Gear Review Goggles, Kuldeep Chaudhari / Autocar India
| Photo Credit: Kuldeep Chaudhari
The T SP X Superair might have a mouthful of a name, but it is Alpinestars’ most affordable jacket in their current line-up. This is a mesh jacket that works even in a hot environment, besides offering style and comfort for urban motorcycling.
As the name suggests, the focus is on ventilation and Superair has massive ventilation panels that run up the entire chest and back areas as well as on a significant portion of the arms. The mesh is not made from a great material, hence the jacket comes in 600D polyester in key impact areas like the shoulders and outer arms. There is some stretch material sewed in behind the elbows for a comfortable fit, but not behind the shoulders where you would usually expect to find it. The arm cuffs and collars both have Velcro closures and the two pockets have pull tabs on the zippers that make them easy to find with gloves on.
The style element is brought in via embroidered Alpinestars logos on the chest, shoulders and lower back. There are many colour options available, including a bright red and blue. We chose the subtle black on black. The back section also gets a black reflective strip that runs down the centre, but it has started to show small signs of wear after about 10 washes.
Gear Review Goggles, Kuldeep Chaudhari / Autocar India
| Photo Credit:
Kuldeep Chaudhari
The fit is longer and more generous than expected and neither does it have a sporty cut. What appeals is that this jacket has been designed to be compatible with the Alpinestars Tech Air 5 airbag vest. The inner mesh liner has a slight stretchability to it and feels comfortable against the skin. However, just like the Ramjet Air pants, the liner feels a size too large and your hands can get snagged while putting on or taking off the jacket.
Safety comes in the form of Alpinestars Nucleon Flex Plus armour in the shoulder and elbows. This armour is slim and low profile, which is nice, but it is only CE Level 1. As for the back armour, you need to purchase it separately. The other low point is that this jacket does not come with pockets for optional chest armour. This is one area where gear from reputed Indian manufacturers thoroughly outdoes the international stuff as they ship with CE Level 2 armour for far less money.
The Superair jacket is not yet available in India but expect a price tag of around ₹17,000 when it does comes here.
