Alpinestars Track Protection Vest, a review

Today, after many weeks of searching for the right product and the right price, I finally received my Alpinestars Track Protection Vest. But before I get into any details, let me give you a little background as to the reasons for this purchase.

I’ve been riding for about 20 years, during which time both my choice in motorcycles and riding styles has evolved into something I never thought of. When I started riding at the age of sixteen, sneakers, shorts, and a T-shirt somehow seemed acceptable. Looking back, I’m simply amazed that I never suffered any major pain. Back then, we used to race little 50cc two stroke bikes well above the speeds they were designed for, pushing them hard down the steep hills that surrounded my town. We didn’t care about loose chains, worn sprockets, and oil changes were something that was not done until the bikes started smoking from the crankcase. The crazy teenage days.

Fast forward twenty years and more than that many bikes. I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy riding in many different places, on many different machines. I found that I don’t care for cruisers, that sportbikes have their limits, and that I don’t need 1200cc torque monster to be happy. These days, it’s all about having fun, going to places I never visited before, and, most importantly, coming back home in one piece, preferably not on a stretcher. I wear a decent amount of gear: Armored textile jacket, armored pants, proper boots, armored gloves, and, of course, a helmet.

Last year, soon after I started riding off-road, I discovered that my street riding apparel did not meet the requirements considering the added risk. So, I added a pressure suit and real off-road boots to my pile of gear. After a few slow speed get-offs due to mud, ice, submerged logs, and anything else Mother Nature threw at me, I was thankful for having the right gear. This got me thinking about upper torso protection in the event of an accident on the street. Due to its bulkiness, there was no way I would wear a pressure suit underneath my jacket during any long distance rides.

Searching the net, I came across several products geared toward what I was looking for. Nevertheless, none of them met my personal requirements of both protection and comfort, (comfort is a very relative criteria, and its definition depends largely on the person considering it), until I came across the Track Protection Vest. While it has been available for some time, there aren’t many reviews online. Well, after mulling it over for a few weeks, I ordered one. And here I am today, holding it in my hand.

The vest arrived wrapped in a large plastic bag. Immediately upon opening it, the first thing I noticed was a strong rubber smell. Not sure why, but it smells like a brand new motorcycle tire. The second thing I noticed was how flexible and light this vest really is.

Needless to say, I took my sweater off and put the vest on. And here I have to explain why I chose this one versus the other products on the market. The vest is made of a flexible mesh, and has a full-length zipper right in the middle of the front. Putting it on is no different than putting on a light fleece vest – slide your arms in and zip. Easy and convenient. Some of the other products had zipper on the side, and I can’t even imagine fumbling with that.

As soon as I zipped it on, the vest conformed itself to my body for a close, but nonrestrictive fit. The mesh stretched around my shoulders without creating any pressure points. The front of the vest has thick foam padding in the rib and chest areas (perforated for good air flow), while the back has a removable bionic spine protector. This protector allows the body to bend forward but not backward. For some reason, the protector is white, resting against the black material of the vest. It looks strange. Once on, my better half remarked that from behind I looked like a Ninja Turtle.

I walked around a bit and continued whatever I was doing, and within a few minutes I completely forgot that I had the vest on. I kept it on for about two hours, and found it very, very comfortable. I then sat on the bike, and the spine protector perfectly contoured with my spine, without any issues. By the way, the protector comes below the waist, but is flexible enough not to bind against the seat.

The materials used appear to be of good quality. The mesh, as stated, is flexible. The front padding is about 10mm thick in the rib/chest area, and the foam is stitched into the garment. Thus, there is no removing it or repositioning it. In the lower part, covering the abdomen, the padding is much thinner, probably only 5mm thick. Not sure why that is, but it works. The only concern would be receiving a direct frontal blow to the upper pelvis bones. All stitching is of a good quality, and the fit is exceptionally without any shifting at all. For the record, I’m 5’9” and about 165lbs, and I ordered a Medium.

I believe that while not as tough as a pressure suit, the frontal padding will lower any impact to the front or sides, while the back protector will do its job in the spinal area, should I get into an accident. I plan on wearing this vest under my riding jacket with the jacket’s foam back protector removed.

I will probably post an update once I have some miles with it, but my initial impression is very favorable.

From Alpinestars web site:  http://www.alpinestars.com/shop/categories/moto/protection/track-vest/

*Removable Level 2 CE certified (EN1621-2) Bionic Back protector, an advanced protection system utilizing Alpinestars DFD (Dynamic Force Dispersion) technology in an ergonomically formed, sleek and ultra-lightweight design.
*Impact resistant Bio-foam inserts in the chest for excellent frontal impact protection, reducing the risk of internal injury in the event of a crash.
*Technical stretch net construction is durable and well ventilated.
*YKK® semi auto-lock front zipper provides secure closure.

