We’ve been seeing Dainese’s D-Air airbags used in motorcycle racing for a while now. If you’ve been wondering when you can finally buy a jacket that will deploy those high-tech airbags to cushion your falls during riding accidents, wonder no more: the company is debuting them in the Dainese Misano 1000 D-Air motorcycle jacket.
Unlike some motorcycling air bags, the system isn’t triggered using sensors installed on the motorcycle. Instead, everything has been installed right on the jacket itself, so you can switch to a different bike and still get the same protection, provided you continue to wear the same protective outerwear.
The Dainese Misano 1000 D-Air is made from a combination of ultra-tough D-skin 2.0 leather and S1 fabric, with various elastic inserts to protect strategic parts of the body riding mishaps. Unlike similar jackets, though, it comes with an integrated airbag that uses an inner micro-filament structure to provide uniform inflation during deployment, ensuring you get maximum protection whenever it’s needed. It’s also designed to deploy in a way that complements both the front and rear protective inserts, safeguarding the collarbone, chest, and back during impacts and slides.
The sensors, along with the GPS and control electronics, are housed inside a chamber on the back of the jacket, monitoring the dynamics of your body during riding to determine whether deployment is necessary. It takes readings as often as 800 times per second, ensuring it can catch the kind of split-second variances that will let it know when you’ve encountered an accident. Features include a status LED on the right arm, a power switch in the jacket flap, reflective inserts, and a pair of pockets in front.
Slated for availability in November, the Dainese Misano 1000 D-Air is priced at $1,699.