Who here wears an air-bag jacket/vest as im looking for advice on buying one | Page 5 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Who here wears an air-bag jacket/vest as im looking for advice on buying one

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Just doing some Sunday morning browsing around, saw this thought I'd jump back in on it if only to share the experience.

I've crashed a few times now with my airbag, but in March I got tangled with another racer leaving a corner, 3rd gear full throttle. I was pushed off the track and bailed off the bike before hitting a berm that surrounds the track... by far my most violent crash. The bike did a couple flips at least, and I spent a fair amount of time sliding on the back of my head/neck, head first, legs above me. Some part of me finally dug in and started me tumbling for a while... I finally stopped after meeting the base of the berm! I'm guessing the excursion was about 80m, and I was tumbling/sliding for around 30-35m, hitting the ground well over 100km/h

I came out of this with a sore neck and back (probably from sliding crumpled up) and a torn calf muscle. Nothing else. I'm 100% convinced I broke no bones and no major injuries thanks to the Techair airbag. I can't even recall the feeling of colliding with the planet!!!!!

If anyone is questioning whether or not the airbags work, they do, I tested it for ya!!!!
 
So those of you who own one, are you wearing them every time you go out for a ride or just on track days?
 
ifiddles said:
So those of you who own one, are you wearing them every time you go out for a ride or just on track days?
Click to expand...
I wear mine every time I go for a 'real' ride. The only times I don't is on quick trips or when I'm doing a quick trip within Hamilton for coffee or lunch/dinner, where I'll be off the bike for a lot longer than on it.

I figure urban riding is probably the best case use for one, with injuries from things like left turners best prevented by the airbag: spine, ribs, collarbone, neck.

FWIW, I'm not quite ATGATT, but pretty close. I always, always ride with gloves and 99.9% with a jacket. The vest has just replaced the back protector I used to wear...
 
ifiddles said:
So those of you who own one, are you wearing them every time you go out for a ride or just on track days?
Click to expand...
Yup, wearing it all the time. It was actually one of the reasons why I bought a jacket with an integrated airbag instead of a vest. I just knew that I would be too lazy to have to wear a jacket and a vest on top of it..

also, I kinda don't like vests on top of jackets (especially hiviz).. just look at this:

TURTLE-2-HI-VIS---3.4-normal__48183.1604447431.jpg
 
ifiddles said:
So those of you who own one, are you wearing them every time you go out for a ride or just on track days?
Click to expand...
Mine is the vest type worn under my REV'IT jacket where I removed the back protector but kept the shoulder and elbow pads. I only ride on the road now and don't do track days. I think I'm at the point where it would feel strange not to put the vest on for every ride.
 
OK...so for those of you wearing it under your jacket, did you purchase a bigger jacket to allow for the 'inflation' of the air bag, or just your regular size?
 
ifiddles said:
OK...so for those of you wearing it under your jacket, did you purchase a bigger jacket to allow for the 'inflation' of the air bag, or just your regular size?
Click to expand...

Depends on which one you go with. In the case of the Aplinestars TechAir 5 that I have, they recommend either a jacket/suit designed for airbags with stretch panels, or that you have a jacket with at least two inches of space around your chest. In my case, I have a Held jacket that (barely) gives me that room with the integral back protector removed, so that's what I mostly wear.
 
From what I've heard the under jacket versions don't cover as much area, and don't inflate as much.
e.g. it would be difficult to have a generic interior airbag squeeze out the collar to protect the back of your head or neck.
The over jacket ones try to make you into a michelin man.
 
ifiddles said:
OK...so for those of you wearing it under your jacket, did you purchase a bigger jacket to allow for the 'inflation' of the air bag, or just your regular size?
Click to expand...
I didn't purchase a bigger jacket. I use two jackets (one adv/touring style for most rides and a mesh style for hotter days) both with the back protector removed. There was enough room in the touring jacket but the mesh style is a tighter fit so I leave the front unzipped to near the bottom. Although not ideal I figure its better to be able to wear the airbag vest with the mesh jacket than not at all. What I think is more important is that your airbag vest fits you as firmly against your body as you can. Mine has elastic mesh panels running down each side that expand almost fully when I zip up.
 
I may have missed it if it was mentioned here........& may be a dumb question
....is there different generations of the dainese air vest? couldn't find any info but wondering if there were any updates since it was released.
 
somebody said:
I may have missed it if it was mentioned here........& may be a dumb question
....is there different generations of the dainese air vest? couldn't find any info but wondering if there were any updates since it was released.
Click to expand...
Software update seems regular but no hardware change I am aware of. I think I have had 5 software updates on mine so far.


Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
 
somebody said:
I may have missed it if it was mentioned here........& may be a dumb question
....is there different generations of the dainese air vest? couldn't find any info but wondering if there were any updates since it was released.
Click to expand...
Software update seems regular but no hardware change I am aware of. I think I have had 5 software updates on mine so far.


Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
 
Had my eye on this for awhile. Noticed price has gone up by a couple of hundred dollars. Some retailers are still selling for original price but most likely will go up too. May want to grab one now if you were thinking of getting one
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