Helite Air Jackets and others

[greg the pole]

Re: Airbag jackets (hit Air, Helite, etc)

Ive had half a season on my hit air vest.
I've bought two lanyards so I can wear it on both my ST and FJ.
With the CO2 cartridge, and stuff in my klim jacket pockets it gets a bit thick, but you just have to organize said stuff and you're good to go.

In case you have to use it (either thanks to going off the bike in an accident, or by mistake) the vest can be reused, by simply installing a new CO2 cartridge.

I got mine from Bluestreak racing in Ontario.
https://bluestreakracing.ca/hit-air-mlv-harness-type.html

 

[True Grip]

Re: Helite Airbag Vest

Glad your getting better Mark. Hopefully you can go to Romney and keep an eye on Patrick.

My good eye is reserved for Paddy ::025::

Jon my wife said I need one of these she knows my co workers call me tuck&roll. 15% off is a nice savings! Thanks Helite ::008::

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Re: Helite Airbag Vest

Jon my wife said I need one of these she knows my co workers call me tuck&roll.

I think wives are behind a lot of decisions like this.

 

[helitemoto]

Re: Helite Airbag Vest

Hi Nichole!

Scott
(Your model from Florida) ::013::

SCOTT!

Looks like i'm going to have to share a photo of you now... ;D

[smg id=2625 type=preview align=center caption="Scottie 2 Hottie"]

 

[True Grip]

Lord help us : He'll have to buy a bigger helmet now

 

[helitemoto]

Hi Nichole, I'm going to guess the increased traffic is more due to Kawasaki deciding to provide one of your jackets as the main charity prize at the Romney Camp N Ride next month.

http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=18220.msg279002#msg279002]
http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=18220.msg279002#msg279002

My guess is you should be seeing an increase from here, ADVrider, and Stromtrooper as they check out the awesome donation.

By the way, thanks for your super responsive answers on my sizing questions last week. You were right on with your recommendation as confirmed by Heather at Romney.

Jon

My pleasure Jon! I hope you and everyone at Romney have a great event at the end of the month. I cannot believe they are giving away 15%, the most we ever do is 10%. I'm going to have to talk to them about the discount... So if any of you guys are thinking about buying I would do it this month at Romney. I'm going to suggest a max of 10% off after April. Sorry, but they are a great dealer and deserve to make a decent margin on the gear. Gotta keep those dealer's doors open.

Of course, whatever they decide is up to them!

Nichole@helite

 

[helitemoto]

Lord help us : He'll have to buy a bigger helmet now

Too funny! Scott was a good sport ^-^

 

[oldbear]

How about venting on the Helite? It's a great looking jacket, but I'd think that, with the airbags being impervious, there would be precious little venting, which would seriously restrict the amount of time per year the jacket would work in the south. I LOVE the concept though...

 

[RIDEMYST]

I did a demo and review on the vest. Open/download the StaReview article page 29. -JEP-
http://ridemsta.com/srblog/

 

[True Grip]

Well not model material like Scott : but I jumped on the good deal Romney was given. I rode sat,sun a little over 200 miles each day all surfaces never paid it any notice. It sure didn't restrict me in anyway. I got it sat morning a had little time to adjust strap that attaches to bike.
The first dirt we came to had some big water bars and I stood up as I went over. I felt the cord tug and immediately sat back down. Not enough slack in the cord. I can just imagine the ribbing I would have got from Patrick and Limey if I set that vest off on a whoop. First pee break and I loosened it up so I can stand and move. You forget it's there and the way I ride it will be worth the protection. The vest works fine with my vents on my Klim Latitude also.

 

[trikepilot]

I can just imagine the ribbing I would have got from Patrick and Limey if I set that vest off on a whoop.

Hmmm... Guess you figure I'll go easy on you in a few weeks should you inflate inappropriately?

 

[True Grip]

Hmmm... Guess you figure I'll go easy on you in a few weeks should you inflate inappropriately?

It shouldn't inflate now unless I come off the bike. We both know that's possible ;D

 

[Checkswrecks]

Well not model material like Scott : but I jumped on the good deal Romney was given. I rode sat,sun a little over 200 miles each day all surfaces never paid it any notice. It sure didn't restrict me in anyway. I got it sat morning a had little time to adjust strap that attaches to bike.
The first dirt we came to had some big water bars and I stood up as I went over. I felt the cord tug and immediately sat back down. Not enough slack in the cord. I can just imagine the ribbing I would have got from Patrick and Limey if I set that vest off on a whoop. First pee break and I loosened it up so I can stand and move. You forget it's there and the way I ride it will be worth the protection. The vest works fine with my vents on my Klim Latitude also.

