When you think about it, it's kind of crazy that pro cyclists are capable of exceeding the urban speed limit for motorized vehicles, yet the only protective gear they wear is helmets. That's why one company has now developed a wearable airbag system.
Appropriately known as Aerobag, the setup is made by a Belgian firm of the same name. It's designed for use by professional cycling teams, and will in fact be used by the Netherlands' WorldTour Team Picnic PostNL for training this season, and possibly for races. Other pro tour teams are reportedly in the works.
At the heart of the system is an aerodynamic pouch that is mounted on the rider's back. It houses a replaceable single-use CO2 cartridge, plus it contains the electronic components.
Among those components are nine motion sensors that continuously scan at 200 Hertz to monitor body dynamics, and to detect the telltale movements that indicate a crash is taking place.
When the system is thusly triggered, it responds by using its cartridge to inflate a connected network of sleeved TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) tubes that are routed through the slightly modified straps of the cyclist's third-party bib shorts. Within just 100 milliseconds, those tubes inflate to form airbags that protect the neck, spine, chest and hips from hard impacts.
Importantly, once the crash is over, the now-deflated tubes can be folded back into the shorts, and the cyclist can keep racing. The CO2 cartridge will have to be replaced for the Aerobag system to become functional again, but the whole thing is otherwise fully reusable.
Aerobag co-founder Quinton Van Loggerenberg tells us that pricing should ultimately be in the neighborhood of €700 to €850 (about US$815 to $990). Keep in mind, the system is intended for use by pros.
And no, this isn't the first wearable airbag system for cyclists we've seen. Previous examples have included the Stan backpack, the Cirrus jacket, the EVOC backpack, and the B'Safe vest. None of those products are light and sleek enough for use by racers, however, plus they're all integrated into a system-specific garment or pack.
By contrast, Aerobag is a standalone system that can be incorporated into a team's third-party kit, plus it can be transferred back and forth between multiple pairs of shorts.
