Air bag vest

dduelin said:
Bibendum the Michelin Man
Click to expand...
Cool! I never knew his name, but in my pre-heated gear days, I used to compare myself to him with all the layers I wore commuting. :D

My first time of having my airbag vest deploy wasn't any kind of spectacular tale. But it taught me a valuable lesson. I was heading to the prison and evening rush hour was in full swing. I came to a busy intersection, stopped and saw the traffic starting to move in the lanes ahead of me going right to left. It was a huge intersection, so I knew there was a few moments if I turned now, that I could get out in front of the traffic to my left. I let the clutch out and looked forward...to see a teenager carrying a skateboard crossing in the crosswalk. He wasn't doing anything wrong, BTW. I hadn't begun moving more than maybe a half mile an hour???...but my right foot wasn't on the footpeg yet. My only choice was to grab the front brake hard and keep from hitting the kid.

The next moment, I was looking up at the sky and lying against the curb. Huh?? What happened? Oh...the airbag vest went off. I can see the bike sleeping on its side a few feet away. I do a quick check and everything seems to be fine for the body and it dawns on me that this should hurt. Hurt bad. My back is laying against the hard edge of the curb and I hit hard. But no broken ribs. Why? The airbag did its job.

I rode away with a badly bruised ego and a dirty jacket and airbag vest that used to look so pristine. I bought a new CO2 cartridge for about $22 and washed the vest.

If my understanding is correct, an airbag with sensors wouldn't have deployed. That would be a stop and drop. But I'm sure I would've had some broken ribs from that encounter with the curb. The tethered system had the airbag vest deployed before I hit the ground. It also had my airbag vest deployed when I hit the ground in 1/30th of a second. It works. All the other arguments for a sensor activated airbag are IMO simply marketing arguments to convince you to buy that instead of a simpler system.

As @dduelin said, I've tried to walk away from my bike a few times and always been brought up short. The analogy of wearing a seat belt is good. I think I'm smarter than the seat belt, and decades ago I learned how to unbuckle it before getting out of the car. I learned the same thing with my tethered airbag vest.

Chris
 
Tedbrogden said:
I understand the role these can play in reducing injuries, but how can you wear them in the summertime in Texas?
Click to expand...
Same way you wear them in the heat and humidity in Tennessee in the summertime - you just sweat a little bit more.
I've worn mine riding through Las Vegas in above 100 degree temps.
My Hit-Air does not block that much of the wind when moving along.
When you stop, you're gonna roast anyway even if you are not wearing anything ... ;)
 
Tedbrogden said:
I understand the role these can play in reducing injuries, but how can you wear them in the summertime in Texas?
Click to expand...
I was born in Texas (Harlingen) and moved around there as an Air Force brat, but I've never ridden in Texas. But New Mexico last year was 105F and maybe that qualifies.

Above 93F, your thyroid can't keep up with the cooling needs of your body. David Hough has some excellent articles on riding in extreme heat. Anyway, he says at those temps to start limiting the amount of airflow over your body because the air is actually acting like a hair dryer on your skin and heating you up. All the sweat is evaporating before it can cool you. So the Hit-Air vest I have will allow some air to flow on your body...but not too much in conditions like that.

I met a couple in Wyoming one year. Temps were up at triple-digits. She said their cooling vests only lasted a half-hour. Mine lasted me almost three hours. It helps. If you don't have one yet, a cooling vest under the jacket is like air-conditioning on a motorcycle.

Just like riding anywhere, you learn to compensate and adjust for the conditions. I live where it is cool for most of you. Mid to high 70s is normal in the summer months. But those are the months when I'm traveling outside the Pacific Northwest and the temps are in the 90s and 100s. I adjust what I wear.

I had a lot of debate in my mind about the cost of one of these. $600-700 now, is a lot of money. My wife pointed out that it's a fraction of what it costs for an emergency room visit.

