Another question - Air Jackets?

As an example of a clever device which was far from foolproof to the extent
where it did more damage than it was likely to prevent.

Another example of a safety device that did not live up to expectations and
caused a lot more pain than gain was the kill-switch. This device was
introduced by law back in the seventies and a large number of bikers have
been frustrated by it's lack of foolproofness. Some of the things wrong were
that in almost all iterations of the design you had no indication that the
switch was set to kill. You could also still operate the starter, thus being
able to flatten the battery without having ignition.

Finally there is now a properly designed kill-switch. Would you believe it
is fitted to a Moto Guzzi. Imagine that. The switch on my Noggie has three
positions. Centre for off, right for kill, and left is a momentary action
which operates the starter. In other words you can't start the bike without
turning off the kill-switch because it is the other side of the same switch.
Why the hell didn't someone think of that in 1970? Now it is a functional
device.

Theo

 

The airbag jacket needs to be plugged in. As an exemplar of the
*possibility* of forgetting something important in motorcycling, Theo
introduced forgetting to remove your disk lock. This error is quite
common. If you forget to plug in your expensive airbag jacket, it is
rendered worthless. That error might become quite common too.

Rather than pretending that you don't understand Theo's point, why don't
you question whether forgetting one thing also means you will forget
others? At the moment Theo is suggesting that the kind of people who
forget to remove disk locks might also be the kind of people who forget
to plug in airbag jackets.

 

Maybe we need an aviation type checklist before starting off. An
example that brings a smile to my face is the downwind checklist, the
hard to forget Bump fish (brakes, undercarriage, master switch, pumps,
fuel, instruments, switches, harness and hatches). It's not hard to
imagine a similar bike-start procedure, just gotta make it the law,
that's all

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 10 Jan 2011 18:24:03 +1100

Got a cute acronym that says "get keys out of pocket before putting
gloves on"?

Zebee

 

Because the balloon thingo ripcord was tied to the bike. (In my case it
would go off ever time I got of the bike)

 

Giraffes Koalas Orrible Owls Play Beside Pandas Gorillas Owls

 

KOHOGO

Keys out, Helmet on, Gloves on.


hth

 

Get there yet.

 

It really shits me that cars don't have kill switches mandated by law.

Every other industrial machinery that is capable of killing of
injuring comes with sometimes multiple big red switches within easy
reach. Mandated. It does not matter that you can't style them into
the dashboard nicely and make it pretty. You need to incorporate
them.


Now we have cars with software controlled ignition, where solonoids
lock the keybarrel so that you can't turn or remove the key, and even
so, the key only acts as an input to the software. The throttle may
be controlled by wire, and the brakes don't work under full throttle
because then there's no vacuum assist.

So naturally enough, you end up with runaway cars. Heck, on new
Suburus, even the handbrake is bloody software controlled!

So if a cosmic ray takes out the software and simultaneously some
malfunction causes the watchdog timer to not trigger and reset the
appropriate CPUs, then you can do nothing to stop your runaway car.

A big red switch should isolate the ignition and fuel pump from the
battery. Physically. Or just isolate the battery and alternator from
everything. Sure, you won't have servo assisted brakes and power
steering, but we managed along without those for a century before such
devices were invented. I've done experiments on big unweidly
Ford/Holden Conformadores with the ignition off, and you can still
steer them, as big and unwieldy as they are in normal operation.

 

So you're saying an air jacket will (may) cause more damage than it is
intended to prevent. I don't think anyone has suggested that it will
cause a rider more injury than it is intended to prevent due to it not
being foolproof enough. There have been several suggestions of
posibilities of misfiring, but given that there doesn't seem to be any
evidence to suggest that these possibilities haven't been un-foolproofed
by the manufacturer, I expect these are merely based on paranoia and
conjecture.

Just for the record a disk lock is not intended to prevent damage to
your motorcycle, it's intended to assist the bike remaining where you
parked it. I have seen youtube videos of motorcycles with disk locks
being carried into vans, but have never heard of a disk lock assisting
the theft of a motorcycle. It's still not a good comparison.

Nev..

 

Unfortunately, in this era of "let's put an electronic system
controlling a pnuematic/hydraulic/pyrotechnic/electronic system instead
of a hand controlled lever into it", it's like HAL. "I'm sorry Dave, I
really can't let you do that."

HAL knows best. That's why he locks kids in cars to protect them from
stupid parents that don't read the part in the manual about auto-locking
doors and why it's a bad idea to leave the keys on the seat.

 

Perhaps you should just casually step off the bike instead of whatever
superman impression you're obviously attempting...

Nev..

 

Not according to his latest response he's not. Something about doing
more harm than good I believe is his explanation.

Nev..

 

Yes please. I've even considered writing KEY on my right glove.

Theo

 

Gerry's still waiting for you in room 302.

Theo

 

I probably have it wrong but I was under the impression that the thing
went off if the ripcord was pulled from the jacket which would happen
every time if it were up to me to disconnect it from the bike.

 

When you get off the bike put the key in your right glove.

or

Most gloves have a clip and hook to hold them together, which are used
when the gloves are in their packaging in the shop, or hanging on the
rack, but once purchased, never seem to ever be used again. When you
get off the bike clip your gloves together. When you go to put your
gloves on and they're annoyingly clipped together, you'll ask yourself
wtf anyone would want to clip their gloves together. Then you'll
remember that it's to remind you about the key and you'll try to come up
with an easier way to remember.


Nev..

 

My girlfriend was getting bitten by a large number of bull ants in the
warrumbungles where I had parked in a tight little spot so we could
have a look-see at the scenery. So I was very keen to get the bike
out of the ants' nest that I had parked in, and ride us back home
where she could suffer the effects of the ants bites in the relative
comfort of my bed (she reacts badly to one, so many are... not good).

So we got on the bike, I struggled to get the keys out of my pocket
(made not easier by sitting on the bike and having a frantic
girlfriend on the back), and dropped the housekeys on the ground. I
didn't realise this until 30 minutes later when I arrived home.

So there needs to be a reminder to make sure you've still got your
housekeys in your pocket.

 

Obviously not a foolproof room then.

Nev..