Now you need the eensy-weensy version for your glasses.
LOL

 

[helitemoto]

Well not model material like Scott : but I jumped on the good deal Romney was given. I rode sat,sun a little over 200 miles each day all surfaces never paid it any notice. It sure didn't restrict me in anyway. I got it sat morning a had little time to adjust strap that attaches to bike.
The first dirt we came to had some big water bars and I stood up as I went over. I felt the cord tug and immediately sat back down. Not enough slack in the cord. I can just imagine the ribbing I would have got from Patrick and Limey if I set that vest off on a whoop. First pee break and I loosened it up so I can stand and move. You forget it's there and the way I ride it will be worth the protection. The vest works fine with my vents on my Klim Latitude also.

The fit looks great! Thank you for your purchase at Romney's!

 

[Blu3B3ast]

I really love my helite ADV jacket. It is really comfortable and warm on cold days. On warm days, well it is a jacket

I am definitely buying a vest next. Maybe not the hi-viz one, but the black one (sorry, the bike is geeky enough and the rider too). I also have my eye on the leather jacket, it looks really nice.

 

[Checkswrecks]

I too bought one of the yellow vests from Romney and got their 15% off. Having a couple thousand miles on it, a couple thoughts to pass on:


Being a commuter into DC I'm really glad to have it, especially now that I'm old enough to heal slower and get Senior discounts at movie theaters.


You won't unintentionally pop it open. I've gotten off the bike and had the leash stop me moving away a number of times. The 60# pull to open it is considerable.


My biggest problem is simply forgetting to snap on the leash when mounting. Checking before first gear is getting to be a new habit.


Venting works well with the Klim Latitude jacket. The vest is totally out of my thoughts and forgotten while riding.


The screaming yellow is good for commuting but I sure wish Helite had something between it and the invisible black. I've gone into a Subway for lunch and had the girl ask where I'm working, thinking there was a construction project nearby. Even sewing the night reflective strips to the black would be better.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

My biggest problem is simply forgetting to snap on the leash when mounting. Checking before first gear is getting to be a new habit.

Venting works well with the Klim Latitude jacket. The vest is totally out of my thoughts and forgotten while riding.

I definitely forget to snap in more times than not. Of course I'm not riding much these days, so I hope I'll eventually form a habit.

The venting on the Klim Adventure jacket is well matched to the vest. Don't find it to be blocking at all.

 

[True Grip]

Checks I wanted the black but wife wanted me to get hi-viz. I got the hi-viz for her peace of mind but I know the person who doesn't see you doesn't see you regardless of what color you wear. I'm use to the construction jokes this is my work uniform

 

[Checkswrecks]

Just a quick note on performance of the vest after a drop of maybe 25-ish mph on a mud road described here:
http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=11146.msg286900#msg286900

Basically I hit the ground twice on my upper left arm/shoulder, first while going forward, then the trailer pulled me up to travel backward, and then the second time sorta as a backward and sideways body slam. The KLIM Latitude jacket with the D30 armor and the vest (with no backpad in the vest) did their job. It was a quick bam-bam and I'm glad it was on mud rather than pavement, but I also believe it would have made a bigger difference in reducing how hard a drop on pavement would feel.

The leash for the vest comes up from between the seat and tank and is just barely long enough that I can stand on the pegs. It's supposed to take a 60 lb pull for the vest to inflate. I heard it pop in the back of my awareness on the first drop and stayed inflated till well after the second drop. There are mud and small scratch marks in two places. One is along the front left vertical reflective stripe to where it meets the bottom of the vest, so I must've landed on the ribs during the first drop going forward, and the second covers the shoulder blade to the bottom of the back. That one I do remember. Big thing is that the only minor soreness after the whole event was to the shoulder I landed on.

Once the vest inflated I definitely had limited head movement, even after everything came to a stop, so the cervical collar idea worked too. It feels kind of goofy after coming to a halt to realize how restricted you are and more than tending to the bike I wanted to unbuckle out of the vest.

There's no real damage to the vest and if you don't look REAL close, you'd never see the very minor scuffs since the mud's been washed off. The replacement cartridge is on order for $25+$5 shipping and it's easy to replace.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Really glad to hear everything worked as designed. Thanks for the real world test. I hope that is the last review either of us needs to write an after deployment.