Chris
 
SMSW said:
The Klim vest is only $300, but the subscription adds $120/year or $12/month. If you buy the module outright, it adds another $399 so the Klim vest is competitive with the Turtle 2. They mention pausing the subscription, but no mention if you want to suspend it for cold months (it is not unrealistic for us northerners to want to shut it off for 4 to 6 monhts). The adventure riding option is $25/yr or $8/mo. There was no threat that there would be no price increases for the subscription.

How many upgrades have you had in your 3 years?
What does a new cartridge cost?

With most PPE, when you need it, it's too late to put it on. I like @Rubio's comment about marine PFD's. Who wears these unless mandated by law (ex. personal watercraft)?

Baby water buffalo size? Phil from my perspective hugging you, I think you outgrew baby size a long time ago. (Said w/ no disrespect).

Even cremation is expensive. If you have gone through one (funeral) living is cheaper.

The surviving "in good shape" is key. Many folks survive a crash, but the lingering effects may decrease the quality of life. Anything that helps to mitigate the injuries and the pain of recovery is worth it IMHO.
Click to expand...
I have only had on box replaced as an upgrade. I have had several software updates over the years and they have added an ADV mode for the controller that works better for riding off road. It is my understanding you can pause the subscription for winter non-riding months. The prices have not gone up for at least three years and the cost of the airbag itself has dropped by 100.00 since I bought mine. I think the argon cartridge cost is about 75.00 and you can replace it yourself up to 3 deployments after that they want you to send it in for an inspection. There is a manual air inflation valve if you want to inflate the bag just to inspect it.
 
Daboo said:
@bdalameda - Is it true that you are really only renting the KLIM airbag vest? It looks like there's a $120 per year subscription amount. If it deploys three times, you have to send it in for inspection. Is that at your cost, or theirs? And when you send it in, what do you use while you're waiting for it to be returned?

Getting one of these is a good excuse to lose weight or update my riding gear. :D I don't have 5 inches of excess room inside my jacket to allow for the expansion when in an accident. If I wore it with my current gear, I'd either have broken ribs or internal injuries just from the airbag deploying.

Chris
Click to expand...
You don't rent the vest itself just the control unit is on a subscription, if you want to go that way. You can also buy the controller outright. For 120.00 a year I think this is pretty cheap to maintain the controller as well as replace it if anything goes wrong like a battery problem. They overnight a new control box along with a prepaid shipping box for the old unit to return it if you have any issues with it. You really don't need 5" of extra room for the vest to deploy. My regular jacket has enough stretch to it and I use my standard size jacket. You can see on the video of a deployment test inside a jacket, the jacket gets very tight but it is plenty protective. They have a really good record of successful deployments with the In & Motion system.
 
Weaselinsuit said:
Mine deployed when I swung it above my head to put on. The bang and subsequent inflation amused everyone in the passenger lounge on the ferry.
Click to expand...
I presume an electronic one not a tethered one?
 
dduelin said:
and in a few moments the vest deflated.
Click to expand...
Wow, my Turtle 2 did not deflate in a few moments.The first time I tested it, I waited and waited - seemed like forever so I unscrewed the CO2 cylinder. Same thing next time. For sure it did not self deflate quickly. And there was absolutely no question that the vest had inflated. I was instantly that dog in a hot dog bun.
 
SMSW said:
Wow, my Turtle 2 did not deflate in a few moments.The first time I tested it, I waited and waited - seemed like forever so I unscrewed the CO2 cylinder. Same thing next time. For sure it did not self deflate quickly. And there was absolutely no question that the vest had inflated. I was instantly that dog in a hot dog bun.
Click to expand...
It was a few minutes, moments, deflating but I unbuckled it and removed it right after the event. The vest was a tight squeeze when inflated but not uncomfortably so.
 
Weaselinsuit said:
Lol, yes. Though I would not rule out the possibility of my doing that if I had a tethered one down on the vehicle deck.
Click to expand...
My Hit-Air tethered takes about 50lbs of pull to set off IIRC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom