Do you think these will really save lives? In theory seems a great idea which should have been done ages ago.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c11a917800&c=1
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c11a917800&c=1
Airbags on motorbikes
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Airbags on motorbikes
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i think the honda goldwings had them for a while 
Ooh look! It's a car pulling out in front of a motorbike! What a surprise! And they want to deal with this by making motorbikes have airbags fitted?
Stopping drivers from pulling into the paths of motorbikes would be a far better way of dealing with the problem...
Stopping drivers from pulling into the paths of motorbikes would be a far better way of dealing with the problem...
yes big bikes and touring bikes have had air bags for years now.
there are even bags for the sides to stop the legs flailing into the crush gap now aswell!!!
the car is a mk1 mondeo, circa 1993, so yeah, they've been around a while
there are even bags for the sides to stop the legs flailing into the crush gap now aswell!!!
the car is a mk1 mondeo, circa 1993, so yeah, they've been around a while
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Sorry, not up on the bike world at all
I think Alpinestars or Dainese once tried an "air jacket" that inflated like a life jacket on impact!
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Mostly car drivers which cause bikers to crash
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paulbfd said:
Yeah i've seen that monstrosity
TBH like it's been said making motorists aware of bikers would be better, I'm not a road biker but hell I see bikes having to avoid all sorts of bad driving. Then again you get the odd nob who deserves to crash, like the one who wheelied past me once on a busy stretch of road.
any half decent biker knows that you should not be on the bike by the point of impact, you slide it onto the floor and let go. if you wear the right gear this wont hurt a bit (although it hurts your bike a lot) so i dont see how any amount of airbags will help unless its for learners and wimps.
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SkinzCinqSporting said:Yeah i've seen that monstrosity
TBH like it's been said making motorists aware of bikers would be better, I'm not a road biker but hell I see bikes having to avoid all sorts of bad driving. Then again you get the odd nob who deserves to crash, like the one who wheelied past me once on a busy stretch of road.
:yeahthat:
jug said:any half decent biker knows that you should not be on the bike by the point of impact, you slide it onto the floor and let go. if you wear the right gear this wont hurt a bit (although it hurts your bike a lot) so i dont see how any amount of airbags will help unless its for learners and wimps.
If only it was that simple.......easy to write something like this down, putting it into practice is another matter.
From what I can see of the video it would make a significant difference to the ability of the biker to survive the crash and should be fitted to all bikes if its effective as it appears.
jug said:any half decent biker knows that you should not be on the bike by the point of impact, you slide it onto the floor and let go. if you wear the right gear this wont hurt a bit (although it hurts your bike a lot) so i dont see how any amount of airbags will help unless its for learners and wimps.
That works on a race track when you've got hay bales to slide into, but is highly risky on a public road when you risk sliding under the wheels of an articulated lorry/ hitting a kerb/ colliding with a lamp post etc. Plus there normally isn't enought time to react which is why the crash happens in the first place.
And have you ever fallen off a bike??? Even at 10mph with the right gear on it hurts. You'll get bruising at the very least...
thepottleflump said:
To me it's like saying "innocent people are being shot by mad gunmen. Let's make the people all wear bullet proof vests" rather than "Let's take the guns away from the madmen so they can't shoot innocent people in first place".
Adding airbags to bikes is not as easy as it seems due to size restrictions, lack of accessible space not to mention the extra cost that will have to be picked up by the biker. Also bikes are a lot more exposed to the elements so it's even harder to have an airbag stay protected and functional when compared with one fitted to a car. That's also why only the big touring bikes have had them fitted so far.
I'm a strong believer in treating the cause and not the symptoms. Here they want to deal with the accident after it happens, but why not try and deal with it BEFORE it happens? Why not fit cars with some kind of side sensors that warn drivers of a vehicle approaching side on if they pull out? Or why not fit cars with outside side airbags that will protect a biker when the car pulls out in front of them...
I forget the statistics, but a car pulling into the path of a motorbike is the most common form of bike accident with the blame nearly always on the car driver. Why should the biker have to suffer for someone elses incompetency?
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1986Uno45S said:
Because that would look fugly as sin
SkinzCinqSporting said:Because that would look fugly as sin
I know that Gaz! My point was to make the car driver responsible for the accident suffer rather than the motorcyclist
Mind you, in this ever increasing nanny state it won't be long before we are all travelling around in individual protective bubbles to sheild us from the rest of the world
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1986Uno45S said:
I know that Gaz! My point was to make the car driver responsible for the accident suffer rather than the motorcyclist
Mind you, in this ever increasing nanny state it won't be long before we are all travelling around in individual protective bubbles to sheild us from the rest of the world
Hehe yeah i know
Meh sod the nanny state, i'll go juggle fire in front of them (I can't juggle) and watch them squirm in terror
jug said:any half decent biker knows that you should not be on the bike by the point of impact, you slide it onto the floor and let go. if you wear the right gear this wont hurt a bit (although it hurts your bike a lot) so i dont see how any amount of airbags will help unless its for learners and wimps.
Agree,police motorcyclists taught us how to crash correctly & it has saved me many times however accidents can happen so fast you simply dont stand a chance to react. Very impressive video though.
Agree with your comments 1986Uno45S I am a biker of sorts although since my son was born I really haven't ridden much. As for solving the cause, it'll never happen, in this modern high speed world there is a wealth of distractions for drivers. Maybe when cars drive themselves we'll be ok, until then bikers are at the mercy of drivers, although I'm sure bikers aren't 100% blame free in some cases.
I must say just seeing the video it looks effective but I hadn't really thought about the practicalities although since most modern bike tanks are plastic is couldn't be that difficult to modify, I guess the problem is high performance cutting edge machine and airbags aren't a great combination.
I must say just seeing the video it looks effective but I hadn't really thought about the practicalities although since most modern bike tanks are plastic is couldn't be that difficult to modify, I guess the problem is high performance cutting edge machine and airbags aren't a great combination.
i've seen the life jacket in operation at the ACE a few months back - it makes basically a big rigid "board" from the neck to the base of the spine and makes spinal injuries less likely.
A good idea, but again, it's reactive, not preventative.
A good idea, but again, it's reactive, not preventative.
1986Uno45S said:Mind you, in this ever increasing nanny state it won't be long before we are all travelling around in individual protective bubbles to shield us from the rest of the world
Not a bad idea!
1986Uno45S said:
i did motoX for 10 years (and rode them on roads illegally for just as long
), i've had 2 bikes on the road for nearly 3 years, and yes i've come off them plenty of times on and off road. have you?it is easy to drop the bike on a public road in a couple of seconds, i can honestly say i'm only alive because i dropped it and slid it in front of me. thats what you're taught to do, i dont think they'd teach people to do it if it isnt possible or helpful. i've used it more than once to save my life (and my bike, levers and faring are easier to replace than the whole front end!)
an airbag wouldnt have helped at all, you'll still hit hard objects at high speed. the main problem is how high you are when sitting on the bike (windscreen height), at that height you go flying on impact leaving the bike instantly. how will an airbag on the bike help when your head is stuck in a windscreen or wall or tree?
sliding on the floor doesnt hurt if you have the right gear. yes you get bruised, but at the time you dont even feel it, if it wasnt for bent levers and snapped pegs you could ride away from most accidents. sitting on the bike for the same accident would be more likely to result in a write off and severe injury. experienced bikers will agree.
