“I want to say thank you for such an amazing product. your vest kept me in the best shape I could be after a brutal wreck Friday. I walked away with minor injuries after hitting the ground at around 110mph. I will be buying another vest for next season.I was on until the scene cut. I walked away with bruises, the vest I strongly believe the vest is what helped save my life. I will be buying new seeing this one took a good beating so I tossed it. But it did its job for me to go home to my family and I can't thank your company enough

DM 6th March 2022 via FaceBook Messenger

Thank you for this message. We were also sent a video and it is true that He received no injuries at all!"

Mike T 28th February 2022 via Email

First off thank you!!! I just spent 10 days riding out of Curtis, MI. 5 days into riding we rode a whooped out trail at fairly good speed for serval miles, part way I hit a 5-6’ wall of a whoop and hit it all wrong! I smashed my visor on my bars, my shin on the floor board, and my ribs hit the rear bumper as I was bucked off into the air. Myself and everyone in my group are in total agreement that if it weren’t for my tekvest I would probably still be in a Michigan hospital with several broken ribs and worse! I only suffered some bruising and muscle damage to my ribs. I am sore but still rode 500+ miles after my crash for the rest of our trip (after a parts run for a-arms)! Enclosed also are a few pics of my damage and 1 of my favorite from the trip. Lol. Thank you again! Your product 110% saved my vacation and severe damage!!! Also our group was impressed that I was the first one to buy a Tekvest before getting hurt. 6 out of the 11 of us had them and the rest are now getting them after watching me crash! I can’t thank you enough!!!

Aaron R - 1st March 2022 - Facebook - friend of Mike T

100% agree with Mike. He is a riding partner, and I'm sure very glad I talked him into buying one. I unfortunately got hurt, took a helicopter ride, and lost some internals before buying a vest. All definitely could have been prevented with one. I now religiously wear mine! Don't even know i have it on. Very comfortable and even adds a layer for warmth. Everybody should have one!!

On the weekend of July 27th, 2019, I set off with a group of North Carolina locals to ride the many dirt roads around the Wilson Creek area.  As we were preparing for riding at our campsite, I asked about the condition and difficulty of the roads as I had never ridden the area before. It went something like, “hey, are these roads pretty dicey? Do I need to armor up?” As I hefted my Tekvest out of my pile of riding gear. I was secretly wanting a blessing to ride sans gear (i.e. sans common sense).  My riding companions said that they were not too difficult, but, better safe than sorry as they were putting on their various pieces of safety apparel. I reluctantly agreed and donned my Tekvest, helmet, elbow pads, gloves, etc…

 Once everyone was ready, we decided on order, much to my dismay they elected me to lead. I had a GPS and an understanding of where we were going so I said, “are you sure?” They said, “yes.” So, I set out to not fudge the predetermined route of the day too much. The roads in the area are a mix of dirt and gravel, which range from well-traveled to rarely used. Along a section of fire road, the road goes uphill slightly and crests while taking a left-hand bend at about 60°. The left side of the road is a drainage rut while the right side goes down the side of the hill. It was here where my rear wheel decided to take the day off and play catchup with the front wheel, suddenly realize what it was doing and try to act normal again by biting into the gravel and establishing grip again. Unfortunately for me, this caused me to highside, throwing me off the bike at roughly 30 MPH and into the left side drainage ditch headfirst.

 After the crash, my first thought was... “Oh wow! That hurt a lot more than I expected!” After a few moments I collected myself and made sure all my appendages worked and I wasn’t leaking any fluids anywhere, “Check!” Then with the help of my riding companions we got the bike righted and off we went to ride the rest of the day. I sure was happy I decided to wear ALL my gear. In the aftermath I walked away with two cracked ribs, a ruptured bursa sac in my knee, various cuts and scrapes, a helmet with a slight dent in it, and a Tekvest with a “lived in” look.  I couldn’t imagine how it would have turned out if I decided to keep my vest at the campsite that day, and I will not ride without it from here on out!

BTW, these vests are good for multiple impacts...right?  (yes they are Ryan)

Cheers, and thanks again for making a superior product!

Georgia on my mind!  Someone asked Steve, Tekrider's owner & founder about the significance of the yellow hat that’s been on display in the office for a few years now. As it would happen, there’s quite a story behind it. Steve  checked in with Georgia to see how she’s been doing since her near-fatal accident in 2009. Here’s her response. The accident story follows in more detail.

