There are hundreds of thousands of injuries that occur from motorcycle accidents, a lot of them involving the lower extremities including broken legs and broken hips. There have been several products out there that aim to protect riders and passengers, including helmets (which are of course, required), motorcycle jeans with pads for the knees and hips, padded vests, etc. But what if you could also add airbags, which have protected car drivers and passengers for years, to your regular outfit?
Designer: Mo’cycle
They say that the Motorcycle Airbag Jeans is the first to have an airbag mechanism within its fabric, therefore helping reduce the risk of injury in case of a motorcycle crash or accident. If you want full body protection, including that of the spinal column, there’s also an Airbag Vest that become part of the whole Airbag Clothes system. How it works is that you have to connect the clothes to your motorcycle through a mechanical trigger belt. When it detects that you’ve flown off the bike, the airbag will deploy and automatically inflate, protecting you from serious injury to your legs, hips, and ribs (the latter if you’re also sporting the vest).
The Airbag Jeans has two basic parts: the “stretchy and ventilated” jeans that you can wear comfortably, and the airbag module itself. When not activated, the airbag is flat and invisible within the fabric of the jeans, so you will not feel bulky or anything when wearing them. After it is triggered and used, it will self-deflate and later on can be re-used by reloading a CO2 cartridge. The jeans themselves can be washed of course but you’ll have to zip out the airbag module before doing so. The fabric is made with Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene, which is greater than steel when it comes to strength-to-weight ratio and is also ultra-abrasion resistant.
Don’t worry about automatically triggering it as they say that it needs a force of 88 lbs to be deployed and will only be activated when you’ve fallen off the bike, not when you’re just getting off of it. For the fashion-conscious, the Airbag Jeans will be available in blue and black colors. They crowdfunded it through Indiegogo and have reached more than 4 times their goal so expect it to be delivered in the next few months if you decided to support it.
