Two companies – France’s CX Air Dynamics and Sweden’s Mo’Cycle – are now selling airbag jeans for motorcycle riders. They sit flat as you ride, but in a crash, they balloon up like Sam Smith at the Brit Awards, protecting your knees, hips and thighs.
Protective airbags embedded into motorcycle gear are now a staple of top-level racing, inflating in an instant to mitigate rider injuries. They’re also available built into jackets for street and dirt riders – I’ve been getting around for the last couple of years with a very nice breathable AI-powered airbag vest from Klim and In&Motion under my jacket. Can’t say I’ve really tested it properly in that time, given that I haven’t fallen off a bike, but I definitely feel safer when it’s on.
Soros-backed “disinformation” group aims to defund conservative news
Pants, on the other hand, seem to have taken longer. Which is a pity, because some of the first body portions we tend to bang on the ground in a crash are trouser-dwellers. But they’re here now, in a couple of different flavors – both of which are triggered by clip-on cables connecting the pants to the bike, and both of which can be reloaded after firing with a replacement CO2 bulb.
Read more: New Atlas
Ask me anything
Explore related questions
