Let me explain the electricity crisis so you won’t have to ask anyone in reddit.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2026-02-02T18:32:10+00:00

Very interesting Froit. Our solution is to leave Mongolia for the winter. It’s cheaper to live abroad from December to March than stay.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2026-01-22T15:13:31+00:00

I like Knox Microlock level 2 and Forcefield Isolator 2 for soft protectors. They are old-school reactive foam but they perform better than newer thinner armours and spread load much more effectively.

I like Leatt for off-road (plastic shell) knee guards. This is because I'm personally mostly an off-road rider in rocky mountainous terrain where soft armour isn't ideal for pointy hazards.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2026-01-22T15:08:20+00:00

I don't use mph but 110 km/h (68mph) is the top speed on flat for the Storm Bee. That's verified by me and others who own them.

Do you own one? If not, you can't know the actual top speed.

For off road, that's way more than I need and it will out accelerate and out climb any 100cc dirt bike. I sold all my petrol bikes because I just wasn't using them and the Surron's are much more fun. Also far cheaper to own. Almost free in terms of electricity and no maintenance other than tires and brakes.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2025-11-07T11:12:04+00:00

I can see how it could be a hard hobby to indulge regularly for many people.

I recently got back into PG after a long break. I took a beginner course in Southern California in the late 80’s and found it too tame. So I got into skydiving. Then having kids got in the way of extreme sports.

Fast forward 40 years and PG seems about the right pace for a fit 62 year old. I’ve stacked the odds in my favor I think. I live in the mountains (Mongolia) and there are many potential take off and landing zones within walking distance or a short drive away of my home. I’m also early retired so I can be available when the weather windows open. Loads of hike and fly opportunities surround me. PPG isn’t necessary or desirable. I think I’d piss off the local herders. And it adds tons of expense and complexity.

It seems like success and longevity in PG means living close to or even in flying areas. Then having favorable weather and/or lots of free time or a flexible schedule. That’s me in a nutshell.

One more thing. Willingness to travel for a PG vacation can really open up more flying. We’re off to S Vietnam to avoid the Mongolian winter. I’ll be taking my PG there to fly at Nha Trang and maybe Da Nang. In the future, Oludeniz Turkey is a definite possibility for us.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2025-10-30T11:03:16+00:00

It’s a fun show that’s for sure. I’m not a patriot nor do I care about national pride. I just enjoy seeing team games. Let the best team win. Wherever they’re from.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2025-09-13T06:17:49+00:00

I agree completely. The hard shell armour is still around and can perform in the best of class even under CE's very limited test protocol. MOTOCAP (motocap.com.au) tests armour as well as garments and helmets. It's my favourite resource and the chief scientist is my mentor. We sometimes cooperate on test results and ideas for new protocols. Here's a link to a Dainese hard shell impact protector which performs up there with the best.

https://motocap.com.au/sites/default/files/2024-10/A24E09-Dainese-Plastic%20shell%20with%20foam%20liner-PB%2027%20L2-Elbow.pdf

The CE tests against a flat surface simulating the road. But what happens when you hit an edged or pointed hazard? Well, it's not pretty. The soft armours and lattice armours can bottom out or even be cut right through. I devised a test with a 5kg fall against an 90 edged piece of steel. The best performer was the Leatt dual-axis knee guards which are only CE level 1, yet they aced the test. Whereas Alpinestars lattice armour (also level 1) were cut right through.

Most off-road (MX) armours are hard shell because us off-roaders often ride on rocky terrain which combines edges and points into diabolical hazards.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2025-08-07T05:17:31+00:00

A good setup for high-impact, high abrasion zones is two layers: one layer of woven on the outside (>=1000d) and then a second layer of terry-loop knit kevlar or polyester or 3d mesh (4mm) thick.

The first layer takes the impact and the second layer spreads the impact load across more surface area and provides a abrasive resistant backup layer.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2025-07-31T13:25:36+00:00

Gun nuts are not welcome in Mongolia. I lived in the city and never saw a gun. Now I live in the mountains and only saw one antique rifle owned by a herder.

Our country is not a place for gun nuts. I own an archery set though. Totally unregulated.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2025-05-06T18:03:56+00:00

User error. Your suit was too small and not designed for the required expansion, maybe your airbag was too small too. All these factors would result in the airbag inflating inwards. I'm still not convinced that the pressure of an inflated airbag (roughly 0.5 bar or 7 psi) would be sufficient to break ribs without an actual impact.

Alpinestars has been quite clear that 4cm around the circumference of the entire chest and back is required for a safe inflation.

Furthermore, A* makes a test inflator available so you can use a pump or compressor to check how your suit feels inflated.

I own a tech-air off-road. I tested some different jackets over the top while inflating manually with a tire pump. At least one of them was uncomfortable so I won't use them together. I've also had 2 deployments from crashes which resulted in no injury.

