Hit-air Airbag
Candi Ruman
The crash happened so quickly. I hit the ground headfirst and stayed that way until I finally came to a stop. There was pressure building around my torso as I slid off the track in a crunched position. Once I came to a stop, the pain slowly started to creep up from the bottom of my ribs.
I first saw and heard of the Hit Air vest from Alan Cunningham, owner of SafterMoto. Alan uses one while racing for the American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM). He and his wife Beth, who helps him run the business, are at all the AFM races, so I was exposed to Alan and a handful of racers hitting the track sporting Hit Airs.
The Hit Air Racer vest also comes with a back protector (covers the mid back) that I totally wear...along with my full-length (upper back to tail bone) back protector. I mean, why not have as much protection as humanly possible? Speaking of protection, as you can see in the image below, once deployed the airbag protects the majority of the upper body area: neck, chest, and ribs.
To give you a better idea of what the vest looks like when deployed, watch this YouTube video posted by Marcus Zarra. Skip to the 8:45 minute mark and focus your attention to the right side of the screen. You will see my friend Viet take on a nasty spill, and from what I can recall, he only suffered a bruised elbow from the whole ordeal.
When it comes to price, the Hit Air Racer vest retails at $489.00. Replacement CO2 cartridges retail for $22. In my opinion, I think the vest is worth every penny. I also agree with Alan: The vest is a small price to pay when compared to a trip to the ER.
As I mentioned earlier, Hit Air offers a variety of styles for street riders. The specs are very similar to the racer vest, with minor differences. For example, there are a few models that come with reflective material on them to improve visibility for motorists, especially in low light conditions. The street vests start at around $389 and go up to $519.
If you couldn't tell, I really swear by this vest and highly recommend it. It's well constructed, sturdy, easy to maintain and to reset if deployed. The price is right and it prevented me from breaking a collar bone or potentially worse...what else could you ask for?
Because of the lower speed of an EUC, and the nature of the "cut out" a rider may be on (or very close to) the ground before getting enough separation to trigger the airbag... Then again at low speed it may not need to trigger, and at MSuper v3 speeds it might be quite fast enough (and more necessary).
I think it's mostly extremities that get injured in EUC crashes. Collar bones, arms, wrists, ankles, knees. This looks more like an inflation vest that might save you from drowning if you go flying off into a lake or something. Maybe if they had a whole jacket that inflated... hard to say...
The west is triggered by a lanyard when the motorcycle and the rider is separated by a distance. The question is if you can make a lanyard for an EUC that will trigger mostly only when needed. I have my doubt and believe that if you make it safe enough to trigger when you need it to trigger, you will end up with lots of false triggers such as triggering when you step of the wheel and the wheel falls over. Just my 16.47 re (=2 c with today's exchange rate)
Sent them an email asking if the sensor can be mounted horizontally like on a tube top instead of vertically on the seat post and whether the vest will recognize a crash if the rider falls on their back or side. Still waiting for a replay.
The Hit-Air Advantage Max model is the newest in Hit-Air airbag technology. With comfort and safety in mind, the Advantage Max model offers comprehensive protection with airbags for your neck, back, chest, and hips. Just like the Advantage, the airbag is placed at the back of the key box to strengthen its shock buffering function. The sleek, close-fitting design makes the Advantage Max ideal for all styles of riding. The Advantage Max vest is rated to CE EN1621-4, the only harmonized European safety standards for airbag vests, featuring a molded canister compartment outside the structure of the main vest and a built-in CE back protector.
Air tube of the airbag is improved and chest padding is now attachable. Airbag is placed at the back of the key box to strengthen a shock buffering function. S-System is installed. Various colors are available.
Air tube of the airbag is improved and chest padding is now attachable. Airbag is placed at the back of the key box to strengthen a shock buffering function. S-system is installed. Used by the police in some countries.
Unboxing of a new Hit Air Motorrad 2 Touring Grey Mesh airbag jacket (size = XL) from Hit Air Moto in the USA. Needed to replace an old Dainese GTR jacket I've had from the early 90s with something cooler ( temperature wise) for summer riding. Facts at a glance:
I took out the elbow and shoulder armor to get a closer look at whether the jacket allows fine tuning of armor placement ( it did not). The jacket does have hook and loop fasteners to attach a separate chest and back protector (sold separately).
