I heart my spine

Got to try one of these out this past weekend and promptly went home and placed an order. The ambulance was called out to the track three times this past Sunday, just in the three hours I was there and it sort of drove the point home. Well, actually, technically they were only called twice, but one guy boned himself while the ambulance was there picking someone else up, which is probably the best time to do it.

Anyway, it occurred to me that I routinely do far stupider things with less safety gear on a bike than I do in a car. But it kind of got me thinking about the relationship between perceived safety and acceptable risk. Seems like there's a correlation between obtaining better safety gear and the willingness to attempt more dangerous things. I realized this after the guy who loaned me the brace to try out mentioned that he'd "never been able to do the triples until [he] got the brace."

God help us if we ever get affordable airbag suits.

jg

I'm not a big 'gear' guy, but I bought that brace as soon as they came out. The first week I had it, I thought it was too tight, and restrictive, so I left it off for race 2. At the gate, I felt so uncomfortable without it, i got the guy beside me to hold my bike, while I ran back, and put it on. The problem today is the lousy man made motocross tracks, but thats a topic for another day.

So is this a motorcross specialty or what? I remeber a discussion with Dr Hess a while back talking about these. I would be interested in one for the track, but looking at the 2nd page on your link, it would not seem to lend itself to a crouched riding position

suprf1y wrote: The problem today is the lousy man made motocross tracks, but thats a topic for another day.

+eleventy billion. The old natural terrain MX tracks were much safer and at least to me much more fun.

Mental wrote: So is this a motorcross specialty or what? I remeber a discussion with Dr Hess a while back talking about these. I would be interested in one for the track, but looking at the 2nd page on your link, it would not seem to lend itself to a crouched riding position

It may work just fine for your application. There are sections of foam inside the collar than can be removed, to allow the helmet to go back further, and to adjust for bigger people. Go to the store, and try one on. Take your helmet with you.

I'm wondering if you can compare it to the Leatt brace. Of course, you likely cannot, since they don't seem to make that brace for gentleman of a certain size. Not that you haven't lost weight, but the Leatt seems tiny.

mistanfo wrote: I'm wondering if you can compare it to the Leatt brace. Of course, you likely cannot, since they don't seem to make that brace for gentleman of a certain size. Not that you haven't lost weight, but the Leatt seems tiny.

I tried a Leatt and liked it, but this was way easier to put on and, to me, more comfortable. With the Leatt you almost needed a second person to help snap down your chest protector, and make sure it was correctly seated. The EVS just felt more seamless.

jg

Jensenman wrote:

suprf1y wrote: The problem today is the lousy man made motocross tracks, but thats a topic for another day.

+eleventy billion. The old natural terrain MX tracks were much safer and at least to me much more fun.

Our track seems largely dependent on who does the grooming that morning. It's gotten to where I can tell who groomed it by the time I hit the second jump. One guy is a big Supercross fan, so when he's on the loader all of the jumps have big kickers and send you straight up. Another guy is less experienced (or has a shorter attention span), so his jump faces are rarely consistent: One section will send you 90º skyward, but stay 2 feet to the left and you'll just roll over the top. Then there's the guy that just likes to build new stuff at random. Always interesting when he's working.

jg

The Supercross influence wasn't good for old farts like me and it makes me glad that I quit MXing before that really got big. I much prefer to drive myself home after a day at the track rather than having my buddies bring all my crap home and having the ambulance drop me off later.

I feel the same way. Real motocross does not involve grooming, doubles, triples, or whoop sections . I'm lucky, our home track, where we do most of our racing, is 70's style natural terrain, and a few local ones are as well. I will probably skip the supercrossy ones this year. I'm an old fart too.

Oh, and those two tracks are just outside of Simcoe

suprf1y wrote: Oh, and those two tracks are just outside of Simcoe

Just picked up this thread again and realized I missed this post. You know that's where the Canadian half of my family is from, right? All the clan that's still up there is in either Simcoe or Burford.

jg

P.S. Oh, and my brace got here today. On track report tomorrow if thing go well.

I recalled that from one of the 'lets make fun of Canadians' threads

I'm near Waterford.