Well known motorcycle apparels and accessories manufacturer, Alpinestars revealed a new state of the art one piece leather racing suit that’s bustling with electronic features to enhance a rider’s safety should the worst occur. It’s none other than the Tech-Air Airbag System that provides not just a single inflation like an airbag system found in cars, but a second inflation as well.
Alpinestars has produced an interesting step-up in terms of safety and injury reduction upon impact where riders can experience forces upwards of 20 times the force of gravity (20 Gs), usually at a single point on their body, like their shoulder, which could cause a broken collar bone.
In order to help put things into perspective, One G is the force of Earth’s gravity and it is this force that determines how much we weigh, eg. 50kg. At 20 Gs, a rider experiences a force equal to five times their weight. – 1,000kg (1 Ton)
The new Alpinestars GP Tech-Air Airbag System has taken 10 years of Research and Development to produce with much of the processing systems stashed under the rider’s hump.
In terms of construction, the GP Tech-Air Airbag System leather suit gets 1.3mm high-grade full-grain cow hide leather with vented panels and multi-stitched main seams for exceptional abrasion and tear resistance.
Impact protection comes in the form of using external polyurethane (elbows and arms) and thermoplastic polyurethane (shoulders and knees), all of which are of course CE certified.
The one-piece racing suit replica has also integrated a soft grip area on the inner leg to help enhance bike contact and the back hump has been aero-tuned with perforation at the lower section so as to help draw out moisture and heat from within the suit. It also comes standard with CE Level 2 certified Bionic Race Back Protector.
In terms of comfort, accordion panels can be found on all sections that involves our joints while Kevlar helps to enhance comfort and fit during riding. There’s even neoprene on the collar and cuffs that will certainly provide that soft touch against the skin to prevent scuffing and the YKK zipper ensures a secure closure at all times.
The new system guarantees inflation within 0.05s – faster than a blink of an eye at 0.3s, which will last for 5 seconds. Deflation will take place within 20 seconds and it will be ready for the next inflation within 60 seconds. The two air bags have been strategically located in and around the shoulder area because Alpinestars have found that almost half of all motorcycle-related injuries involve the shoulder and/or collarbone.
The suit has had sensors placed within it to detect the positions of all our appendages in order to determine if it should engage the system and subsequently leading to the deployment of the airbags. We’ve also been told that the system is able to detect if the rider is in the process of recovering/stabilizing the bike to continue riding of which it won’t engage the airbag.
Again, unlike road-going airbags found in cars, this is not a one-off inflation, it can be used twice in one go before requiring a canister replacement. It’s very much less intrusive, not as Dainese’s air bag version that pretty much engulfs the rider’s neck and shoulders upon its one-time deployment and will require an immediate replacement of the system – simple indeed, but in the event you’re heading back to the pits for a change-up and, God forbid, you experience another mishap, you’re literally on your own.
Once the demonstration was over, members of the media got a chance to meet and greet current world reigning MotoGP rider, Jorge Lorenzo, who made a scheduled stop over at the Alpinestar store located on Jalan Genting Klang at the Platinum Plaza here in KL, where he was readily available for an autograph session as fans patiently waited outside the store.
