I’d be a little careful buying any old suit off of ebay, as I’ve read buyer reviews about sizing being wrong/off. Cheap is fine if the quality is sufficient for your needs, but a “balloon” suit would be rather useless.
I agree. Standard ebay watchouts. There are plenty of reputable sellers on ebay too. Definitely do your homework.
Anyone here have the Sparco Kerb? Would you recommend it?
I heard TJ and Dom said they liked it. (Thanks for the lead) For $279 it seems like a good value. Not a super expensive suit, not an eBay cheaply made suit. . .
So my take is that it’s a good value. It’s well constructed and reasonably sharp. It doesn’t feel “cheap”.
Don’t have a good shot of it but here’s Nick wearing one.
1 Like
While I prefer the aesthetic of the Thunder, I have to wonder whether (or not) the Kerb offers any more protection for the slightly higher price.
It’s about time for the good clearance deals to start showing up on too. I picked up two KMX-1s off saferacer a couple years back for $300.
Came in the mail yesterday, $299 shipped to my door. Wasn’t expecting the additional carrying case, that was a nice suprise.
I’m 5’11 and 215 lbs, so I was kinda in an in-between size. So I guessed on the sizing, size 62 (XL) and with rib vest under the suit it fits pretty good.
Suit has a nicer feel to it than my K1 did. So far I’m very pleased with it. I guess time will tell when I’m on the track with it. I just hope its not too hot in this Florida heat.
someone sent me a picture of their suit after a flip at speed. The suit completely tore through, but just barely. the guy had decent road rash. It was a CIK FIA suit. Im not sure how much better abrasion resistance will get without going to leathers and sliders.
I believe my suit is OMP, (DR suit, before the white collar one) i’ll have to check when I get home. Its a tad baggy, but I dont have any reason to replace it yet.
Watching onboards, it seems some drivers suits are almost plastic like. Norbergs suit doesnt move at all in the wind, and its so smooth
I think that’s on how you do the logos and stuff. There’s two methods, printed and embroidered.
The printed ones have that shiny and smooth look. TJ would know more.
PRINTING
Flex marking
An alternative decor option…
Not as visually pleasing as traditional embroidery and less wear resistant, this application process allows hot-stamping the decor on the racing suit’s cloth material within a thin layer of synthetic plastic, fire & heat tested.
To make this possible, the customer must provide adequate vector-produced logos and designs.
The OTK suits (like Norberg has) are dye-sub printed OMP suits, which is OMP’s standard karting suit these days.
As TJ said, it’s sublimated, the fabric is dyed like that rather then printed on top of.
Some sublimated fabrics do come out sort of cardboardy.
There’s definitely a difference in quality between cheap suits and not so cheap suits. I assume the not so cheap suits go beyond the mandated requirements.
I have suits from Pakistan, Brazil and Italy. The Pakistan suits wore holes where the seat meets the rib protector on the first weekend. The Brazilian took maybe 3 weekends. The Italian is just starting to show some wear through and it’s done maybe 10 weekends. But the Italian suit is heavier. Somehow the Italians still manage to make them breathable though.
2 Likes
Man that looks awesome, especially at that price!
I wouldn’t expect a whole lot of abrasion resistance from any kart suit, cheap or expensive. There is only so much fabric can do.
Your comment about full leathers reminds me of my motorcycle days, we would call guys that rode in sneakers and shorts “organ donors”!
Still call them that! Although, at the speeds bikes go nowadays, I don’t think their donations will be of the highest quality…
Dress for the slide, not the ride
2 Likes
Not sure that I can recommend it per se, but lately I’ve given up my Alpinestar suit for just wearing a windbreaker and jeans.
It’s definitely comfortable, probably leaves me more open to getting road rash, but most of all everyone that doesn’t know me that thinks I’m a bumpkin when I show up. Even newbies at the track feel free to give me advice until they see me drive at least. It’s not the reason I started dressing like this, but it has been an interesting experiment in track sociology and worth a few laughs. 
3 Likes
ORG, not OMP. Still a good suit.
I’m pretty sure it’s sized specifically for him (the new RPG retro one) and he also pretty much is the standard Italian kart driver size so the off the shelf Kosmic suit fit him well already.
I’ve seen people’s suits come out completely unharmed from a flip (Massimino at Vegas had an Offset that apparently looked like he hadn’t even been in a wreck) and some that tear up just from regular use. There is, I’m sure, a point where any quality suit will only help so much, but I’d be less worried about the suit if I’m in that type of wreck.
Bikes are “donarcycles” in EMT/Paramedic vernacular.
I’ve had suits that have survived roll overs, it comes down to how long you slide lol.
Offset use HRX which is a good Italian brand.
This is the way. I should do this for rental racing. I do enjoy the intimidation factor of the full kit, tho. That or show up as Mad Max or Johnny Depp.
Nothing more psychologically crushing than getting smoked by the guy in jeans and a jacket.
4 Likes