Has anyone seen those Billy Mays Impact Gel infomercials?
 

I saw this last night on the new show on Discovery called Pitchmen. He demonstrates the impact resistance of this stuff called Impact Gel by covering his hand with it and smashing it with a hammer. Another guy lets a car run over his hand while the gel is covering it. The kicker is that they're freaking using it as shoe insoles, which has me wondering what in the heck the inventors are smoking.

Line helmets with it or make car dashboards out of it for crying out loud if it's that good, lol :lol:

but that would make sense, and we're not allowed to make sense.


/sarcasm.

I guess you didn't bother to see the very end of the episode. The inventor is doing just that (although it specified pro sports team helmets, not recreational bike helmets). He is also in talks with the military to supply them with insoles. Needless to say, his gamble (financially) is certainly paying off...

The armor in my motorcycle clothes is made out of stuff called visco elastic foam. The harder the hit, the more it resists. It is quite flexible, until it takes a FAST impact.

It's in my Aerostich Darien Jacket and pants. It's MAGIC!

It won't make any difference in terms of protecting your head because it won't take away the brain's inertia when it impacts the inside of the skull, which is what does the real damage.

Insoles are a good idea. You ride your bike a lot, but if you walked some of those miles, your feet would be hurting.

I'm not sure I caught the end, I probably dozed off by then. It would make sense that somebody in the sports world would be interested in it. That's the first thing I would think of --- shoe inserts would probably be the last. Of course, I'm not making millions, so what do I know? :lol:

The car running over the guy's hand is just a gimmick.
Car tires are wide, much wider than the bike tires we are used to, and they spread force out a lot across the ground so the amount on his hand really isnt that bad. Also the car rolls over his hand gradually, it wasn't an actual 'impact' with all the high forces you'd get from dropping and suddenly stopping.


and +1 on the earlier helmet comment
It won't stop inertia from snapping your neck, which is really the bigger problem.
If you really want to dissipate inertia you need to slow the object down over a longer distance. No matter how squishy that gel is, I just don't see that kind of distance being available with the thickness its made in...