philcal

I use an Alpinestars Techair airbag while riding a motorbike on a racetrack. I've had a low-side and alo a nasty highside where I was airborne and landed upside down. The airbag worked wonderfully - while I was injured it probably prevented me breaking my collarbone or anything too serious. On my Sherman I recently crashed jumping a speed bump at maybe 40km/h. I misjudged the timing and landed on the uphill side of the bump. The EUC virtually stopped dead and my feet did not release from the pads, so my upper body was whiplashed from horizontal to vertical and I was body slammed into the ground. It happened in an instant and was far worse than any other crash I've ever experienced. I landed on my elbows, chest and helmet, and the vertical force damaged my shoulder and a rib, and my head hit VERY hard. The arms on my (non-airbag) Dianese Ryholite vest slid up so I got a nasty road rash, but that was the lessor problem. I thought I was over-protected, but now know that mountain bike gear is inadequate for an EUC. 1. An accident like this happens instantly and with no warning, with less than a second from "everything normal" to impact. 2. You have zero time to prepare to roll, etc. 3. You hit face first, not to the side like you do with motorcycle, skiing, skateboards, etc. Your gear needs to take that into account. Regarding airbags - the Alpinestars airbag appears to the best, and I have no doubt it would be fantastic in preventing EUC injuries. It currently has different algorithms for road and racetrack, and it could potentially also have a mode for EUC, but would anyone be prepared to pay the repack cost of several hundred dollars each time it fires, given that low speed crashes are part of learning? For the current time, the race model requires significant turning forces (as experienced on a race bike) or ~100 km/h to arm, and the street version only works at low speed if hit from behind, so they are probably unusable on an EUC. Maybe one day the economics will justify them creating an EUC mode, but until then I will be wearing motocross gear. I'm currently switching to Leatt 6.5 Body Protection, with a CE level 2 hard shell on the front and shoulders, and CE 1 level protection on the elbows. Expensive, but far less than medical bills or potentially being crippled.

Hi @Olestra, I hope your riding is going well and your skills are increasing. Regarding temperature, I ride in the Philippines, where the temperature on an average afternoon at this time of year is 95+ F. I'll typically ride about 10 miles, sometimes up to about 40 mph on flat roads, and other times on unpaved or dilapidated roads. The latter heats the Sherman the most, due to the constant braking and acceleration. I push the wheel quite hard, but I've had no problems at all with heat, and had my alarm go off at 60C (140 F) for the first time today. If I increase the alarm ten degrees (still way below the limit) I doubt it'll ever go off. A quick bit of physics... heat dissipation is proportional to the difference in temperature between an object and its surroundings - the hotter it gets, the more it can lose heat. Unless you are doing something different, my experience would suggest you'll have no overheating problem on a 70C day, or even much hotter. Cheers.