room for full inflation?

How hot is it - or how much air does it flow?

Are these practical to wear on hot humid days when even a mesh armored jacket makes you sweat?

How much weight do you feel while wearing it with a jacket? Do you feel the added few pounds will create fatigue while touring in a vest?

How does it fit over heated gear?

Photo: can you show the tether attaches to the bike?

I’m very curious. Probably have 100 more questions!