Pictures are gone

I wanted to apologize to all that some of the pictures here have disappeared. It happened when I exported my blog to my PC for backup. Since then, there are about twenty posts without pics showing. Despite my best attempts to fix this, short of reuploading every single picture, I don't see any remedy for this. Some of the pics, unfortunately, are no longer available. I'll continue looking for a way to fix this, but don't hold your breath.

From now on, I'll backup this blog frequently to prevent this from happening again.

Front end is done.

Forks are finally done and mounted where they are supposed to go. New seals, dust wipers, oil, etc...

As you can see from the picture, the cooling system is also pretty much done, except for clamps. Once that is complete, I will do a complete flush to remove all the deposits I could not get to, and there are a lot.

The valve covers are off as I'm waiting for my rear wheel to be back from balancing, so I can get the valves done. I tried putting new tires on, but someone had removed the valve stem and put a tube in the tubeless rim, so it went to a pro for a proper installation.

The instrument cluster also cleaned up quite nicely. I also replaced all bulbs in there.

 The front fender, headlight bucket, and a few other things are at a powdercoater, so more waiting.

Before I get too invested in the cosmetics, however, I want to see if and how the motor runs. For that, I need to get these nasty carbs all cleaned up. A complete carb kit should be in my mailbox this week.

 
The white stuff is snow, not any strange mold. I rested the carbs on the deck when I was unscrewing the float bowls.

I also started playing with some fiberglass to make a seat pan and a rear cowl, but have not gotten far. As i said, the motor needs to run before I invest too much time in the bike.

There are some things I love about the CX...

...nd one of them is the ease of reinstalling the engine in to the frame. Oh, what a pleasure.

Generally, I hate removing and reinstalling engines. Some are bulky and heavy, others have almost no room to move around, and some are both heavy and bulky, as well as real restricted when it comes to moving them out.

In the past twelve months, I had 4 motors to move around a bit:

KLR 250 was fairly easy due to its light weight, and plenty of room.
700 Intruder was a major pain, due to its size and no room to grab things.
CB750F was a nightmare. Heavy, bulky, and jammed into an impossible spot. I ended up dropping the motor down on a foam block and maneuvering the frame around it that way. Mind you, most of these jobs are not really one man jobs, but available hands at the time of the day I work on these bikes are virtually nonexistent.

Enter the CX 500 saga, and voila...the perfect combo of accessibility, weight, and attachment points. It took me all but 20 minutes to put the engine back in to the frame, and that includes finding the bolts, and taking the tools out. Yes, I did not attach all the wiring or the coolant lines, I just slapped a motor in a frame, but hey, that should count for something.

Slow but steady

Moving along...slow, but moving along.

The proper O-rings finally arrived from Honda, so I was ready to assemble the rear cover. With the new mechanical seal, oil seal, shifter oil seal, and shaft drive oil seal in place, there was only one left thing to do: replace the old, pitted collars that allow the coolant to pass to the water pump.  I returned to my local machine shop (since these are NLA from Honda) and $5 later, I had a brand new set of the exact size.

Once the cover was on, and torqued to spec (in addition to the new OEM gasket, I used some black RTV), I installed the water pump impeller (with a new crush washer) and a new water pump gasket, which is essentially an odd-shaped O-ring. Then it was time to reinstall the thermostat housing and coolant transfer pipes.

Instead of using a simple nipple and hose system, on this bike Honda decided to go for steel pipes, pressed into aluminum housing, and rely on a series of O-rings to keep the coolant where it is supposed to be. Thirty years of reaction between the two different metals submerged in a liquid did a number on all the connections. Fortunately, the pipes cleaned up nicely, as did the aluminum parts. An hour with a dremmel did the trick on removing all the scaly deposits and rust, and the pipes themselves received a wire wheel treatment, along with some VHT high temperature paint, followed by slow baking on top of the woodstove. Obviously, new O-rings were in order, but this time I found the right sizes in my O-ring box. Here is the thermostat housing assembled and back on the engine.

I also received my 'new-to-me' low mileage shocks that will work as a nice replacement for the old, rusty shocks the bike came with.

 I still have to do clutch inspection and valve clearance before moving the engine back to the frame, but while the paint was baking, I started playing with some resin and fiberglass cloth. Nothing to show yet, but I'll be making a new seat pan, which will actually follow the frame lines, and a rear cowl.

...and I'm down again...

Downtime again.

