my new airbag jacket

[MattyP]

Hey all, theres a lot of chatter around about the airbag jackets you can get. I'll leave the brand name out of it so you're less likely to think I'm some dink trying to sell the jackets - which is what most of the blog posts I read seem to be.

Regardless, I just got one, and figured I should post something about it since it is so hard to find information about them. I haven't taken a fall with it on yet (although I've been told its inevitable) but I did trigger the mechanism just to see if it works, boy does it! This is an experiment well worth the $20 bucks for a new cartridge - given the fun of it and the peace of mind knowing that the thing actually inflates.

I bought a 'euro' style touring jacket (the red matches my 01 Skorpion Tour very nicely), it looks fine - the construction seems good and rugged and has CE armor in the elbows and shoulders with a foam pad for your lower and mid back. When I first tried it on for fit it seemed like it would be a very warm coat, but once I got rolling the thing breathes at least as well as my other 3 season textile jacket (if not better). It comes with a cold season liner that is purportedly waterproof. I live in Wisconsin, and it is still just early spring here and not very hot (maybe 75 on a good day (~23-24C for our Euro friends)), as the temps creep up I might find that no matter how well it breathes while moving, sitting at a light or walking around becomes unbearable - I'll let you all know if that's the case. My only critisism at this point is that the elbow armor seems a little sloshy (it likes to move around when you're not in riding position) but that can be easily solved with a few well placed stiches.

The jacket attaches to the bike frame under the seat with a coiled lanyard - that I didn't even notice after about 1/2 hour of riding around. You can adjust the landyard so that you have a fair amount of freedom to lean or stand on the pegs (but you don't want it do loose that the thing doesn't trigger when you are tossed off your ride). There is some chatter around the internet that people are afraid they'll forget to unhook from the bike and will set off the jacket when they get off (inevitably in front of a squadron of hot chicks). I tested that out too... I gathered up a whole bunch of hotties and stepped away from my bike while still attached. I was of course distracted by the purring and cooing eminating from my harem, but I still think that that light tug that you feel when you try to step away from the bike is enough to remind you to unhook. Mind you, I don't think its impossible to set the thing off this way, but you'd have to be jumping off the bike and immediately running away to do so - and if thats the case you're probably not worried about the squad of hotties you're putting out a fire or saving a child from raging flood waters.

About the price... I've been looking at these for a while. They are not very common in the states, and the marketing seems to be aimed at competative and backcountry horse riders. There are some websites (backbone, crashbounce, and safermoto) that sell them in the $400-600 range (whoa!). But, i've seen over and over again that some poor well intentioned business person bought a bunch of these - thinking they're the next greatest thing. Only to find out that most motorcyclists won't buy them because it isn't cool to care if you die or not when you crash your bike. I waited around and found once of these folks selling on ebay for $350, OBO. He took $250 with $20 for an extra CO2 cartirdge. With $35 shipping I got this fancy piece of safety gear for only slightly more than a high quality textile jacket (which is essentially what this new jacket is - but with airbags to boot).

so there it is. I've done my part to help folks learn a little more about these jackets. If you have questions I'll answer what I can, I've only had the coat for a very little while right now.

[MattyP]

ok, Wisconsin heat wave. Suddenly its in the 90s - still this jacket is pretty comfortable so long as I'm moving. It is also better if I don't have a backpack on(which blocks the air flow through the back vents). Still a decent jacket. Still recommended.