Leatt DBX Comp Neck Brace (discontinued)

I bought this brace after breaking my collar bone due to the chin guard of my helmet making contact with it. It thought some extra protection in general would be good. Along with it, I bought a new helmet that was a bit smaller than my previous. Once I set up the brace, it was very nice and with my 661 comp carbon helmet, I had plenty of range of motion while riding even the steepest trails. I have used it for several seasons it it has done well overall with the materials holding up.

While riding, it never really felt to get in the way while going down the trail. I did experiment with the extra strap and ended up riding without any extra retention as I could not really tell a difference while riding. It does come with multiple adjustment pieces to make sure it fits each rider regardless of size just right.

I feel like it has saved me, or at least did not hurt, on several pretty big wrecks that I have had over the past couple of years. I believe that this is not only for newer riders, but even experienced riders as well. You never know when you may take a spill and break your neck. Relatively cheap for what it could save you for the rest of your life.

Ok, I know that "The Bad" sounds like a bad thing but really it's not when put into context because the thing probably did a lot to save my neck.

I had a season ending crash at one of our local downhill trails near Portland OR and among the many injuries that put me in the hospital for four days was a broken collar bone. Three different doctors all concluded, independently, based on my description of the fall that the brake was from a direct downward force to my right clavicle. Given the way i fell on my right side it had to be my helmet that pressed down into the brace that broke my collar bone. From what I understand this isn't unheard of and it sounds like Leatt has made some adjustments to the DBX Comp 4 brace to help mitigate this. Another solution to help limit the chance of a collar bone brake would be to wear proper armor underneath the brace so it distributes the load better. My buddy Gene uses a POC VPD 2.0 suit and says he never feels the brace pushing on him.

I want you to take that experience with a grain of salt however because as my review title suggests, I'm a hack and crash often. More often than not this brace has done its job, as it may have in my season ender. This experience has not discouraged me from wearing my brace at all. It did however make me revisit my thoughts on how little torso protection I wear.

Overall I suggest you get one of these. I read a report from Whistler saying that head/neck injuries were the 2nd most common at the bike park only after shoulder injuries. They do take some time to get used to and I suggest getting them fit properly. Take your time fitting it, watch the videos and even call Leatt for help. Since it does limit your head movement you'll find yourself looking down trail by moving your eyeballs up rather than tilting your head up. Originally I was getting headaches from this (I know, I'm a bag of problems) but this changed when I replaced my Moto GPX brace with this DBX one. This brace allows for further adjustment on the rear support to give you a bit more range of motion. In addition I believe fit was improved because I also changed from a helmet that wasn't designed with the brace in mind to a D3 which is.

In a nutshell, protect yourself so you can keep riding well past your 50's.

This ended my season. - More Mountain Bike Videos

I've fallen and I can't get up.

Great neckbrace! A+ on protection, A+ on looks, A+ on durability, A+ on confort, A+ on weight.....just a A- due to the fact that I need to do a workaround to place the straps coming out of it higher than the default design it has which makes it more confortable for me, and I have seen other users do the same thing.