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Airbag Bike Jackets - The way to go? Airbag Bike Jackets - The way to go?
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Photo by George Guille, It's going to be a long 300km... Bolivian Amazon

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by George Guille
It's going to be a long 300km...
Bolivian Amazon



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  #46  
Old 19 Feb 2009
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Would we talking about "negative comments" if the device in question was an underfairing explosive to counteract the blast effects of the car in front hitting something and sending out lethal bits of metal? Most people would see it as science fiction and yet such reactive armour exists and is in wide spread military use.

The fact that an airbag is a well publicised bit of automotive technology and looks like a nice comfy kiddies baloon makes people want to believe in it. The fact is that the application of the airbag without the seat, seatbelt, crush zones, retracting steering column and pedals and the logic to control deployment, the airbag is just as new an application as the reactive armour. An airbag is a brief pulse of high pressure gas that acts like a spring for a few milliseconds. Deploy it too close and it'll break bones, too late and you might as well use that kiddies baloon. Is saying I'd rather not have the deployment controlled by a random bit of steel cable negative?

Andy
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  #47  
Old 20 Feb 2009
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Thumbs down I'm not convinced
They show the guy in the news clip with the Ducati that sustained a broken pelvis and back and then the news reader goes on to say that it is exactly these kinds of injuries that the jacket will prevent .


That's strange... I've never wrapped my jacket around my pelvis...


Also... if the air jacket is so great at protecting you then why is the guy testing it wearing a full suit of body armour?



There is an agenda here and I'm not sure who is driving it :confused1:
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  #48  
Old 20 Feb 2009
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It's a gas
Ai lad that's a bonie point ya made there. I had also decided the air bag jacket would have to supplement armour or include such a jacket. The short time of inflation is important too but best point you made is the spring effect. That is So important. I saw a demo video of a falling builder onto a carpark. I was immediately impressed and would have bought such a jacket if a salesman had been there. Now I'm much less convinced. It seems the jacket would be best in a collision at a junction so I'll keep working at care there. Interestingly in UK most male riders crash on corners. Funny I've skidded out on diesel and slick road where my armour was great and adequate. The biggest risks to me are my own mood and lack of grip. I'm much more interested in eradicating diesel spills. No ammount of care can protect there. Linzi.
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  #49  
Old 20 Feb 2009
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I think this argument mainly boils down to cost. There's a significant proportion of people in the world (and on the HUBB!) who trot out the line "If it saves your life then it's worth it..." Blah, blah, blah. They bang on about never riding with anything less than a three hundred quid lid and the finest body armour money can buy and insinuating that anyone who doesn't is an idiot.
Sure, buy the kit you can afford, but I'm afraid some of us just don't have that much cash lying around. My relatively cheapo £120 Hein Gericke Tuareg was a stretch for me to buy (and its protected me fine in a coupl of offs), I bought my helmet in a sale and my back armour is stuff I bought years ago for snowboarding.
At the end of the day, you can't predict all eventualities and simply going out and spending lots of money won't keep you safe. As well as riding motorbikes I climb mountains, canoe and ski off-piste. If I'd bought all the kit I'd been told was 'essential' and would 'save my life' over the years I'd have an absolute crap load of nice kit but would never have had any money to go places and use it.

Matt
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  #50  
Old 20 Feb 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Cartney View Post
I think this argument mainly boils down to cost. There's a significant proportion of people in the world (and on the HUBB!) who trot out the line "If it saves your life then it's worth it..." Blah, blah, blah. They bang on about never riding with anything less than a three hundred quid lid and the finest body armour money can buy and insinuating that anyone who doesn't is an idiot.
Sure, buy the kit you can afford, but I'm afraid some of us just don't have that much cash lying around. My relatively cheapo £120 Hein Gericke Tuareg was a stretch for me to buy (and its protected me fine in a coupl of offs), I bought my helmet in a sale and my back armour is stuff I bought years ago for snowboarding.
At the end of the day, you can't predict all eventualities and simply going out and spending lots of money won't keep you safe. As well as riding motorbikes I climb mountains, canoe and ski off-piste. If I'd bought all the kit I'd been told was 'essential' and would 'save my life' over the years I'd have an absolute crap load of nice kit but would never have had any money to go places and use it.

Matt

I couldn't agree more Matt . I don't ride a motorbike to be safe.

If I wanted to be safe I'd stay at home.

I don't have any objection to mitigating some of that risk by wearing a helmet, boots gloves and a jacket but you have to draw the line somewhere. The last near miss I had a car did a U-turn in the road in front of me. My front wheel made contact with his drivers door but I managed to stop the bike... just. The ABS kicked in. I wonder if I would have skidded to a straight line stop sooner without the ABS :confused1:. On that occasion the only injury I sustained were some slightly crushed crown jewels . Do I forever wear a cod piece now for fear that I might bruise my manhood? I don't think so.
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  #51  
Old 20 Feb 2009
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I wonder if I would have skidded to a straight line stop sooner without the ABS :confused1:. .
A locked wheel on a hard smooth surface produces almost zero deceleration, that's why the back end tries to overtake the front and you low side. You'd have stopped longer/harder. Demo we used to do on training courses (I worked for an ABS manufacturer for 13 years up to last year) was to run a toy car down a tilted board with cotton wound round the axles for brakes and blu-tak for locked wheels. Try it if you don't believe me, the car braking stops on the board, the one with locked wheels dents the skirting board.

Cost is an interesting one. For certainty I'd pay thousands. The question to me is how much better is a £100 jacket than a £300 one. Testing above the CE level by the magazines has suggested some £100 gear is better than some at a lot more. Pot luck there IMHO although the helmet rateings hopefully show how this will develop.

Andy
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