Just for a moment here, some serious rad. Other advances in skootertech have also been laughed at-and have become standard. Electric foot, disc brakes, monoshocks, FI, and lately, ABS, the latter with many non-believers still dissing the new tech, but a safety feature fast becoming standard or at least available on many high-perf tourers, with more to come, I'm sure. The air bag was introduced, believe it or not, as an option on 74 Toronados, and was ridiculed by many, but look at them now. Standard on every 4 wheeler out there, but mainly because of the US passive restraint standard, not because of a perception or proof of life saving capability. Not that they haven't-but only because people still refuse all too often to wear seatbelts, which the air bag supplements , not replaces. While the air bag has worked out fairly well on autos and trucks, especially since the technology has improved with time and experience, I just don't see it working well on motorcycles, even with tech improvements. They add weight, which would preclude their use on sportbikes, they require space and sensors, ditto, and they add substantial cost, which, if $1400 is gonna be a starting point, would be a substantial portion of the price of buying a bike, which is gonna steer people away from those having them, unless it is mandated for all. Like those in use in most 4 wheelers, they protect only in frontals, and then only to a small degree, due to the fact that they only slow down, not prevent, ones exit from the vehicle. Where in cars they act in concert with the structures protective capabilities, no such structure exists on a motorcycle. Unless Joan Claybrooks 3 wheeled monstrosity is mandated as the standard of construction, I just don't see it's widespread acceptance as a safety device.
