Astars Tech-Air MX (it’s real now)

The RXR is that level of protection.  I don't expect miracles from it but as I'd said earlier its taken direct impacts that I'm positive would have caused injuries.

Excited for this Astars product though.

The is very different than RXR.  RXR is like a padded steering wheel compared to an actual inflating airbag.  

I do appreciate what both are doing, but most spinal cord issues seem to be from "lawn darting" and nothing around your chest/core is going to help that.  I am not sure anything can.  

This (and RXR to an extent) should drastically help with impacts when landing on your chest or back.  Hope to see pros using it very soon.

I inflate my gen 1 RXR before every ride, it's why I'd call it bulky but I'm used to it.  Not sure if something that would inflate just before the point of impact would offer a different level of protection , but its certainly interesting.

Maybe spinal injuries from impact. it looks like a minimalist protector to me. Nothing that covers your side ribs or shoulder cups. I guess it's a pro thing.  

I don't see the collarbone protection at all

Would be nice to see what is looks like totally infalted, and these will never help with the bad spinal injuries or collarbone. Spinal is almost always from compression from landing on your head or even feet hard enough, collarbone you would need a ridiculous amount of padding to help. 

Still love chest protectors though I wear one racing woods to help with ribs and getting impaled by levers and tree branches though. Protecting your sternum is very important too and is pretty vulnerable close to your handlebars. 

So when you case a jump and your chest hits the bars is this thing gonna blow off on you while your riding?  Definitely need more info on where the impact sensors are or how it deploys. Or if someone roost the piss out of you and it hits the front of it will that set it off? I think it’s a great idea but definitely have more questions than answers. Hell even if they had a plastic crash dummy and set the thing off with a video would have been helpful. 

I've crashed my road race bike at 140mph wearing a tech air 10 and walked away. 

They are very hot to wear and road racing is nowhere near as physical as motocross, I can't see how anyone could do 30 minutes with one racing motocross and not pass out from heat. Although the mx version looks a lot smaller and less restrictive, so is probably not as hot to wear as a tech air 10. 

But they work, and work very well. I don't go near a track without mine now. 

Looks like Shot Racegear has a very similar airbag style chest protector coming out too. They are claiming to be the "First Airbag for Motocross". I wonder how different they are. Giving it a quick look, it looks very similar. Looks like they are trying to make it so it vents well. 

I wonder if Fox has something they are working on that is a Full body style airbag like device? It would make sense they were working on the one piece gear to work with a full body system.

  Its great to see some more innovations that are trying to offer more protection instead of just being less restrictive.   

 https://srg.shotracegear.com/en                  https://www.shotracegear.com/en

Glad this level of protection is finally gathering some steam, its overdue.

That Shot one works with an app in your phone. I could see so many things being integrated into something like this.

 A way to send out a notification if You want, perhaps some sensors to act as a heart rate monitor too. No idea exactly what You can do with the app. But it says it can go from inflated to fully deflated and ready to ride in under 30 seconds. And they have multiple  settings. An MX ,Adventure and adventure race. Lots of info on the website I linked .   

I was looking around and it looks like a company that developed the tech is working with multiple brands on products. I saw stuff from  Held, Klim,RST, Shot, ixs, and others that were more street stuff. The company also offers similar setups for Horses and Skiing.  https://www.inemotion.com/en/mx/

Amazing tech on the activation system. 

I use one in my leathers when Road Racing. It is turned on by a magnetic switch when you do it up, but doesn’t “arm” until a certain speed is obtained. (GPS). It then utilises accelerometers and gyros (similar to the autopilot in a plane, or the traction control on a sportsbike) to detect a crash. Every crash event is available to Alpine Star, and they have used them to create an algorithm that senses a crash, and discriminates them from other events. This, in my opinion will be the hardest thing to perfect for MX.

Two of my friends attribute less injuries after crashing while wearing this system (Road Racing). One crash was filmed, and it’s possible to clearly see the air bag deploy as he’s leaving the bike during a high side. The algorithm is probably looking for: Rapid acceleration (slide), rapid deceleration (grip) and negative “G” (rider arcing through the air). All things that happen every lap with MX!!

I believe the “deflation”, is simply that the airbag is not completely air tight - it inflates to protect, but even the initial impact might be cushioned by air escaping through smallish holes. As you are picking the bike up the air continues to escape, allowing one to continue racing, with a second CO2 canister ready for the next event.

As a wheelchair rider, I have a back protector with a chest to waist corset style bracing. This basically prevents my back bending when landing from a jump - transferring the impact from my back to me core. It would be good if they could make the inflation stiffen you core or cushion side impacts. I would think it’s usually the twisting and bending that would cause the impact but maybe not, I mean their expertise is MotoGP and that’s usually less about impact and more about flipping through sand traps at 200kmh

Note: I broke my back hitting a tree after coming off at 140kmh in the Finke desert race - I only had a foam roost guard on and feel a plastic would have helped and this would have prevented spinal cord damage, even the vertebrae would still be broken from the Impact. Cord damage is the real issue.  

I have the Tech Air 10 race for the track days with the R6. I have fortunately never had it inflate on me but i would never ride without one.

I will 100% get this MX version when it becomes available.

The TA10 is meant to be worn like an undersuit so it’s not integrated into the leathers. Only the first gen tech air race zipped in and the new TA7 can be zipped into the older first gen suits. It can also be used independently under any suit with enough room for expansion.  

Awesome technology - love it.  

i ride mx with astars tech air offroad in rally mode no problems it's a game changer in safety

I’ve been wearing them since 2008. I’m on my 3rd model now, as they’ve upgraded over the years. I still have all three models. 

The chest protector is rated CE Passive Level 1 when not engaged. That's the bare minimum to be used in FIM regulated racing. When the air bag is deployed, it's rated CE Active Level 1- which is a different rating and 4x as protective as CE Passive Level 1. 

So you can keep on racing with it even if it's not active or the cylinder is empty.

Correct, there is still good protection even when not inflated.  

Also it should be noted that this will only go off for BIG crashes. Not sure exactly how the algorithm will change for the MX version but the Off Road you can have normal tip overs and things like that and it likely won't go off.  But go over the bars, get flung from the bike, huge tumble, etc and it will pop. 

I am betting Forkner wishes this was out years ago. 

Not sure if I’ll link this right but they just posted a video of it going off:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-YEsDJPKyI/?igsh=bm1lNGZ5ODNybjBl

We got to see them in action tonight. Nice to see the sport take the next step in safety.

Now they need to make one that deflates 30 seconds after the crash and maybe has 1 more cartridge in case of another crash. If not it would just act as a normsl chest protector for the remainder of the race. Great to see the next step in safety finally coming to fruition.

It sure looked to me that when Barcia crashed tonight, the airbag went off AFTER he hit the ground. Anyone else notice this???

That’s what I saw too.