Helite Touring Air Jacket

The Helite Touring Air Jacket. Do I talk about the quality first or the airbag? Or perhaps it is the design of the jacket I should start with.

Then again, I already own a Helite Turtle 2 Airvest, so perhaps I should talk about why I’m testing the Helite Touring Air Jacket. Doesn’t my Oxford Mondial jacket and the Helite Turtle amount to the same thing?

The best idea is perhaps to give you the choice. Click on the headings below or read them from the top. Whatever suits you best.

Value for Money

As I write this, a Helite Touring Air jacket retails at around £585, which is a significant amount of money, but it is the value, never the cost, that is the real question.

An equally well-made touring jacket such as the Richa Cyclone comes in at a penny under £500. Oxford’s excellent Mondial jacket is £270 and was designed to a price point and doesn’t match the quality of the Helite.

At the other end of the price scale, you have Klim, Dainese, Rev’it and Rukka, all with non-Airbag jackets with four-figure price tags.

CE Level 2 static back protectors’ range in price from £70 to £160 depending on style and size. Although excellent, none of the back protectors offers anything approaching the level of protection that the Helite Airbag system gives, and back protectors are an extra cost on top of the price of those jackets.

A decent jacket and a one-dimensional static back protector are going to cost you close to £400. Bring the quality of the jacket on par with the Helite Touring Air, and the cost rises to around £600, but you still only have a one-dimensional static back protector.

In terms of quality and protection, the value of the Helite Touring Air is class-leading, and it doesn’t come with one of those annoying subscriptions to an online service to keep the airbag technology updated.

Helite Touring Air Quality

Most motorcyclists seem to have more than one jacket. We buy replacements when the ‘old faithful’ is looking tired and perhaps leaks a little in heavy rain. Still, we are a sentimental lot generally and never get around to actually throwing our old jackets away.

I still have my RST Alpha, complete with a non-removable lightweight liner and the glue mark where I fixed a leak. Then there is the Weise Outlast Frontier and my current everyday jacket, the Oxford Mondial laminated jacket.

They are all good jackets for differing reasons, and they all have their drawbacks. But they are all “Just Jackets”, and there is no reason for the others to cost so much – Right?

Having been wearing the Helite Touring Air jacket for the past few weeks, I’m going to have to disagree with myself and say, No. There are different levels of quality and cut, and when you wear a high-quality jacket, the difference is immediately noticeable.

Let’s start with the quilted thermal liner. Rather than a few simple stitch lines to help keep the padding in place, the liner is fully quilted into 4cm squares. The liner also has a 10cm (4 inches) wide storm flap that fastens with five press studs.

Even without the liner, the Helite Touring Air is a substantial full-length jacket, and I’ve not found the need for the liner while the autumn temperatures hover around 8°C.

There are two chest and two back vents to move air around the inside of the jacket on warmer days and five external pockets. Two of the pockets are the regular patch pockets often found on adventure-style jackets, along with the map pocket on the back.

The remaining two external pockets are a small key or toll money pocket and the large pocket on the left balances out the right-hand pocket, which holds the compressed air cartridge for the airbag.   

The patch pockets have double pop-studs on the fold-over top, Velcro and a waterproof zip to ensure a weatherproof seal. The vent zips are waterproof, and the main zip is chunky and easy to operate with gloves on and is protected by a wide storm flap that seals with Velcro and studs.

I could keep talking about the quality and the features, yet by now, I’m sure you get the idea. Overall, the Helite Touring Air jacket has been thoroughly thought through from the rider’s perspective, all the way to including a soft, flexible neoprene insert where the neckline of the jacket crosses the throat.

So, it is a well-made jacket and offers good value for money. Let’s talk protection.

Helite Airbag Technology

The Helite Airbag technology used in the Touring Air Jacket is the same technology that is in the Helite Airvest I reviewed and then bought (with my own cash money) in February 2021 [click here for that review] and since then I’ve worn it on every ride.

The concept is amazingly simple, and the benefits immense. A small CO2 canister is discreetly tucked away on the righthand side of the jacket. There is a lanyard that connects the jacket to the motorcycle, and in the event of an unscheduled dismount, the lanyard releases the CO2, and the airbag inflates in a mere 0.094 seconds

And no, it doesn’t inflate when you forget to disconnect the lanyard at petrol stations. I’ve tested this several times when I’ve forgotten to unclip the lanyard when filling up, which is a testament to how unobtrusive the Helite airbags are.

The jacket comes with a CE level 2 back protector built-in. When inflated, the airbag pushes the back protector away from your back and spine increasing the protection while at the same time stabilising your head and neck.

Working from the top down, the neck of the jacket inflates to minimise the possibility of whiplash. The body of the jacket inflates to protect the chest and back, which as well as stabilising your core, also provides protection against impact injuries.

The lower part of the jacket also inflates to help protect your hips and kidneys, which is why the jacket is slightly longer in the body than your average touring jacket. It also stops drafts on chilly mornings, which is an excellent bonus.

What Would I Change?

Now that I have worn the jacket for a couple of weeks, there are just two things that I’d change.

The first is to replace the waterproof liner with a laminated external material. Waterproof liners keep the rider dry, but the outer fabric can get waterlogged after a prolonged ride in the rain. With laminated materials, the water runs off in all but the heaviest of downpours.

Regardless of you buying a £900 jacket or the cheapest jacket you could find, if the jacket has a waterproof liner, then this is a fact of life. The solution to this is the Oxford Rainseal over jacket, and it costs £25. [See Best Motorcycle Rain Jacket]

The other thing I change is to swap out the Level 1 shoulder and elbow armour for some D3O ghost armour. Again, it is a small thing and more a personal choice than a requirement.

The Bottom Line

I bought the Touring Air jacket, and I had no intention of doing so. This was a review that had been requested by several people who were trying to decide on the Helite Turtle Airvest or one of the different Helite Airbag jackets.

When I called Helite UK to ask if we could borrow one of their jackets, I’d made sure there was no misunderstanding that this was a loan. Yet here I am, the proud owner of a Helite Touring Air jacket. I went with grey rather than black.