It always feels unpleasant when your bike falls over. While the circumstances that put it there may call for different reactions, one thing remains the same no matter what: You have to pick it up somehow.
Many riding instructors teach methods to picking up the bike when such a situation arises, but it’s always good when it’s made a tiny bit easier. If you have a back injury or another injury that makes picking a heavy motorcycle even more of a challenge, then it’s not ideal for you to be adding additional strain on yourself.
That’s a problem that French startup Airsink wants to solve.
The product is known as Airbiker. It’s a small pouch with an inflatable balloon and a few CO2 cartridges inside. There’s also a band to hold the front brake lever in place, making it much easier to lift your bike up off its side and onto the side stand.
How it works is rather simple. All you have to do is lock the brake lever, then place the little balloon and CO2 cartridge for inflation underneath part of the downed bike to help give it a little boost.
The Airbiker states that it isn’t meant to completely lift the bike up, but just to give a small boost to make it easier for you to grab the bars and guide it back up onto the side stand from a completely prone position on the ground.
The product can be packed up in a little zippered pouch, much like countless mini air-compressor units that riders may already carry in the event of flat tires.
A trio of units are available in order to lift up to 220kg (485 pounds), 330kg (727.5 pounds) and 440kg (970 pounds), ranging from €130 (£110) to €195 (£164).
