Air bag shirt wotsits

[wtdoom]

Been living elsewhere for a few years now and back on bikes in the uk where I belong .
Wife wants me to get an airbag shirt thingy . Does anyone know about these things ? Are they any good ?

[SAS Tom]

I've tried one of the Held airbag vests. I can see how they work, they inflate very quickly and stop your neck from moving as well as holding your torso tight.

The Held one has a strap that you put on your handlebars so if you come of the bike it pulls a little ball out of the best which fires a pin into the canister to inflate the vest.

It feels like being punched and winds you a bit. I could still feel it a few hours later.

[shoestring7]

I've been impressed by the Helite system. Simple to use, and quick to inflate, and as stated above, as well as offering impact protection to the vital organs it immobilises the head and neck in an accident. I tried it out (not in an impact) and while it felt very constraining while inflated I didn't feel beaten up afterwards! Its also available built integrated into a high quality adventure-touring style jacket, which makes it better vfm.

Helite make the airbag vests used by all the horsey people too.

http://www.helite-motorcycle-airbagjackets.co.uk

SS7

[dukeboy749r]

That's impressive

[wtdoom]

Thank you gents , that's very helpful .

Downside is I think I know what I'm getting for my birthday though

[Renn Sport]

Dainese do the D-Air Vest which is fairly pricey at around £650, but you need another £350 to have a control system fitted to your bike.

Also you have to mount a largish screen somewhere on your bike. So its not something you can simply transfer on to another bike.

[SVS]

Bonjour Those pesky French have only gone and done an official test of these new fangled windbags:
http://m.autoevolution.com/biker-airbags-receive-t...

The Dainese D-Air system came top, as it did in the German ADAC testing too, but neither the French nor the Germans have tested the latest Alpinestars system yet.

Edited by SVS on Saturday 5th September 23:54

[bogie]

This looks like one of the best offerings yet being a regular looking leather jacket. Id still prefer the Dainese system though rather than the tether to plug in

No doubt in another 5years these will be hundreds cheaper and a lot more common.....

http://www.helite-motorcycle-airbagjackets.co.uk/l...

[Undinist]

I want one of these so I've been trying to do some comparisons. I emailed Helite in June 2014 for some detailed info because there were contradictory stats floating around on the web.

If you collide with another vehicle the Dainese system is claimed to inflate fully 45 milliseconds after the impact. The inflation starts as soon as a sensor detects the bike's deceleration. The tethered products, e.g. Helite, don't have a sensor. They start to inflate after your body has moved forward and pulled the tether. This adds to the time. Helite claims 115 milliseconds between impact and "full protection" http://bit.ly/1JZhcJz.

Let's say you are doing 30 mph when you hit the other vehicle. (Maths isn't my strong point, so I hope someone will check this!) 1 mph = 1.47 feet per sec. So at 30 mph in 45 milliseconds you travel 1.98 feet. So the Dainese vest inflates just before you hit the car. The Helite vest, which takes 115 ms, inflates after you have travelled 5.06 feet. So depending on the shape of the car and the angle at which you hit it, the vest may only give partial protection.

I hope the Helite would be enough for me - lots of serious/fatal accidents involve more in the way of sliding or flying, giving a tethered vest enough time to inflate. I like the Dainese system but it is just so pricey.

The Dainese vest is 25% off, i.e. £525 at bikestop.co.uk. The on-bike electronics gizmo is £440. Plus there's an annual service which costs about £125. The Helite Airnest vest is £385 www.helite-motorcycle-airbagjackets.co.uk/best-sal...

Here's the email I received from Helite last year. Note that the inflation time quoted is different from the Helite page I linked to above - I think because the product has been improved.

"The fundamental problem with measuring and supplying data when we get into the minutia is the lack of measuring protocol as the European standard for airbag measurement EN1621/4 is ‘stuck’ in measurement protocol. Dainese claim a total deployment time for their D-air system of 45 milliseconds yet some of their airbags have less fluid capacity than Helite airbags and are at lower pressure. If you are looking to make product comparison, what is clear is: the Dainese TDT (total deployment time) is faster than Helite. With a ‘mechanical’ device using a lanyard for triggering the airbag there is a time which has to be added before the airbag is actually fired. This could be in the region of 0.1 seconds although it can never be specific as every accident is different. Helite airbags are actually inflating in approx 0.03 but that is the front part of the airbag nearest to the trigger. We only quote 0.094 because that is when we are fully inflated to 200millibar of pressure in all parts of the airbag. If you are looking for absolute speed of protection you must buy Dainese. If you are looking to significantly change the ‘odds’ of incurring serious injury in many types of Motorcycle accident Helite may suffice."

Edited by Undinist on Sunday 6th September 21:10

[LeadFarmer]

I wear a Point Two Air Jacket. Its pretty much the same as the Helite I believe.

[wtdoom]

Thanks all for the updates , useful to know