Hi all,
New member here so go easy 
I’ve got a Bengio rib vest and for the most part it does a great job of protecting my ribs (what a surprise).
However, when I sit in the kart, and then progressively during the session, it begins to work its way up my chest and eventually sits right under my arms, which is obviously very annoying.
Has anyone else had experience with this and if so, did you manage to find a fix to hold it down during the session?
Many thanks in advance!
Nope. Do you have a long torso? I find that is a general problem for me.
Never had this issue. Are you wearing it tight enough? It should be quite snug when it’s cinched up.
The recent tip provided by our local guru was to wear it against your skin. I can confirm that it does hold it in place better. My brother in law and I both have Bengio’s and have started wearing them this way.
The downside is the sweat, and the need to keep the protector clean/dry.
Hmm interesting. Thanks for the replies guys.
I have it done up as tight as it will go (both on the strap and to the point where I can still breathe). I’m not particularly long in the torso or tall in general really.
Do you wear it relatively high or low? ( High being up the top of your ribs, and low with the bottom of it around where the ribs start to curve in)
Cheers
I wear it low. I’m reasonably tall and just wear it so it is protecting me around wear the mounts are bolted. This works out to be my lower rib cage. YMMV
Ok that’s good to know. Thanks Liam.
I might have to experiment a bit with where I place it .
I understand your earlier point about wearing against your skin, might have to resort to that if I can’t make it work another way.
Thanks again
I wear mine fairly low, but I also have a short torso.
Matt, How is your seat fitting in the rib area? My teen runs a Bengio Kevlar which was a worthwhile investment in Bengio. He loves it and no longer has this issue despite being “rounder in the middle.” Previous vests road up or suffered damage impacting the Tillet seat edge. Part of the problem at that time was a seat he started to outgrow. Whenever he lowered into the seat or moved around, the seat would work the vest upward. This didnt happen after switching to the Bengio, even after a growth spurt. Also check your seat mount conicals. They can also be grabbing the vest - we needed to swap in low profile washers to fix a hot spot against the vest.
We’ve since changed to a seat (NEK) that was wider at the rib, and he claims to be very comfortable, even after a recent solo in a 100 lapper on a rough track.
I had the same issue with the same rib vest, as well as others. Didn’t use one for the longest time as a result, but eventually it was necessary due to the brutality of racing in the shifter category. I found that the Tillett P1 works very well for me, as there is more adjustability than most other products on the market.
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the reply. The seat is an OTK seat and is relatively tight around the ribs but nothing significant. I’m not sure I’d want to go any bigger because it is already slightly loose around the bottom.
There is a fair bit of damage to the vest on one side in particular, pretty common compared to what I have seen on other’s but maybe low profile washers are something to look into. As I get in it does lift up a little but then is possible to push down again.
I didn’t wear one at all for a while but when I started racing it became apparent that it would be a worthwhile investment. Maybe a different brand is something to look at, although ideally not given how much they are.
And when wearing yours low you dont have the problem of it lifting up?
The price tag can sting, but it’s worth it when you consider vs. the alternative of bruised broken ribs. If your performance is being limited by this device then it may be costing you better results. If you have others at your races that utilize other makes of rib vests, then maybe check with them to see if you can test them out. That opportunity presented itself for me, and ultimately led to purchasing the rib vest that solved all of my (karting related) problems.
Maybe different seat design. It’s gotta be similar to trying on shoes but with less options. In my case, a deepseat fixed my issues. Ribtect sells an expensive low profile hardware kit also.
We like these. You can carefully bend these to match seat contour if necessary.
David Rinker
Rinker Photography
2704 Royal Kings Ct.
St. Charles, IL 60174
312-403-1185 mobile/text
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No, never had that issue. Maybe I missed it, are you wearing it under your suit?
Yes wearing it under suit and over shirt. Not tried it outside.
Thanks for that Dave. I’m not sure the washers would be the issue though but I’ll have a closer look when I’m next out.
yeah happens to everyone. according to an interesting article on tkart.it the owner of Bengio mentioned that most people don’t actually size them correctly. You need to try one on whilst sitting down and make sure it doesn’t ride up. When you don’t measure it in this manner you tend to buy a size too big. I made the mistake of getting a L when in fact a M is a better fit whilst sitting down.