Alpinestars Tech-Air Street
ALPINESTARS TECH-AIR STREET
IGNITION
NEWS
Inflatable torso protection
Matthew Miles
TECH FOR YOUR BODY
Meet the Tech-Air Street, a compact, self-contained airbag intended for use on or off road with any type of motorcycle. When inflated, the lightweight, reusable bag covers most of the upper body, cushioning it from impacts. Aside from charging the battery, no setup or service is required unless the bag is activated.
When the Tech-Air Street debuts in Europe this spring, retail price will be 1,200 euros-or about $1,500 at current exchange rates. The vest zips into the fully armored Valparaiso Dry Star jacket ($800)
and the summer Vi per ($440). Other garments are planned.
According to Colin Ballantyne, the engineer responsible forthe Tech-Air program, most race crashes are single vehicle, but the majority of street crashes involve an obstacle, and most happen at less than 40 mph. At 30 mph, he said, the average time between a motorcycle making initial contact with, say, a car and the rider hitting that car is just 100 milliseconds.
Ballantyne stressed the importance of shoulder protection. “In the majority of the
crashes that we conducted,” he said, “the shoulder was always the first point of contact forthe torso. Also, by having shoulder protection, you have a continuous, inflatable cushion all around the top of your body.”
Maximum inflation takes just 25 milliseconds, and that pressure is maintained for five seconds. The “envelope of protection,” the speeds at which Ballantyne says the system performs best, ranges from 15 to 56 mph. The system may deploy the airbag at even lower speeds, but that is dependent upon the energy involved in the impact and circumstances related to the accident.
Based on more than 185,000 miles of data gathering, including his own legbreaking crash, Ballantyne is confident the system, with its sophisticated algorithm, won’t unexpectedly deploy, even if you’re riding aggressively off road.
The Tech-Air Street is worn like any other riding jacket. When the zipper is closed, the system is armed. “We tried to engineerthe system in the most natural way possible,” Ballantyne said. Fully charged, the battery provides 25 hours of continuous use, which is adequate for most weekly commutes.
Asked about the investment made in the Tech-Air program, Alpinestars President Gabriele Mazzarolo smiled. “I don’t own a boat,” he said. “I have an airbag.” E1U
