Review: Atlas Original Neck Brace
18 September 2013 | By AngusMcIntoshYour neck is certainly something that requires protecting! Check out MoreDirt's review on the Atlas Original Neck brace and see what we thought of it!
We took delivery of the Atlas brace from the guys over at Decade distribution a while back and ever since then Angus hasn’t set pedal onto the hill without it…
Atlas may be more well known in the Moto and Supercross side of things with the one and only Ryan Villopoto choosing to adorn the Atlas but us mountain bikers necks need protecting too!
The speeds we reach on mountain bikes might not be the same as seen in motocross but however they are increasing by the day and trails getting more gnarly. This means the crashes we are more commonly see are getting heavier and the injury’s larger.
The last thing we are all looking for is a serious neck injury out on the trails that doesn’t just stop you returning to work on Monday… It could potentially have life changing circumstances.
So why is it called Atlas?
The top vertebrae in your back, The C1 is more affectionately known as the Atlas with your C2 known as the Axis. The Atlas and Axis and the other 5 vertebrae below are charged with taking the weight of your entire skull and mounting it to your spine. That is no mean feat when you think that the average human skull, weighs in somewhere between 8-12 pounds or about 8% of the entire human bodyweight. It’s certainly a body part we shouldn’t overlook protecting!
How does it work?
The Atlas brace gets to work by redirecting the load path in the event of a crash. When combined with a full face helmet in the act of a crash your head may be subjected to hyper flexion or hyper extension under impact. (The act of your chin smashing into your chest or your head being forced back as far as it can and then some more! Unsurprisingly both of these can cause catastrophic damage to your cervical column!)
First Impressions
Pretty much indestructible but it feels fairly weighty to some other braces we’ve had our hands on in the past! It’s a big thumbs up from us in the style department though! Available in a range of colours to match your riding kit
The rubber backed chest and back pads seem like a great idea and will make sure the brace stays put which is a good job as the chest straps supplied don’t seem to substantial with Velcro being the only attachment on one end and some elastic loops on the other.
A few technical notes.
From the early days of the neck brace lots of riders always seemed reluctant to use braces because of reservations that using a brace may restrict head movement. Which is kind of ironic because if the brace didn’t restrict your head it wouldn’t really be doing anything anyway!
The Atlas Brace manages to successfully walk the line between being restrictive during the advent of a crash yet maneuverable when normally riding with 2 wheels rubber side down... Exactly what a brace needs to do!
A great bonus point for the Atlas is how easy it is to clean. There’s no fabric pads in site which means it’s quite literally a wipe clean affair probably thanks to its moto heritage and the absolute necessity to be able to keep it clean.
The lack of fabric to dampen the knocking impacts of your helmet on the body of the brace does however create problems in itself. I found that every time your helmet clanks on the side or rear of the brace or the brace moves and hits the helmet it sends the hit echoing through the shell that’s loud and took some getting used to!
The front chest pads and back supports not only hold the bulk of the protecting parts of the brace in the correct position but also act as suspension for your head as your helmet hits the body of the brace! Every feature performs multiple functions and makes for a very comfortable and practical brace!
Emergency Release System.
This is one of those features that makes the Atlas original stand out from it’s other main competitors out there and gives it a genuine chance in holding its own in a pretty tough market.
When things go really badly and your lying unconscious track side the last thing you need is someone having to move your head and making things potentially much worse just to remove your brace that you were wearing to stop this exact kind of damage. The brace opens completely and comes into (almost) 2 pieces. A small rubber band at the rear keeps things together and easier to re connect once your ready to hit the trail again!
The system is great and in practice works very well which is a big step in the right direction but if I’m being really picky the brace uses a few to many small and losable components that make up the E.R.S for me.
There is a frustrating washer set up on the front attachment which I know is essential to keep the 2 chest supports mobile but if you ever have to use the system in the woods you will inevitably lose said washers to the forest floor! Much the same goes for the pin that holds the screw knob in place but if your life is in the balance you’ll be thankful glad for the small pieces that let the emergency release system function!
Riding.
Now for one reason or another first time out the box I couldn’t find one of the chest straps (Turns out I left it in the box back on my desk in the office) … a short bout of expletives later I had settled myself in for a day of annoying rattling neck brace action at Revolution bike park or so I thought!
First run down the superb freeride trail to get myself into the swing of things I discovered that the rubber backing on the sternum and 2 rear pads combined with a great fit around the chest did a marvelous job of keeping the brace still without restricting head movement.
I went over the bars multiple times, landed like a dart in the ground on one occasion and hit multiple tree’s of which the last I’m still feeling the effects of even as I write this review… While its hard to say if wearing the brace had a direct impact on the severity of injury, the Atlas gave me the piece of mind to get up and hit the line again.
Conclusion
If your looking for a neck brace at the moment you would have to try pretty hard to look beyond the Atlas. There’s loads of customization options, sizes, colours and best of all a bunch load of features that will actually make a change to the way your brace functions and fits!
Comfortable, Stylish and at the end of the day could be the difference between a crash and a crash with an serious injury!
A big thanks to the guys at Decade distribution for sending us the Atlas Original brace for review!