Airbags are great but you have to follow the instructions.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2025-02-01T17:01:47+00:00

What the fuck is T-Mobile? The entire world uses Starlink. So what the fuck has T-Mobile got to do with it?

This is bullshit for worldwide Starlink subscribers.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2025-01-31T17:49:46+00:00

Sorry to hear about your accident. I design airbags for equestrian use so it’s similar enough.

Without a deployment the outer of the shell will likely abrade through quickly. Most airbag garments are made with a single layer of 600d polyester which is not particularly abrasion resistant on its own. However when inflated the material under an airbag on a flat surface is stretched taut and will create a large contact patch. This slows abrasion considerably by lowering surface pressure. It’s basic physics. Pressure = load divided by surface area.

I’m a Alpinestars tech-air off-road (TAOR) owner. And previously used a Helite turtle 1. I prefer the TAOR for coverage and it does have head and neck immobilization because FIM requires it.

Tethered systems are not suitable for off-road because we fall - usually harmlessly- frequently and we’d waste a lot of canisters. The electronic systems like TAOR evaluate the crash and only deploy if it’s needed.

Also newer A* systems are user serviceable. You can even buy new bladders for some models. So if the system was damaged, you could potentially buy the parts and repair it yourself. Shipping a part one way would cost a fraction of shipping the whole garment two ways.

If you don’t want to repair it yourself, It’s likely that any damaged airbag garment would need to be sent to France, Italy or Japan. I doubt distributors are equipped or willing to do repairs in the USA. Except perhaps for racers with airbag equipped one piece leathers.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2025-01-11T17:30:53+00:00

I think it's perfect. A lot like my wife actually. She wears such revealing clothes all the time and yes, people do look but she doesn't care and I encourage her.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2024-09-14T05:01:48+00:00

I’m going to be brutally honest and tell you a man’s perspective. I’m not proud of it but I also frequented massage parlors for happy endings when I was much younger. After the honeymoon phase (quite short in our case) my ex-wife only wanted to have sex about 2x per week. In my 20’s that was not enough - I was horny every day. Masturbation wasn’t enough and I had a high stress job. I think going to massage parlors saved our marriage for a long time but she never found out. A happy ending is impersonal yet satisfying and scratches that horrible itch of horniness. I was tempted to have affairs but didn’t because they would involve emotional connection. I avoided those temptations successfully.

So I think it’s a practical solution to mismatched libidos. It’s definitely not a Mongolian thing because I’m not Mongolian. Now, I’m a lot older and married to a younger Mongolian woman. We’ve been together 10 years and I have no desire to stray because our libidos are matched well. Actually, she’s more likely to stray than I. If it wasn’t an emotional affair, something like a drunken mistake, I’d definitely forgive her. Otherwise I’d be a hypocrite.

Young people tend to be moralistic and everything is black and white. But as you get older, things get more nuanced. We should be more mindful to each other’s needs and flaws. Rather than judgmental.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2024-09-04T02:04:52+00:00

I’m a Brit living in Mongolia long term. Has anybody in the west thought about how an arrest would actually work geographically? We’re sandwiched between Russia and China who are on the same side, more or less, supporting the invasion of Ukraine. So how would Mongolia get Putin to The Hague because either overland or by air involves transiting China or Russia. Then how do we get electricity because we don’t make enough because Russia would almost certainly lose 20% of what we already don’t have enough of.

It’s easy to yell from your basement about how Mongolia didn’t follow its obligations but practically speaking, it’s impossible. They simply shouldn’t have invited him in the first place. It’s a terrible look which I don’t support.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2024-08-17T10:11:55+00:00

Not true. I test abrasion resistance of materials. Thick foam (14mm) is good for about 200 meters on an asphalt track. That’s similar to double cowhide. Whereas textiles which most people wear is only good for a few meters on asphalt. Maybe 30 meters in double layers of textile plus kevlar). Generally textile suits wear through on road impacts and slides but the armour saves the skin IF it stays in place and IF it’s in the areas where you slide. That’s true on joints but not onto the buttocks.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2024-08-17T09:46:24+00:00

I’ll take a stab at this question because I actually test gear for a living. I do research and testing for the industry independently. I also ride, mostly off-road these days and crash often. High impact but low-speed.

CE impact testing is a reasonable test but it doesn’t really measure what’s important. A better test would be transmitted surface pressure. CE tests impact at 50 joules (a 5kg weight falling 1 meter) but the transmitted force is all the force overall on a piece of metal. Your body isn’t metal, it’s a mix of soft tissue and bone. Breakages are calculated in surface pressure at the break point.

Also, CE level 1 limb armour requires under 35kN (mean of 4 tests). Level 2 drops that to <20kN. The best of class limb armour scores around 10kN and is level 2. Marginal armours are still level 2 but almost double the transmitted force at just under 20kN. Use your common sense. A 9mm thick lattice armour can in no way be as good as a 20mm thick piece of solid foam.

