BM | Held eVest – The Game Has Changed

Author: Boris Mihailovic  Date Posted:19 October 2026 

HELD E VEST – THE GAME HAS CHANGED

I have long been fascinated by MotoGP racers who crash at a billion kilometres per hour, get up, dust themselves off, and walk back to get their spare bike. Are they invincible? Of course not. They are certainly fitter and stronger than 99.9 per cent of us mere mortals and possessed of skills the rest of us can only dream about. But that doesn’t count for all that much when you’re being bounced along the ground like a meatball. What does count is the air-vest under their race-leathers that deploys in micro-seconds. It has been a game-changer for MotoGP racing. Manifestly.

 

And like all great and good things, this technology has trickled down to us. Air-vests have been available for a while now, but for reasons that remain vague to me, they have not been hugely adopted by riders.

Part of the reason is air-vests not cheap. But neither are great helmets or race-leathers. Great bikes are also not cheap, or great suspension, or exhaust systems. You want top-notch shit to enhance your world; you pay for it. We all know that.

So maybe it’s not the cost preventing a big take-up of air-vests. Maybe people think the vests make them look fat. Maybe people think they won’t fit under their existing gear. Maybe people think they are uncomfortable to wear. Maybe people think their mates will make fun of them for wearing them.

Maybe it’s all those things. And maybe people just don’t get how effective air-vests are when it all goes to bastard shit.

 

“I got my leathers on, I’m good.” You understand leathers do very little to stop crush injuries, right? Yes, I know they are armoured, and that sure helps your joints from total destruction, but all your really important organs are in your torso. And an air-vest is the only thing that stands between those organs being pulped and those organs being slightly bruised. Quite the no-brainer, right?

So how well do the vests do this?

I do not know. I have not crashed in one. But I have seen dozens of MotoGP riders crash in them.

Obviously, for me to provide you with a first-hand assessment of an air-vest, I would have to crash. I have no intention of doing that for the sake of a review. Just like I have no intention of binning my bike just to see if my Shoei is as good as I say it is. You get that, right?

      

Simmo, on the other hand, is a different beast. He races motocross. He falls off with far more frequency that I do. Which is why I gave him the Held eVest.

We may all get that first-hand air-vest review I am personally expecting. Because as effective as air-vests are for road-racing and road-riding, they are just as effective for motocrossers, enduro riders, and adventure bike champions. And maybe even more important, from Simmo’s perspective…

Boris

MODERN TIMES DEMAND MODERN SOLUTIONS

There aren’t many things in the modern world that excite me, much less give me hope. AI is making people redundant, technology is addicting our children, and police are becoming even more efficient at oppressing society, all thanks to technology.

But hope has appeared in my world. Behold, the Held air vest, known as the Held eVest. A very real measure proving technology can mean progress in a positive direction.

Ready to “whoosh!”.

I think air vest technology is something the motorcycle world needs to embrace with open arms. For as long as motorcycle safety gear has been a thing, the search for genuine impact protection has been unsuccessful, until now.

The best leathers or armoured textiles are about abrasion protection and cannot provide impact protection. But air bag technology can, and this is a game-changer.

Always need a rear view.

The Held eVest consists of technology developed by In&Motion. This same tech is also used in Ixon, RST, and Furygan leathers.

It is specifically designed to protect, the neck, back, thorax, shoulders, and ribs. The outer material is made from light weight breathable mesh to ensure airflow right around the vest. So hopefully that answers the question “Will it be hot to wear in summer?” Obviously, this was considered during the design process.

You would not know it was on.

The electronic or ‘brain’ part of the vest is truly impressive. It has accelerometers, gyroscopes, and GPS tracking that actively monitors the riding circumstances one thousand times per second. No connection to the bike is required, as this is an independently operated Smart system, with fall detection that deploys the air bag in 0.6 seconds. That’s faster than anyone reading this can react.

You can also add the D30 EVO back protector which is Level 2 protection and approved for racing.

Nothing like John Howard’s tactical vest.

Then all you need to do is subscribe to the APP via a QR code provided when you purchase your Held eVest, then select the ride mode you require, road, track, off-road, enduro, or MX.

You then plug the brain into the vest, and you’re good to go.

When I first put the vest on admittedly, it felt odd. Bulky? You ask. Not really. It initially feels a bit odd to noticeably have something on your back. Of course, it feels different, I have never worn anything like it before, but the moment you are on the bike, you don’t notice it at all, and I mean at all. Everything feels as it would without wearing it, and you just forget about it being there.

This is it with a road jacket on top.

It wasn’t until I got off the bike and took my jacket off, that I was reminded I was wearing the eVest. That, to me, is a win. I have genuine impact protection, without it being invasive or hindering my riding in any way.

My personal opinion is while the eVest will cater for every discipline, from road to motocross, the people who will really benefit from this vest will be the enduro and adventure riders.

And the view from behind.

The remote areas and difficult terrain off-road blokes tackle, often means they are a long way from help if things go to shit, and it’s often hard for help to reach you in remote areas. The Held e-Vest goes a very long way to minimising and even negating those horrid injuries to the ribs, shoulders, and torso.

And if you think I’m going to hurl myself down the road or motocross track to prove its effectiveness. You are wrong. I’m not going to do that. [You keep thinking that – Boris]

The orange thing is the optional back protector.

And I don’t plan on crashing anytime soon either, but that’s the point, isn’t it? None of us intend to crash, but we should consider the possibility that we will.

What I can tell you, is that the e-Vest is neither invasive, nor restrictive, and to have smart impact protection on you, well, I can’t see a negative.

And if you have a Held jacket for either road or off-road riding, the eVest comes with blue clip in hooks, that allow it to clip into your compatible Held jacket.

The guts of the matter.

There are two variants. One clips into your jacket and one has a zip at the front, like the one we had.

Both come with a free D3O level 2 back protector until sold out.

RRP $650.00

The eVest comes with one cartridge when you purchase the product & the replacement -0 and yes, you can swap them out yourself.

Held Replacement Cartridge for eVest and eVest Clip-in Cost $190.00 

View Products here: Held Protection Armor eVest
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