Italian motorcycle helmet manufacturer Momodesign has added a fan that activates at low speed to keep the airflow going to your head in the hot summer months.
The Aero helmet features a Tornado Ventilation System that switches off at high speeds and only activates at low speeds thanks to a built-in GPS.
It’s not the first helmet with a cooling solution.
Imagine a motorcycle jacket that vibrates when it senses you are about to have a collision or delivers that disco bass rumble in your gut when you play music in your helmet?
The Origin “haptic” jacket will come as part of a package with a Zenith head-up display helmet (HUD) when you buy the coming 240km/h Arc Vector electric motorcycle costing about £90,000 ($A160,000, $US117,000).
The bike features “haptic” handlebars and seat that vibrate if they sense a crash or you try to merge into a lane where there is a car. Similar technology has been around in some cars for years.
Vector is also integrated with the Zenith head-up display helmet.
Their Origin jacket takes collision warning even further with haptic pads that vibrate.
It features different modes including “Dynamic” to “amplify the sense of excitement during a dynamic ride”.
Another is called “Euphoric” that produces that deep bass rumble.
While these are entertainment modes, Arc founder and CEO Mark Truman says the normal haptic mode that responds to crash threats can be used to “augment mirrors as a threat detection system”.
Riders will experience a buzz in their back or one shoulder to indicate the presence and direction of another threatening vehicle.
Vibrating haptic pads
“The haptic jacket and high-tech helmet are designed to help meld man and machine into one,” Arc claims.
Mark says it allows the rider to keep their eyes on the road ahead. However, we would argue that a shoulder check is always advisable.
“People ask me if this could be distracting, but it is actually designed to be the total opposite,” Mark says.
“The tech frees you and your senses because the distractions have been removed.
“It allows you to concentrate on the road and your oneness with the bike, to just enjoy the moment knowing the bike is looking out for you and the information you need is right in front of you.”
So why provide entertainment haptic modes?
Arc Vector
Meanwhile, the 95kW Arc Vector has a top speed of 241km/h (150mph) and accelerates to highway seed in 2.7 seconds.
Range is claimed to be 190km (about 120 miles) on the highway or 274km (170 miles) in the city.
Only 355 bikes will be produced.
It features a lightweight carbonfibre swingarm and a new type of battery that makes the bike a chimed 25% lighter than its competition.
It also comes with custom Ohlins dampers and Brembo brakes mounted in the 6 o’clock position.
Victorian Police have withdrawn a fine against a rider for not having an external compliance sticker on his Australian-approved motorcycle helmet.
But don’t get too excited just yet that VicPol has seen the light and understands the rules which say a helmet only needs an internal label.
Rider Alasdair “Ted” Cameron challenged the $371 fine and took the issue to Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.
Senior associate Katie Minogue said she was confident her client had a “strong enough case” and was looking forward to their day in court.
However, at the last minute, VicPol have withdrawn the fine.
That means the issue has not been dealt with in court so no legal precedent has been set.
Police harassment
So police are still at liberty to use their erroneous reading of the rules to issue fines and harass riders.
Ted says he felt harassed as soon as he was pulled over in April 2018 on his 2016 Harley-Davidson Dyna Low Rider S about 200m from his Geelong home by one of two police officers patrolling on dirt bikes.
“I hadn’t done anything wrong, so I asked, ‘what’s up?’.
“The cop says ‘you’re riding a motorcycle in Victoria’, so I knew this guy was not up for a chat!”
The officer then told him his helmet was not compliant because it did not have a sticker on the outside.
Australian Standard sticker
“I just agreed with him and didn’t enter into much conversation or argue with him,” Ted says.
While Ted politely accepted the ticket without argument, he decided he wanted his day in court.
Fine withdrawn
However, he has now received a phone call to say the matter has been dropped because it was “trivial”.
“The copper that picked me up rang and I didn’t answer as it was a private number, so he left a message saying who it was from the Solo Unit,” Ted says.
“He said something like ‘the matter has been not authorised, it will just disappear, you do not have to do anything, it was just being trivial’.
“He was clearing his throat a couple of times so he must have been struggling to say it.
“That message just threw me.”
Ted contacted his lawyers who have contacted police to ask for the official notice of the withdrawal.
“I feel a bit better now and want to thank you (Motorbike Writer), Guy (Motorcycle Council of NSW helmet law expert Guy Stanford) and the lawyers for everything you’ve done to help me,” Ted says.
“But I wanted my day in court. It would have been good to really stick it up them.”
(Maurice Blackburn Lawyers took on Ted’s case pro bono – no charge.)
Sticker advice
Guy Stanford
While there is still no legal precedent, Guy Stanford advises that there is no need for an external sticker so long as there is an internal sticker or label.
It doesn’t matter if the label has faded with wear.
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