Alpinestars Tech-Air 5 Plasma: High-Tech Peace of Mind

"I crashed my motorcycle and landed on a pillow,” a pro road racer said after his first crash while wearing an airbag system under his leathers. Energy and gravity being intimidated by a pillow is a strong argument for wearing an Alpinestars Tech-Air 5 Plasma airbag system.

The Tech-Air 5 Plasma is as high-tech as they come, and it’s for everybody—crashing or not. It doesn’t interfere with the joys of motorcycling. Put it on, turn it on, choose a mode, and forget about it. But don’t forget you’re wearing it when off the bike to maximize battery life. Donning the Tech-Air 5 Plasma feels like having on a slim stretch T-shirt. Its padded back protector, which houses the hardware, is generally unnoticeable.

Inside the back protector are the Tech-Air 5’s computer, tri-axial accelerometer and gyroscope, GPS, battery, and pressurized cartridge. The airbag itself covers both sides of your chest from below the ribs, over the shoulders, midway down each upper arm, around the sides, down the back, under the armor of the back protector, and to the bottom of the garment. Although the Tech-Air 5 provides remarkable protection over a wide area of the torso and shoulders, it doesn’t gift superpowers, so the laws of physics still apply. The Tech-Air 5 should be used in combination with abrasion protection, such as a motorcycle jacket. Just make sure there’s enough room for the airbag to deploy.

Alpinestars defines the Tech-Air 5’s “envelope of protection” as the area of collision in which the airbag is most effective. That includes the central 90 degrees in front and behind the motorcycle when in Street mode. The airbag deploys within 200 milliseconds.

There are important distinctions between the Alpinestars Tech-Air 5’s three modes: Street, Race, and Off-road. All modes are armed when the vest detects motion above 10 mph. Street algorithms include protection for stationary crashes. Facilitating this, the airbag remains armed until it is physically shut off. Race and Off-road modes become unarmed after 20-30 seconds if the vest doesn’t detect an ongoing ride. All modes are active for head-on collisions and low-side and high-side falls, with the Off-road mode being more tolerant of wheelies, jumps, sudden turns, whoops, and minor obstacles than the others.

Arming and using the Tech-Air 5 is easy. Put the garment on, zip it fully to engage the magnetic switch, and confirm the airbag is functioning (the LEDs on the light pad glow green for one second). Following that, the System Check light will glow blue. Pressing the light pad button cycles between the modes. The system is turned off by unzipping the vest or pressing the mode button for five seconds, although in Race and Off-road modes, it disarms automatically, as I mentioned earlier. There is a short vibration when the system transitions.

After initial charging, the vest charges in four hours for 30 hours of use. Colored LED lights on the light pad identify battery life. The Alpinestars Tech-Air 5 Plasma app is not required for using the vest, but users can register and update the operating system on it. For shipping, the airbag can be mechanically locked with a switch located inside the back protector. As a final cherry on top, you can replace the pressurized cartridge yourself after the Tech-Air 5 has deployed. No need to send the vest back to Alpinestars for reloading.

Alpinestars Tech-Air 5 Plasma
$869.95
Sizes: XS-4XL