Airbags on motorbikes

[Chas Uno]

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?

Yes. I started riding bikes in 1986, passed my test in 1987 and have held a full motorcycle licence ever since. Have owned a number of motorbikes from a 100cc Honda H100 up to a Kawasaki GPz550 and also had a number of Yamaha RD350LC/ YPVS's. I've also ridden/ borrowed many bikes in my time going right up to a Kawa ZZR1100 and a BMW K100RT. For a few years a motorbike was my sole form of transport so I drove in all weathers and road conditions. In that time I learnt more about respecting the road than at any other point.

When you ride a motorbike in winter on black ice you will come off. When you ride on summer on roads that have been dry for two weeks and then get subjected to a summer downpour you will come off. When you have to swerve to avoid the idiot driver nearly breaking your leg you will come off. I had the bruises and the fractured/ sprained wrist and ankle, plus broken and dislocated fingers not to mention a myriad of bruises.

I think all the above answers 'Yes' to your question

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!)

Hmm, if you had a couple of seconds you'd have enough reaction time to either brake or take evasive action. The problems with drivers pulling out on motorbikes is that the motorcyclist gets virtually no warning hence a collision is inevitable.

When bikers are trained to drop their bikes, it's normally on a race track (or motorX course) where the risk is that the sliding bike could flip and land on the biker causing further injuries. Kicking, dropping or pushing the bike as far away as possible helps reduce this, and as mentioned above a race track is a far safer place to slide on than a public road. Note how many bikers have been killed at the Isle of Man TT races because they fell off/ crashed and ended up sliding into a brick wall/ lamp post/ high kerb.

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?

I agree with that. In certain types of accidents they may work, but under different circumstances and different types of frontal impacts the airbag may have little effect. A car airbag is more consistent because the driver is always in the same position and should be strapped in by a seat belt. A biker is NOT strapped to the bike, and his body weight will shift in all kinds of directions depending on the angle of impact. I don't think that motorcycle airbags are consistent enough in different types of frontal impacts to guarantee conclusive results.

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.

I came off on black ice on a roundabout once - no-one else around, just incredibly slippery conditions. The adrenaline surge meant that I didn't notice how bad my ankle was initially until I got home and realised it had taken a hell of a jolting. My handlebars were bent as were the footpegs and levers (thought it felt 'funny' riding home!) Then I noticed the large scuffs on my leather jacket and gloves. When I hobbled into the shower I noticed the bruises on my body where I'd hit the road. Then the adrenaline wears off and it HURTS!

Sliding on the road doesn't hurt if you're wearing the right gear. It's when you hit the road before you slide that does the damage...

Either way, if more drivers paid better attention and looked out for motorcyclists before pulling out then there'd be less of this kind of accident. Then the biker wouldn't have to take evasive action or crash because of someone elses inattention.

But it won't happen