Testimonial kindly supplied by Aiden Hawnt
Here's what happened:
I was riding along a twisty road just outside of Edmonton on my sport bike with a friend following close behind. I'd never ridden this stretch before and had just begun to turn-in to a left corner when I noticed an unavoidable patch of gravel/sand. As I encountered the patch of sand, my rear wheel lost traction causing the bike to twitch and then regain traction at a higher lean angle; this resulted in my losing control of the bike and high-siding as the rear wheel regained traction. I was ejected from the seat of my bike ... fortunately, I was wearing my Helite jacket (which I wear under my leather riding jacket) which had fully inflated before I landed in the ditch, just before my bike landed on top of me! Believe me -- as I lay in the ditch with the bike on top of me, I felt comfortable. My friend shouted at me "don't move!" but I couldn't anyway, I felt completely immobilized by the pressure of the vest under my riding jacket. I just lay there as my friend pulled the bike off me and waited for the jacket to deflate, which took over a minute. Were it not for the Helite jacket I surely would have sustained far more serious injuries than a bruised hip.
My friend tells me I was riding at about 60 km/h before I completely lost control of my bike. The ditch was about 4 ft deep. I had absolutely no neck pain or pain to my ribs (as I'm certain I would have without the vest).
Aiden.
Here's what happened:
I was riding along a twisty road just outside of Edmonton on my sport bike with a friend following close behind. I'd never ridden this stretch before and had just begun to turn-in to a left corner when I noticed an unavoidable patch of gravel/sand. As I encountered the patch of sand, my rear wheel lost traction causing the bike to twitch and then regain traction at a higher lean angle; this resulted in my losing control of the bike and high-siding as the rear wheel regained traction. I was ejected from the seat of my bike ... fortunately, I was wearing my Helite jacket (which I wear under my leather riding jacket) which had fully inflated before I landed in the ditch, just before my bike landed on top of me! Believe me -- as I lay in the ditch with the bike on top of me, I felt comfortable. My friend shouted at me "don't move!" but I couldn't anyway, I felt completely immobilized by the pressure of the vest under my riding jacket. I just lay there as my friend pulled the bike off me and waited for the jacket to deflate, which took over a minute. Were it not for the Helite jacket I surely would have sustained far more serious injuries than a bruised hip.
My friend tells me I was riding at about 60 km/h before I completely lost control of my bike. The ditch was about 4 ft deep. I had absolutely no neck pain or pain to my ribs (as I'm certain I would have without the vest).
Aiden.
