Air bags on bikes. Honda's latest Goldwing.

[eliot-ness]

Just heard that Honda are to provide optional air bags for 2006 USA Goldwings. Sales are being hit hard by BMWs latest models so Honda are fighting back with all the latest technology being fitted to next years models.
Safer, or just another sales gimmick??? What comes next. Ejector seats???

[Jeremy]

Auto-pilot and a microwave.

[vifferman]

Well, it's got everything else: 6-CD stereo (improved for 2006 with new and extra speakers), electrically-adjustable windscreen, reverse gear, heater vents for your feet, heated grips, satellite navigation system, intercom, a boot, etc etc.)

So it's basically a car with a couple of wheels missing.

BUT (However!!) at least they did something significant to it.
The 2006 VFR gets new indicator lenses, a different windscreen, satin-finish muffler covers (oooooh.....), black-painted rear suspension brackets, New! Improved! instrument panel graphics, colour-coded fairing insert thingummybobs, and (...wait for it....) a reprogrammed ECU that cuts in the stupid wailey thingie at 6400 RPM instead of 6850 RPM "for smoother repsonse".

The 2006 CBR600RRRRRR gets two new paintschemes: a reddish radish one, and an exciting "based on the RC211V race colour scheme" sort of a bit (not really) orangey one. woohoo...
The only really updated bike is the CBRRRR1000RRRRR.

Honda have outdone themselves with mediocrity this time round...

[Paul in NZ]

Pah! BMW have had hot air bags for yonks... (PT) and most HD's come with a oversized dirt bag so whats new? (PT again)

[bugjuice]

they should make them with wheels that come down when you stop, so you don't have to waste effort on putting your feet down at lights etc. Taking your feet off the pegs is just so overrated..

microwave could be very handy tho. Could you get a Sky dish fitted too? May be hook up the Xbox and stick some more speakers in.. cos you know.. there's not much else to do..

2-wheel steering/drive..?

[Lou Girardin]

Stuff airbags, I want funbags on mine.

[bugjuice]

Stuff airbags, I want funbags on mine.

well they've been fitted as optional extras on some bikes for years..

[vifferman]

I forgot to mention cruise control.

[bugjuice]

I forgot to mention cruise control.

that's been standard for years on those things, hasn't it..?? it was one of the first things i remember when I first saw a two-wheeled truck Goldwing

[WRT]

they should make them with wheels that come down when you stop, so you don't have to waste effort on putting your feet down at lights etc. Taking your feet off the pegs is just so overrated..

Funnily enough some years ago someone invented a "bike" that had automatic "training" wheels on it. The thing looked like the front of a fighter jet, and you actually sat inside it (with a weird combo of handle bars and seat belt). The wheels would retract above about 5kph, up into a 45 deg angle, meaning that if you tipped it onto either side, it would turn into a tripod. Saw some footage of it where they were doing tight circles on it, leaning it over further and further until the left hand wheel touched down. Then they slowed to a halt (must be some tilt sensor that wont let the wheels come down if you are on an angle), before speeding up again, round and round until it was fast enough to tilt back up onto two wheels again.

Looked like it would be fun, but cant say I would trade in a bike to get one. More like something you con your mate into buying so you can take it to a car park from time to time to have a thrash on.

[vifferman]

that's been standard for years on those things, hasn't it..?? it was one of the first things i remember when I first saw a two-wheeled truck Goldwing

I guess. But it's special, powered by a powerful 16-bit ECU.
Not as powerful as the sat-nav; you can have it telling you where to go (presumably in a Murkn accent) through the speakers, or actually inside your helmet if you plug in your optional accessory helmet intercom doodad thingummy.

[Lou Girardin]

Air conditioning?

[Smorg]

when would the air bag know to deploy? It would send you flying i would think depending on the angle of deployment.
What if you just had a stumble and dropped it at the lights.................kapow!!!!!!!! You'd look like even more of a fool

[bugjuice]

when would the air bag know to deploy? It would send you flying i would think depending on the angle of deployment.
What if you just had a stumble and dropped it at the lights.................kapow!!!!!!!! You'd look like even more of a fool

if the bag is big enough, it could boost you backwards over some cars.. now that could be fun. Find the sensor, then, with a rather large hammer *kapow!!!! wheeeeeeeeeeeeee* (K.I.T.T. boost me up to that window... *smack-bushhhhhhh-wheeeeeeeeeee*)

I saw a pic of it in the Herald actually. One thing that baffles me a bit - a 'bag in a car is mainly there to stop you from going into the dashboard and windscreen. You are retained by the seatbelt, and your generally only have one main motion (forward, then back). On a bike, how many injuries have been from hitting the dashboard? If anything, a head on crash, the bag inflates, and boosts you another 10 feet into the air as you go over the top.. Either that, or most likely nowhere near the bike anyway as the bike goes one way and the rider another..

[Smorg]

hahahaha if it happened quick enough the driver of the cage would think he'd hit a bike with no one riding it...............until he looked in the trees 100m down the road, it'd be like having an ejector seat