“Hello Steve,   I am doing well, thank you.  And how is life treating you? It is so nice to hear from you. We received about 48.1” of snow so far this year, but only have about 10” of it left on the ground. I still ride, maybe not as much, or as fast as usual, but I still get on my machine.  And I never leave home without my TekVest !!   Everywhere we go, I tell my story, with the hopes that I can save at least one or more riders from pain.  My accident has taken away a lot of the fun I used to have, but my husband Jim is amazed that I even get on my sled. So am looking forward to another great winter season. Thanks for checking in. I have sent you a summary written by Jim as I don’t remember much of the accident. Georgia”

SnowTech Magazine September 2018 Issue

March 12th 2009. Near Hurley, Wisconsin. As told by husband Jim

 It was a day that is forever burnt into our memories, it was just about the last chance to ride for the year and we did not want to miss it. We were about 40 miles into our ride. The weather had turned cold and snow was covering the hard icy snowmobile trail underneath. The sleds were handling good. North winds had blown the snow off the trail in open areas and road sides. I was in the lead as always. We were going north, running on the trail about 10 miles south of Hurley Wisconsin, right next to Hwy 51. We have communicators so we could keep in touch to give trail conditions, snowmobile traffic, stop signs and road crossings when Georgia (aka Judge) had safely crossed the road. I had warned Georgia of a hard Ieft turn and as always I go the report back (Hard left, roger). I was probably 50 yards ahead of her when I heard a loud whoosh sound looked in my mirror and looked behind and only saw snow dust. I figured Judge had gone straight and got stuck. I turned my sled around and saw her sled leaning to the right still running and my best friend lying with her back to a clump of trees.

Judge always wore a yellow face mask that's my 1st troubled memory (How the hell did she get her helmet off so fast) I stopped by her and asked what had happened? l hit kill switch on her sled, she was gasping for air having got the wind knocked out of her I thought, WRONG Judge had her gloved hands under her head and told me she had broken her back. And again l'm thinking broken ribs. I started my sled and parked it sideways in the trail but let it run so we could hopefully be seen by cars going past. I went back to Judge and my 15 years of Snowmobile safety training kicked in. She kept saying that she could not breathe and was scared. I learned her helmet had blown off her head at impact. A cold rush went through me. This was a 911 moment. I grabbed my cell and dialed 911 knowing we were in big trouble. Where the accident happened cell service was only so, so but I figured at 100 Miles an hour I could get to a high hill fast enough on the Hwy 51 but luckily I had just enough service to connect and was answered by a 911 operator. I kept calm enough to tell her our location and the extent of her injuries. It was serious. I hung up and went back to Judge. Her mouth was bleeding and I could see her face was turning color. This is the point where you tell the victim Judge in this case you are talking you are breathing because you can talk. I held c-spine till a guy stopped. He saw my sled running and gave me a hand to get the snowmobile up right as all I could think of was the gas leaking and her sled starting on fire. ln my haste to get the sled more upright we rolled the thing right on her legs, the sled stopped right next to her. Back to c-spine and keeping Judge calm. The whole time I was watching for blood to start running from her ears or nose. After what felt like hours, but really was 10 -15 minutes, the police and ambulance arrived. Georgia was a local EMT herself and when the guys saw me they recognized it was Georgia. lt was one of the best things that happened that day. My Judge was safe, help was here. (Yah right) l'm not sure why but I wanted to drive my sled home and then go to the hospital. lnstead of going back to the railroad grade I chose to take one of the windiest trails in the County. I just don't know why I didn't get into the cops car. The guy that stopped offered to get both sleds for me That could have turned out to be not so good running, full throttle anyplace I could thinking don't crash I need to get to Judge.

When I got home one of medics called telling me Life Flight had been called at the accident scene and I only had 15 minutes to join them. Once again I was off speeding my way to Judge. When I arrived at the hospital the staff were all running around checking on Judge. I know if Life Flight was in-bound things were way worse than I had been told, looking back I should have known when one of the Ambulance crew was down they all showed up to say hello. About half way to Duluth MN one of the medics told me Judge had broken her back. I later learned Judge had also shattered 3 Thoracic Vertebra, broke most of her ribs, some twice, punctured both lungs, broke her pelvis and that there were shards of bone poking at her spinal cord. We didn't know if she would walk again. This happened 9 years ago and not one day has gone by without thinking about seeing that yellow face mask and Judge lying on the ground. Judge is walking now and is back on her sled. Our lives forever changed and we have people telling us that it could have been worse of course.

It could have been avoided, had I not taken that trail. Why didn't I slow down more? (l was the lead and it's my responsibility to ride safe) lf I had only stopped at the corner (which now is a stop sign) We Judge and I talked about getting TekVests before the crash but since we ride slow, and even though I'm the fast nut in our group, we didn’t think we needed one. Had we purchased a TekVest it would have been for me and not Georgia. This was a slow speed accident and no drinking was involved. We were just out to enjoy the last ride of the season. The Safety lnstructor and the EMT out for a ride, always prepared to help others on the trail. A TekVest would not have prevented the crash but it sure would have lessened the damage and over $100,000 hospital bill. We have attached a copy of the bill for your readers to consider. The cost of a TekVest is a lot less than the cost of a day off work or worse and we have the bills to prove it. Tx for reading our story.