I’ve been waiting for the Tech Air MX to release since they announced it. Put off upgrading my chest protector this season in anticipation, so naturally as soon as it was available I ordered it.
Had my first ride in it today…no crashes and it didn’t go off😂couple points to make about it. 1. It’s definitely very heavy compared to other chest protectors, but it’s negligible once it’s on 2. It’s very very comfortable. The whole thing is shaped very nicely to conform and fit great 3. It’s extremely warm. Was a very very mild day today in Illinois, and while I already don’t do well in warm weather it was quite warm for me in 65° and cloudy with a super lightweight ventilated jersey on…I’m concerned how bad it’ll be during the summer.
While I don’t want to test out the airbag itself, I’m interested to see how it reacts if/when I do have a get-off wearing it.
Thank you for the initial report.
Considering one myself.
Try putting it over your jersey and see if that helps with the heat.
If you just flop on the ground will it go off?
Speed is one of the variables that the algorithm analyzes. Extremely unlikely that it’s going to deploy falling over at a stand still.
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Yeah, it's meant for 'big ones'. Now if you roll down a hill it will probably go off.
What is the actual trigger? Surely it's not waiting for a big impact, but I don't understand what it's looking for.
Is it connected to the bike somehow?
I’ll give it a try but my thoughts behind the heat are that it’s basically not ventilated in any way shape or form. The entire chest plate is perforated as if the whole thing is vented, but if you look there’s only a 2”x6” area that you can actually see through. The rest is airbag
Supposedly AStars has a proprietary algorithm that senses G Forces and orientation through an accelerometer and can figure out when you’re in the process of crashing. Whether it works great or not, who knows but it’s no worse than a standard chest protector as it has all the same padding and ratings without the airbag being deployed
https://www.vitalmx.com/comment/8338491
Here is what the actual airbag looks like:
Obviously the shoulders are folded back up before it's deployed. And yes it is designed to detect a crash is happening and deploy before you hit the ground. They are basically wizards and if you have been following these in road racing it has made a quantum leap forward in rider safety. I can't wait to get mine!
The Moto GP mention reminds me, I'm pretty sure the Moto GP guys take more risks now with it. It'll be interesting to see if it raises riders' risk limits in MX as well.
I'm interested, but there are a few reasons it's unlikely for me.
- It's heavy and hot to wear.
- In NZ money it is over $1,200.00.
- Support/maintenance here will likely be limited and VERY expensive.
What is the cost to repair it after it deploys and is it useless until then? Is that something the end user can do, or does it need to be sent away? My concern for the average guy is heat. My son went from a small and pretty basic undershirt roost deflector, to a Leatt 4.5 CE level 2. The difference in the heat was quite literally astronomical. We went from a fit 14 year old who never had issues in the heat, to one who was moments from passing out from heat exhaustion at the first race he used the Leatt unit. The reason we went to the Leatt was because of the Aiden Zingg crash, but man im so torn on what to do at this point. We've been noticing a difference in his fatigue level with this chest protector even when its only 65-70 degrees out.
$100ish for the canister, they don’t tell you to send it in until 3 deployments. It’s still perfectly functional as a standard chest protector that’s CE approved without the airbag being able to deploy.
Like I said in my original post it is noticeably warmer than my previous chest protector which is the Alpinestars Sequence (so another CE approved chest protector, not just standard roost guard). Personally for my own use case, I’ll deal with the extra heat🤷🏼♀️as much as I love riding and racing at the end of the day I do have to go to work to afford doing this and if I have to deal with more heat in order to give myself a better chance of making it to work on Monday that’s an acceptable trade off to me
$100 for a new argon canister which the user swaps easily. It’s still a CE level 1 protector without the airbag deployed.
I haven’t ridden in one yet so I can’t comment on heat but I rode with Brent from astars (the guy that did the pulp show a couple weeks) in South Dakota last month when he was wearing it. It was not terribly warm, maybe 65 but we rode all day and said it wasn’t bad at all. Certainly it won’t be as cool as a regular chest pro but for me I’ll take some warmth over possibly saving my life or drastically reducing an injury.
If you do want a level 2 and protector that you will stay cool in I’ve been wearing the A-6 for several years and it’s basically a honey comb shaped protector and I’ve done off road races in the upper 90’s and stayed plenty cool. It also has level one shoulder protection that is easily removed if you don’t want to use them.
Try any of the non airbag Astars chest protectors. The A10 is the lightest ce2 they sell, and it has shoulder pads that are easy to remove. It breathes pretty well but the weight is a little noticeable compared to the A1 pro. In a size large the a10 v2 without shoulder protection weighs 1268g and the a1 pro is 693g. That is a 1.3 lb difference but they both breathe relatively well as long as the jersey does.
I recommend mesh jerseys and pants for anyone that gets hot when they ride. Some high end stuff like the Astars Supertech breathes okay but not compared to a fly kinetic mesh or similar.
So I looked up that 4.5 and yeah that thing looks terrible for breathability. This is the A-6 that I've been wearing that is also CE level 2:
If the design included an air lobe that extended around the sides I would order one today
Common to break ribs from a side impact, upper arm is hell on ribs… there’s no protection there on this Tech Air
If I were to wear something more ventilated than the jersey I wear I’m not quite sure it would be considered a motocross jersey anymore😂in all fairness to the Tech-Air though, I really don’t do well in the heat overall. The bigger point I wanted to make was more so that it’s significantly hotter than my previous chest protector, as how hot is too hot is subjective to everyone
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Completely agree that I would love for the airbag to extend there, but it’s worth it for my riding as it’s got more “passive” rib protection than my previous chest protector, or even most on the market that aren’t full body armor jackets
Also I think most people don't know they also have had this system out for about a year which is what the rally guys use. If you want really full coverage this is the one. Also two cannisters so you can pop it twice before needing to replace anything.
This system is not intended for MX use according to Alpinestars. Does not have the MX ride modes.
I’m checking to see if that can be added. I know the MX you can run 4 algorithms but only has three that can be loaded into it at the same time. So they aren’t just preloaded into the protector, you choose what you want on it. I’ll update with what I find out.
I think I'm going to pull the trigger and purchase one this winter. I'm not getting any younger. 😂
I got mine just before a 5 day trail riding trip. I like it so far. It was cold and wet all week so lack of ventilation wasn’t a problem. My only crash was a low side at about 10 mph. It didn’t deploy and I didn’t need it so I was happy about that. From what I understand,You don’t want to put a backpack on over it. This changed my whole gear set up. I carried my water and a couple tools in a uswe waist pack. I put a tube and more tools in a fender bag and I had tools in a handlebar bag. It was really nice to get all of the weight off of my back and my jacked up collar bones. They say the battery is good for 30 hours and it was down to 15% at the end of my trip.
OP, where did you buy it from? Looks like everyone is sold out of M and L. Have you spent anymore time riding with it? Hopefully as more people.buy them, the price will go down a d they'll collect more data. However, the thing seems absolutely amazing considering it's the first iteration.
More are coming in soon but get are selling out super fast.
Well I have good news and bad news. My dad just helped me measure my chest and waist. Bad news is my measurements show that I would need the XX-L. Good news is, that's two of the sizes Cycle Gear has in stock, lol. I guess I need to go on a diet....
Nice! Thanks for the ride report. I'm really glad they made the charging USB-C. What size did you go with?
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