Does anyone here have knowledge of, or experience with, Hit-Air inflatable vests or jackets?
I met a guy at the Rock Store last week who was wearing one. He was very enthusiastic about the benefits, and how comfortable they are. One feature I like is that you can repack and recharge them yourself in a matter of a few minutes.
The vest that I am looking at is the "JV" model. I believe the technology for these comes from the horseback riding world, but I don't know more than that. The basic idea seems very sound.
I'm surprised that "air bags" aren't mandated by race-sanctioning bodies by now. Except for the FIM, of course, because the manufacturers may not have paid the required bribe money yet.
Top level motorsport riders are wearing airbag suits, but if the FIM bring in rules for all classes then it will add a lot of expense I guess, and someone has to support the suits every weekend at race meets. Sometimes there are dozens of offs each weekend, hundreds per season, per race series ....thats a lot of work/expense that someone has to pay for
imagine you compete in a lower class without millions in sponsorship, you might not want a £5-10K extra bill every race weekend just to renew your airbag suit......
Personally i like the look of the Dainese airbag kit, but they dont do a jacket yet that I like the look of. Im sure the price and range will increase over the years. When they are £500 a jacket I might get one
There is less protection in this model than some of the other ones, but the CO2 cartridge is in the back so it doesn't interfere with sport oriented riding.
I have gone down in my vest, and it worked great. It was easy to get it reset to use again.
If the crash is bad enough, it may trash the vest. But I am willing to spend the money on a new one if that ends up happening. A vest is cheaper than medical bill.
Thank you all for the info. As you may know, riders who become paralyzed are often hit by their own bike. I think we all should take a serious look at this. I didn't know anything about these until last week. I will be ordering one tomorrow.
The difference between the two is that the racing vest has the cord attached on the back of the vest and anchored to the bike tail, rather than going from the front of the vest to the clamp. Initially I thought the two versions weren't much different (in facts the regular version has more inflatable parts, so it looked safer when I bought it), but eventually I realized the front clips scratch against the tank and cause some minor discomfort. Not a major problem, but something you should be aware when you buy.
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