Quote:
Originally Posted by Grant-53
Having a tight fit to the rider is key and fairing behind the helmet helps too. The body sock has been tried on bicycles and a Kevlar fabric will give some protection from road rash. So far the advantage is with the partial panels used on Alan's fairing. The issue of safety and body work is beginning to be examined. The slide for life is acceptable at a race track as long as no one runs over you. On the street the body needs to be stiff enough to protect you if you slide out. A front crash requires some crush energy and an inertial reel lap belt so you can still knee drag but not get launched over the handlebars.
To keep the tail box short we are working with a 5:1 foil shape cut to 50% of length.
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As an avid rider of 30 years, a former road racer and an urban road warrior (Moto-courier in a major city), I've done my share of crashing at the track and had a couple of street wrecks. BTDT-GSTPI. I disagree with you on your safety points.
1. High-side, low-side, over the bars or washed out doesn't matter, The best chance you have of surviving a crash is to get flat and slide. Balling up = Tumbling = Impacts = broken bones, severe bruising and other impact traumas. Assuming you don't slide into anything, Getting flat = Sliding = dissipating energy = possible road rash and friction burns. Wearing the right gear will absorb the first impact and nearly eliminate road rash or friction burns.
2. The last thing you want in a crash is to be tethered to the bike. If it tumbles (which seems to be about 95+% of the time) and your tied to it either you tumble too with all those bone shattering impacts, or the bike tumbles on top of you and you experience different bone shattering impacts. Trust me, the first thing you want to do in a crash is get the heck away from the bike. Let it dissipate its kinetic energy on something other than your body.
3. A really hard tough shell is a bad idea. A hard shell is going to slide forever compared to a leather or textile skin. Its not going to absorb the Kinetic energy as well, so when you hit something because of the longer slide, your going to slam into the hard shell and its not going to absorb the energy. Better to have some textile skin with padding behind it. Its safer on the street if the body shell breaks up on the impact, expending as much energy as it can. A fiberglass/Kevlar shell is going to be much safer than say a steel skin.