enenen Posted September 19, 2009 Report Share Posted September 19, 2009 So on 9/4, I lowsided in turn 5 at BeaveRun, going about 60 MPH. Wearing my Alpinestars RC-1 one-piece suit, SMX Plus boots, and Astars gloves. Everything held up great, except for the suit. It did its job, and protected me, but there was a 2-3 inch hole above the knee. Needless to say, I was disappointed. So Thursday night at about 11PM, I sent an email to SportbikeTrackGear, and explained what happened. Here's the email I sent...I recently purchased an Alpinestars RC-1 suit, and lowsided at BeaveRun on September 4th. It was in turn 5, going maybe 50-60 mph. I'm pretty sure I rolled off the throttle mid-corner, and overloaded the front tire, and down I went. I slid on my right knee/hip for a short distance before going off into the grass. I was unharmed, and the bike was relatively undamaged, but I was somewhat disappointed in how the Alpinestars suit held up. There are two holes where the seams tore apart, one of which goes through to bare skin. Luckily, I didn't have any road rash because of it. The other hole goes through to the foam padding below the knee puck. I would think that the $1,000 MSRP suit would have held up much better after one minor crash. I realize that every crash is different, and a suit may not hold up the same in every situation, but I have seen videos on your website of suits with similar damage and know that you guys expect better durability than this. I realize that I should be happy that the suit did its job and I walked away uninjured, and I am, but I think for the price, this suit would be more than one-time use. I'm sure it can be repaired, but I thought I would make you guys aware of my situation, and see what you recommend I do. Lucky for me, I at least got my crash on video so you guys can see what happened and how fast I was going. I'll also attach some pictures of the damage to the suit. I was glad I just bought the SMX Plus boots a week or so before this track day. The bike got stuck on my foot, and I may have been hurt had I been wearing the SMX 5 boots. And the Knox back protector and Bohn adventure shorts did their job as well. Thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing back from you.By noon Friday, I got a call from Brian Van, the president of STG. He told me that he contacted Alpinestars and sent them the pictures, and they would be sending me a brand new suit free of charge. He said they have never seen a suit come apart like that from such a minor incident, and Alpinestars wanted the suit back to look and see what happened, and what changes could have been made to prevent it from happening in the future. So he gave me the options of the suits that they were willing to send, I made my choice and they are shipping it out from STG. I should have my new suit by the end of next week at the latest. I feel like a kid on Christmas. So happy to deal with two companies like this who stand behind their products and are willing to help out their customers. It would have been easy for Brian to take my email and do nothing with it, but instead he went the extra mile and contacted Alpinestars to make the situation right. I think it's pretty rare to find companies willing to do what these two did, and they have definitely guaranteed more business from me. Big thanks to Brian Van and everyone at STG, and the people at Alpinestars. I wanted to make sure people hear about this, since all too often customers only go online and tell stories of bad experiences. I will definitely recommend Alpinestars and Sportbiketrackgear.com to everyone. Here's a video of the crash for anyone who didn't see it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKzFe5SE7lY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pocar Posted September 19, 2009 Report Share Posted September 19, 2009 glad to hear you escaped unharmed. thats pretty cool of them to contact alpinestars and for them to replace the suit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted September 19, 2009 Report Share Posted September 19, 2009 STT's service us great, whenever I can buy from them, I do. And good on Astar's for stepping up. That's great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APCh8r Posted September 19, 2009 Report Share Posted September 19, 2009 STT's service us great, whenever I can buy from them, I do. And good on Astar's for stepping up. That's great.I think you mean STG=sportbike track gear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giantxtc Posted September 19, 2009 Report Share Posted September 19, 2009 Nice to know someone stands behind there product and want to make there product safer and more durable. Great post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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