Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Bit of a dredge but the Knox armoured undershirt stuff, do you mean these: https://www.planet-knox.com/product/urbane-pro-shirt-mk2/

Is your thinking to just wear this over a bamboo vest and then layer up with any old casual shirt/hoodie/ball gown to complete the look? I’m after a new summer jacket and this looks like a viable system for getting shoulder and elbow cover on warmer rides. Especially if i move to regularly wearing an airbag vest to protect the squidgy parts.

Multistrada is wonderful, but I don't want this thing to be utilitarian in the least. It's a toy.

I’m sorry, i think you just said ‘utilitarian’?

https://youtu.be/pUiCJl4qBdQ

Seriously though, our opinions sorta go out of the window. I’d say take it easy, and buy what makes your heart flutter.

Meanwhile in Swindon…

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Multistrada is wonderful, but I don't want this thing to be utilitarian in the least. It's a toy.

Multistrada for hoons (Hyperstrada)?

I think mine is the MK1 but that doesn't make much difference.

I've layered it with lots of things. I have a Rukka Air suit which I've done a couple of big tours in and they are great but around town you might want to wear a jacket or shirt that doesn't have armour and the Knox stuff is perfect for that.

They behave differently under acceleration. The rear of the bike doesn't squat as the chain is pulled tight.

It upsets some people!

Also extra weight which is never a good thing.

For me it's outweighed by the positives but might not be if my bike was purely for fun.

Was just wondering as doesn't make any difference to me, apart from low maintenance.

Because race bikes don't have them. Therefore uncool, for grandads on BMs

I’m no grandad but I am a great uncle so feel a shaft is permitted for me. Just not a BM because I want to have delusions of still being cool. I bought the Guzzi and pick it up Saturday. Expect a lot of pics.

For airbags on the street, electronic or leash?

I believe that leash is the best and most consistent. Based on something I may or may not have read or heard from someone else at some point. May have been someone down the pub.

Nah, so long as you remember to untether when dismounting, I believe they are consistent and cheaper. Maybe electronic is better for fast/race situations but I don’t want to pay a monthly subscription for a CO2 canister.

Talking of leashes…I powered over the ditch + two logs that I normally stop and step over. First time nice and smooth, surprisingly light front end clearing both without a dab.

Second time I should have called the CAA. Amazed my hands stayed on the bars and feet around the right place on the peg. There was air, and it was not small.

Didn’t try a third time.

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Nah, so long as you remember to untether when dismounting

I was just thinking about this, I wonder how easy it is to accidentally trigger?

I think they are not easy to accidentally deploy
You would feel the tether long before you popped the cork.
Needs a fair amount of force to open the valve (like that of a rider coming off their bike at pace)

Yes, looked at leashed helite bags, they need 30KG of pulling force to trigger so short of dropping your bike its not going to have a false fire when you dismount. Probably the way to go and I reckon unclipping will be as second nature as wearing a seatbelt in the car. Of course, standing in a BP forecourt with a dropped bike and a fully deployed airbag is going to add to the level of numptyness you will feel over and above just dropping the bike.

It’s a reason i was interested in the knox under armour, a jacket +airbag bag is a lot of bulk compared to those shirts with a bag.

So there’s a risk on lowsiding that you don’t detach yourself from the bike fast enough before connecting with the ground. That’s the electronics benefit. However, I’d say the somersault of a highside is when you really want it kicking in.

Electronic reacts more quickly. A few years ago I did some sums and checked with some manufacturers. The numbers may have changed since, but what I discovered was that if you t-bone a car in a smidsy, the electronic will inflate before your body hits the car. The leash won't.

So what are the scenarios? Non-racing, street riding…

T-bone: you go headfirst, any speed.
T-bone: you’re hit from the side.
Lowside
Highside

After them I guess it’s someone clipped and launched you, buckaroo’d by street furniture, and the infamous “I didn’t have time to react, I just had to drop it”.

In all of them I can appreciate that electronic would initiate well before cord. Only the ones where cord wouldn’t initiate or would be too slow would concern me. But don’t mind me, I wear bits of foam under a dead cow.

Here's a recent video where an airbag would probably have helped. Seems to be a moderate speed everyday sort of fuck up, but the rider got seven broken ribs, a broken scapula, ruptured liver and a collapsed lung. In other words, a smidgen from death.

https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/20088775.police-release-video-crash-car-motorbike-shaftesbury/

buckaroo’d by street furniture

Based purely on reading death stories in the papers, these seem quite common. Lamp posts and kerbs don't have any give in them.

Definitely, so long as it inflated (so… electronic?)

However that’s a totally preventable collision. On the car driver’s part by looking and really really checking. On the biker’s part by anticipating and slowing down, and otherwise moving further to get right onto the white line.

Followed by punching the wingmirror.

I don't want to be unfair to the rider, but my suspicions are that she was a new rider (because small bike) and just didn't observe well, or brake at all. She was following another bike, so probably focused on keeping up, rather than making her own decisions about positioning etc. It's all great fun, until you nearly die.

On the soapbox, all the blame is squarely aimed at the driver.

Under the fleur de lys, I’d be saying the same. Regardless gender/age/experience, a lot of riders really do fail to anticipate.

I actually broke the golden rule the other day on the F3.

Somewhat tired from greenlaning the day before.

Long line of cars crawling along sub-walking pace through a village with a 20/30 limit. I filter/overtake in the oncoming lane, barely above their pace and looking ahead and to the left asking myself “why the holdup?”

Of course, right at the front of the queue is a junction on the left, and the car gives way to one waiting to pull out.

The car pulling out was hidden by the car giving way, until the very last second.

I saw a flash of bonnet and flicked the bars right then left, and carried on.

They must have seen the flash of bright yellow bike (and coloured leather jacket) as they crept forward, only just taking a slam-full of brake inches from my thigh.

Totally my fault I couldn’t see them.

Golden rule. Never overtake at junctions.

Second rule, use all available space.

Should have been even further from the wingmirrors to give me the best view ahead, I believe I was a bit closer because of oncoming cars.

Anyway. Days later and I’m still reeling from that awful error in judgment. Could have been an off.

And all because you were tired? This is often when we let ourselves down. My worst crash as a courier was when I was pissed off by being sent well north of the North Circular for nothing. I was steaming back south on Green Lanes, badly wanting some work, fast filtering past two lanes of stationary traffic. I failed to notice a small gap in front of a bus. It had stopped to let a car out. The car pulled out sharpish without looking and turned towards me. Wheeee, a proper head on. My knee armour saved the day. The car required repairs. It was 3 days old. The driver started swearing at me while I was still spreadeagled on his windscreen. All the passengers got off the bus to shout at him that it was his fault. Which it was, technically, but what does that matter when the driver is comfy in his steel safety cage, and my kneecap is on the chopping block? I should have seen the gap opening up. And 99.99% of the time, I do. Don't bike angry. Take some breaths. Do the floppy chicken exercise.

Yep, all because I was tired. Strangely tired too, like, more tired than I should have been.

I think I saw the gap emerging and it was an autopilot response flicking the bars. It was in no way a conscious choice to make the swerve-and-avoid. But I was angry I hadn't given more space and seen it coming sooner.

Damn that's not a nice crash, goes to show how useful armour is though.

Do you think she hits a second car after the video ends? Maybe gets run over?