Just thought after two months and 11,000km living in the vented Helite jacket I'd share some feedback to anyone interested in this next level of protection.
Firstly the best news is I didn't have it deploy so happy I can't provide that experience. To be honest I expected to compromise some comfort for the piece of mind when making the purchase but that wasn't the case. Having had the vest deploy on me at the demostation night was enough to reassure me it was efficient but I thought maybe a little less comfortable than my previous vented touring jacket. The jacket vents very nicely indeed but for sure in the North particularly it gets pretty hot when off the bike but easy on and off make this no issue either. I think it looks really smart too and although that shouldn't be a major consideration it did sway me a bit.
While the airbag and nitrogen canister add a little weight its evenly spread over the jacket so wasn't an issue for me and with the addition of the shoulder, elbow and back protection I really felt comfortable and confident on the bike. As i tend to ride rather spiritedly I would expect the most likely accident scenario for me would be going over the bars into something. Given this, I had a strap run under my seat and tethered the lanyard for the breakaway to it. As i was on an adventure bike and off road quite a bit i had it set so I could stand on the pegs and have the lanyard just shy of full stretch. In an accident situation I was confident it would be well activated before i hit anything. Not so sure if secured to the bars. One Helite brand transfer peeled off the back of the jacket early on but none of the others and the jacket shows no signs of wear. Pocket carried my wallet everyday but no wear there either. Zip works as smoothly as its first day. Very happy with the quality.
If theres a down side. You have to remove the airbag to launder it and its a bit of a trick to refit properly. I'm sure over time I'll get better at that. All in all I think in conjuction with a good quality helmet the Helite system gives you piece of mind and greatly lessens your likelyhood of life changing injury in the event of a serious accident. Very happy I made the investment and thanks for providing the option. For anyone keen to look at any of the Helite range of vests and jackets we have a partnership with the company at Saigon Motorcycles and happy to answer any specific questions you might have about the product to provide something to your specific needs. #saigonmotorcycles
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