So I have to admit, I'm prone to these random as hell ideas but I always like to write them down/share as they come up.

What do you guys think of motorcycle protective gear that works more like a trampoline vs foam pit?

Here're my thoughts. So, currently the physics of modern protective gear are rooted back to those good ole feudal days of bashing and stabbing eachother. When our bodies contact something at speed, the armor acts to decelerate us so the resultant F=ma is less. Cars, helmets, padding all work by this principle in a collision. This model of protection can be likened to a foam or cardboard box pit to "break" a fall. The goal is to bring somebody to a total stop without decelerating them so fast their bodies blow apart in a slimy splatter. The challenge is that w/ personal armor, you don't have much physical distance for the armor to deform and decelerate your body.

So, what about instead of a crush/deformation model of armor, there was a progressive rebound model? Trampolines work to decelerate your body from a fall, they gradually and progressively decelerate you until they rebound. We wouldn't want to yo-yo our heads inside a helmet, but ac/deceleration can be damped as like shock springs. What if armor was designed like a mini-trampoline using say kevlar weave anchored around the rim of the armor piece w/ some air space between the "net" and the outer armor shell?

Provided it worked as intended, the armor could also be much lighter, more insulating and more versatile in placement than existing armor technologies me thinks.

Anyway, that's my 5 minute soapbox....

This is an area that interests me and in theory I see no problem with what you're suggesting. Kinda bungee rope effect, sort of a thing...
But in practice, does this mean.... you're riding along, you have a massive off, then you bounce all over the freeway like a rubber ball potentially getting whacked again as you deccelerate ? If so I think it's prolly not gonna work...

You are essentially talking about how to absorb huge amounts of energy. A trampoline requires a huge surface area to absorb a relatively small impact. So it would be improbable to do this in a small enough package to be effective. also your evaluation of current gear is slightly off. Most current gear works by distribution of a small impact across a larger surface area.

There are a number of newer materials like 3DO which are phase change materials which change composition when subject to high force to allow repeatability. It works on the same principle as baking soda in water; if one moved a finger through it slow it works, if one moved quick, it solidifies and makes movement impossible. This allow the armour to be flexible during normal riding conditions and become a hard armour upon impact.

Grendel likes these topics and likes your thinking.

For a school project while in Jr. High, I mixed glue, water and Borax in a coffee can. In the center of the mixed contents I put an egg. I closed up the can and duck taped it shut insuring that it would not explode upon impact. I threw the coffee can from the second story of my school. When I retrieved the can and opened it. The egg was still intact.

one thing that i have been looking into is a true exoskeleton... problem is that it could need to be custom made for each individual.

the hardest part is working out a way to have a highly flexible joint while being able to transfer large amounts force through it.

essentially making broken bones a thing of the past... rather than relying on our bones to take the beating, the thin carbon fibre frame could do it... you could also make it limit movement of joints to stop ligament damage... but highly cost inefective... would assume 7-10thousand to make a proper suit.

only market would be racers worth millions

YES! I too have thought about these. I've seen the military protos but the challenges to a good suit are many (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powered_exoskeleton). I've also thought about this in terms of seeing products like the A-stars "anatomic" knee braces and Leatt neck braces. These are basically knee and neck braces from the medical world marketed towards the general public. The idea of limiting joint ROM to prevent injury is the key to these and an exoskeleton would be a more extensive application of this.

The exoskeleton, however, would still need something to cushion/decelerate the person within it when force is applied. With good design, I'm sure the CF frame would transfer force away from certain areas of the body, but the question is: where will the CF put that force? It must be back to the wearer somehow.

Like the existing protective orthotics/braces avail to riders, I think one key for safety equipment would be to transmit force away from "sensitive" joints/organs to more force-resilient areas of the body. Examples would be the axial skeleton, longitudinally into large bones like the femur, etc....and as such the challenge is to make that force as similar to gravity during upright standing as possible as we are upright creatures (despite our quadriped roots).

Actually, I could see the ballistic netting strung along the exoskeleton in key places to slow impact and disperse impact force while decelerating the body w/ minimal G's. Agreed, cost would be a big factor. If, like current helmets, one drop max may mean you need a whole new custom-CF exo suit even if your clumsy ass slipped on some grease in the garage before going out on a ride!

Grendel has always wondered if the armour companies troll through injury data to determine research areas. Broken collar bones must be huge on the list of volnerable areas. A Leatte brace seems part of the answer but not sure about its usage on road riding. that uses the external device exo-skeleton. There may be different techniques for different areas of vulnerability.

i'm guessing they did their homework in the past when starting up the company, but don't know how much R&D they commit to new injury stats. eg Arai makes helmets because TBI is a very common and serious form of injury in an off. Never mind the most common areas of head impact or brain injury.

Glove design is one place I've seen a lot of such change happening. Seemed to start out that gloves just had extra palm fabric w/ some padding around the dorsum. It has since evolved to include hard knuckle parts, scaphoid/pisiform sliders, buddied 4-5th fingers and so on.

If a company really put some effort into combining the knowledge of pathomechanics with product engineering, they could stand to make some pretty bold, research supported claims. (pants that protect against common twisting knee injuries, combine w/ attachable boots to prevent lower leg injuries as well etc etc)

Velocity reactive gear sounds intriguing. It responds to an aggressive change in motion creating a protective cocoon around the rider.

90's technology haha

i've seen personal airbags out for RS Taichi, guess Dainese has it too

These guys in the UK have developed this material..Orsm stuff.

http://www.forcefieldperformance.com/technology/