Alpinestars MX-1 Racing

Hayabusa66
Reviewed: 30 May 2011

Not AlpineStars best moment.

The MX suit looks great from a distance. It's plain black and looks the part when you se someone else wearing one across the car park.

However, having owned one for a few months, this suit was symptomatic of Alpinestars decline in the second half of the noughties. Made in China probably by a labour force that has never seen a western motorcyclist (not their fault), this suit was put together like a patchwork quilt. Loads of pieces of leather stitched together to essentially create a large black leather quilted panelled suit. Too many pieces and not enough cut or shape. The quality of leather was also poor. Shiny leather is never a good sign and this suit looked cheap up close. It lost any shape it had quickly so was sold.

A poor quality suit that was shapeless and made of cheap, shiny leather. No flair or style just lots of leather panels.

Titz
Reviewed: 14 May 2011

Superb comfort and mobility

Here's a short summary of what I liked:

1) Perforation. With a liner, you can pretty much waer this suit from march to october without getting too chilly. In summer on long rides, it's a treat being kept cool.

2) Armour. The armour is totally unobtrusive and provides adequate support. The redesigned shoulder armours offer a very good degree of motion for your arms. My suit came supplied with a tech race back protector.

3) Fit, Freedom and mobility - stretch panels and accordion zones promote great on bike comfort. Again, 300 mile journeys are pleasant in this suit.

1) Finish - I'm starting to have an issue with A*'s quality control since it started offloading its manufacturing in china. I've had numerous non-critical seam treads come loose. I've had the velcro tab on the zipper come off because the stitching went. It doesn't look promising for an £800 suit.

2) RRP - if money is no object, then this is a very comfortable suit, but considering the point I made above, A* need to sort out its quality control!

I bought this suit because I started working out and lost some inches rendering my existing SX-1 suit (the predecessor to this suit) a bit too baggy. I tried a 42UK and it was too big, so went for a 40UK. With the back protector and liner on, it was a pretty good fit. Minimal break in was required because the stretch panals catered for your curves!

I've now started hitting heavier weights so I'm getting broader around my chest and shoulders, and slimmer around my waist, but again, testament to the design features, the suit still fits me comfortably.

I'm somewhat disappointed to see stitching come loose, but this being superficial, it doesn't detract from the performance of the suit.

It feels lighter than my SX1 and it's a lot more comfortable, meaning that I can go for longer without needing to stop for a stretch or two. The perforation helps with matters no end during the hot, steamy summers, but I will still recommend wearing a base layer to make taking the suit off easier.

A good product by alpinestars hampered by questionable, if only batch dependent, chinese quality control.