Quote:
Originally Posted by The BeastMaster
That's where I bought my last helmet. I know it's to late for that, but were they giving any discounts or deals?
I've been looking for an excuse to get my ars out of bed and join in on that fun. Maybe this will do it.
Is the fit noticeably different from wearing a standard type of back protector? And which jacket do you have with it?
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The back protector looks and feels standard but is a bit heavier (this weight difference is not felt when wearing it). It has the airbag controller and canisters inside and the airbag inflatable sections around it. The inflatable section has velcro and zippers to attach it to the jacket/suit. My suit is the gp tech v2 race air compatible suit.
Sizing is the same as a standard suit. I can take out the airbag system and put in a forcefield BP for example and the forcefield actually feels a bit bigger because the A* BP is a bit smaller but the airbag will fill in most of that space when it inflates(tail bone protection on the forcefield makes it longer, for example). So compared to my forcefield BP and chest protector the airbag covers more of my body than both of those (kidneys for example).
The airbag is very thin and you won't feel it in the jacket/suit. Because it encompasses and protects your entire upper body(including collar bone and shoulders to some extent) it obviously decreases ventilation.
The racing airbag can be programmed for street use or track use. The street version cannot be programmed for track use. At the speeds we ride the track programming is likely better except that the street programming will sense if a car runs into the bike even if its standing still. The track version arms at I think 50mph or close to that.
Also when set to track mode the airbag will fire one canister per trigger event. Therefore, you have 2 accidents before the airbag system must be returned for service at I believe a cost of $600. In street mode both canisters fire and as such you have one accident worth of airbag safety before service. I am not sure if it can be serviced in the US yet.
Dianese has a version that is also fatherless that you might look into. It can be serviced in the US for I believe $400 to $450 or so.
I believe in either case you need to get them serviced every 3 years for an unknown (to me) amount whether they fire or not.
As alluded to above, you can use the suit/jacket with regular back protection and chest protection..or no protection. And if the suit fires you still have a working back protector.
I wear a dianese jacket when not in a one piece and I have installed a dianese back protector and chest protectors. It feels as tight but more cumbersome than my one piece with the airbag.
Bottom line if you can swing the cost then I highly suggest you purchase one.
