Interesting bit of kit

Message

T.C. · #1 Post by **T.C.** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:40 am

Last night I was the guest speaker for a group in Rotherham, which is not the point of this post.

The speaker before me was a chap called Peter Riley from a company called Helite.

His company has developed and introduced a new safety airbag jacket which works differently to those used in racing, and having seen the demonstration, I have to say that for someone who has been involved in the developing of new kit, this was one of the most impressive safety jackets I have ever seen.

It is not cheap at £420 for the black and £450 for the hi viz, but seeing the level of protection it will afford riders in a bad crash, and bearing in mind that many people think nothing of spending £500 on their helmet or £1,000+ n leathers, given the level of protection this jacket will offer seems a small price to pay.

Anyway, I thought you might be interested, further information is here at http://www.helite-motorcycle-airbagjackets.co.uk/

MartDude · #2 Post by **MartDude** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 3:00 pm

Our own dear Nooj is now a distributor for these.

http://www.shinybikesyndrome.co.uk/new/shop/page/2/

T.C. · #3 Post by **T.C.** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 3:16 pm

Good for him. Having seen the product, highly recommended. I honestly hope he sells lots of them

lazarus · #4 Post by **lazarus** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 4:26 pm

Interesting.

I dont know what to wear for the best body protection. I went down the road 6 years ago, broke my foot and leg and wore away the muscle to the front of my right shin. Wearing fabric at the time but I'm not sure that leather would have protected me any more. maybe against the gravel but doubtful against impact. But then would I have been better off with kevlar jeans?

And if I did go leather, what about hot weather. Or cold weather. Or rain.

What are your views TC. You must have picked up a lot of practical experience on this issue.

The price of the helite seems fairly high to me. Lifejackets have similar inflation technology and you can get one of those for £50. Obviously a jacket is going to cost more but 8 times?

D-Rider · #5 Post by **D-Rider** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 5:07 pm

Hmmm expensive but a good idea. Just wish they had better activation technology than a rip-cord which is going to be a bit of a hassle.

Having got fed up with getting wet, I've recently broken the principles of a lifetime and spent significant cash on gore-tex gear (albeit at a significant reduction in a sale).
Therefore I'd not be in the market for a new jacket with it built in but when I can bring myself to spend big money again, I might consider one of the over-jacket versions.

Can imagine it would be a bit of a PITA in the summer though in adding an extra layer and blocking ventilation in your kit below.

MartDude · #6 Post by **MartDude** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 5:36 pm

D-Rider wrote:
Can imagine it would be a bit of a PITA in the summer though, blocking ventilation in your kit below.

Oh, it protects your reproductive organs as well, does it?

lazarus · #7 Post by **lazarus** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 5:55 pm

no need . those are self inflating.

MartDude · #8 Post by **MartDude** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 6:04 pm

lazarus wrote:no need . those are self inflating.

BikerGran · #9 Post by **BikerGran** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 6:53 pm

Speaking as someone who's never even worn leather trousers but did huge amounts of damage to my leg in a less than 1mph crash that wasn't even on a road - which the paramedics said wouldn't have been any different in leathers - well that was all I wanted to say really.

If you want to be completely safe, don't ride a motorcycle. Or drive a car. Or go on a train or a bus. In fact, better just stay at home. Oh but that's fairly dangerous too.............

fatboy · #10 Post by **fatboy** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:03 pm

The idea is fantastic....
My only concern is the activation, I would be twat that forgets the ripcord

T.C. · #11 Post by **T.C.** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:51 pm

fatboy wrote:The idea is fantastic....
My only concern is the activation, I would be twat that forgets the ripcord

It takes (I am sure he said) 30kg of pressure (either way it was substantial pressure) in order to pull the dead mans cord, so if you were to get off the bike without un-clipping, it will not activate, and also bear in mind that in a crash, usually there are substantial G forces working as well.

Peter demonstrated the point because that was an issue I raised, and to be honest, it simply tugs on the cord as a reminder. It took some effort on his part to inflate the jacket.

As he said, you might forget to unclip for a couple of weeks, but you soon get into the routine.

In France where the jacket was invented, they are doing an experiment with 1,000 riders with the jacket and 1,000 without. Axa in France are giving a 10% discount for those who wear it, which does not seem a lot at the moment, but it is anticipated that this discount will increase substantialy over the next couple of years, and it probably won't be long before a similar thing happens here when it is realised that whilst it will not stop all injuries, it will minimise or seriously reduce the nature of the catastrophic and life changing injuries.

Having been (and still am) a consultant on clothing, and given all the crashes I have investigated just on the clothing side, this is one of the most impressive bits of kit i have seen in a long time.

Replacement gas canisters of CO2 cost £16

T.C. · #12 Post by **T.C.** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:57 pm

lazarus wrote:Interesting.

I dont know what to wear for the best body protection. I went down the road 6 years ago, broke my foot and leg and wore away the muscle to the front of my right shin. Wearing fabric at the time but I'm not sure that leather would have protected me any more. maybe against the gravel but doubtful against impact. But then would I have been better off with kevlar jeans?

And if I did go leather, what about hot weather. Or cold weather. Or rain.

What are your views TC. You must have picked up a lot of practical experience on this issue.

The price of the helite seems fairly high to me. Lifejackets have similar inflation technology and you can get one of those for £50. Obviously a jacket is going to cost more but 8 times?

The technology used in the Helite I am told is somewhat different to those used in life jackets, given that they have to inflate inside 0.09 of a second maximum, and life jackets take in the region of 0.5 seconds which is the same as the race suits worn by Rossi et al. 0.5 seconds inflation time does not comply with current european legislation, it had to be a similar activation time to that of a car airbag which is between 0.05 and 0.09 seconds.

Whilst I understand you comment about life jackets, obviously the life jackets were not designed to be worn on a bike, and I hope I have covered that point in my answer.

In respect of your other point, it requires a longer answer and my brain is not functioning at the moment, so I will get back to this after a good nights sleep.

fatboy · #13 Post by **fatboy** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 6:55 pm

The more I look at this the more convinced I am, but....
my leathers have a 'race hump'.
Any idea if the hump would impede operation or effectiveness ?

#14 Post by **mangocrazy** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 8:11 pm

fatboy wrote:Any idea if my hump would impede operation or effectiveness ?

Have you considered surgery?

Sorry...

randomsquid · #15 Post by **randomsquid** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 4:33 pm

mangocrazy wrote:
fatboy wrote:Any idea if my hump would impede operation or effectiveness ?
Have you considered surgery?

Sorry...

Or moving to Norfolk?

Not sorry at all.