I tested my Turtle 2 today. Pulled over to a curb to park the bike, road was crowned, and a car was behind me. Pulled in, turned the handle bars to the left as I approached, and put my foot down. Oops, road was crowned, should not have hit the brake as I slowed and stopped, road was farther away than I thought, and the bike went over in slow mo (no forward motion). Of course I was tethered to the bike. Of course I fired off the beaste.
First thoughts. I’d wanted to do this with a dummy cartridge to see how hard a 60 lb pull on the lanyard feels. No problem pulling the lanyard away. Now I have a dummy cartridge so I can let the guys in our club try it if they want.
Second Thoughts. Make sure you have a good fist between your chest and the straps that close the vest. I think mine was adjusted too tightly. When the beaste inflated, I was squeezed. I could barely move. It does not deflate all that quickly, and seemed to take forever to lose air pressure. In fact, once I got up off the ground, I reached up and felt the vest - hard as a rock. It seemed not to deflate or get softer at all so I reached the buckles and unclipped the vest (this was not a problem). Laid it out on the ground, picked up the bike and set it on the side stand, then put the vest across the seat and (it was still hard) started unscrewing the cartridge to deflate it. When the CO2 cartridge came out, the vest deflated like a tire w/ an inner tube - fast and easily.
Third Thought. Turtle should have a way to deflate this thing - maybe carry a tanto (used for seppuku)? Better idea would be some kind of valve you could activate - open a velcro flap, pull a ring to let air out. This would be similar to delfating a hot air balloon (except these have a big velcroed rip panel to let hot air out).
Fourth Thought. Good thing nobody saw me do my Michelin Man impersonation. No embarrassment.
Fifth Thought. There should be a way to inflate this thing so you can properly adjust the fit. I think we want it firm, but not so tight all the blood is squeezed up into your brain. (For all you hard hat divers, you know about the 'squeeze'. Back in the early days, if the diver stepped off the edge of a sunken wreck and fell, or if his hose broke, the surrounding water pressure would... ahh compress the poor diver up into his rigid copper helmet. They buried the hat. Today a check valve in the helmet decreases this danger.) I am considering installing a tire valve on the bottom of the used CO2 cartridge. This way, I can inflate my vest to a couple of pounds pressure to adjust the fit so that it is a very firm fit. The protection comes, I think from the rigidity of the vest itself and its energy absorbing capability.
First thoughts. I’d wanted to do this with a dummy cartridge to see how hard a 60 lb pull on the lanyard feels. No problem pulling the lanyard away. Now I have a dummy cartridge so I can let the guys in our club try it if they want.
Second Thoughts. Make sure you have a good fist between your chest and the straps that close the vest. I think mine was adjusted too tightly. When the beaste inflated, I was squeezed. I could barely move. It does not deflate all that quickly, and seemed to take forever to lose air pressure. In fact, once I got up off the ground, I reached up and felt the vest - hard as a rock. It seemed not to deflate or get softer at all so I reached the buckles and unclipped the vest (this was not a problem). Laid it out on the ground, picked up the bike and set it on the side stand, then put the vest across the seat and (it was still hard) started unscrewing the cartridge to deflate it. When the CO2 cartridge came out, the vest deflated like a tire w/ an inner tube - fast and easily.
Third Thought. Turtle should have a way to deflate this thing - maybe carry a tanto (used for seppuku)? Better idea would be some kind of valve you could activate - open a velcro flap, pull a ring to let air out. This would be similar to delfating a hot air balloon (except these have a big velcroed rip panel to let hot air out).
Fourth Thought. Good thing nobody saw me do my Michelin Man impersonation. No embarrassment.
Fifth Thought. There should be a way to inflate this thing so you can properly adjust the fit. I think we want it firm, but not so tight all the blood is squeezed up into your brain. (For all you hard hat divers, you know about the 'squeeze'. Back in the early days, if the diver stepped off the edge of a sunken wreck and fell, or if his hose broke, the surrounding water pressure would... ahh compress the poor diver up into his rigid copper helmet. They buried the hat. Today a check valve in the helmet decreases this danger.) I am considering installing a tire valve on the bottom of the used CO2 cartridge. This way, I can inflate my vest to a couple of pounds pressure to adjust the fit so that it is a very firm fit. The protection comes, I think from the rigidity of the vest itself and its energy absorbing capability.
