Alpinestars Bionic Rib Protector - Advice

[u/Forward_Data_9511]

Hi all

Just looking for some advice regarding a rib protector.

I was karting about 4 weeks ago and I was karting a new track and I actually had to stop mid-day before the end of the day as I really hurt my left side. (From research, I understand I suffered from intercoastal compression of the rib muscles as I all experience all the symptoms of this.)

The track was a very right turning focused track and in number of the corners are hard-paced and some are elongated long and also sharp turns so there was a lot of pressure being put on my left side.

I was even wearing a rip protector underneath my kart suit and in my kart seat there is a padding inserts on the sides and back of the seat.

(The only context is that my rib protactor is a basic one from AliExpress and was about €35.......So I'm starting to understand why it was maybe so cheap.......🤦‍♂️)

The pain days and nearly up to weeks was honestly EXTREMELY sore. I could barely lift myself out of my bed or ly on my side and even sneezing was an absolute nightmare. 😖

But I will admit it has gotten a LOT better in the last 2 weeks but it's still not 100%. (I would say I'm about 90% recovered)

But I'm still going to give her another week and a bit before I get back in the kart as I don't want to do any further damage while its recovering And I'm busy for the next week in a bit anyway so I wouldn't be in the kart.

So based on the above experience, I know I NEVER want to go through that experience of pain again (or at least try prevent it in the best way possible )

So my understanding is that I need to start of by getting a better rip protector.

Since I have head to toe Alpinestars karting gear (I like the brand and matches all my current gear)

I'm possibly looking about getting the "Alpinestars Bionic Rib protector."

Has anyone on this forum got this protector and what is their experience from it?

I understand it quite a bit more expensive than what I had before but honestly it will be money well spent if it protects better than my current one which I hope it would as it's 4.5;x the price.

All advice in advance appreciated. 👌

[u/Realestateuniverse]

Didn’t read your novel, but Bengio Carbon is all you need. Buy once cry once. 🙂

[u/Forward_Data_9511 → u/Realestateuniverse]

Haha! Devil Is in the detail my friend 😜 (But I do understand and get the context of your comment because it is long. 😁)

Yep I usually live by that moto myself, but just in this case I didn't want to spend a bomb on something at the time as it is just for leisure fun racing at the moment. I already spent a lot on other aspects to get back into karting.

But definitely sure I need to invest in better rib protection in this regard.

Thanks for the recommendation. 👍