Air Vests

[KiowaEagle_imp]

If there is one thing I know about motorcycling it's if you ride at some point you will go down and I have a couple of times in my life. I recognize that this is the risk I must take to do the thing I love and in the 5 years since I started riding again I have been fortunate to stay upright the entire time. But I'm riding at least 15k miles per year and I realize the odds are getting shorter every mile I ride.

So I've started researching air vests in the hopes of mitigating the damage to some degree when that day comes. I've looked at the Helite and other corded vests and economically they seem to make the most sense but I'm a forgetful person so I know I would definitely forget to unhook the cord when getting off and I'd likely many times forget to hook it up before riding rendering it useless. I was riding with a buddy recently that has a Helite and he was complaining to me on intercom that he had forgotten to hook it up and he was trying to while riding and I'm thinking he was probably going to run off the road trying to get the darn thing hooked up. Wouldn't that be ironic?

So I've been looking at the electronic vests, specifically the Klim AI-1. Some complain that it's a subscription based model but I don't mind that. The vest plus two years of subscription is about the same as the Helite vest and as part of the subscription they replace the electronics after 3 years. It doesn't seem like a bad deal to me.

So has anyone had experience with the Klim vest? I'd also like to hear about other vests as well. I'm leaning towards the Klim but I'm not sold yet.

My thinking is the more you ride you gain experience and wisdom so the odds get longer. Also you hear about what mishaps have happened to others and learn from them.
I don't think being accident free for so many years makes the odds go up and up. Riding rate/risk has no memory so surely every ride has the same odds? So the more we learn we can reduce the odds a little.
Similar to flipping a coin... if you flip 19 heads people would bet on the 20th flip more likely being tails but there is no memory in chance so each flip of the coin is 50/50 no matter what has gone before.

My thinking is the more you ride you gain experience and wisdom so the odds get longer. Also you hear about what mishaps have happened to others and learn from them.
I don't think being accident free for so many years makes the odds go up and up. Riding rate/risk has no memory so surely every ride has the same odds? So the more we learn we can reduce the odds a little.
Similar to flipping a coin... if you flip 19 heads people would bet on the 20th flip more likely being tails but there is no memory in chance so each flip of the coin is 50/50 no matter what has gone before.
You have a valid point but regardless of what the percentage the risk is still there plus another part of the equation is that I realize I'm no longer the young buck I was when I dumped before. When I was 50 I fell off a 6 ft step ladder and destroyed my shoulder to a point it took 6 months to recover. I'm 15 years older now and that much more brittle. Minimizing the damage that can be done can only work to my favor.

Question: regardless of tether/non-tether, is the vest worn under a jacket or over? or does it make no difference to how (if?) the vest deploys.

The Helite I believe is primarily meant to wear over whereas the Klim is meant to wear under. They show you how to measure and have a formula to gauge whether your jacket has enough room. They say you shouldn't wear under a one piece and many two piece connected suits. This is because when inflated it rises up under the helmet to mobilize the head to protect the neck. This pulls the jacket up a few inches and if it's attached to the pants it you could end up with a significantly higher voice or worse.

The Helite I believe is primarily meant to wear over whereas the Klim is meant to wear under. They show you how to measure and have a formula to gauge whether your jacket has enough room. They say you shouldn't wear under a one piece and many two piece connected suits. This is because when inflated it rises up under the helmet to mobilize the head to protect the neck. This pulls the jacket up a few inches and if it's attached to the pants it you could end up with a significantly higher voice or worse.
Like the new RLET's tool ?

The Helite I believe is primarily meant to wear over whereas the Klim is meant to wear under. They show you how to measure and have a formula to gauge whether your jacket has enough room. They say you shouldn't wear under a one piece and many two piece connected suits. This is because when inflated it rises up under the helmet to mobilize the head to protect the neck. This pulls the jacket up a few inches and if it's attached to the pants it you could end up with a significantly higher voice or worse.
Like the new RLET's tool ?
Hopefully not that bad but I still wouldn't want to risk it.