While my helmet was indisputably the star of the show in terms of injury reduction, my airbag vest soaked up a very hard landing and everyone from the medics that picked me up to my riding buddies have wanted to hear more about it.

I bought mine in 2022 when my employer instituted a mandatory return to office policy.1 Moving to Oakland meant that my new commute was substantially more dangerous, and having a kid meant it was more important than ever that I not die. Nor, ideally, be maimed.

There are a lot of options on the market, which raises a lot of questions. The answers depend on what you’re optimizing for. Airbag systems are available with mechanical or electronic triggers. They may be integrated into gear, worn underneath, or worn on top. Different models cover different parts of the body. Here’s how I chose:

External, Internal, or Integrated?

Broadly, there are three different kinds of air bag garments:

  1. “External” vests you wear over your jacket/suit
  2. “Internal” vests you wear under your jacket/suit
  3. “Integrated” systems built into your jacket/suit

Integrated solutions have a lot going for them and are worth considering if you’re shopping for a complete set of gear, but I’m very happy with my Roadcrafter so for me the question was just “external” vs “internal”.

Before the pandemic I rode my motorcycle every single day, which transfers a lot of sweat and grime into riding gear. My helmet’s pads and my whole suit (sans armour) are machine-washable, but at the time none of the internal airbags on the market had a better story than “use a moist rag and don’t get the inflator wet”. Nowadays some internal vests can be broken down for cleaning, but they still come with other caveats like “your jacket must have at least 4cm of extra space around the chest” which foreshadow problems2 that I don’t don’t need in my life.

Meanwhile, the bladder of an external vest is not constrained, free to fill the gap between my shoulders and helmet. Nor, practically speaking, does it need to be cleaned. It doesn’t even add an extra step to gearing up; at this point my suit wears the vest and I don (or doff) them together as one.

Mechanical or Electronic Trigger?

As far as I’m aware only external vests and some integrated systems offer mechanical triggers, which connect to a tether attached to the motorcycle. These are very simple systems—yanking on the tether with around 60 lbs of force triggers the inflator, which does its job in the blink of an eye.

Electronically-triggered airbags use advanced machine learning algorithms fed by GPS data and multiple IMUs. Some can communicate with an additional IMU on the motorcycle,3 some support multiple deployments before the inflator is discharged, and they can all react (and deploy) before the rider even realizes they’re crashing.

They also don’t work when the battery is dead and require factory service after discharge. Many models only fire at GPS speeds greater than 15 mph4 and some manufacturers engage in pretty unsavoury pricing practices.

I chose the tether. I like that I can check if it’s “on” by giving the tether a tug. I’d gone down with it once before, but the airbag didn’t deploy because I stayed on the bike, having lowsided at low speed in a mud patch. This was a fine outcome for me because there was also no real threat of injury—I even had enough time to kill the engine on the way down—but if it had deployed, the propellant is a standard threaded 60 cc CO₂ cartridge and the spring-loaded trigger mechanism can be reset on the side of the road with an Allen key.

It’s easy to imagine downsides to mechanical tethers, but they don’t really come up in practice. I’ve figured out how to connect the buckle with one hand while I’m riding,5 but rarely forget to do it before taking off. If I forget to unbuckle when dismounting, the trigger’s minimum force provides feedback that’s pretty difficult to ignore.6 One company in Europe uses an inertial reel for their tether (instead of a nylon-webbed bungee), which guarantees the fastest possible deployment for a mechanical system without compromising the rider’s ability to stand up on the pegs.

Coverage

When I was first shopping, internal vests were sized for fitting under jackets, which limited their coverage. External vests extended further, with the bladder overlapping the rider’s hips and tailbone. Nowadays maximalists that don’t mind spending more time getting dressed can choose internal (or integrated) airbag systems with coverage all the way out to the rider’s wrists and thighs.

Collarbone fractures are the most common injury among riders wearing passive protection. Hip fractures are less common, but affect your mobility for the rest of your life. My goal was not to prevent all injuries, but to minimize long-term impacts. Your goals may be different—and it’s totally reasonable to want maximum coverage—but past a certain point optimizing for this favours internal or integrated systems; if you’re inclined towards a mechanical trigger, you may have to compromise.

Anything Else?

If you made it this far, I chose the Helite Turtle 2. The fabric around its back armour has seen better days, but it’s still serviceable and I’m still wearing it on the commute. I’m planning on buying a Helite H-MOOV as soon as someone will sell one to me.

In 2021 Ryan F9 posted a pretty good video about airbags (he also preferred the mechanical Helite) and in 2024 he posted another (same). Note that he’s not an ATGATT guy, and that his (and my) perspective is focused on the hazards of street riding. Maybe you’re shopping for the track. Maybe you think bulky vests with tethers look dorky.7 Everyone’s needs are different and ultimately my choices may be different from yours, but hopefully reading this can help you decide what’s best for you. All I can say for sure is that crashing with an airbag is wayy better than crashing without one.