The A-10 arrived on Friday and it appears to be really well made. CE2 chest, CE2 back, and CE2 shoulders - though I took the shoulders off as I don't love how they sit. I'll probably try again to be certain but my initial bit of mucking around didn't leave me thrilled with how the shoulders on this piece sit and move. The shoulders are a 2 piece design - the actual shoulder "cups" and then a "bicep protector" lower down. You can run the full upper arm, remove the lowers, or remove the whole thing.
The rib protection is really good. The chest and back are well perforated so I think airflow should be pretty good for something that's essentially making a sandwich out of my torso.
It's designed to be neck brace compatible (even has little elastic loops on the shoulders to hook into a brace) and based on back to back trials with my RXR Bullet, the neck brace sits a bit lower in the back - eliminating that issue I had where I wasn't able to look up enough to see down the trail when dropping steep rock rolls or chutes. The integration is really well done even with my non Alpinestars brace and I'll be happy to be able to run a neck brace again in the park.
Based on preliminary "_in home testing_" I think this could be a winner. Obviously I need to ride it to confirm, but it appears to be a really solid option thus far...
March 13, 2022, 10:47 p.m. - khai
The A-10 arrived on Friday and it appears to be really well made. CE2 chest, CE2 back, and CE2 shoulders - though I took the shoulders off as I don't love how they sit. I'll probably try again to be certain but my initial bit of mucking around didn't leave me thrilled with how the shoulders on this piece sit and move. The shoulders are a 2 piece design - the actual shoulder "cups" and then a "bicep protector" lower down. You can run the full upper arm, remove the lowers, or remove the whole thing. The rib protection is really good. The chest and back are well perforated so I think airflow should be pretty good for something that's essentially making a sandwich out of my torso. It's designed to be neck brace compatible (even has little elastic loops on the shoulders to hook into a brace) and based on back to back trials with my RXR Bullet, the neck brace sits a bit lower in the back - eliminating that issue I had where I wasn't able to look up enough to see down the trail when dropping steep rock rolls or chutes. The integration is really well done even with my non Alpinestars brace and I'll be happy to be able to run a neck brace again in the park. Based on preliminary "_in home testing_" I think this could be a winner. Obviously I need to ride it to confirm, but it appears to be a really solid option thus far...