Motorcycle inflatable jacket news from todays WAN (European contribution) - caution, graphic photos included

[bikerchris]

Hey all,

 

Great WAN show as always, I normally listen to it when doing building work, it's relaxing!

 

I heard the thing about the inflatable motorcycle jacket, it is quite a strange thing to attempt a subscription model on.

 

In Europe (I'm in the UK), we've had inflatable jackets for around 10-15 years, costing between $600-1000. They have not been 'smart devices', all that happens is that a pull cord is attached to the bike and rider. When the rider is ejected, the jacket inflates via a can of compressed air (bit bigger than a coke can). If the jacket is not damaged, you can buy a new can of air for $10-20 and carry on using the jacket.

 

Only from my experience, the key areas that need protecting are: head, neck, spine and pelvis. The jacket will prevent severe internal injuries as well as protecting the spine. The really good ones inflate UP under the helmet to prevent unhealthy head movement.

 

If you're wondering what happens when a car pulls out in front of you when you're doing 50-60mph, here it is (3 years to recover, before I was able to ride again):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a pelvis can do to a metal petrol tank when going from 50-60mph to 0mph

 

 

My current moped

 

[Spotty]

Moved to General Discussion. The Tech News section is for posting news articles. There is a Tech News post for discussing the Kilm brand safety airbag vests that require a subscription if you would like to discuss the topic there.

 

Looks like a pretty nasty crash, glad that you were able to recover from it!

[bikerchris]

Thank you for moving it @Spotty , and sorry for posting in the wrong place! I kinda thought it was news, but you are completely right...my bad

 

Yeah it was a nasty one, wouldn't recommend it! 

[Murasaki]

3 years is a lot.. but still good to know you're back riding after that horror show. Though I have to ask.. what are those springs in that xray?

[bikerchris]

@Murasaki Yeah, it was a long road to recovery, being in wheelchairs and on crutches for 18 months was fairly dull!

 

That spring thing is the racket mechanism attached to a strap that held me to a backboard, a bit like this:

 

[Murasaki]

6 minutes ago, bikerchris said:

@Murasaki Yeah, it was a long road to recovery, being in wheelchairs and on crutches for 18 months was fairly dull!

 

That spring thing is the racket mechanism attached to a strap that held me to a backboard, a bit like this:

Oh fair enough, sorry for the silly question Stay safe out there!

[bikerchris]

5 minutes ago, Murasaki said:

Oh fair enough, sorry for the silly question Stay safe out there!

Not a silly question at all, others have asked before!  

[spendog8]

scrap one B12 :( , got knocked off mine few years back with only a shattered hand(only 30mph thank god).  Glad to see your back to good health and riding again dude.

[bikerchris]

Afraid so @spendog8, what a waste cos it was a great bike. Sorry to hear about yours, sounds nasty. Yeah, took a couple of years, but I could finally walk normally again...and then ride

 

My first bike after 'the incident', it was great but after 5 years I'd put 80,000 miles on it and it was getting a bit tired:

 

[vf1000ride]

I crashed my Triumph back in 2017, spent 7 days in the trauma center and 2 months in an assisted living facility.  Agreed that it's a terrible way to get a few months off from work.  The airbag fitted riding gear has always kinda interested me but to have a subscription service for something like that would push me away for sure.  I unfortunately wouldn't have helped me in my crash but I agree it's a good concept.

[bikerchris]

Wow @vf1000ride, that's a nasty one, the assisted living sucks eh? I had 6 months of it - not nice needing someone to help you to the toilet, that's for sure! If you wanna be topped, shortly after I went back to work (month 9 I think), I was made redundant. I thought going to a job interview on crutches was never going to work, so I started up on my own. A fair few years on and I'm glad I did, though it is stressful at times.

 

The mere notion of a 'life protecting' subscription service is fairly appalling so far as products go. I'm sure if Tesla said that Airbags in a car were subscription based, it wouldn't go down too well.

 

The sad thing is, I kind of have sympathy. There are some companies out there making high quality gear that disappear because they don't make products that specifically fail after x years. Hein Gericke is one that disappeared relatively recently - I had a jacket made by them, it lasted 10 years with no fuss (well, a few zip changes, but that's it). With that sort of quality, they don't get repeat customers very often. So I can see why they are pushed into this bizarre financial decision, I don't agree with it, but I sort of understand it.

 

Like you, I doubt an inflatable jacket would have helped, but there will be some situations where you and me would have been glad to have it. In my case, an inflatable pelvis protector would have been aces!