[Eric K]

First off, I have a large neck with fairly prominent traps.

The EVS RC-Evolution Neck Brace (X-Large) was too tight on my neck. It offered little protection against forward rotation of the head. It does not push up against the throat. My 6 year old son (91 lbs & adult size medium helmet) uses the EVS RC-Evolution neck brace. He hates putting it on. He doesn’t notice it when riding.

I used the Leatt Adventure Neck Brace on one ride. It is comfortable to wear once I got it adjusted. I looks like it would offer good prevention of over rotation in any direction. I have not done any serious crash testing yet. The load path is on the traps at the base of the neck (compression), the upper spine (rear rotation) and sternum (forward rotation). It doesn't press much on the clavicles.

The downsides to the Leatt are:

1) difficult to rotate my head to look to the side (looking for trails)
2) unable to look down at anything immediately in front of me (map, GPS) without leaning way forward,
3) If the brace gets pushed back, it goes right up against the throat (this may cause a serious throat injury). I am mixed on whether it is more potential harm than good for trail riding.

On knee braces, I used the Asterix knee braces for years. I now have the EVS Web knee braces. The EVS Web braces provide substantially better knee protection than the Asterix for twisting motion and lateral loading. The downside is the EVS are bulkier. The POD knee braces are reportedly less bulky and comparable to EVS Web for protection.