TRACK TESTED
Alpinestars Bionic Back Protector
Author: Jon Hatcher
Who's got your back?
 “Well, this isn’t going to be good,” I thought as I smacked into the wet asphalt of Barber Motorsports Park. My overly confident throttle hand had gotten me into this situation; now hopefully my gear was going to take over and see me through to the end. As I slid head-first on my back across the racing surface I could hear the dreadful sound of leather being ground away. While it wasn’t my exact thought at that moment, I’m sure glad that beneath my leathers was my Alpinestars Bionic Back Protector.
Spine protection is important in roadracing. The danger that comes from landing on your back during an accident or even worse, being run over by another bike, can’t be taken lightly. At its worst, such injury could leave a person paralyzed. Just like your helmet and the rest of your gear, back protection is not something to be overlooked. My quest for a new back protector had come as a result of my having purchased a one-piece suit for the 2008 racing season. While I’d measured  to assure I would order a correctly sized suit to fit my chest, I had neglected to leave room for my old full-size back protector, which was almost a full inch thick and had a huge surface area. The new suit fit fine, however I could not get the zipper closed while wearing my old back protector. Rather than send the suit back for a bigger size, I searched for smaller back armor, and came upon the Bionic from Alpinestars. When the piece arrived, I was shocked to see its size. It has less than half the thickness of my old back protector, about two-thirds the surface area, and fits very comfortably underneath my new leathers with the zipper closed. With my helmet on, I could move my body into a full tuck without the back of my helmet getting pressed against the top of the back protector. On track, I found that I was able to move without restriction while wearing the Bionic.
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