The mechanical seal issue sorted out, I had high hopes for having the engine back in the frame this weekend. But no, it's not going to happen. The culprit this time: the two small O-rings that seal around the collars which transfer coolant between water pump and cylinders. Yes, I said it...O-rings.

Here is the story: I got everything cleaned up and ready for reassembly. The two O-rings in question were busted, so I went to my huge O-ring box, and found two different sizes that should work. One was 22mm x 1.5 mm, the other 22mm x 3.0mm. The slimmer ones allowed too much room to make me comfortable, while the thicker ones were just a tad too tall in the recessed opening. Well, it should compress right out, I said to myself. I opened my new Honda gasket that goes between the rear cover and the block, cleaned everything, lined it up, inserted collars and guides, lube my new oil seals and corresponding shafts,  and put the rear cover on. All bolts got a bit of blue Loctite on them, and things went smooth for a bit. Then I installed the impeller, lubed the mechanical seal with soapy water, torqued it to spec. So far so good. Then, torquing all the bolts to spec, I went around the rear cover until I made it to the last two long bolts going through the pump cover to the block. First bolt torqued, I moved onto the second, and then I noticed the new gasket coming out from between the seam. What the... I took it apart again, pulled everything off, and discovered that the 3mm thick O-ring did not compress as I thought it would, but rather pushed on the paper gasket and ripped it right in the middle of the hole. Same on the other side. Shit, my new gasket was ruined. the culprit...well, the O-ring. Honda, for some reason, decided to go with a 2.8mm O-ring, and the 3mm was just thick enough not to squeeze in there.

I was stupid and in rush, trying to avoid having to wait 2 weeks for OEM O-rings. Well, guess what I'm doing now: waiting for two O-rings and a new rear cover gasket.

This bike must hate me. Or, I'm out of touch with it.

Lesson learned: There is no substitute for OEM in a critical application. And, just because it fits now, does not mean it will work when torqued. Also, take your time and get all you could possibly need ahead of time.  

Finally moving ahead

Finally, I have some progress with the CX500 to report.

Here is what held me up for so long:

First, it was the cam chain tensioner, then the mechanical seal. The tensioner issue was solved once I found a good used part on ebay, but the mechanical seal continued giving me a headache. The first seal I ordered did not fit, so I ended up sending it back, and ordering a new one. This time, Honda confirmed that it is the right part number, despite the fact that i could not fir the seal into the opening. Since both Honda and the dealership were telling me that I was wrong. I dropped the rear cover off at the dealership and told them to press it in if they were so smart. Well, they couldn't.

After some extra research, I found out that the earlier mechanical seals were 27.5mm in diameter, while the newer ones are 28mm in diameter. So, unwilling to take the chances with the dealer, I brought the rear cover to my friendly local machine shop. I had to wait three days for the guy to finish his automated batches, and then an hour while he worked on my cover. He did it while I waited.

First, he ended up making the hole true and round. It was off by a couple thousands of an inch. We then figured out the proper dimensions, he punched it into his CNC mill, and the machine did the rest. We figured a good tight fit, with the difference between the seal and the opening of 0.0015". A dab of blue Loctite on the seal, and we pressed it in. It worked like a charm.

Since I had the cover off anyway, I also ended up replacing the oil seals on the shifter and the shaft drive.

Tomorrow, if I get the chance, I'll be finally able to close the motor up. But first I'll have to replace the O-rings on the coolant pipes, and make sure everything seals the way it should.

Motorcycles only from now on

I started this blog with the intention to share some of my writing. Intentions, however, no matter how noble, do not always bear fruit. Over the course of the past year, the writing, which used to be my primary outlet, has taken a back seat to another passion of mine -- motorcycles.

When I posted my first motorcycle related post, a writer friend of mine warned me about mixing content. Sure, said I, not paying much attention to what she said. After all, I, like many fellow motorcyclists, have many interests beside bikes. Nevertheless, she was right, and despite my best intentions, this blog became almost exclusively motorcycle related. I'm glad for the audience I have and for the many visitors to this blog. Hopefully this motorcycle passion of mine, along with my trials and tribulations in resurrecting old machines, brightens the days for some of you, the readers.

That being said, I know in my heart that this blog is not the place to share my writing. I will continue to post my progress with the various motorcycle projects both currently under way and in the future, and I will continue posting maintenance and modifications done to my bikes. There will still be trip reports and adventures I plan to undertake.

The writing will move to its new home, completely uncluttered by motorcycle chat. Over the next few weeks 
I'll move all the writing related posts to my second blog: http://mad-days-of-me.blogspot.com/  where I will begin posting samples and updates on my various writing projects.

Thank you for your support, and if you feel like exploring the non-motorcycle side of me, come over for a peek.