octaneguy
New Member
Recently on a canyon ride with some buddies, a good friend of mine crashed hard with a concussion after hitting a pot hole on the outside of a turn forcing him to hit the side of the mountain. After the ambulance came and took him to the ER, I'm certain the cost of that accident along with months of rehabilitation, not being able to work, discomfort and so forth is worth the $600 price for an airbag vest that may have prevented some of his injuries. Over the past several years, I've kept tabs on motorcycle air bag technology but they were about expensive racer suits with immense technology and high costs to purchase and repack them after a deployment. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there are several companies producing less expensive mechanically activated airbags. My choices came down to Helite and Hit Air. I went with Hit Air because they had a vest designed for track riders/racers. The difference being the tether is positioned on the back of the vest in the center along with the C02 cartridge and air valve assembly. The Helite had better protection but with the assemblies up front, they can get in the way in a full tuck as well as the tether being to one side rather than the rear. After reading countless posts on forums, it seemed that track day riders started with the better protection and later upgraded to the Racer Vests, so I decided to start there.
This is what the vest looks like over my gear. I'm wearing an Alpinestars chest and back protector as well and this is a size Large vest. I would have gotten a red or black one but they were out of stock.
This is the vest from the front
This is what the vest looks like when I'm on the bike
This is what the tether looks like when I'm standing on the pegs..proper install says there should be no slack this way.
I drilled two holes in my Tyga cf tail. I drilled from the bottom to the top. I needed two grommets. I widened the bottom hole with a step drill so I could adjust the angle of travel of the wire in case I didn't drill it precisely.
Under the tail, this is what the wire looks like. I had to loosen the nuts and grind the plastic a little for clearance.
I bought some rubber gaskets from my local Ace Hardware, one is included in the kit which I used for the top of the tail, and found a larger one for the bottom. This way the tether cannot be cut when under tension.
This is what the vest looks like over my gear. I'm wearing an Alpinestars chest and back protector as well and this is a size Large vest. I would have gotten a red or black one but they were out of stock.
This is the vest from the front
This is what the vest looks like when I'm on the bike
This is what the tether looks like when I'm standing on the pegs..proper install says there should be no slack this way.
I drilled two holes in my Tyga cf tail. I drilled from the bottom to the top. I needed two grommets. I widened the bottom hole with a step drill so I could adjust the angle of travel of the wire in case I didn't drill it precisely.
Under the tail, this is what the wire looks like. I had to loosen the nuts and grind the plastic a little for clearance.
I bought some rubber gaskets from my local Ace Hardware, one is included in the kit which I used for the top of the tail, and found a larger one for the bottom. This way the tether cannot be cut when under tension.
