I would highly recommend both a RibTect seat & rib vest as they are designed to work together.
My personal experience: I totally agree with the above comments about staying out of the kart until you TOTALLY heal.
I used to use another brand of rib vest and seat and I bruised and cracked ribs constantly and almost quit karting. Once I switched to the RibTect seat & rib vest I no longer have ANY pain or discomfort whatsoever (I sprint race with SKUSA SoCal in S4 shifter). The ONLY disadvantages I find with the RibTect seat is that I can’t adjust the brake bias while driving or push start myself because of how you have to turn your upper body sideways to get in/out of the seat…
When I switched chassis brands late last year it was recommended that I use the IMAF seat (similar to Tillet), which I did, but continued to use the RibTect rib vest. I ran the IMAF seat at the SuperNats, the ProKart Challenge season through the SpringNats. During the SpringNats I injured my ribs which brought back many bad memories. For the next race I switched back to the RibTect seat and continue to enjoy it and I won’t switch again. Also, I found very little difference in chassis tuning between the two seats other than using one seat strut per side with the RibTect vs two with the IMAF.
I’ve personally seen Paul Bonilla (a top National ranked TaG driver), Curtis Cooksey (a top National ranked S4 driver), and others etc… have success with the RibTect seat as well.
The most important thing is to get the best and most comfortable rib vest and seat combination possible. Too loose is the worst, too tight almost as bad. You want to be snug in the seat with no slop.
Regardless of the brand of seat or rib vest, make sure to use the RibTect seat mounting kit as it’s the best and lowest profile available and will eliminate pressure points, especially for the seat struts where they mount to the seat.