What was unusual is that the back has a thin foam layer between the inner liner and the exterior. Am assuming this is more for comfort and breathability than providing additional protection in the event of a fall.
Shoulder and elbow pads are Powertector while back seems to be some kind of foam. Powertector armor is a hard shell outside with foam inner. Flexible at the joints and hopefully hard enough to reduce / deflect damage in the event of a fall.
Interesting but with a walk-in cedar closet half filled with expensive jacket and pant suits (and the other half filled with inexpensive and moderately priced jackets and pants, helmets, gloves, boots and all other manner of other necessary riding gear, my next air vest (and maybe pants) with be cordless.
It sucks that at price they didn't include a back protector. FYI whereas I see "CE" on the armor, there is a HUGE difference often between a maker saying their armor "meets" the various types of CE ratings and actually being registered as being tested and certified as passed.
An airbag is just one protective arrow in a ATGATT motorcyclist's quiver. Rider as well as bike conspicuity is a major safety enhancer; i.e., added bike position lights and a headlight modulator (which I run on all my bikes), a "SeeMe" reflective and/or electroluminescent vest, under gear CE2 armored shirts with integrated chest trauma plate, elbow, shoulder and back protector, slip-on knee protection, helmet brake light, reflective appliques on the bike and helmets, drop-down sun visors, hard glove palm sliders, etc.. One helmet, jacket, pair of pants, gloves and boots can't cover all riding scenarios and environments. That's why I accumulated enough gear for a dedicated closet over the last 50 years. Also, as gear ages and wears it must be restored or replaced as technology improves. However, an old racing leather suit that has been well cared for and its armor updated can still offer amazing comfort and modern protection.
Motorrad 2 mesh jacket is cooler wearing at speed (with all zips opened) than my Aerostich RC3 Lite one piece suit (with pit, thigh, and back zips open). Air flows more noticeably into the arm vents and the front pit vents in addition to feeling wind through the jacket's mesh construction. For me the jacket would probably be too cold to wear with all vent zips open at highway speeds with ambient temperatures below 68 degrees F (I tend to get cold easily).
The pic above is me in about 1998 or 99 in my 2 PC custom tailored Stitch which I bought in 88 and they now call the Classic but of course have improved it tremendously. I still have it and on occasion try to squeeze into for a ride but cool it's not. It's maybe good up to 80 to 85F. I'm wearing over the jacket an original Super SeeMe vest then made here in Chicago where I used it when I commuted down to the Loop. Under my arm is a Shoei RF200 and in my hand is a pair of Teknic Carbon Kevlar racing gloves. I still also have the helmet, which I bought to match my fastest red 98 VTR1000F Superhawk, the vest AND the gloves! The VTR is all original except for clip-ons, saddle, pipes and such, and it has 111,000+ miles on the "unopened" engine and he started right up from its winter slumber yesterday. I bought a matching 98 recently to keep him company but that'll go up for sale after I install a mosfet VRR I wired up, along with an 01 HD XL1200S Sporty; it itself being a fairly rare bird that truly lived up to its name back in the day.
At first I thought you meant the strap was to physically prevent the armor from moving up within its interior sleeve in the event of a slide, but upon closer review of placement of the strap on the inner bicep, I believe the strap does help keep the elbow armor in place by preventing the sleeve itself from bunching upwards towards the shoulder during a fall.
Contrairement au casque moto qui en cas d'impact mme minime, doit tre immdiatement remplac, le gilet airbag peut tre rutilis aprs un dclenchement. Il contient en effet une cartouche de CO2 qu'il suffit de changer et que vous pouvez remplacer de manire autonome. Pour ce faire, rien de plus simple ! Suivez nos guides en vido et rarmez votre gilet airbag en quelques minutes.
Si sa fonction premire est d'absorber l'nergie du choc lors de la chute, le gilet airbag renforce galement votre protection contre l'abrasion. Celle-ci peut tre importante haute vitesse. Une couche supplmentaire est donc un moyen de rduire le risque de brlure et de blessure.
The Hit Air Advantage airbag vest provides neck and body protection for the three-day Eventer. The new Hit Air Advantage equestrian air vest is a culmination of more than a decade of experience in airbag technology by Mugen Denko, LTD. a Japanese company that started making airbag vests for motorcycle riders. They adapted their technology for use by equestrians, producing an airbag vest that protects your neck, spine, internal organs (like your heart, sorta important) and pelvis/hips.