Real World Test of Helimot Back Protector http://www.helimot.com/catalog/other_items/tlv_data.html To address your questions I'd like to say that I was the unfortunate guinea pig test subject for this new product. Unfortunate I say due to the realization that I actually put it to the test. I ended up crashing three times in one weekend. The first one was a self-induced low side due to excessive speed out of the carosel @ Prarrie City while another rider target fixated on me and hit me on the back (lower side) with his front tire and left knee puck while I was sliding. I didn't realize that he did hit me until later in the day when I saw some tire marks and scratches on the back side of my leathers. Second incident was another low side which resulted in no actual contact to the TLV. The third incident resulted from another lowside from another rider at a slow corner, but being close behind him trying to make a pass my front tire got caught between the fallen rider's front tire and bodywork thus resulted in me doing a flip over both bikes and landed on my back! Plus other riders behind piling up on top of me. Well lets say I had no idea that I would literally test the TLV to its possible extreme. But in both tested incidents the TLV performed extremely well. So well that I didn't even feel any pressure on the center of my back (spine location) and in one occasion didn't even know that another rider hit me on the back till seeing the evidence later. On the detailed notes the three points about the new TLV are: FUNCTIONALITY- see above RELIABILITY- local manufacture and a trusted brand for custom quality products. COMFORT- initially my personal thought was that the TLV was thick and a bit bulky, but I was wrong. After a few minutes of putting it on w/ leathers the thought of its size disappeared. Plus the weight of the TLV surpasses any or most protector in the market. Finally the air channel became a MAJOR plus in comfort. As I was testing the product I realized that when I was tucked down on the straights, air actually traveled over my shoulders through an opening gap on my leathers that went behind my neck, and finally traveled through this channel to cool down my back during warm practice session. Thanks to the special inner lining on the TLV it literally picked up the moisture off my shirt and as air traveled through it kept my back cool and dry. After the practice session my back felt weird and odd. In all the years I've been riding w/ a back protector on I have never felt the comforting feeling of a dry back after sitting on a back of a chair either after a practice/race session or just enjoying a lunch break at a restaurant. To address a racing organizations approval, I believe the AMA rules states that a back protector must have a hard plastic armor as part of its main component for protection. I can asure you that the TLV has hard plastic armor as it major component. In fact to assess the measurement of a customer's size, it would depend on the number of armor shells that are needed to protect the spine. My best sugestion is to contact Helimot and take a look at the TLV. Since the day I have tested the product there have been a few more advanced on it already. This goes to show the commitment for safety, functionality and innovative products Helimot has shown. ==== also, from a post in alt.motorcycle.sportbikes ==== Speaking of new items at Helimot, Denise's posting reminded me of an awesome new find that I've now added to my protective riding gear, as a result of a similar impromptu visit to the shop a few weeks back. I've been riding sportbikes for longer than I can remember (Alzheimer's, I guess), and roadracing for 11 years. Recognizing the risks of this sport, I've always been relentless in seeking out the highest quality of protective gear that I could afford. This includes, leathers, boots, gloves and the all-so-important "back-protector" (mandatory by all race organizations). The back-protector that I raced with right through this last season, was the same brand, model, and basic technology that I'd worn when I took to the track for my first roadrace back in 1991. The design being a cloth covered foam, with numerous overlapping hard plastic plates sewn down the center, forming the actual "spine protection". The whole thing having a striking resemblance to a dinosaur skeleton. I'd been perfectly happy with this design of protector, and have served as a real world crash test dummy in more than one instance, over those same years of use. I had been of the mindset that "a back-protector, is a back-protector" up to this point ..... boy was I wrong! The new "TLV" back protector that I tried on (and subsequently ended up getting to bring home and bump my dinosaur-bones model into a "retired" status), showed me that the technology of rider protection does not stand still (certainly not a Helimot!), even in the realm of back-protectors. The new protector has no external or internal hard plastic plates in it, like my previous model. The outer surface is the same smooth and very flexible material that is used in the chest protector pads (one of which I already wear at every race). The entire back-protector is quite flexible by comparison to the existing design I'd had, especially as the pad began to take on some of my body heat. The protective foam is very thermally reactive, becoming amazingly plush and conforming to the natural curvatures of my body once I'd had it on under my leathers for a few minutes. Only a few minutes into my ride home, wearing the new back-protector, I found myself almost completely forgetting that I even had it on, except for a subtle sense of confidence in my riding, knowing I had this protection in the critical area of my body. The fit and comfort are all great features of this new Helimot "TLV" back-protector, but totally second in importance to me, when I decided to upgrade to something new after all these years. The sheer impact protection that is provided by the "turtle-shell" concept of utilizing a raised tunnel area that spans across the actual spine, is what sets this protector light years ahead in safety technology! The forces of a potential direct impact in the spine area, is distributed across a wide area of the muscular structure of the body, on either side of the spine, rather than the forces being concentrated in the center where the vertebrae reside. This tunnel effect, combined with the amazing energy absorbing characteristics of the different inner layers of high-tech foam material, provide impact protection qualities that I've never seen before in a back protector. So a brief stop-over at Helimot when I just happened to be in the area, has now netted me a real pot-o-gold find in upgrading my own personal safety gear for this year's racing season. It really made me happy to see that as the technology of making bikes faster and faster these days marches on, the quest for trying to provide improved technology (and protection) in the realm of safety gear, is keeping in step. Way to go Helimot! Just the ramblings of another satisfied customer ...... not a sponsored rider. Gary Jaehne