ladies, something to tink about when purchasing a tek vent, core saver upper body protector.... make sure the front plate (breast/sternum plate) is solid (no zipper through the middle). the ones with the zip front will not have as much protection in a frontal upper, straight on impact (like bars to the chest), due to the zipper being "soft" and the weak link in the protection process. on the solid plate models, the whole plate takes the energy and disperses it throughout the whole plate.
i am not saying the zipper will fail, i am saying the protection is only solid on either side of the zipper, and not in the center where it connects. i think the reason they made a zipped front for some people is the ease of putting it on but, in reality.... we feel a full front plate with no zipper would offer you a more complete protector.
my wife wears a tekvest supersport with a full front plate. 2-3 years ago she took the bar riser to the sternum at a pretty high rate of speed climbing out of a ravine. the ravine had a creek crossing at the bottom she zigged when she should have zagged (caused by others in the group telling her to go left, when they were looking at her from the top of the hill, she needed to go right). she hit the bars with such force we thought we were going to have to air lift her out. finally she caught her breath enough to ride out.
she is in the medical field, she says the full front chest plate saved her from massive internal injuries, and fully believes the super sport saved her life that day.
food for thought, be safe out there. ski