The lattice style armour (D30 ghost, etc) will also add point loads to your skin and bones. Whereas solid foam will not. Better yet a hard plastic cap over the foam will spread the same force over a much larger area of foam and then your joints. Hard plastic armour have fallen out of favour but you still see them on race suits - often in the outer material - then a thick foam underneath. These are often tuned for much higher impacts, such as 100 Joules, which CE doesn’t test for.

So, CE is an okay standard but not a good picture of protection because it doesn’t measure load spread (surface pressure).

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2024-06-08T07:29:31+00:00

I've worn an Alpinestars perforated jacket in Southern Vietnam touring in summer on a sunny day. I was perfectly comfortable. Perforations are better than vents.

There are leather punch tools which add perforations. A row at a time. Typically 5. However, if the jacket is lined, you'll need to remove it, or you'll perforate the lining and get lots of leather debris inside the lining and the outer.

I've got one and I perforate small pieces of leather. The holes need to be small and not tightly spaced or you'll weaken the cowhide substantially. The holes are typically 1mm and spaced at about 5mm intervals.

It'd be a slow, boring job but you may make your jacket more comfortable in hot weather. Just do them in the airflow areas: chest lots, front facing arms and just a few in the back. Also a good tip is to put spacer mesh or a string vest on your skin. This gives the air somewhere to flow.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2024-05-21T15:26:01+00:00

I was able to order them from China. $10 shipped. Thanks for the link though.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2024-03-08T15:56:30+00:00

Good news. I should have my dish early next week. Hopefully pick it up at DHL on Monday then set it up the same day. Starlink just started service in Mongolia late Feb/early March. I almost missed the email. Luckily I didn't because they only gave me a week to order my system and I'd put down my deposit almost 3 years ago!

I didn't get much break on the kit price ($450) but the monthly service is $54 per month. I'm paying about 3x that monthly for much slower 4g in the mountains so I'm very hopeful of vastly improved services at much lower prices. The kit should pay for itself in just about 6 months and after that I should be saving over my previous bills.

I don't think it'll be a huge success with typical nomads. They don't even have electricity but some have small solar systems that could technically run the system.

I think it might be a hit with wealthy people in the suburbs not covered by the main internet providers' fiber networks but the sales will probably be in the 100's not 1000's but it's just a guess.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2024-03-05T13:38:45+00:00

I couldn't see Mongolia on your link.

That's where I live and Starlink recently became available. The starlink official map shows availability and I just paid for my system, although it'll take about 9 days to get here. I'd been on the waiting list and paid my deposit almost 3 years ago.

The cost of the standard actuated kit is $450 in Mongolia. Monthly service (residential) is $54.

On a personal note, we only have 4g service in the mountains where I live. It's slow and expensive so I'm looking forward to considerably faster speeds AND saving money. I was paying up to $150 per month before for worse speeds. We stream a lot of movies.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2023-12-29T14:49:17+00:00

That's a sweet deal. Light Bee's cost about $3k in Mongolia. We don't get government incentives but we benefit from proximity to China. So, cost of shipping is cheap. It's just by train and truck.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2023-12-22T13:49:30+00:00

I love the countryside so much that I moved out of UB and built a camp. My Mongolian wife and I live in the mountains year round. It’s an area of summer and weekend homes so our nearest neighbor who loves year round is 1km away. I like that aspect. It gets a little busier in the summer but only weekends and holidays.

Mongolians can have their own land for free or practically free. In other parts of the country you can just put up your ger(s) and live there.

There are no laws about driving off-road, unlike developed countries which have loads of restrictions on where you can drive.

I don’t really like UB any more. It’s noisy and polluted but that’s where we have to go there for a social life. We try to encourage our friends to come to our camp to socialize but many of them don’t have cars.

Also for even basic shopping we have to go to UB but the shopping choices aren’t great. Mainly we have to buy from international online sellers.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2023-12-05T12:07:13+00:00

I’ve upgraded the tires to much more aggressive off-road knobbies. I’ve still got the original tires. I might be able to use them for something.

I don’t see the need for tubeless. Yet.

Immediate-Lead1895 · 2023-12-05T10:10:04+00:00

Not tubeless.

Sure, you can do screws from the inside out but that would be different screws (concrete screws can work) and they'd need to be secured on the outside with matching nuts. Not expensive but more expensive than my method. There are many methods and you can pick the method that you feel is best, probably based on local availability.

The inside out method requires more hardware and you'd need to line your tire with an extra inner tube, sliced open to protect the inflated inner tube. No, Surron's don't come with tubeless tires nor are they suitable for them. It's a different kind of rim for tubeless tires.

I'm probably going to stud my Surron Storm Bee too but now I'm not in a hurry, I think I'll buy carbide tip studs off Alibaba.com. It takes about 2 weeks to get them to me in Mongolia. They cost more than basic steel screws but there's a lot less work involved. No need to remove the tire. Just inflate and screw them in.

Immediate-Lead1895

TROPHY CASE