Airbags, hmmm.

[george formby]

Interestin video from Fortnine for the well heeled and safety conscious.

[onearmedbandit]

I watched that earlier, and I can't say that one of those wouldn't have prevented my life long injury. However now it would be difficult (not impossible) for me to take advantage of the current offerings. Unless I cut off my arm.

[caseye]

I watched that earlier, and I can't say that one of those wouldn't have prevented my life long injury. However now it would be difficult (not impossible) for me to take advantage of the current offerings. Unless I cut off my arm.

Bit of a Canundrum there OAB.
Can't argue with our mans logic on which is best.
I wonder how many have sold here in NZ?

[Laava]

One of the old duffers I ride with occasionally has one that he just plugs in to whichever bike he is riding. Can't remember the brand tho but it just looks like a regular jacket.
my neighbour has one for horse riding and it has deployed on her a couple of times. She says it is scary when it goes off but saves a few ribs and collar bones etc...

[Gremlin]

I watched that earlier, and I can't say that one of those wouldn't have prevented my life long injury. However now it would be difficult (not impossible) for me to take advantage of the current offerings. Unless I cut off my arm.

We would have to sacrifice a lot of movement to protect in all situations. Much like insurance, it increases the odds of being covered, but won't protect in every situation.

I've considered a neck brace, but it would reduce the ability to carry out headchecks. In some situations, it would give me more protection, but would increase my risk in others... Pros and cons

[F5 Dave]

I bought an Alpinestar Tech 5 late last year. Been easy to live with, keep it on a hanger, easy to charge. Toured in it, long days, only 1/2 discharged, USB charger for hour or so. Fits under jacket, not bad in heat when we did far north, no worse than leather usually.

Of course it won't save every crash. But using that as an excuse is silly. Wish I'd had it my last racing crash. Might have saved a bunch of bones.

Of course I'm lying here with some uncomfortable but healing ribs. So, no, it didn't save me in my last tumble off my dirtbike.

. . Of course it was safely at home at the time and I was wearing my fancy new leaat 5.5 full conventional high end armour.

Waiting for someone to develop a dirt airbag .

[Reckless]

I do like the way this blows up to support the helmet as I have a little neck damage from a road prang in 2006.
I looked into an airbag suit but the recharge cost put me off

I race with a Leatt neck brace and you are correct Gremlin no head checks although it doesn't cause me any hassle apart from that at all.
Movement and field of vision work well.

I'm guessing the Leatt would have to go in the bin if I went to one of these air bag set ups??

Edit: Just went and threw the Leatt on. Head checks not bad if your in a sit up position like my Z1r or Bonnie.
But the tuck position like my Road FZR1000 or race bike its a lot more restrictive.

[OddDuck]

I've got one (Helite Turtle) and have been riding with it for some time... about a year and a half now or so.

Anyway, no issues with movement, head checks etc aren't a problem, in fact I hardly notice it while riding. It's less intrusive than a back protector or under-jacket armour. The vest can shift a bit sideways if the gas canister and mechanism contact the fuel tank or tankbag - this tends to happen if I lean forward unfortunately. It's generally best to not have wallet, phone etc in jacket pockets underneath the gas gear for this reason.

I am finding problems with it. Not to do with the design. These are very human issues...

- social acceptance from other riders

- dickhead drivers and what I can only describe as 'fuckery'

The first I can fully agree with, the hi-vis Turtle really does not look cool. At all. Such is the price of full length spine protection including tailbone and neck bracing. The Tech-Air 5 or similar is waaaay better for on-ride respect.

The second is rare but pretty scary when it does happen... tailgating, getting overtaken and then cut off at the end of passing lanes, un-necessarily close overtakes (reach out and touch them as they're going by stuff). No overt and thus proveable hostile action though (so far). The vehicles doing it are all the same: bogan shitboxes. There's always been an element of this but it does seem to have increased since I started wearing the Turtle. It's got me thinking seriously about saving again for the black version, thus trading off SMIDSY against fuckery... honestly it is getting this dangerous. Fucking Upper Hutt.

All this said, after witnessing a mate's crash and what he had to go through during recovery, these days it's the back protector at a minimum and the Turtle for preference most of the time. A jacket alone isn't enough any more.

Reckless - one of the advantages of the Helite gear is that recharging is simple, repack the vest at the side of the road and replace the CO2 canister. It's 5 minutes and $25. They're doing an electronic version of the Turtle these days as well but I don't have any direct experience with it.

[nerrrd]

The most interesting thing about that video is his suggestion that they will eventually be made compulsory for street riding.

[F5 Dave]

Hes American and I'm not sure about some of his stuff.

[george formby]

Waiting for someone to develop a dirt airbag .

A dirtbag?

[onearmedbandit]

Hes American and I'm not sure about some of his stuff.

Canadian...

[F5 Dave]

Opps.

He does have a certain smugness that I obviously misinterpreted
He often makes good sense explaining stuff, but I feel he overstretches on some of his editorial conclusions

The battery thing is just another example. When was the last time your smartphone actually went dead flat?

[F5 Dave]

A dirtbag?

I did resist trying to work that in.

Will be a hard call to make a dirt use airbag not go off all the time yet make it inflate in slow speed front washes that can be quite a hard whack.

Also they need to have multiple cells and user replacement.

Be keen though. As you get older it takes longer to heal.

[george formby]

I did resist trying to work that in.

Will be a hard call to make a dirt use airbag not go off all the time yet make it inflate in slow speed front washes that can be quite a hard whack.

Also they need to have multiple cells and user replacement.

Be keen though. As you get older it takes longer to heal.

The rate at which I do alternative dismounts means I would never finish a ride for faffing with an airbag. Getting clay out of the body armour is hard enough.